M2 Venting about research

[nrealok]

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Hi Smart people of SDN,

I'm an M2 about to start my first rotation next week. I'm super frustrated with medical school so far -- nothing has panned out how I wanted it to.

I spent the first year of school just trying to keep my head on and mostly failed; I had some of the worst mental health of my life, and was just barely passing. Spent the summer between M1 and M2 fixing that (got diagnosed, medicated), and everything went much better during M2 fall, and I passed step 1 without issue. But I feel like I really lost time to get anything productive done outside of school, especially research-wise.

I've gotten involved with some research that hasn't ended up being that productive (middle author on a project that is moving at a snail's pace), and every other lead I've had has led to a dead end. Sometimes the dead end hasn't appeared until months into onboarding, so I feel like I've wasted so much time with so few results, and it feels like no PIs want to take me on anymore since I start rotations so soon.

I have 9 publications from working post-grad (all middle author) and 4 poster presentations that were only internal to the department I was working in at the time. I have a ton of community/volunteer work and leadership under my belt, but they never feel as important as research. I'm interested in academic Internal Med or OBGYN (past research is relevant-ish), and I'm REALLY, REALLY focused on landing residency in a bigger city, because not being in a city for med school definitely caused some of the bad mental health for sure. Mostly focused on Chicago/NY/Boston, where I also have family.

I have no idea what to do from here, or if I should even keep trying to land a new project. I feel like I have no guidance on what it even takes to get where I want to go. My head is in the sand!

Do I just focus on doing well in rotations going forward? Or should I try to find a PI who will give me a project I can work on relatively independently, so I can work on it outside of rotations? How do I even do that when they keep telling me I don't have time to work with them anymore? Will I ever make it out of this town ?!

Sincerely,
An M2 Scared of the Suburbs

P.S., Considering a year off between M3-M4, mostly to get out of here for a bit... either for a research fellowship or an MPH. But also feels like overkill for what I'm interested in, and expensive.

 

[AJS59]

Hi Smart people of SDN,

I'm an M2 about to start my first rotation next week. I'm super frustrated with medical school so far -- nothing has panned out how I wanted it to.

I spent the first year of school just trying to keep my head on and mostly failed; I had some of the worst mental health of my life, and was just barely passing. Spent the summer between M1 and M2 fixing that (got diagnosed, medicated), and everything went much better during M2 fall, and I passed step 1 without issue. But I feel like I really lost time to get anything productive done outside of school, especially research-wise.

I've gotten involved with some research that hasn't ended up being that productive (middle author on a project that is moving at a snail's pace), and every other lead I've had has led to a dead end. Sometimes the dead end hasn't appeared until months into onboarding, so I feel like I've wasted so much time with so few results, and it feels like no PIs want to take me on anymore since I start rotations so soon.

I have 9 publications from working post-grad (all middle author) and 4 poster presentations that were only internal to the department I was working in at the time. I have a ton of community/volunteer work and leadership under my belt, but they never feel as important as research. I'm interested in academic Internal Med or OBGYN (past research is relevant-ish), and I'm REALLY, REALLY focused on landing residency in a bigger city, because not being in a city for med school definitely caused some of the bad mental health for sure. Mostly focused on Chicago/NY/Boston, where I also have family.

I have no idea what to do from here, or if I should even keep trying to land a new project. I feel like I have no guidance on what it even takes to get where I want to go. My head is in the sand!

Do I just focus on doing well in rotations going forward? Or should I try to find a PI who will give me a project I can work on relatively independently, so I can work on it outside of rotations? How do I even do that when they keep telling me I don't have time to work with them anymore? Will I ever make it out of this town ?!

Sincerely,
An M2 Scared of the Suburbs

P.S., Considering a year off between M3-M4, mostly to get out of here for a bit... either for a research fellowship or an MPH. But also feels like overkill for what I'm interested in, and expensive.

Only an M2 myself, but I can chime in a bit with my research experience.

First: While research is important, I think unless you are committed to either a top competitiveness specialty (Derm, ENT, Ortho, Neurosurg, Plastics) or NEED to be at MGH and MGH only, its not the only metric you're measured by. Step 2 is a very important factor for consideration in any of these things, as are your activities, rotation grades, LORs, personal statement, etc. And if you're geographically trying to put yourself in a specific city or at a specific program, using signals and away rotations can really help...of course, that's much further down the road.

With respect to your current research situation: I will say that any form of lab work/basic science research probably won't go in rotations. What would probably work best for you is 1 or more of: Case reports/series (easy to publish, not super impactful), retrospective reviews (more time intensive depending on what you're writing up; also requires stats knowledge) or a systematic review (requires pretty meaningful engagement with the literature and very specific understanding of the stats behind it).

I know you said you're currently middle author on a project - consider reaching out to the PI on that project and see if they have any more research ideas, or if not, if they have colleagues who do. Barring that, I'd check in with your IM or OBGYN interest groups and also current M3s who may have projects.

 

[nrealok]

Only an M2 myself, but I can chime in a bit with my research experience.

First: While research is important, I think unless you are committed to either a top competitiveness specialty (Derm, ENT, Ortho, Neurosurg, Plastics) or NEED to be at MGH and MGH only, its not the only metric you're measured by. Step 2 is a very important factor for consideration in any of these things, as are your activities, rotation grades, LORs, personal statement, etc. And if you're geographically trying to put yourself in a specific city or at a specific program, using signals and away rotations can really help...of course, that's much further down the road.

With respect to your current research situation: I will say that any form of lab work/basic science research probably won't go in rotations. What would probably work best for you is 1 or more of: Case reports/series (easy to publish, not super impactful), retrospective reviews (more time intensive depending on what you're writing up; also requires stats knowledge) or a systematic review (requires pretty meaningful engagement with the literature and very specific understanding of the stats behind it).

I know you said you're currently middle author on a project - consider reaching out to the PI on that project and see if they have any more research ideas, or if not, if they have colleagues who do. Barring that, I'd check in with your IM or OBGYN interest groups and also current M3s who may have projects.

Thanks, this honestly did help wind me down a bit.

What I’ve been having trouble finding concrete answers for, that maybe you have clarity on — how much does it matter to have a first author publication, especially if i’m looking for an academic position in a major city? I feel like a ton of my classmates have first authorship for the sake of authorship on really irrelevant things, but I don’t want to stress myself out working on something that feels stupid just cuz it’s a first author and if it won’t even help.

But given that I’ll likely end up with 10+ middle author pubs, I don’t really want to pursue anything new unless I can take ownership of it. I’m worried new potential PIs won’t take me seriously about taking ownership of a project now that I’m starting clinicals and will have way less time. I already had one project fall through cuz the lab lost funding and no one else has taken me seriously so far, plus my current PI doesn’t do oncology work anymore (what I’m interested in).

I do have a ton of experience with IRB stuff + retrospective reviews already (managed a research group + database postgrad). I just need someone to give me an idea on what to review and a green flag to start working. I don’t know how to find that, I’ve been only getting red ones and I’m getting frustrated. And if having first authorship won’t even matter that much, I’d rather just focus on doing really well in clinicals. Like am I stressing about this for no reason!

 

[eyeeye_captain]

Chicago/NY/Boston gives you a pretty big number of academic programs, even if it’s not NW/MGH/Columbia. You’re overthinking some.

Sure, more research is nice and more recent/in the field is too. It’s importance is still behind at least Step 2 and LOR/connections, maybe evenish to a little more important than grades (although so many schools are P/F now that things have gotten screwy). Personal narrative or some cool activity can give a mild bump but is last.

For reference, as much as using the mean can get weird, hyper-competitive ophtho had 4.7 pubs and 1.7 first authors for matched applicants in 2025. The range includes zero. Some of this can be program dependent - I went to a very good, academic, clinically intensive residency that valued knowing you could work hard via LORs as opposed to knowing you could pump out papers. Harvard probably cares significantly more about research than BU, for example.

If you do take the gap year, you’ll probably get more out of research and especially connections than an MPH. Your productivity is already pretty strong as long as you can discuss it coherently.

Breathe.

 

[HighwayVagabond]

OP this may not be the case with you, but as a fairly highly productive clinical faculty/researcher, students and residents are constantly asking to do research with me without bringing a single idea for a project. I do have a ton of ideas myself, but if you don’t bring me an idea it is often an indicator you may not take ownership of the project. When trainees don’t take ownership, it is so much more work for me than if I just did it myself. I recommend making a list of project ideas and finding a mentor with research experience that aligns with those ideas and meeting with that person to go over YOUR project ideas. This will be far more productive for you going forward. It also makes it ‘your’ project that you can complete on your own timeline without worrying about pressures from the senior author.

 

[Med Ed]

I have 9 publications from working post-grad (all middle author) and 4 poster presentations that were only internal to the department I was working in at the time. I have a ton of community/volunteer work and leadership under my belt, but they never feel as important as research. I'm interested in academic Internal Med or OBGYN (past research is relevant-ish), and I'm REALLY, REALLY focused on landing residency in a bigger city, because not being in a city for med school definitely caused some of the bad mental health for sure. Mostly focused on Chicago/NY/Boston, where I also have family.

I have no idea what to do from here, or if I should even keep trying to land a new project.

With 9 publications and 4 posters you are well past the point of diminishing returns. Landing a new project and being first author on some meaningless slop (published for a fee in the Journal of Meaningless Slop) isn't worth your time.

Instead you should focus on learning how to be a doctor: clerkships, shelf exams, Step 2.