M2 who is interested in ortho entering his second year. Need advice on whether to invest more time into doing research or studying.

[CuriousMDStudent]

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I am a medical student who is just beginning his second year of medical school who is interested in orthopedic surgery and wanted to see how I am faring so far. What do I need to do moving forward? Am I in a good enough situation to just focus my times and energy into STEP 1 (this will be P/F for me) and STEP 2 or should I still aim for some more research projects? If I am aiming for more research projects, how many more projects should I aim for? I feel as I come to my second and third year of medical school, I don't know when I will have time to do research. I feel I didn't do enough during my first year and wonder if I messed up.

Year: MS2, MD
School: T15
AOA: We don't have it
Research:
My research has been focused in ortho so far.
I have been involved in 7 research projects so far and this is the result:

• 2 have manuscripts completed and have been submitted for publication
• 3 have data collection completed and are being analyzed statistically and will be written up into manuscripts. 2/3 of these projects are being submitted to conferences.
• 1 I'm working on right now and I was promised that it can lead to at least 2 pubs? Data collection should be done by the end of the month and we'll see where that goes.
• 1 is a longitudinal study that will be done by my 3rd year according to my mentor. I did submit an abstract for this project for a research poster session as my school and will be presenting that there

Something I want to note is that I feel very weak clinically and in terms of studying. I have always been within 1 STD below the average in my classes. This past year of COVID took a toll on me in terms of studying. My saving grace is that STEP 1 is P/F so I am confident that if I locked down and studied for the next year I can learn the material well enough to do above average in my classes, pass STEP 1 and then have a strong knowledge foundation before I start clerkships. Hopefully that can lead to me doing well in clerkships and STEP 2 which is what will matter for me. My medical school is true P/F but I still want to do above average in my classes so that I can feel I mastered the material.

I've come to this fork in the road where I am trying to figure out if I should continue dedicating time to research or if I am in a decent enough situation where I can just focus on studying. I don't want to be in a position where I dedicated too much time into research and have lackluster clerkship grades and STEP 2. Then all the research will have been for nothing

 

[ChymeofPassion]

I feel I didn't do enough during my first year and wonder if I messed up.

I have been involved in 7 research projects so far and this is the result:

• 2 have manuscripts completed and have been submitted for publication
• 3 have data collection completed and are being analyzed statistically and will be written up into manuscripts. 2/3 of these projects are being submitted to conferences.
• 1 I'm working on right now and I was promised that it can lead to at least 2 pubs? Data collection should be done by the end of the month and we'll see where that goes.
• 1 is a longitudinal study that will be done by my 3rd year according to my mentor. I did submit an abstract for this project for a research poster session as my school and will be presenting that there

...

 

[CuriousMDStudent]

...

I mean according to the 2020 NRMP survey. The average applicant for ortho had 13 research items. I only have maybe 7 and I'm entering 2nd and 3rd year where I'm going to be super busy and Idk if I'll have the time to do as much research

 

[srirachamayonnaise]

Research ITEMS. You just have to reach out to people and say you want to get involved then voila, it's an item on your application. This whole thing is a game.

 

[treebeardette]

Unfortunately, with Step 1 becoming pass/fail, the only objective data we will have to go off of will be number of publications. For everyone who advocated for getting rid of step 1 scores, this is the logical consequence. Publications and letters of rec from well known faculty will become the only way to differentiate applicants on paper. You do need to continue to do well in clerkships, but those grades are generally so inflated and comments so generic as to be almost useless. Extracurriculars if you have done something awesome can help, but most students do the same things. So: focus on research, kill your sub-I's, get some well-known faculty in your corner.

 

[SweetBurger]

Unfortunately, with Step 1 becoming pass/fail, the only objective data we will have to go off of will be number of publications. For everyone who advocated for getting rid of step 1 scores, this is the logical consequence. Publications and letters of rec from well known faculty will become the only way to differentiate applicants on paper. You do need to continue to do well in clerkships, but those grades are generally so inflated and comments so generic as to be almost useless. Extracurriculars if you have done something awesome can help, but most students do the same things. So: focus on research, kill your sub-I's, get some well-known faculty in your corner.

yeah cus step 2 wont matter 🤣

 

[Phloston]

I am a medical student who is just beginning his second year of medical school who is interested in orthopedic surgery and wanted to see how I am faring so far. What do I need to do moving forward? Am I in a good enough situation to just focus my times and energy into STEP 1 (this will be P/F for me) and STEP 2 or should I still aim for some more research projects? If I am aiming for more research projects, how many more projects should I aim for? I feel as I come to my second and third year of medical school, I don't know when I will have time to do research. I feel I didn't do enough during my first year and wonder if I messed up.

Year: MS2, MD
School: T15
AOA: We don't have it
Research:
My research has been focused in ortho so far.
I have been involved in 7 research projects so far and this is the result:

• 2 have manuscripts completed and have been submitted for publication
• 3 have data collection completed and are being analyzed statistically and will be written up into manuscripts. 2/3 of these projects are being submitted to conferences.
• 1 I'm working on right now and I was promised that it can lead to at least 2 pubs? Data collection should be done by the end of the month and we'll see where that goes.
• 1 is a longitudinal study that will be done by my 3rd year according to my mentor. I did submit an abstract for this project for a research poster session as my school and will be presenting that there

Something I want to note is that I feel very weak clinically and in terms of studying. I have always been within 1 STD below the average in my classes. This past year of COVID took a toll on me in terms of studying. My saving grace is that STEP 1 is P/F so I am confident that if I locked down and studied for the next year I can learn the material well enough to do above average in my classes, pass STEP 1 and then have a strong knowledge foundation before I start clerkships. Hopefully that can lead to me doing well in clerkships and STEP 2 which is what will matter for me. My medical school is true P/F but I still want to do above average in my classes so that I can feel I mastered the material.

I've come to this fork in the road where I am trying to figure out if I should continue dedicating time to research or if I am in a decent enough situation where I can just focus on studying. I don't want to be in a position where I dedicated too much time into research and have lackluster clerkship grades and STEP 2. Then all the research will have been for nothing

TLDR. Based on the title of your post, do both. Ace your Steps. And yes, do research. In pretty much all circumstances, higher 2CK will get you places over research. Doesn't matter if you have 19 publications; if you have a 222, you won't get in over someone with a 254 with no publications.

 

[Chillbo Baggins]

You already have as much research in one year as I had in all of med school.

That, plus a top 15 med school, and true P/F puts you in a solid spot. Just rock Step 2 and be a normal dude/tte.