Pre-M1 non-clinical summer research

[ms13675]

Hello everyone, I am interested in doing lab research this coming summer pre M1 year. Does it matter which field I do the research in? In a different post, there were some recommendations to conduct research in potential areas of specialties. It's kind of early for me to know exactly what I want to do...does it look bad if say I do research in neurology if I chose cardiothoracic for a specialty in the future?? Any advice is welcome! Thanks

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[felipe5]

ummmmm, are you MD-PHD??? Why don't you just take the summer off, get stuff situated for next year (living arrangments, etc), and be a pool bum??? Why don't you do absolutely NOTHING while you can???? I had a friend who ended up doing summer research before his 1st year, and once the novelty of the research project wore off (ie a few days later) he realized how nice it would be to do NOTHING and he was miserable....not to mention he half a$$ed (more like 1/4-a$$ed) his work so both his PI and him were not too happy.

 

[ms13675]

ummmmm, are you MD-PHD??? Why don't you just take the summer off, get stuff situated for next year (living arrangments, etc), and be a pool bum??? Why don't you do absolutely NOTHING while you can???? I had a friend who ended up doing summer research before his 1st year, and once the novelty of the research project wore off (ie a few days later) he realized how nice it would be to do NOTHING and he was miserable....not to mention he half a$$ed (more like 1/4-a$$ed) his work so both his PI and him were not too happy.

I am an MD/PHD, you have a good point., When is a good time to do research though? I can't imagine being able to do it during the school year?

 

[Anka]

I did research until the day before med school started full time, and continued it part time until starting clinical rotations. It's doable if you want to do it... I had a lot of fun, and it was great to have a non-medical-school thing to do [yes, I realize I am advertising my own lack of a life with this comment]. The only question is, would you rather sit on the beach or behind a bench.

As far as what you do research in, at this point it probably doesn't matter. Later, when you have a better sense of your future, you can change labs. If you get publications or aquire tools in your current lab, they might be useful later on.

Anka

 

[size_tens]

If you really enjoy research that much then there's certainly nothing wrong with getting some work done in a field you think you might be interested in. On the other hand as an MD/PhD you'll have plenty of time to conduct research during the PhD portion of your training.

 

[felipe5]

the reason that I asked if you were MD-PhD is b/c I know of some mdphder's that rotated through some labs the summer before just to check out some of their future options. Honestly though, you got at least 6-8 years of school ahead of you with plenty of time to do your work, why not enjoy some time off while you still can???

 

[ms13675]

Thanks guys for the great advice =) I think there is still time to mull this over and see if I really want to start early with research. I am interested in doing some neurology research, and since the consensus is there is no negative side affect from doing research in an area that will not be my future specialty in the early phase of medical school, I am leaning more towards starting early. In the meantime, I'll do something that I have not done since middle school, take some time off and relax!

 

[deuist]

1. You're an MD/PhD student. You'll have plenty of later opportunities to do research.
2. Take the summer off. It's the last break you'll have for a long time.
3. Stop worrying about what field to do research in. Like you said, you're undecided. No residency is going to say, "You're applying for thoracic surgery, but I see that you did neuro research 7 years ago for a stretch of 3 months. Obviously, you have no interest in our program. Your application is denied."