questions about research year progress

[Svmophtho]

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Hi there! I'm currently pursuing a research year in ophtho between my 3rd and 4th years of medical school. I'm in the middle of working on a fairly large cross-sectional trial and am also working on a smaller retrospective study. Although I am working hard and am in the data collection stage of research, I wanted perspective on what kinds of aims/goals and timelines others who pursued a research year in ophtho had for themselves (when did you start thinking about submitting abstracts? did you present somewhere at least once during your research year or sometime during 4th year after you completed your research year? which conferences did you present at and how far ahead did you plan with your PI for a submission?)

I guess I just want a clear focus of how to pace myself during the year, so any advice would be helpful. Thanks for reading!

 

[Visionary]

My question is why did you decide to take a whole year off for research? I can't think of one person outside of a combined MD/PhD program that has taken a year off like that. Just curious.

 

[tm12]

My question is why did you decide to take a whole year off for research? I can't think of one person outside of a combined MD/PhD program that has taken a year off like that. Just curious.

Curious that you don't know anybody who does that. My school 1/4 students take a year off. I heard half of the students at Yale or Stanford do the same.

 

[jsh1986]

It's a very popular trend now. At some schools, esp in the northeast, more than a third to half the class is taking an extra year to do research or an additional masters degree.

My question is why did you decide to take a whole year off for research? I can't think of one person outside of a combined MD/PhD program that has taken a year off like that. Just curious.

 

[MstaKing10]

It's a very popular trend now. At some schools, esp in the northeast, more than a third to half the class is taking an extra year to do research or an additional masters degree.

Is this just for ophthalmology or across the board?

 

[golfman]

It's a very popular trend now. At some schools, esp in the northeast, more than a third to half the class is taking an extra year to do research or an additional masters degree.

I've heard this as well, and I think it's absolutely crazy (unless you just really love research). Is it really necessary? Are people doing it for love of research of fear of not matching?

 

[RestoreSight]

Hi there! I'm currently pursuing a research year in ophtho between my 3rd and 4th years of medical school. I'm in the middle of working on a fairly large cross-sectional trial and am also working on a smaller retrospective study. Although I am working hard and am in the data collection stage of research, I wanted perspective on what kinds of aims/goals and timelines others who pursued a research year in ophtho had for themselves (when did you start thinking about submitting abstracts? did you present somewhere at least once during your research year or sometime during 4th year after you completed your research year? which conferences did you present at and how far ahead did you plan with your PI for a submission?)

I guess I just want a clear focus of how to pace myself during the year, so any advice would be helpful. Thanks for reading!

Funny how these threads can head off topic. It is quite common for students to take a year off between 3rd and 4th year to complete research or another degree. In my experience students who do this often feel it improves their application for ophthalmology residency programs. If you take a year off for research its best to publish. The two major annual conferences are ARVO and AAO. ARVO accepts abstracts in early December with the conference in April, and AAO accepts abstracts in the Spring with the conference in October. Its important to prepare in advance to be ready for these conferences. A manuscript should follow any abstract presented at a major national conference.

If you take a full year off for research its important you show some results. Whether it really makes a difference in the eyes of residency program directors is debatable. Most I think would say it does if its well thought out and planned in advance.

 

[jsh1986]

Across the board. Everything from primary care/health policy people wanting to do systems research for a year to people wanting to match at a competitive neurosurg/plastics/cardiothoracic/derm spot.

No doubt, I think a bit part is an element of potential burnout from tough third years and students wanting to gain a bit more perspective before starting residency. But generally I've found that most people in my class who are doing this simply have broad interests and want to do something "else" before graduating, ie investigate further a specific area they are interested in or learn specific skill sets/tools.

(Although I hate this characterization/ranking generally of schools) I attend what is considered to be a "top 5" school and most students who take the year off for research get a stipend from HHMI, Doris Duke, other research organizations. Similarly, there is a decent pool of money at most major public health schools for MDs to come and study for a year. So the financial burden generally isn't overwhelming and again, for some people, it is just what they want out of their education...

Is this just for ophthalmology or across the board?

 

[Slide]

When I was interviewing last year, the trend I saw was that for the spots at highly-regarded institutions, a good number of applicants took a year off to do research. The reasons for doing so were many. Some didn't get much exposure to ophthalmology, but liked it initially, and wanted to gain more perspective in the field. Some others had no research done and did not want to do it initially, but changed their mind midway through medical school once they wanted to do ophthalmology. Of course, there are those that didn't match the first go around and did it to be more competitive. It has gotten more popular, however, based on what some attendings and upper level residents have told me.

I think part of it is that ophthalmology exposure is very limited until the latter part of medical school, a period of time when your options to make yourself more competitive become limited. Another part of it is that ophthalmology spots seem be more harder to secure, especially at the top institutions, and in order to secure a great letter of recommendation that will ensure interviews, you'll have to do meaningful research with a PI. I've had a few applicants tell me last year at Bascom-Palmer, several applicants do a research year with a certain PI for a letter of rec. The last sentence of the letter of rec is a sign to other PDs of whether the PD should interview this applicant or not. I can't confirm this, but the story seems consistent among the applicants I talked to.

To answer the questions being asked, my opinion of why it's getting so popular is that 1) it gives med students some time to recoup from burnout (especially if they went into med school straight from college), 2) it gives them more insight into the field, and 3) more applicants are learning the rules of the game to get a spot. For people doing a research year, though, they are expected to publish posters and manuscripts, so it's not a stereotypical vacation year. I know two applicants at my program last year that did not publish anything, and thus were not able to even get interviews.

 

[Visionary]

Interesting. Well, I guess times have changed. Most I know just fit projects into their regular studies. I would agree with the need to publish, given that you've taken an entire year to dedicate to research. Risky, because if you don't end up with a publishable project, you'll have a hard time explaining it. Research is tough and not always predictable in it's course. Presentation (paper or poster) at ARVO or AAO would be the minimum, in my opinion. Competition I can see, but as far as the burnout theory goes, not sure I understand it. Sure it's a change of pace, but you need to work you're tail off during that research year, if you have hope of completing a decent project. It's definitely no vacation. In my recollection, third year was actually a nice change from first and second. I loved the clinical years and really would not have wanted a year off between them, particularly for research. Guess that's why there are different colored jelly beans. 😉

 

[Slide]

Interesting. Well, I guess times have changed. Most I know just fit projects into their regular studies. I would agree with the need to publish, given that you've taken an entire year to dedicate to research. Risky, because if you don't end up with a publishable project, you'll have a hard time explaining it. Research is tough and not always predictable in it's course. Presentation (paper or poster) at ARVO or AAO would be the minimum, in my opinion. Competition I can see, but as far as the burnout theory goes, not sure I understand it. Sure it's a change of pace, but you need to work you're tail off during that research year, if you have hope of completing a decent project. It's definitely no vacation. In my recollection, third year was actually a nice change from first and second. I loved the clinical years and really would not have wanted a year off between them, particularly for research. Guess that's why there are different colored jelly beans. 😉

One unfortunate fact I learned last year was that advice that may have applied even as recently as 5-6 years ago may already be outdated. With Step I scores rising and more applicants with research on their CV, it just gets tougher. I don't think this just applies to ophtho as well; ENT applicants are getting ravaged just as bad.

 

[Visionary]

One unfortunate fact I learned last year was that advice that may have applied even as recently as 5-6 years ago may already be outdated. With Step I scores rising and more applicants with research on their CV, it just gets tougher. I don't think this just applies to ophtho as well; ENT applicants are getting ravaged just as bad.

Makes sense. With the current state of healthcare, I suspect most students are looking to become specialists; thus, increasing competition.