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Preferably, you'd find a PI with expertise in the area of your interest, with the facilities you need, and some start-up funds.
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My med school required a research block, and I did bench research. Favor toward bench versus clinical research may vary amongst schools, though, so you should ask the schools individually if it's that important to you.
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You can do it. Clinical is much more popular though. Something like a retro chart review is much more reliable and bite-sized than a bench project.
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LoveBeingHuman:)
The reason I ask is because I like bench more in general
Which type of research, bench or clinical, is viewed as 'better' when applying to competitive residency fields (surgicals)?
It's not a better/worse thing. It's that clinical is the guaranteed way to get an abstract or paper. Spending your summers on a basic science project where things constantly go wrong and you never have productive results = big missed chance to improve your competitiveness
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LoveBeingHuman:)
So would bench achievement > clinical achievement?
Semi-unrelated, but if I were to matriculate in 2018, I will have 3 publications from my full time research position, (one first author- think cell metabolism, two second author). I work at one of the top 5 med schools, how much do publications from the same institution help when applying to residency? Like if you go to a lower tier med school and still get high board scores and have pubs from a specific top 5 academic hospital does it improve your chances for residency there in comparison to someone with no pubs from there?
Nope, the same (assuming both are small projects, like a low IF pub). There's really no downside to doing clinical, hence why it's so much more popular. Basic isn't high risk high reward, it's high risk same reward at best.
They really aren't going to care where you did your research 5 years ago. If you want to match to a specific big academic center, going to that med school is far and away your best bet
Oh they absolutely do matter, but the part at the top that says you got your MD at their own medical program >> the place you did research as an undergrad/gap year
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AnatomyGrey12
You can do whatever is available at your school, as different schools will have different faculty doing different things. Some schools will have it all, and some won't. If you have interests that your school doesn't have then many students will do that type of research during the summer of M1. I'm glad some people like bench research, because I sure don't. The boredom is real.
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Bench research generally takes longer and it's more of a process to get from project initiation to publication whereas the pace of clinical projects move quicker. If you really like bench research, there's nothing keeping you from doing it if you can find a PI, but if your goal is productivity, that's the less efficient way to go.
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LoveBeingHuman:)
@Catalystik @HomeSkool
Sorry to revive a 5 month old thread, but is it possible to do research the summer before MS1?
Sorry to revive a 5 month old thread, but is it possible to do research the summer before MS1?
Bench research is significantly more time consuming than clinical research and you might not even get your name on a publication.
Presumably, you wonder if it's possible to get involved with research at the med school you plan to attend prior to matriculation. I have not seen this happen. Possibly it's due to faculty concerns that a nonstudent would not be covered by university liability insurance. Or, you might be required to pay tuition money in order to have access to the facilities, just as you would between MS-1 and MS-2 years if you aren't awarded a stipend. I'm guessing few would like to do that.
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