Should I be looking for research before med school even starts?

[MonsterGod]

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I’ve been accepted and will be starting med school in a few months. Right now, I’m interested in orthopedic surgery, and I’ve heard that for competitive specialties like ortho and derm, you need to have a ton of research.

Should I be trying to get involved in research even before med school starts?

Note: I know I could change my mind about the specialty in the future, but at least I would have something by then.

 

[JBM16BYU]

My 2 cents, and some may disagree, but I would not worry about research until you start at your medical school. Transitioning to medical school from undergraduate, or even a graduate program, is a huge change in itself. You may find that you need to alter your study habits, alter the amount of time you spend studying, and ultimately you are about to become a lot more busy. See, first, how you handle this change. Research is important for several residencies, including orthopedics, but you also need to have a solid understanding of the things you learn in medical school, do well in your courses, and not fail tests/classes. Once you've established this new way of studying and become more accustomed to medical school, then (as an academic physician who enjoys research) I would say that you can start trying some smaller research projects to get your feet wet and decide how much time you can/want to devote. For now, as you haven't even started yet, enjoy your free summer and free time.

 

[AJS59]

Second the above comment. Do literally anything else.

 

[operaman]

Yeah wait. Do some legwork and scope out the departments at your school, who’s doing research, who’s publishing a lot and who has lots of students on their papers. That’s basically just a few hours of googling and pubmed searching, but not a bad thing to do early before you don’t have those free hours to figure out who you may want to approach.

The big issue is not knowing how you’ll fare with the time demands of your school curriculum. Last thing you want to do is commit to a bunch of projects and have to bail because of classes, or worse end up failing a class or two.

Early on you can make some introductions and see who’s open to having you work with them. See what’s on the horizon, maybe get something teed up. Then once you’re 2-3 months in and know how much time you can actually devote, you can put in some additional time and start contributing more to projects.

I don’t think there’s much to gain starting before school other than meeting with people if you can. I reached out to my future mentor prior to my med school interview and we met up the afternoon after the med school interview was done. It was mostly a getting to know you time. Then we met up again after m1 started to talk about some ideas, write an irb. A couple months in we had our approval and I also knew what time I could devote to projects. Then we were off to the races.

Eventually the goal is to get a number of projects going at all phases of the process. An IRB in submission, something in data collection, another in analysis, another where your working on a manuscript, another in submission/review process. There’s lots of stops/starts in research, but once you have a few things going there’s usually something you can do a little work on when time allows.

 

[GoSpursGo]

Agree, wait. You're more likely to, at best, waste time where you could be enjoying time before med school. At worst, you could commit yourself to a bad PI and waste time after you start.

By all means hit the ground running, but there's not a ton you can do before orientation

 

[JBM16BYU]

Eventually the goal is to get a number of projects going at all phases of the process. An IRB in submission, something in data collection, another in analysis, another where your working on a manuscript, another in submission/review process. There’s lots of stops/starts in research, but once you have a few things going there’s usually something you can do a little work on when time allows.

Especially this statement. Great advice.

 

[Dr. Robb Bassett]

First off—huge congrats on your acceptance! That’s a milestone worth celebrating before diving into what’s next. And honestly, just the fact that you’re asking this question now shows an impressive level of foresight.

You’re right—competitive specialties like ortho and derm often expect some degree of research involvement. And yes, starting early can help. But what’s even more valuable than a head start is starting with intention.

If a project presents itself and you’re genuinely curious—interested in what ortho research looks like, or excited about a specific topic—great. But if it’s just about “checking a box,” it’s 100% valid to pause, get grounded, and let your authentic interests take shape.

That said, here's a pitfall I’ve seen too many students run into: they go all-in on research in one specialty—only to realize later (often during third-year or an away rotation) that they’re actually in alignment with something else entirely. Suddenly, they’re short on time to pivot, they don’t have the specialty-specific experiences to back up their interest, and they regret how much of their early med school bandwidth went into a field that ultimately wasn’t the right fit.

To be clear, research in any field is still valuable—if you did dermatology research but ultimately pursued ortho, no one’s going to throw out your application. But what you ideally want to show is a sense of longitudinal alignment—that your choices reflect an authentic and sustained interest in the field you’re pursuing.

And the real key to building that clarity? Getting exposure not just to residents and peers, but to attending physicians. Attendings are the ones who can tell you what life looks like after training—how the job changes, what the long-term lifestyle and career trajectory really entail. That’s the kind of insight you can’t Google, and it’s what helps you invest your time (research included) in ways that align with who you are and what you want long-term.

So yes, explore research if it lights you up—or if it’s the best opportunity available right now. But also make it a priority to talk to the people doing the job you think you want. That’s where the real clarity comes from. And the earlier you start, the more strategic you can be with everything else.

You’re asking all the right questions at the right time. Keep that curiosity burning—you’re on a great path.