To those of you who did BENCH research DURING the year in Med School...how did you do so?

[Alakazam123]

I've heard a few people on here state that they did bench research during the academic year in MS1, MS2, and even MS3 and 4. My questions:

1. Did you end up having to skip classes?

2. How did you get the PI to understand your pressures as a Med Student?

3. How many hrs./week did you put in on average?

4. How many pubs did you get out?

5. If you don't publish as much as those doing clinical research, residency admission committees understand?

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[Mad Jack]

I spent a lot of time on misc, /fit/, and reading books like The Texas Method and Starting Strength...

I was going to keep going but I don't really feel like writing a page-long ****post about researching how to bench in medical school.

I know plenty of people that did bench research. None skipped classes that were mandatory, and everyone, research or not, skips classes that aren't because lecture is pointless. Work with PIs that are part of the medical school teaching staff, as they are more likely to get what you are dealing with than other researchers that are working with graduate students or undergrads. Bench pubs can be MUCH more difficult to get than basic clinical research pubs, so if you're looking for numbers, don't go the bench route, because a good number of people I've met that were doing bench research never ended up getting pubs due to the long timeline of such projects. Do it because you're passionate about it. As to whether residency committees understand, they are smart people. They understand zero pubs from bench research is a thing that happens and that ten low-quality pubs that are clearly just number padding are also a thing that happens. How passionately you talk about your research and your role in it is arguably as important (and sometimes more) as any pubs you might acquire along the way.

But hey, that's just my impression. I'm curious the views and experiences of others, as it's going to be very dependent upon where you're applying and what your interests are.

 

[Goro]

From the other side, here's my take on the med students here who do research as OMSIs and IIs.

1. Did you end up having to skip classes?
They do

2. How did you get the PI to understand your pressures as a Med Student?
We all do. We're not running a grad school and training PhD students.

3. How many hrs./week did you put in on average?
This is 100% dependent upon the project, techniques, and the student. Keep in mind that when you running a gel or a PCR, or performing an ELISA, you have considerable down time.

4. How many pubs did you get out?
See 3. My students have gotten papers. Of those that worked with me, they did so not during the school year, but summer between OMSI and II. Three got their names on papers

5. If you don't publish as much as those doing clinical research, residency admission committees understand?
Depends upon the program. Some are more research loving than others.

 

[akuko2]

1. Did you end up having to skip classes? Never went to class anyways.

2. How did you get the PI to understand your pressures as a Med Student? My PI is a very well published MD, so he knew the deal.

3. How many hrs./week did you put in on average? Depends, my research inv a very intense rat model so some wks like 20+ hrs, some wks 5 or less. This was strung throughout M1, M2.

4. How many pubs did you get out? I'm not first on anything but named on 5-6 things.

5. If you don't publish as much as those doing clinical research, residency admission committees understand? I hope so. I can definitely talk about how my research is breaking new ground in the field and how I contributed to it. I also got to meet a lot of ppl, get my name out there, and learn a lot about the field and its hot issues.

 

[Alakazam123]

From the other side, here's my take on the med students here who do research as OMSIs and IIs.

1. Did you end up having to skip classes?
They do

2. How did you get the PI to understand your pressures as a Med Student?
We all do. We're not running a grad school and training PhD students.

3. How many hrs./week did you put in on average?
This is 100% dependent upon the project, techniques, and the student. Keep in mind that when you running a gel or a PCR, or performing an ELISA, you have considerable down time.

4. How many pubs did you get out?
See 3. My students have gotten papers. Of those that worked with me, they did so not during the school year, but summer between OMSI and II. Three got their names on papers

5. If you don't publish as much as those doing clinical research, residency admission committees understand?
Depends upon the program. Some are more research loving than others.

At your school, do the med students have class from 9-5? Or do they finish up around afternoon? Do they skip a ton of classes?

Also, how did their grades turn out?

 

[ndafife]

1. Did you end up having to skip classes? Yeah, but I wasn't going anyway. More cut into exercise/study time

2. How did you get the PI to understand your pressures as a Med Student? They taught med students so they knew

3. How many hrs./week did you put in on average? 15-20 most weeks, I'd take weeks around exams off

4. How many pubs did you get out? Revision hell but should be 2-3 plus a few posters/abstracts

5. If you don't publish as much as those doing clinical research, residency admission committees understand? I doubt it. You still need to be in the same ballpark. If 6-7 publications is considered competitive, you're going to need 6-7. But I liked what I did a heck of a lot more than the clinical stuff I have done.

 

[Alakazam123]

1. Did you end up having to skip classes? Never went to class anyways.

2. How did you get the PI to understand your pressures as a Med Student? My PI is a very well published MD, so he knew the deal.

3. How many hrs./week did you put in on average? Depends, my research inv a very intense rat model so some wks like 20+ hrs, some wks 5 or less. This was strung throughout M1, M2.

4. How many pubs did you get out? I'm not first on anything but named on 5-6 things.

5. If you don't publish as much as those doing clinical research, residency admission committees understand? I hope so. I can definitely talk about how my research is breaking new ground in the field and how I contributed to it. I also got to meet a lot of ppl, get my name out there, and learn a lot about the field and its hot issues.

If you don't mind my asking, how did your grades turn out? And do grades matter more than step scores in a non-P/F school?

 

[Alakazam123]

1. Did you end up having to skip classes? Yeah, but I wasn't going anyway. More cut into exercise/study time

2. How did you get the PI to understand your pressures as a Med Student? They taught med students so they knew

3. How many hrs./week did you put in on average? 15-20 most weeks, I'd take weeks around exams off

4. How many pubs did you get out? Revision hell but should be 2-3 plus a few posters/abstracts

5. If you don't publish as much as those doing clinical research, residency admission committees understand? I doubt it. You still need to be in the same ballpark. If 6-7 publications is considered competitive, you're going to need 6-7. But I liked what I did a heck of a lot more than the clinical stuff I have done.

How did you skip without it impacting your grades? Also, were your classes 9-5?

 

[Goro]

At your school, do the med students have class from 9-5?
At time we did
🙁

Do they skip a ton of classes?
Lecture attendance is not required, and lectures are videotaped. As much I love lecturing, some most students, there is no need to attend lecture.

Also, how did their grades turn out?
Fine. The key thing about doing this is that you have to master time mgt. Students who were doing poorly would be told to give up the lab work.

 

[Moose A Moose]

IMO, and the opinion of many others, bench research is a waste of time during medical school. Want to stand out? Clinical research and pubs in your desired field.

 

[akuko2]

If you don't mind my asking, how did your grades turn out? And do grades matter more than step scores in a non-P/F school?

I’m at a nonmandatory P/F preclin school. Passed everything easily ( >90% on every block exam), 255 step 1. It wasn’t easy but I just had to stay on top of things intentionally and sacrifice some of my social life. I’d say its a lot easier to churn out pubs if you find clinical research though.