Medical Weight of gap year research on residency?

[Goro]

Hello, I have been accepted to a DO program for matriculation in 2021, but the school I have been accepted at has no foundation for research. During my gap years, I have been performing research in a field that I am potentially interested in pursuing for residency. I'm aware that research during medical school is generally preferred, but 1) does the research I have done in my gap years (currently 3 mid-author pubs, several mid-author and one first-author pubs in progress) still count towards my future residency application? Furthermore, 2) if I decide not to pursue the field I have done research in, can my publications still be added to my application? I know this is still extremely early to ask, but I wanted to know how much of an impact going to a school with no research opportunities might have in the future. Thank you.

Any research is better than no research.

Research in med school > research prior to med school

Research in the field you want to go into > unrelated research done in med school.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

Residency programs would rather see work done IN medical school, but if you have significant work done before I would definitely add it. Would I add a poster presentation at my undergrad research symposium, probably not. But I would add any type of publication for sure. It won't hurt.

You will add any and all research to your app. I applied ortho and had some work in other fields and listed it. If PDs don't care about the work in other fields, they will just ignore it and move on. One of the big things is that they want to see you have done something and know HOW to do research.

 

[GoSpursGo]

One of the big things is that they want to see you have done something and know HOW to do research.

Just want to stress this part--the world if full of med students who decide to "dabble" in research, they meet with a mentor, come up with a plan... and then it turns out they don't really have the time or the initiative to see the project through. The mere fact that you've gotten your name on a few publications, and apparently a first-author pub, shows you have the initiative and drive to see that kind of process through. And pubs never expire. I have a middle author pub from a high school summer research thing from over 15 years ago... and you'd better believe that's still on my CV even as a fellow

The other point I would make is that, depending on whether the field you're interested in is super-competitive, you may need to have a discussion with your mentor about other ways that you can try to enhance your application. The truth is that some DO schools (and a few MD schools) really aren't set up to facilitate applications to competitive specialties. Especially given that Step 1 is going P/F, if you're not able to do research, I'm not sure what you're going to do to distinguish your application. Your research experience will definitely be a positive in whatever field you choose to apply, but it may not be sufficient to get you accepted to one of those super-competitive specialties.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

That definitely makes sense. I'm not looking to go into any hyper-competitive specialties (I'm primarily interested in pursuing pediatrics or IM/infectious diseases right now) but I would like to match into a fairly desirable location. It's a relief knowing that having some publications can still help me in the long run, even if it's not to the standard that med school research could. Thank you @Goro @TheBoneDoctah @GoSpursGo for all of your help thus far!

Absolutely. Research is always good for IM subspecialties.