Since it seems like a strong research background is important for getting good residencies, I get the feeling I should ..um..start doing some. My question is when do students do research? I'm a rising MS3. LAst summer I spent working as a med tech-my career before I started med school. I would have made 1/2 as much $$ if I had done the schools research program and I was broke. This past summer was mostly spent w/ step 1 study. When do people have time to do research? During M2 year? During M3 year? Are we really expected to perform well on exams while also contributing something significant to research? Thanks
When do you do research?
- Thread starter Colba55o
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I did research during M2 year. Spent about a good 5 hours a day in lab on average. Studied for classes during downtime of course to keep up.
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Summer between M1 and M2 is best or even before you start school.
You just don't get much done if you come in for a few hours a week during the school year -- if you have no prior research experience. You just don't have the skills the lab needs.
My plan was learn as much as I could during summer between M1 and M2 and come in during school year for a few hours per week. Oh, I also happen to have 2 undergrads who were working for me and doing most of the tedious work during the school year.
Now I have a first author paper coming out. By milking it as much as I can, should have 1-2 more papers before I finish.
You just don't get much done if you come in for a few hours a week during the school year -- if you have no prior research experience. You just don't have the skills the lab needs.
My plan was learn as much as I could during summer between M1 and M2 and come in during school year for a few hours per week. Oh, I also happen to have 2 undergrads who were working for me and doing most of the tedious work during the school year.
Now I have a first author paper coming out. By milking it as much as I can, should have 1-2 more papers before I finish.
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I have a few friends who did research between first and second year. You're right, it's not really reasonable to expect students to do research during first and second year when we have a lot of other obligations. You could possibly continue research into second year if you started a project in the summer if your project was pretty low maintenance, but it seems to me that most students who did research over the summer didn't continue the work but did have to present at a poster session during the year. You can often apply for a grant/fellowship that includes a stipend for summer research, but of course this is not going to be a ton of money. People do it more for the experience rather than for the money.
It is possible to get time during 3rd and 4th year to do research, but I think this depends a lot on your priorities, your school and your schedule. What residencies are you interested in? Research is generally a good thing, but I think it only works for you if the particular residency values research and you value research too. It's not worth taking 8 weeks out of your rotations to do research if it's not something your interested in and you don't plan to pursue research in your life after med school. It's more important that you have good clinical grades and letters of recommendation.
It is possible to get time during 3rd and 4th year to do research, but I think this depends a lot on your priorities, your school and your schedule. What residencies are you interested in? Research is generally a good thing, but I think it only works for you if the particular residency values research and you value research too. It's not worth taking 8 weeks out of your rotations to do research if it's not something your interested in and you don't plan to pursue research in your life after med school. It's more important that you have good clinical grades and letters of recommendation.
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I think third year is generally too late for big projects and basic science. The time it would take to submit, peer review and publish a paper would put you past the time line for applications for residency. So I guess try to find some case reports that are easier to get done.
See if your school lets you schedule elective research months. If you take the first 2 months of M4 as research months and you know what you're going into you have a decent chance of having something submitted for approval or (if you're lucky) in press by residency time.
B
Blade28
I did the bulk of my (clinical) research during the summer after MS-I year, and throughout MS-II year. I then finished up and published in the second half of MS-III and early MS-IV years.
