When should you reach out to PIs at your school during M1?

[cmahlen]

I will be starting medical school this August and want to start doing research as soon as reasonably possible, and I found a couple of PIs at my university whose work interests me. However, I've gathered from some other threads that it isn't smart to start doing research on day 1 because it is important to find your rhythm and adjust to the workload of medical school. So, I'm wondering whether I should wait until that time comes (whenever it is) to reach out to PIs, or if I can just do it now before the summer ends.

If I reach out now and they accept me into the lab, that would give me something interesting to do before matriculating (I am working a mind-numbingly boring job this summer and don't really have much to do in my spare time besides exercise). I could study the lab's work in more depth so that I have a good idea of what's going on there to better contribute. It would also guarantee me a position in a lab where the work is very fascinating to me, rather than joining one whose work I may be less engaged in. On the other hand, I don't know if reaching out to start doing work in the lab at some indeterminate point in the future will seem "weird", or whether doing this will have any other downsides that I am not seeing.

I would appreciate anyone's input on this!

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[Hzreio]

It wouldn’t hurt to contact the PIs to introduce yourself. You could even ask for some recommended readings to do about the area. But conventional knowledge is correct in that you shouldn’t commit yourself to any hard deadlines during the beginning of M1. Figuring out how to school should be your first priority

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

I was going back and forth on this and ultimately decided to just wait, while instead trying to hone some research skills in my spare time. There are some good books about statistics and clinical research on Scribd. I thought it was weird to reach out prior to matriculation. Maybe it’s not but I’d hate to make a bad impression before even starting.

I think if the school has a well defined pre M1 research track (i think uva had/has one but don’t quite me) then it is less weird.

 

[Dr. Anonymouss]

I think the best time would be when you feel comfortable with medical school. For most people this should be after 3-6 months. You need to learn how to study and excel in your classes before you should think of tackling research. You will find you don't have much time for research, but it's all about time management. I will say however that looking back on it, the first 2 years were much easier than 3rd year for getting research done. As a third year I am in the hospital all day, usually 730-5 and when I get home I need to study. I found it much easier to do research during pre-clinical years, but I suppose it all depends on what your rotation is like. I say this so you don't wait too long and assume it will get easier as a 3rd year.

 

[GoSpursGo]

If you feel confident that you know your specialty of interest and it's highly competitive, then I think it's totally fair game to set up a meeting to establish a mentoring relationship. Something like "I'm interested in x specialty, and I really was interested in some of your work in xyz. Would it be possible to meet to find out more about what you do and receive general advice for someone interested in pursuing this specialty?" I think in your first month or two, it would be well-understood that you're still getting your bearings and probably are not ready to start a project immediately, but they may have some other advice for you from a mentorship/networking perspective, and it will allow your subsequent meeting when you actually are ready to start doing research go much more productively.