Where to do summer research?

[dragon529]

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I'm currently a MS1 and want to start thinking about what to do for the upcoming summer. I'm attending at a school in NY but originally from Cali and would like to go back for residency. Would it be better for me to do summer research at an institution back in Cali or at my home institution? Also, does it matter what kinds or fields of research I do? For example, let's say I did pediatric research but ended up wanting to match in EM or ortho... would that make the summer research useless? Another question is do people usually expect to get an abstract or publication out from a summer research? I feel like 8-10 weeks is to short to complete any major project but isn't the "ideal goal" to have something published for residency purposes?

thanks in advance..! 🙂

 

[jdh71]

I'm currently a MS1 and want to start thinking about what to do for the upcoming summer. I'm attending at a school in NY but originally from Cali and would like to go back for residency. Would it be better for me to do summer research at an institution back in Cali or at my home institution? Also, does it matter what kinds or fields of research I do? For example, let's say I did pediatric research but ended up wanting to match in EM or ortho... would that make the summer research useless? Another question is do people usually expect to get an abstract or publication out from a summer research? I feel like 8-10 weeks is to short to complete any major project but isn't the "ideal goal" to have something published for residency purposes?

thanks in advance..! 🙂

It's not going to matter where you do the research. Though, if you do it back in NY, you'll be able to much more easily continue to help over the next few years in medical school.

It won't really matter what topic you pick and form what area you pick (people change their mind in med school all the time).

Two months will be much too short to expect a paper out of it. Abstract or poster is a much more reasonable expectation. Though, what you'll be getting, even if you don't find something you can cite is being able to list the experience in your CV, and that will still help you.

 

[dragon529]

Benefit of doing it at my home institution is that I may be able to continue during the regular year. However, I was thinking if I do it at an institution back in Cali (perhaps one where I would like to go to for residency), I could build up some connections/relationships to get a letter out from there where MS4 rolls around?
I can see the pros and cons of doing it at either places... just don't know what would be the best option for me.

 

[jdh71]

Benefit of doing it at my home institution is that I may be able to continue during the regular year. However, I was thinking if I do it at an institution back in Cali (perhaps one where I would like to go to for residency), I could build up some connections/relationships to get a letter out from there where MS4 rolls around?
I can see the pros and cons of doing it at either places... just don't know what would be the best option for me.

If you want to ultimately get a paper published, you'll need to stay at your home institution.

I'd lean towards staying at you're medical school. Though, if you're only doing it for a summer, then either way doesn't matter too much, and you might be able to make some connections which will help.

 

[Siverhideo1985]

Things to consider - chances are you don't know yet what you'll want to do (and even if you do, chances are you'll change your mind) so the likelihood of making the right connections that would help you for residency are very slim (esp since you'd have to figure out what specific programs you'd be applying to). Also consider that in your eventual field and according to the strength or weakness of your application you may not want to go to Cali for residency or may not be able to go (not making any predictions, just trying to point out the uncertainty of the process). Also, making good enough connections in 2-3 months and then maintaining them long enough to get a letter for residency apps will be hard.

IMO, the benefits of a longterm project at your institution with a much higher chance of a publication (+ making connections at your own institution) outweigh the remote chance of a benefit to doing an away research thing in Cali.