I didn’t get involved in research until my third year of med school, which is NOT ideal. I recommend you start a project during your first year of med school to see it to completion. Ideally, you want to publish a paper, but it’s less important depending on the specialty. Regardless, having some research experience is helpful as many programs (including my specialty, internal medicine) will require you to get involved in a project.
Please keep in mind that the importance of research varies by specialty. I applied to internal medicine, where publications do not matter as much as the other aspects of the application. It may be more important if you’re applying to the big four programs in internal medicine, like Johns Hopkins, Massachusetts General, Brigham Women’s, and UCSF.
General tips
- Even if you don’t like research (like me!), it isn’t awful if you engage in research that is interesting to you!
- Contact faculty early on. It’s as simple as looking for faculty on your school’s website. Start with the specialty you are most interested in. Even if your specialty changes later on, residency programs mostly want to see that you saw a project to completion and care less about the topic. Again, you’ll need to contact your advisers to see how it differs by specialty.
- Another way to find research opportunities is to email professors that taught you in your courses to see what projects they may have available. You can also contact your preceptors during your second year of med school (if you do have clinical preceptorship during your second year of med school).
- Get in touch with upperclassmen medical students, such as third or fourth years. They are usually involved in some sort of project that you could definitely help out with! Even if you are not first author, being part of a project and being 4th or 7th author still counts.
- Many of my friends are pursuing competitive specialties like plastic surgery and orthopedics. We all got involved in research and wrote manuscripts on our own. You can often find this information online and learn from upperclassmen or your research mentors. They will guide you. It is not necessary at all to pay for research courses, especially if your financial resources are scarce. I do not know any medical student who has had to pay to learn how to get involved in research or write a paper.
Free Articles on How to Write a Manuscript
Hope that helps!
