Importance of Research for Matching IM

[djiboutiman]

I’m a rising second year medical student at one of those older DO schools. I’m starting to realize I want to do IM and then a fellowship afterwards (heme/onc, rheum, allergy seem interesting to me). I know that it’s helpful to match into an academic program or a highly regarded community program to keep fellowship options open. So my question is how important is research to match into these types of IM programs? I’m currently doing some research over the summer in neurology, but will likely not get a publication out of it. Should I be trying to do some research during M2 in one of the fellowship fields I’m interested in? Any other tips?

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[SeldingerTechneek]

No. Published research obviously won’t hurt, but don’t spend time on it at the expense of your boards/grades. Research is the ‘icing on the cake.’ If you keep your numbers at the top of your potential, that’ll matter much more in matching into an academic program and setting you up well for an IM fellowship.

Spend your next couple years in deciding which specialty you want to apply for. If you can tie your upcoming Neuro research with one of those IM fields you’re interested in, that’d be nice too if you do decide IM is going to be what you apply for.

 

[Redpancreas]

I’m a rising second year medical student at one of those older DO schools. I’m starting to realize I want to do IM and then a fellowship afterwards (heme/onc, rheum, allergy seem interesting to me). I know that it’s helpful to match into an academic program or a highly regarded community program to keep fellowship options open. So my question is how important is research to match into these types of IM programs? I’m currently doing some research over the summer in neurology, but will likely not get a publication out of it. Should I be trying to do some research during M2 in one of the fellowship fields I’m interested in? Any other tips?

For you, you're not likely competitive for one of those upper tier places (think UCSF, Michigan, Harvard) no matter what. These are the places that have amazing applicants who then look to differentiate themselves with research. For your, get a good CK score, M3 grades, and letters and you'll match somewhere academic where you'll have the opportunity to go for HO, Rheum, or Allergy.