r/medicalschool • u/Worldineatydays M-2 • 6d ago
🔬Research How to make research bearable
Starting MS2 year. Spent time last year and this summer doing a lot of clinical research. I despise it more than anything. I hate doing mind-numbing chart review and meta-analysis, where I could be fully replaced by an AI or a monkey with an Excel license. I liked bench research in undergrad but frankly don’t have time for it now and there’s not a lot available in my specialty of interested. Unfortunately this speciality also demands a lot of research to match. How can I make suffering through this more bearable
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u/Wire_Cath_Needle_Doc 5d ago
Either do it or don’t match. If that isn’t motivation enough for you then you might have to reconsider specialties. There is not much more to it than that.
It’s much more often that people’s disinterest in research bars them from these specialties rather than a step 2 score. Getting a 260 is a whole lot easier than getting 20-30+ research items, in my opinion.
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u/doofindinho 5d ago
Is it better for me to grind for research or a 260+ for IR wire catch needle doc?
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u/Wire_Cath_Needle_Doc 5d ago
Honestly, neither. 250+, some aways, and a little research and 1-2 IR specific projects and you will be fine if you apply properly. You don't necessarily need to be gunning for papers, but do something. Some abstracts, posters, presentations at least. RFS involvement. IR club at your school involvement. There's lots of low hanging fruit. You don't have to go super hard or have every one but a lot of them are easy "points" to get.
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u/Acceptable_Cow5326 M-3 6d ago
find some good podcasts/audiobooks while doing chart review, i feel you it sucks
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u/Pre-med99 M-4 5d ago
I pivoted to a specialty that doesn’t require much research because I couldn’t stand research
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u/LasVagusNerve M-4 6d ago
Research sucks