Benefits of a Research Year
Written by Krishna V. Suresh
I opened my email on March 18th, 2022, surrounded by my family. It was 10:58 AM CST, and the email had arrived a couple minutes early. As my eyes read the words “Johns Hopkins Hospital-MD,” I breathed a huge sigh of relief. The cumulation of all my efforts in medical school—the sleepless nights doing research, the hours spent preparing for cases during my sub-internships, the months dedicated to preparation for USMLE Step 1 and Step 2, and the time spent traveling to numerous conferences and meetings—was worth it. The calls/texts from my program director, my mentors, and co-residents came pouring in, welcoming me back to the Hopkins orthopaedic family.
Yes, I said “welcoming me back.” Perhaps, in reality, the most important reason I matched at the Johns Hopkins Hospital was because I completed a clinical research fellowship (the POGGI Pediatric Orthopaedic Research Fellowship) between my third and fourth year of medical school. Though this year was extremely busy and the hours long, the results were worth it. I had published over 30 papers in the span of 1 year and had the opportunity to see hundreds of spinal deformity and pediatric orthopaedic surgical cases. Most importantly, I formed a close relationship with one of the most prominent spinal deformity pediatric surgeons in the country and worked closely with almost all the residents at Hopkins. It was precisely these experiences and connections that allowed me to receive interview invites at some of the most prestigious programs in the country. And it was this longitudinal, positive experience at Hopkins that made me rank the program so highly.
So why a research year? This initial decision for me was quite simple: I wanted to experience orthopaedic surgery outside of my home institution, gain fundamental research skills, build meaningful connections at other academic institutions, and circumvent the no-away policy during the COVID-19 pandemic. My CV at this point was already fairly robust; I had excellent Step 1/Step 2 CK board scores (>95th percentile in both), had honored all my clinical rotations, had approximately 6 publications in progress, and a plethora of volunteer experiences. My plan was to apply straight through, if I did not secure a research position, just like the other nine candidates from my medical school.
Thankfully, I was accepted into the POGGI fellowship. The orthopaedic match rate for that year for my medical school was approximately 62.5%, with majority of candidates being accepted at our home institution. Those that did not match had very similar stats to me prior to my research year. When I learned about this news near the tail end of my research year, it became extremely apparent that positive connections/advocates at programs was the MOST important factor when gaining acceptance into a residency program—not your USMLE scores, not your AOA status, not the number of publications, and not how many clinical honors you have. During a year without any away rotations, students did not have the chance to network with other programs and lost the opportunity to form meaningful relationships with faculty and residents.
Ultimately, for extremely competitive specialties like plastic surgery, dermatology, ENT, neurosurgery, and orthopaedic surgery, almost all the applicants at baseline have excellent USMLE scores, phenomenal clinical grades, great research experience, and other meaningful extracurriculars. A research year is an avenue to build unique, personalized connections both at the institutional level and with individual faculty. And this is the most important aspect of the application—an additional expert in the field to advocate for you actively during interview season. Having such support can make going through the match much less anxiety-inducing. Because remember: if you don’t match into these specialties on the first try, your odds of matching as a reapplicant drops exponentially, often closing the door on these ultra-competitive specialties for the majority of re-applicants.
Of note: If you are considering one of these specialties, and do not have the “baseline” stats I am referring to, I urge you to talk to a mentor for guidance now who will be honest with you. Because powerful advocacy is even more critical in these scenarios.
