yaya, during the first 2 years you should concentrate on learning the material for classes and do well on your exams. This will also prepare you to ace boards (hopefully). Research is always a plus! It really dosen't matter if you do clinical or bench. If you get involved in a study make sure you understand what you're doing and be able to discuss it... this will play a role in interviews! If you can make time to follow an orthopod then by all means go ahead and do so, but not at the expense of your academics. One thing you shoud do early is get to know your program's chairman. This person can be a great resource over the next few years. Besides, the better he knows you, the better LOR he can write for you. Good luck and study hard!

I second podlings advice. I think the most important goal of the first two years is to rock step I. The best way to do that at this point is to do well in your classes now and get good grades. Don't worry about studying until classes end in May. I also think that getting involved in research is important. It's a great way to meet attendings and you'll have something to put on your application, to talk about at interviews, and you may even get a publication out of it. Use some of free time to hang out with the residents if you have an ortho program at your school. I've found ortho residents to be some of the coolest people to learn from. They are always willing to teach you if you show interest and they know how to enjoy their work, as opposed to their gen surg counterparts. But don't let any of this get in the way of your studying to do well on the boards. I'm only a third year, but it seems like the greatest obstacle to getting an ortho spot is below average step I scores. But the residents out there can comment on this better than I can. )

Thanks. I appreciate the replies. We have a pretty strong ortho program here, so I'll try to get involved. Everyone talks about boards, so it looks like scoring well there is the first big step.