All graduated doctors should be able to keep up-to-date with advances in their field of expertise by critical appraisal of research literature. Critical understanding of research requires practice and therefore medical schools implement education in research skills early in the curriculum. Previous studies on student experiences qualitatively indicate that integration of research in education enhances student learning (Hunter, Laursen, & Seymour, 2007). This study at the Leiden University Medical Center aims to measure differences and similarities in first-year student experiences in (1) a discipline-based and (2) an integrated competency-based undergraduate programme (Harden & Laidlaw, 2012). The competency-based programme is intended to embed research-based learning by, for example, student research projects. In order to draw conclusions about research-based learning in first-year medical education, student experiences are correlated to academic achievement (GPA) in a pre-post test design. The applied student experience questionnaire consisted of five scales, which focused on students’ critical reflection, participation, familiarity with staff research , motivation towards research and beliefs about the value of research (Van der Rijst, Visser-Wijnveen, Verloop & Van Driel, 2013). We describe results of two student groups that reflect the experienced discipline-based programme and the experienced integrated competency-based programme.