MD to MD/PhD Interview advice

[chajjohnson]

Hey Everyone,

So I'm a current MS1 and I applied and got an interview invite for my school's MD/PhD program. MD/PhD was always my goal, but my school made it so that if you applied MD/PhD you could not apply for just MD, so I didn't apply for MD/PhD the year I got in. Anyways, I've talked to everyone in my class who is MD/PhD about what their interviews were like, but they've all told me that because I am already in med school that my interview will probably be much different, i.e. much more about me justifying why I didn't apply MD/PhD originally, proving that I want to do research, etc. My stats are above average for everything, I've done very well my first semester of school, and I've had 4 years research experience with a few pubs so I'm not worried about anything like that, but I can just imagine them being a little hesitant to accept me since I didn't seem to want MD/PhD originally.

I was just wondering if anyone here has had similar experiences, and if there is any advice out there on how to prepare for the interview. Thanks!

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[StIGMA]

If anything you can make a better case about why you want to pursue a research career as you have been exposed to more medical background / how research has shaped current medical care / now you are more interested in being a physician scientist (maybe you never met them before/didnt consider being one yourself until now). You still need legitimate reasons as to why you want to pursue the PhD. So think about that in a lot of detail (and specifically why you would be successful during the PhD). Have some potential research mentors in mind.

 

[URHere]

At my school, the general rule for internal applicants is that they are judged by the same standards as those who are applying MD/PhD from the beginning. If someone wouldn't have been accepted as an external applicant, they won't be accepted as an internal one.

Make sure that you can talk about your past research experiences intelligently and passionately. Make sure you have a good answer for the classic "why MD/PhD question". As for explaining why you didn't apply MD/PhD from the beginning, just be honest. If you liked your school so much that you wanted to maximize your chances of acceptance by applying MD-only, but were always hoping to apply internally, that sounds perfectly reasonable to me.