*uses revive spell*
I have a couple of questions for those who first earned their Ph.Ds and then went onto medical school.
First about me, the audience member:
15 credit hours left to complete my B.S. in Neuroscience. I'm a 24-year-old male. I'm not too fond of working with people (maybe because my social science background in human psychology makes me distrustful of human nature), but I do love applied medical technology and the potential it holds. I can work with people; I don't find it economical in terms of helping neurobiological knowledge progress. I have had CNA training. Also, I'm a transhumanist (big aspect). I'm currently interested in tissue/brain regeneration and repair, neurobiology of cognition, and I'd like to be a neurosurgeon. If I went for a Ph.D, it would be in neuroscience.
See below.
QUESTION PART:
Background to question: In graduate school for a Ph.D, there are many trials a person has to undergo. One of them is practical exams. Not only this, but I have been told that people in the realms of the biological and chemical sciences deal with very detail intense examinations.
Qs: As such, would you say that your level of graduate studying behavior well prepared you to deal with medical school examinations? If so, what aspects of your graduate education did you feel helped you with tackling and preparing for various exams you had to deal with in graduate school?
No, I'd say that grad school training is different enough than med school training that you won't find much overlap in terms of what kinds of study skills you need in order to do well in each context.
Qs: Did any of you attempt to apply for M.D./Ph.D programs before undertaking the Ph.D route? If yes, how did it go? If no, why not?
Most people do the PhD-to-MD route because they hadn't thought of doing MD/PhD earlier for various reasons, or because they did think of it but felt like their app wasn't strong enough to get in. In my case, I didn't know about MD/PhD programs in college. Once I got to grad school, I tried to transfer into the MSTP at my school after meeting an MD/PhD student in one of my grad school classes. The med school interviewed me and told me to reapply after I finished my PhD, at which point they would be happy to have me. Apparently there were political issues related to prior instances of the med school stealing students from the grad school. I did reapply to that med school after my PhD and was accepted there.
Qs: How did asking for letters of recommendation in order to apply to medical school go about? Did your professors despise you for deciding to go to the realm of medicine?
"Despise" is kind of a strong word, but yes, there is some intellectual snobbery among some PhDs. I had a couple of people make comments or try to talk me out of it, but it wasn't like I was ostracized or anything. My PI was very supportive once I explained that I was going to finish my PhD first.
Qs: Do you think it's possible to bias one's graduate studies in order to prepare for medical school courses, such as taking a histology course? A neuroanatomy course?
Not for the most part, unless you are taking the class that the med students take. Like the study skill set, the knowledge set you need is also different for grad school versus med school, although there is some overlap.
Qs: What did you guys do for volunteer work for medical school applications? How did you feel about it?
I have volunteered in various capacities since I was in middle school, and this did not change during grad school. Mostly I did things that were flexible schedule-wise and that related to my interests and expertise. So, I mentored UGs in the lab, worked as a moderator for SDN, did science demos for kids while serving as a big sister for BBBS, worked on a clinical trial, and volunteered at a hospital. The first three things I would have done anyway just because I enjoyed them. The last two I did because I was thinking about going to med school and wanted to get some clinical experience.
Based on what you've said about not enjoying working with people, I think that going to medical school is a terrible idea for you. Medicine is a service-oriented profession, and medical training involves a great deal of time taking care of patients. At minimum, you'll have to do two years of clinical rotations, most of which involve patient care, for up to 80 hours per week. This will be followed by 3+ clinical years of residency and possibly a fellowship. (For the record, a neurosurg residency is much longer than most others, on the order of 6-7 years.) There are a few specialties that wouldn't have much patient contact like path or rads, but you'd still have to work with other docs, techs, etc.
Also, you don't need to have an MD in order to do neuroscience research. Granted, you do need an MD if you want to be a neurosurgeon, but I'm wondering what exactly has got you convinced that neurosurg is the career for you. If you haven't already, you should really try to do some shadowing first before you take this any farther. But from what you've told us up until now, I would strongly urge you to do a straight PhD and forgo the MD. You'll be a lot less miserable during your training, and you won't waste time getting a degree and doing a residency that you don't even need in order to have the career you want.