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- Jul 11, 2014
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As the title says, I am not sure about applying to MSTP programs. I'm reasonably competitive with a ~3.8 GPA and >36 average on my AAMC practice MCAT tests, as well as good non-clinical extracurriculars, and about 70 hours of shadowing and no clinical volunteering at this point (will work on it).
I have about 2 years of research in epidemiology, and will have about 1.5 years of basic science (neuroscience) research by the time I apply. I foresee having 3 non-first author papers published by application, as well as 2 first author abstracts/posters and 2 presentations, plus a research grant. I will also be doing research during my app year. I like basic science research but have a few concerns:
1) I would only have neuroscience research, but if I got a PhD I would want it to be more bioinformatics related. I'm proficient in a few programming languages but don't a math background at all, so how feasible would this be? And if I apply saying that my intention is to do neuroscience, how possible would it be for me to switch?
2) I really want to be a clinician, and I think I would be more competitive if I applied MD/PhD due to good research experience and average (or slightly below average) clinical experience. I am just not sure that if accepted, I would see the PhD portion to completion especially if I wasn't doing bioinformatics or something related to it.
3) I'm not good at/dislike benchwork. I suck at labs and always get contaminated product in chem labs or end up messing up tissue sections or whatever. I am good at scientific writing as well as experimental design and reasonable in stats, so I do like that part of research.
The main reason I am considering the PhD is because I've always been interested in bioinformatics (my school has absolutely nothing related to it, unfortunately) and it's a backup plan in case medicine doesn't work out.
So should I apply to MD/PhD programs? Or would I be competitive enough for MD even though I don't have that much clinical experience? Thanks in advance for your help!
I have about 2 years of research in epidemiology, and will have about 1.5 years of basic science (neuroscience) research by the time I apply. I foresee having 3 non-first author papers published by application, as well as 2 first author abstracts/posters and 2 presentations, plus a research grant. I will also be doing research during my app year. I like basic science research but have a few concerns:
1) I would only have neuroscience research, but if I got a PhD I would want it to be more bioinformatics related. I'm proficient in a few programming languages but don't a math background at all, so how feasible would this be? And if I apply saying that my intention is to do neuroscience, how possible would it be for me to switch?
2) I really want to be a clinician, and I think I would be more competitive if I applied MD/PhD due to good research experience and average (or slightly below average) clinical experience. I am just not sure that if accepted, I would see the PhD portion to completion especially if I wasn't doing bioinformatics or something related to it.
3) I'm not good at/dislike benchwork. I suck at labs and always get contaminated product in chem labs or end up messing up tissue sections or whatever. I am good at scientific writing as well as experimental design and reasonable in stats, so I do like that part of research.
The main reason I am considering the PhD is because I've always been interested in bioinformatics (my school has absolutely nothing related to it, unfortunately) and it's a backup plan in case medicine doesn't work out.
So should I apply to MD/PhD programs? Or would I be competitive enough for MD even though I don't have that much clinical experience? Thanks in advance for your help!