Dropping down from an MD/PhD program to just MD?

There's a difference between an MSTP program and a regular MD/PhD program. An MSTP gets their funding from the NIH (or some other national funding place, not sure where exactly) to cover students' tuition and stipend. Since the funding comes from the NIH, this money doesn't cost the schools a cent, and so while they're usually pretty pissed if you drop out of the program because it makes them look bad to the NIH, they don't/can't ask for any money back. However, if your school just has their own MD/PhD program that they fund on their own, they are going to hit you with a HEFTY bill for your backlogged tuition and for the stipend they gave you.

Some of you are closer to right on this than others. I will explain.

The Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) funds a select group of programs (http://www.nigms.nih.gov/Training/InstPredoc/PredocInst-MSTP.htm). That being said, the MSTP grant funds only a part of the MD/PhD training--on the order of 20-25% depending on the program. During the medical school component this is because the NIH caps how much they will pay per student for tuition and stipend. Most programs require higher medical school tuition than that and contribute more to the student's stipend than the NIH gives. Also, many schools take more students than they have MSTP funding to support. This does not create a MSTP funded vs. not MSTP funded scenario, but rather spreads the money around so that each student is funded only partially by the MSTP.

The MSTP dictates to programs that they are not permitted to require students pay back their medical school tuition, even though a sizeable chunk of the student's stipend, tuition, and benefits is paid by the medical school or other grants. Personal communication with the NIGMS MSTP director reveals (rightly, IMO) that one should not be forced to be in science any longer than one has to be.

Non-MSTP funded MD/PhD typically require payback contracts of their students. The legla enforceability of these contracts and how often they are enforced is debateable, as this equates more or less to indentured servitude.

howelljolly said:

a whopping 30% drop back

Click to expand...

Need source on this. The small number of programs I have information on places this number at more like 10-15%.

Thanks for the source. A lot has changed since the year I was born. But unfortunately I have no hard sources. I'd look but I'm kinda working today Anyone wanna do a lit search and see if anything comes up? We have a thread about MD/PhD articles in the forum and that's a good place to start.