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[Thimble]

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[Fencer]

It truly depends on where you are talking about. For example, a top 10 IVY, will expect to recruit primarily from other top 10 IVYs or someone who just published 1st author post-doc paper in Sc/Nat/PNAS/Cell. A mid-size university will be looking for somebody with a very specific skill, for example, a prostate cancer immunologist to complement a team. Another mid-size university might want a clinician scientist, but one that also is able to do Electrocorticography (ECOG) or Epilepsy Monitoring (EMU), or a pediatrician who can also do ECMO. Most faculty jobs are not broad, I need another neurologist or pediatrician, but someone with a specific sub-specialty.

 

[Underarchiever]

It's becoming harder to become a tenure track prof. What can people do to distinguish themselves in order to go into academic research and medicine. For example, I've heard prestige of grad school heavily impacts prestige of post doctorate which is very important for getting hired as a professor? How true is this? What is considered a prestigious institution? (Top 10, 50?) How does residency factor in?

What things are useful for ones CV? What things are not?

No, the influence of your adviser is important (not the institute). When the committee looks at your application, they look for the potential of sustainable extramural funding, and of course, whether your expertise fits departmental interest. A track record of self-funded studies is helpful. If your position is mostly research, expect over 200 applications. If the position requires some service, the competition is less.

 

[Neuronix]

What can people do to distinguish themselves in order to go into academic research and medicine.

Anyone can go into academic medicine. The vast majority of academic positions are mostly clinical positions. Every year this department hires new academic physicians for 80% clinical positions. If you are going to see patients, your employer is going to be a clinical department. Tenure track essentially no longer exists within clinical departments. The question then is: what are you actually looking to do? As a pre-med, you don't have any idea yet. So if you're interested in medicine and research the answer is simple, go to a MD/PhD program you like, get some papers, and figure this stuff out later.

 

[Neuronix]

Can I safely choose an mstp on fit over prestige? I liked a program, the city, and the people, but it's ranked 15-20 for both the grad and med programs.

Yes. Where you go for residency, fellowship, and beyond will be more important. How you do in your MSTP is far more important than where you go to MSTP. You can easily do mediocre from a top MSTP and not match, or do great in a mid-tier MSTP and match to a top tier residency. So wherever you're happy and where the research is best in your area will launch the best future for you.

how important are f-series grants, clinical grades, letters (from whom?), extracurricular a, civic involvement, etc?

In order: helpful but not crucial, very important, very important (PI, other physicians or physician-scientists in the field you decide to do residency in), not at all, not at all.

Step 1 score is crucial, step 2 is becoming more important.

 

[Fencer]

How much of a hole would I dig myself into by choosing a less prestigious university (rank around 15-20 for the MD and PhD dept, USNews) that I really like over a more prestigious (rank in top 5 in PhD, about the same for MD)?

Doubt it... As others indicated, it is more critical what you did in your MD/PhD (i.e.: quality and quantity of papers) as well as your USMLE (step I and in some residencies, step II) and class rank. These factors are critical for landing a spot at specific top residencies. Then, for faculty positions, it is whether you did your "Fellowship" at a particular set of institutions, for example, in Cancer - MD Anderson, Sloan Kettering, Dana Farber or Fred Hutchinson.

 

[miz]

...time to get off this forum and go back to studying

Doubt it... As others indicated, it is more critical what you did in your MD/PhD (i.e.: quality and quantity of papers) as well as your USMLE (step I and in some residencies, step II) and class rank. These factors are critical for landing a spot at specific top residencies. Then, for faculty positions, it is whether you did your "Fellowship" at a particular set of institutions, for example, in Cancer - MD Anderson, Sloan Kettering, Dana Farber or Fred Hutchinson.

 

[Patros]

Can I safely choose an mstp on fit over prestige? I liked a program, the city, and the people, but it's ranked 15-20 for both the grad and med programs.

What sort of things are important to do during mstp? Obviously strong 1st author papers, but how important are f-series grants, clinical grades, letters (from whom?), extracurricular a, civic involvement, etc?

Oh man, the med and biology grad schools in usnwr ranks 15-20 are now subpar? I don't even know what to feel anymore.

 

[dl2dp2]

Can I safely choose an mstp on fit over prestige? I liked a program, the city, and the people, but it's ranked 15-20 for both the grad and med programs.

What sort of things are important to do during mstp? Obviously strong 1st author papers, but how important are f-series grants, clinical grades, letters (from whom?), extracurricular a, civic involvement, etc?

It sounds like you are a premed? This question is hard to answer because on the one hand the answer is everything matters. On the other hand the answer is none of these things matter. The main problem with your question is "tenure track position" varies greatly depending on where they are and what's the material content of that job. A "tenure track" position at some places may be much less competitive than at others, and you may be able to hold onto your job even if you don't have continuous extramural funding. On the other hand, you may ask yourself the question if you want that "tenure track" job if you don't get to do the research you want to do and it pays half of what you can make as a doctor.

A different way to say this is no, you cannot "safely" choose an mstp on "fit" over prestige, because prestige is always part of the "fit". Do you understand what I'm saying now? Life choices are never completely equivalent and factors can't be easily reduced into a linear preference ranking. It's hard for premeds to understand this because there are fewer things in their lives that they value as equivalent to career advancement.

That said, out of the things you mentioned, extracurricular and civic involvement are the least directly applicable to your future in getting a tenure track position, but they are nevertheless important aspects of becoming an interesting and well-rounded individual. Neglecting certain other aspects of your life in the pursuit of a tenure track position may not be an optimal strategy to achieve fulfillment.