Becoming a Physician Scientist: MD/PhD Student Experiences

[Hard24Get]

1) What type of pathway are you taking to become a physician scientist, and how far along are you?

My school is an MSTP that does 2 yrs of med school with some grad school courses on top (mainly journal club, etc, type stuff). Pretty traditional, except we start clinics 1/2 yr earlier at out med school, so MD-PhD candidates end up getting clinical experience before starting the PhD.

I am a 7th year (took 4 yrs for PhD), applying to residency this year.

2) What general advice do you have for people who want to become physician scientists by the same route you took?

Definitely have about 2 yrs or so of research experience you can talk about, and get into it enough to understand the stressors/disappointments involved. But don't neglect the clinical side - volunteering at hospitals, etc, will help you to decide if you really want to be a physician-scientist, or purely a scientist.

If you can choose one and be happy, do so. The money saved on med school is a farce when you consider how far being you will be in terms of earnings, and especially when you consider academic medicine in general pays less. Biomed PhDs are completely funded + stipend, for the most part, and there are always jobs in pharma to "fall back on".

Find a way to meld your clinical and research interests - even if it involves a non-traditional career - if you are happy, you can pull it off.


3) What application advice would you give to people who want to follow your track?

Apply broadly, programs are competitive and 30+ MCATs and high-end GPAs are the norm, though the range can be wide. They are also pretty small communities that tend to look for like-minded individuals, so you'll never know where you fit in until you get to the interview, etc.

While you are interviewing and meeting with professors, pay attention to the research milieu and the variety of research opporunities - there should be way more people you could potentially work with than you end up meeting, because inevitably the one dude/dudette you were depending on will leave, die, or manifest themselves as a jerk by the time you reach that stage.

Also, evaluate the level of program support and organization. Ask current students if they had any difficulties during med school, grad school, or the transitions between them. For example, did they have a lull between grad school and clinics, or did they want to change PhD programs, etc? If so, what were the problems and how did the program help them out? The quality of the program support can determine whether you end up droppign out or at least determine the length of your stay....

Finally, don't be shy about changing grad programs if something else floats your boat during med school classes - this is probably the best time to find a field that combines your clinical and research interests.

4) What do you wish you had done differently if you could do it all again?[/QUOTE]

Actually, I ended up choosing the right program, the right grad group, the right advisor, and most likely the right residency, but it was all by pure serenditipity, and I have seen enough people fall by the wayside to realize I have overall been very fortunate.

If I could do it all over, I would have participated in a few clinical activities during my PhD. Not because it didn't come flooding back, because it did, but because I would have realized what I wanted to specialize in and started planning my future accordingly.

Of course, I would design some experiments a bit differently and pursue some different hypotheses in the lab. I also would have studied more in the first years of med school to make AOA. These two regrets are pretty common, though

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[greg12345]

1. Traditional MSTP, straight out of college with no time in between. Currently in my 8th and final year, post-match and about to start residency.

2. Do it the MSTP way - it is the easiest and least painful way to end up with 2 degrees.

3. Have lots of research experience and know your projects and the relevant literature inside and out; nothing kills a candidate's chances like when they don't know their research all that well and it turns out they were just pipetting stuff when they were told to.

4. I would have identified and spoken with career mentors a lot earlier - i.e. people who are where I want to be in 10-15 years - This includes fast-tracking residents, MD/PhDs who are fellows, and brand new junior faculty who are in the process of starting their research careers. The best thing you can do is pick the minds of those who are where you want to be so you can avoid making the mistakes they made. I wish I knew more about how academic medicine worked (e.g. the politics, the games, etc.) earlier on as well.

 

[Ultra7]

1) What type of pathway are you taking to become a physician scientist, and how far along are you?

Traditional MSTP, 8th year, postmatch and about to start residency.

2) What general advice do you have for people who want to become physician scientists by the same route you took?

I can't think of an easier or more reliable way to become a physician-scientist. Not that it is either easy or reliable.

3) What application advice would you give to people who want to follow your track?

Agree with above. Also:
1. It is best to stay in a single lab for as long as possible and really know and understand your project. Experience in multiple labs is not likely to help you--quality is much more important than quantity.

2. It doesn't much matter what you do research on as an undergrad or pre-med; you can switch to anything as a PhD student. Pick a lab with an advisor and coworkers that you like, where they are interested in teaching you and will (at least eventually) give you your own project. I actually think this advice applies to your PhD as well--the grad students who are miserable are not miserable because they realized transcription factor X in microbe Y is boring; they are miserable because they are working for a PI who doesn't understand/respect/nurture/help/... them enough. PICK AN ADVISOR YOU LIKE ABOVE ALL ELSE! Picking a lab with post-docs, technicians, and other grad students you like is next most important. Going to work with a bunch of jerks for 4+ years is reeeeeeaaaaallllly going to suck.

3. It is more important to know and understand your work than to have a publication.

4) What do you wish you had done differently if you could do it all again?

I can't think of any career-type decisions I'd really like to change, since I'm really happy where I am now, and generally I don't like to think backwards like that. I did do some things that I was really lucky worked out OK but are not generally advisable, including: not studying for the MCAT enough (I would recommend doing ALOT of test prep questions); and applying to too few schools (5)--10 would have been better.

 

[dl2dp2]

1) What type of pathway are you taking to become a physician scientist, and how far along are you?

Traditional MD/PhD at a MSTP. Will graduate this May.

2) What general advice do you have for people who want to become physician scientists by the same route you took?


These programs, funded nationally by the NIH. seem to be getting more and more competitive. So work as hard as you can during undergrad and on your MCAT. This is not to say though that you shouldn't enjoy college somehow, but learning to be time efficient is essential. Also, make sure you have excellent research experiences.

3) What application advice would you give to people who want to follow your track?


Apply broadly. That way in the end you can have a broader set of choices that you can pick from.

4) What do you wish you had done differently if you could do it all again?


Nothing really. Everything worked out in my favor and I have been extremely lucky. There are small things and general dissatisfaction with the ways in which medicine and science exist in a metaphysical way, but in practical terms to the extent that there are things I could've really changed, there is none.

I wish I managed time more effectively so I had more fun and joined a frat in college, instead of staying in my dorm and stared at the computer all night long. Don't make that mistake.

 

[nomogram3]

1) What type of pathway are you taking to become a physician scientist, and how far along are you?

Traditional MD/PhD at a non-MSTP. Will graduate this May and begin a short-track internal medicine program with a plan to do a hem/onc fellowship.

2) What general advice do you have for people who want to become physician scientists by the same route you took?

Get good grades as an undergrad and study hard for the MCAT. There are many well-funded, well-known researchers at non-MSTP medical schools, going to an MSTP program is not at all required if you want to have a career in academic medicine, but you probably will have a greater number of mentors to choose from. Once you get into medical school, study hard and do well in your clinical years, because just being an MD/PhD will only get you so far.

I was able to get interviews at the top IM residency programs on the East Coast when I applied, and I was surrounded by a lot of Step I 250+ superstars.


3) What application advice would you give to people who want to follow your track?

Study hard as an undergrad and apply broadly. Have an idea of the type of research you would like to do, just because a medical school is rated three spots higher on the US News rankings than another is not at all indicative of whether they will have the caliber of research that you will want in your chosen field.

4) What do you wish you had done differently if you could do it all again?

I played soccer and did a study abroad as an undergrad, and I have no regrets doing that. Things have really worked out in my favor, and I'm going to a great place for clinical training and research. Have some fun once in a while, or you'll crack (ie be normal). My fiancee added that.