Can I switch MD/PhD from MD acceptance?

[EastCoastie87]

I have already received an MD acceptance to one of my in-state medical schools. Has anyone ever heard of someone using that acceptance as a springboard to the MSTP program in the Fall? I'm going to email the appropriate people at the school, but I wondered if anyone out there had heard of this happening before. The archived threads were barren

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[StIGMA]

Most programs have an MD to MD/PhD application route. Check with the particular school (and the webpage first), but it is not uncommon.

 

[ratherberocking]

Some if not more schools have a "second cycle" application, but I think it's during the second year of MD.

 

[Neuronix]

It depends on the school. Some will make you wait a year to make the switch and others will make you wait two years to make the switch. At some schools this almost never happens and at others you have a very good chance.

Assuming you really do want to do MD/PhD, if I were you I would talk to the MSTP director ASAP to see if you could be considered immediately. Otherwise you'll have loans for a year or two...

 

[EastCoastie87]

Thanks for the quick responses! I will send the school an email tomorrow; I'm just glad there's hope (even if it's two years and tons of loans away).

 

[EastCoastie87]

Here's an update for the sake of the archive: I got in touch with the school's MSTP program director and was informed that I could apply for the MSTP program for Fall 2009. Also, even if I am rejected I can keep my slot in the MD program.

 

[Neuronix]

Glad to hear it! Mind telling us which school this is?

 

[EastCoastie87]

The Medical University of South Carolina

P.S. I bet you can't guess which state I live in

 

[rtmcad2319]

It depends on the school. Some will make you wait a year to make the switch and others will make you wait two years to make the switch. At some schools this almost never happens and at others you have a very good chance.

Assuming you really do want to do MD/PhD, if I were you I would talk to the MSTP director ASAP to see if you could be considered immediately. Otherwise you'll have loans for a year or two...

Yeah I agree with Neuronix...I switched during the Spring semester of my second year of medical school. It was not hard at all to do, but it was challenging to find a PI in a relatively short period of time. I think it was better for me as I had the opportunity to see what academic medicine was all about and find a clinical (Immunology for me) science that I really found interesting...

 

[themudphud]

As long as you have a research background--i.e. have the qualifications to have applied to MD/PhD to begin with--then it shouldn't be too tough to apply for the MD/PhD program once you get there.

 

[EastCoastie87]

As long as you have a research background--i.e. have the qualifications to have applied to MD/PhD to begin with--then it shouldn't be too tough to apply for the MD/PhD program once you get there.

Even if I don't get in this year the admission secretary at the MSTP office said I could re-apply after my first year of the MD program, so I'm not stressing too much.

 

[Gozar]

one thing to look out for when transferring into the md/phd program at your school is that your undergrad GPA is taken into account initially, but pretty much gets ignored once you start racking up pre-clinical grades. i made the same move that you are talking about right now and was told that my grades from first semester would dictate my success in transferring. this can be a good or bad thing - my GPA post undergrad engineering degree was not good enough for md/phd but my first semester med school grades were. GPA in undergrad can have a very low correlation to med school grades. some schools (baylor comes to mind) even mandate that md/phd students have a certain class rank. if you are not above that line before you transfer in then there is no way that you'll get a spot.

 

[JHopRevisit]

For the mods: this would be a very good list to start compiling and sticky. That is, have current students comment on the transfer process (do you just re-submit AMCAS with an update, interviews, same pool as all students, etc.) and how difficult it is to transfer into their MD/PhD program, (ideally with #'s if you can get your hands on any).

It can actually be quite tricky at some schools. At Hopkins its definitely not a guarantee, I would say ~25% or less of people who apply internally are accepted (that is, get funding for the clinical years). However, I would add that unlike Gozar's experience pre-clinical grades are relatively meaningless for us, it's still research experience + reasons for MD/PhD (particularly, why did you apply MD only in the first place?).

 

[EastCoastie87]

My transfer process thus far has consisted of re-submitting my AMCAS with the two additional essays. I'm still waiting for the school to supply me with the secondary application, but I'm not expecting to hear from them until after the new year.

Since I started the transfer process in December I had to get in touch with the AMCAS people to extend the online deadline for the MD/PHD primary application submission. This required having the MSTP admission department contacting AMCAS and telling them I was allowed to have an extension.

 

[Neuronix]

For the mods: this would be a very good list to start compiling and sticky.

I would sticky that data, certainly, though as far as I can recall we have very very little data on this point. The only way to get this sort of quality data would be to send e-mails around to the MD/PhD staff at different schools and have them comment directly. Would you be interested in such a task? I honestly don't know how it works at my own program. I hear occasionally about PhD students enquiring about switching to MD/PhD, but this very very very rarely goes anywhere.

The only other data I have from old threads is that the WashU internal acceptance rate is ~75%. They come up a lot because they interview and accept a lot of MD-onlies who had applied MD/PhD. But I don't know at what year that student would typically be taken and what criteria they'd use for acceptance.