Unfortunately for me, I have always wanted a PhD. Doubly unfortunate for me, I love neuroscience and Illinois has some super interesting projects there. Including some CWD research which excites me a lot. I'm definitely a researcher and/or professor at heart. DVM feels like a good way to take the limited aspects of research and remind myself where the end applications are. Plus, I personally want a ton of animals, and lifetime costs may end up equalling out.
I probably could have just said I hate myself and conveyed the same info lol.
Halloooooo DVM/PhD professor here!
Others here have asked very good questions, and here are some more to think about. Of course you don't have to have all the answers right now, but just let these bounce around in your mind.
1. At the end of the day, what type of "work split" do you think you would most enjoy? Would you prefer to be mostly research and be clinical on the side? Or primarily clinical with research on the side? When you say professor, do you mean a position with a research/teaching split or one that is primarily research? How much research experience do you currently have (i.e. are you sure you like it? Speaking from experience, it's rough af
and often not nearly as enjoyable as it may appear - and I say this as someone who has done a TON of it)
2. What type of research speaks the most to you? Topics that are more focused on veterinary species (i.e. the CWD you mentioned) or topics that have more translational implications and are more likely to get high level (i.e. NIH and the like) funding and support? A PhD with a solid postdoc and a ton of pubs is almost essential for the latter, but not necessarily the former.
3. Do you want to be a PI (running your own lab, writing grants and finding funding, managing projects and postdocs and grad students, etc) or would you prefer more collaborative endeavors where you are more of a contributor than a true PI? I do admit my own bias towards the latter...it's what I do, and scratches my research itch enough without cutting into my teaching and clinical responsibilities.
My issue with a lot of combined programs is that the quality, rigor and topics of the research can often be a little disappointing for someone who wants to pursue a major PI role in the future. And that's not the fault of the students at all - it is simply because combined students have less time and energy to devote to major projects (and the research is often "split" because there are clinical years in between). It's not really conducive to a lot of major impact publications. If you aren't after major funding agencies and you don't want to be a PI, thats's not that big of a deal, though.
Disclaimer: I did my PhD separately, after residency, and I think it really let me focus 100% on my projects and get better outcomes. It still took me almost 5 years (which is on the average-to-slightly-quick side in PhD land, even), and I can't fathom trying to combine it with a clinical degree. I have a 75% teaching appointment, with 25% clinical/research. My clinical time is protected, and I basically just kinda pitch in with random research projects with a variety of groups. I'm very happy with it.
