Curious about impact of research heavy app yet no MD/PhD

[turkey348]

I'm in a productive wet lab and I've been spending a lot of time there recently (its unpaid). I'm getting a publication (mid author), fellowship/poster, and into a big project that will culminate into a thesis and possibly my own publication. I started a clinical job that is very lax on the amount of hours so I don't work much, and I'm doing some nonclinical and clinical volunteering, and other stuff. Its all very nice but I'm not really accumulating many hours in any of it. Because of this, the gap between my time spent in research and everything else is widening. Im starting to get worried that my application will be too research heavy.

The obvious question at interviews will be why don't you want to do MD-PhD if you love research so much? I don't really have an answer other than I just don't want to. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy my time in the lab, its focus is awesome and I'm appreciative of the opportunity to actively contribute. I just don't wake up every morning thinking I can't wait to go to lab today.

I guess my question is will it be detrimental to me if my application is research heavy but I am not interested in MD-Phd? I'm gonna have all the 'boxes' but its just gonna be a lot of research. Realistically by application time no gap year will be 1500 hours research, maybe 800-1000 hours clinical job, 200 clinical volunteering and like 100 nonclinical but that's pushing it. I haven't gotten into MCAT yet so something will have to give.

Thank you.

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[PuzzlesMD]

I have about 6000 research hours in wet labs (1200+ in college, then working full time for a few years). No clinical job. Have 5 mid author pubs. 9 interviews attended. No one has asked me “why not md/phd?” At most they have inquired about specifics of my research.

 

[sciencehistorian]

You can simply state that obtaining an MD/PhD does not align with your career goals (which, for an MD/PhD, is normally some form of running a research group).

 

[Med Ed]

I'd focus on developing your explanation for why MD rather than why not MD/PhD. Over the years I have learned that running toward something is more compelling than running away from something.

If you can show your desire to practice clinical medicine then your lack of desire to direct a research lab becomes self evident.

 

[MercifulCamper]

I have about 6000 research hours in wet labs (1200+ in college, then working full time for a few years). No clinical job. Have 5 mid author pubs. 9 interviews attended. No one has asked me “why not md/phd?” At most they have inquired about specifics of my research.

Shared the same experience with a similar amount of research hours (3 gap years + undergrad). The only school I had that asked me this out of 13 interviews I attended was University of Maryland. I think if it’s not a closed file interview and you articulated why medicine in your essays you are good.

 

[turkey348]

I'd focus on developing your explanation for why MD rather than why not MD/PhD. Over the years I have learned that running toward something is more compelling than running away from something.

If you can show your desire to practice clinical medicine then your lack of desire to direct a research lab becomes self evident.

Thank you as well as everyone else who offered input. Yes to your point my clinical job, even in the short amount of time I've been one, has been pretty incredible. I can't help but feel the amount of lessons, personal development, and fun I've had in the rig dwarfs what I gained from all those hours in the lab.

To be clear my time in the lab has been great, but some days I'm starting to feel like I'm only showing up to lab to honor commitments and at the end of the day 1 or 2 pubs, poster, and a thesis won't make up for the time I could've spent elsewhere. I'm pretty sure down the line my personal statement and most of my application will focus on my clinical experience rather than the research, so I'm starting to have doubts about why I'm here so much in the first place.

As I'm writing this it's becoming clear I need to chill out. Lol.

 

[JAK2-STAT3]

OP sounds an awful lot like me lol. I applied with 5000+ research hours and a few pubs, but was several months into a clinical job by the time I applied. Most of my interviews just asked about my research more generally, presumably to make sure I could talk about it coherently. Only one school asked me flat out whether I had applied MD/PhD. But for full disclosure, I'm now on a bunch of waitlists and can only speculate on if/how my research background influenced that.

 

[Doctor-S]

I'm in a productive wet lab and I've been spending a lot of time there recently (its unpaid). I'm getting a publication (mid author), fellowship/poster, and into a big project that will culminate into a thesis and possibly my own publication. I started a clinical job that is very lax on the amount of hours so I don't work much, and I'm doing some nonclinical and clinical volunteering, and other stuff. Its all very nice but I'm not really accumulating many hours in any of it. Because of this, the gap between my time spent in research and everything else is widening. Im starting to get worried that my application will be too research heavy.

The obvious question at interviews will be why don't you want to do MD-PhD if you love research so much? I don't really have an answer other than I just don't want to. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy my time in the lab, its focus is awesome and I'm appreciative of the opportunity to actively contribute. I just don't wake up every morning thinking I can't wait to go to lab today.

I guess my question is will it be detrimental to me if my application is research heavy but I am not interested in MD-Phd? I'm gonna have all the 'boxes' but its just gonna be a lot of research. Realistically by application time no gap year will be 1500 hours research, maybe 800-1000 hours clinical job, 200 clinical volunteering and like 100 nonclinical but that's pushing it. I haven't gotten into MCAT yet so something will have to give.

Thank you.

You have indicated your focus will be CLINICAL medicine, and not research-focused, nor basic science-focused; and you don't wake up every morning thinking about rushing into a lab. In so doing, you have likely answered your own question, eh?

Have you shadowed any primary care physicians? MD-specialists?

Can you provide a meaningful explanation about "why" you aspire to be an MD-physician because you WANT to be a clinical physician and you are aware of the day-to-day responsibilities of a physician, among other things? Your clinical hours and clinical experiences will help you to answer those types of questions in a meaningful and cohesive manner.

In short, medical schools won't want to use up valuable time asking you about becoming an MD-PhD because you are NOT applying to MD-PhD programs in the first place.

FWIW, many pre-med students have heavy research hours, but only a handful of them actually aspire to be MD-PhD, and even then, some of them change their minds, and want MD only, because they don't want to be mainly research-focused in their professional careers.

 

[imidazzle92]

I highly doubt you will be asked. Plenty of successful researchers (including those at the top of their fields and those involved in basic science projects) are MD-only.

The PhD is a tool, not a requirement, to learn the skills to become a successful researcher.
You already have a lot of clinical experience, so I doubt they'll question your commitment to medicine just because you've invested a lot into research.

 

[a_distant_dream]

Going to go against the grain here - "Why not MD/PhD?" was by far the most common question I was asked, even more so than "Why Us?" or "Tell me about yourself." One of my recommenders was MD/PhD so I suspect that played a part.