[Deleted]

[WrongTurn]

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[Deleted]

 

[LizzyM]

At this point, it is too late to apply to matriculate in 2019. Successful applicants apply in June, interview starting in September and have offers by February. It is a much different timeline than many PhD programs.

Have you had experience (paid or volunteer) in a clinical setting (in a health care facility with patients)? Have you been involved in community service of any kind? Have you taken the pre-reqs for med school including biology, chemistry, organic chemistry, biochemistry, and social science (some schools want English, too)? Have you shadowed physicians? Can you devote at least 200 hours to MCAT prep (each practice exam is 7 hours and it takes time to review the results of the practice exam before studying the areas where you are weakest before taking another practice exam).

It might be possible to spend this year prepping for the MCAT and filling in any holes in your application then applying in June 2019 for matriculation in 2020. Whether you choose to drop out of the PhD sooner rather than later is up to you.

 

[947830]

At this point, it is too late to apply to matriculate in 2019. Successful applicants apply in June, interview starting in September and have offers by February. It is a much different timeline than many PhD programs.

Have you had experience (paid or volunteer) in a clinical setting (in a health care facility with patients)? Have you been involved in community service of any kind? Have you taken the pre-reqs for med school including biology, chemistry, organic chemistry, biochemistry, and social science (some schools want English, too)? Have you shadowed physicians? Can you devote at least 200 hours to MCAT prep (each practice exam is 7 hours and it takes time to review the results of the practice exam before studying the areas where you are weakest before taking another practice exam).

It might be possible to spend this year prepping for the MCAT and filling in any holes in your application then applying in June 2019 for matriculation in 2020. Whether you choose to drop out of the PhD sooner rather than later is up to you.

Thoughtful analysis! These are all relevant questions to be asked.

 

[947830]

While I can't say much more than what LizzyM said already, I would recommend that you acquire an M.S. Regardless of what happens, it will be a good addition to your resume, and that your efforts are documented.

Hope this helps! Hang in there.

 

[vrazzles]

I wonder how dropping out of a PhD will look to ADCOMs. I am not being snarky. I legit wonder.

My perspective: You would have to explain why you're running TO medicine and not FROM research. I would be concerned about your dedication and willingness to see things through. If you told me that you joined a PhD because of your parents, I would have a hard time looking at you as someone capable of making their own informed decisions.

 

[efle]

2. Wait until I finish year 3 when I’ll at least leave with a M.S. degree as well as 3 semesters of clinical mentorship and all of my coursework done. Then, apply for 2021 matriculation.

Would probably do this. You'd have to spend this year in the program waiting to apply and next year in the program while applying...might as well move it back a single year to come out after 3 years with a free Master's rather than having no formal credential to show for the 2 years in lab.

It also gives you a ton of time to take any missing prereqs, review for the MCAT and sit for it, get letters of rec requested and sent in, write essays, etc. If you score high on the MCAT you'll be in a great position, since the high-stats big names love to see prior formal research years so they can believe you're a future academic doc.

 

[947830]

I wonder how dropping out of a PhD will look to ADCOMs. I am not being snarky. I legit wonder.

My perspective: You would have to explain why you're running TO medicine and not FROM research. I would be concerned about your dedication and willingness to see things through. If you told me that you joined a PhD because of your parents, I would have a hard time looking at you as someone capable of making your own informed decisions.

Definitely need to explain the "why medicine" question from an active perspective rather than a passive perspective!

 

[LizzyM]

I have seen PhD students leave for MD degrees. Usually, the response to "why" is, "I realized I wanted to help people directly rather than through discoveries made at the bench. I had always wanted to help people and I felt that pharma was a good use of my skills in science but the desire to be face-to-face with patients keeps drawing me back to thinking about medicine."

 

[Innoutburgers]

I have seen PhD students leave for MD degrees. Usually, the response to "why" is, "I realized I wanted to help people directly rather than through discoveries made at the bench. I had always wanted to help people and I felt that pharma was a good use of my skills in science but the desire to be face-to-face with patients keeps drawing me back to thinking about medicine."

Wow, I could have sworn that I just said this exact paragraph a couple days ago.

OP, I started a graduate program in Chemistry at one of the top one institutions. I will tell you that once you start a program, it is extremely time consuming and can be physically and mentally draining. These factors can make it more difficult for you to switch after you start the program.

I know the pay is attractive, but have you looked into clinical jobs in the area that you could start instead? Is there a possibility that you could defer admission into the PhD program for a year? You have a lot of great options right now!

 

[Goro]

It looks very suspect. It raises questions of judgement, motivation and commitment. The motivation issue has been addressed by @LizzyM above but medical schools have to be convinced you wont drop out of MD the way you dropped out of PhD

It is indeed a concern!

 

[Med Ed]

Hey, so my parents very heavily pushed me towards pursuing a PhD in Pharmacology over pursuing an MD due to financial reasons (PhDs are fully funded and give you a stipend, compared to the ~$250,000 an MD would cost). I got into a VERY good PhD program in experimental pathology and pharmacology at an Ivy League school but I just don’t feel it’s for me. I don’t really like research and I’m much more interested in learning about clinical medicine. I’m trying to think about what to do with this situation. I REALLY want to pursue an MD, even if it puts me into serious debt, but I’m not sure how to do it. I guess I have 3 options:

1. Drop out now, take the MCAT now, apply this year to try and matriculate in 2019 fall

2. Wait until I finish year 3 when I’ll at least leave with a M.S. degree as well as 3 semesters of clinical mentorship and all of my coursework done. Then, apply for 2021 matriculation.

3. Finish the PhD then apply to MD.

I’m not sure who to talk to about this because I really feel I can’t talk to any of my advisors about dropping out, especially given how early I am in the program. What should I do? Who should I talk to?

I will go against some of my learned colleagues and suggest that you bail out either ASAP or with a MS, depending on your tolerance for the situation. I would not consider it wisdom or valor to spend years miserably pursuing a degree you don't want just for fear of how dropping out might look to adcoms. We get plenty of career changers, I don't personally get worried about commitment until medicine is the third grand idea in someone's life.

Depending on how the rest of your application looks, you may need a year or two to get the requisite clinical exposure and volunteering that will make you competitive for medical school admissions.

 

[IMGASMD]

Take off now, if you really feel the PhD isn’t for you. Don’t need to be miserable for years.
Do you have to pay back tuition?
Do you have all your pre-reqs?

You may actually have to spend the next year to get your stuff ready. At the earliest your matriculation is 2020.

Can it look bad? Sure. But if you come up with a good answer and explain your change in your career, it can be explained away. Just echo others have said, my mommy or daddy told me, is NOT the answer, just in case you haven’t gotten it.

Good luck.

 

[Gibbward]

I dropped out a PhD program after finishing the masters part of it and am now in medical school. No one ever asked me about why I left a PhD program and my interviews focused on all the other interesting ECs that I engaged in. From my experience, as long as you do enough activities that show you've really explored medicine and that you're seriously committed to it, things should work out.

 

[Goro]

I will go against some of my learned colleagues and suggest that you bail out either ASAP or with a MS, depending on your tolerance for the situation. I would not consider it wisdom or valor to spend years miserably pursuing a degree you don't want just for fear of how dropping out might look to adcoms. We get plenty of career changers, I don't personally get worried about commitment until medicine is the third grand idea in someone's life.

Depending on how the rest of your application looks, you may need a year or two to get the requisite clinical exposure and volunteering that will make you competitive for medical school admissions.

I agree with the wise Med Ed. Sometimes the path to Medicine is revolutionary, not evolutionary.