Dropping out of PhD to apply MD?

[777remix]

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Apologies if this is the wrong subforum. I feel like I have a weird case but I can delete and repost if there's somewhere else more appropriate.

So you know how people say not to pursue medicine unless there's nothing else you'd be happy doing? Well, unfortunately, I took that advice to heart, got into research after undergrad, and am now about to enter a PhD program in life sciences this fall. However, the closer my start date gets, the more I feel like I've made the wrong choice and I don't know what to do. I've been fairly successful in my research and my mentors all seemed to believe that grad school was a no-brainer for me, but I honestly find the work just okay. During the app cycle I was so focused on getting in that I was able to sort of power through this nagging feeling that I didn't really want to go—but I went forward with it because I didn't know how to get off the path I was already on. I love people (even after working a retail job) and I love the bustle of the hospital environment, and I love science so much but I'm starting to realize that research might not be enough for me. Anyway, honesty hour over, I've no one to blame but myself and I'd like to just figure out if there is a way to medicine for me or if I should try and move on.

Fast facts about me:
- Undergrad BS in bio at a well ranked school, graduated 2023
- Started as a premed, got into basic research after COVID
- Have been working full time as a research assistant for the past 2 years - a bunch of talks/posters, 1 first author pub, 2nd first author pub in the works (but probably won't be out for a while). I guess by hours I'm probably around 5k now?
- Did extremely well in my grad app cycle, so I think I'm an okay writer and have good letters from research mentors
- Matriculating into a molecular biology PhD at a well ranked program this fall (2025) — it is not at a medical school

Relevant info about med school apps:
- 3.8 cGPA, 3.7 science. Bit of grade deflation at my undergrad, not that it really matters.
- Some shadowing and volunteering but nothing substantial, and it's all from undergrad. Significant (non-science) leadership but again all from undergrad
- All prerequisites except for 2nd semester of Physics completed
- No MCAT score, but one of my strengths is standardized testing and I'm confident I could score decently given some time to study

I hate the thought of taking advantage of my program but with the funding environment and job market being the way it is I don't really know what to do at this exact moment. Classes start in a month or so and I am supposed to move in a few weeks. I worry that the "nagging feeling" about pursuing medicine that I've had for many years will never go away, and I'll always wonder what if, even if research as a career is working out alright for me. On the flip side, I'm scared of taking the leap from this secure (for now, at least) path that I know I'm doing decently well in to the unknown of being a premed again, particularly because I don't think I have anything that makes me a strong applicant at the moment, and similarly I wouldn't even know what to tell my school and the people around me. Is it a death knell for someone to master out of a PhD program to later apply to medical school? Has anyone else had any experience switching from basic research to medicine at this point in their career?

Anyway, I'd appreciate any honest advice about my situation. Thanks in advance.

 

[Crayola227]

Any chance you'd sincerely want to pursue MD/PhD, or if just MD, some kind of research?

 

[777remix]

Any chance you'd sincerely want to pursue MD/PhD, or if just MD, some kind of research?

I would be totally fine doing more research in the future if I also got to work clinically. As for MD/PhD—from an application standpoint I feel like I'd be dead in the water as I'm already a matriculated PhD student, technically...

 

[Goro]

Have you volunteered with patients?
Shadowed a doctor?

How do you KNOW that you want to spend a life time caring for sick and injured peopled?

Spend a year in the program, at least, because if you drop out right now, med school school adcoms might think that you'd do the same to Medicine.

 

[777remix]

Have you volunteered with patients?
Shadowed a doctor?

How do you KNOW that you want to spend a life time caring for sick and injured peopled?

Spend a year in the program, at least, because if you drop out right now, med school school adcoms might think that you'd do the same to Medicine.

@Goro Thanks for your reply! I have volunteered with patients—nothing really fancy, just intake/welcome desk and patient transport at a nearby hospital, and I've shadowed a fair bit but only in one specialty. I really enjoyed both experiences, but yeah, I think that's a totally valid question and one that I do ask myself every day. I seriously regret not taking some time off research to do a full time clinical job but I was for some reason convinced that it would reflect poorly on me if I did end up applying to graduate school. I'd say that too much of my reasoning for "why medicine" comes from my own knowledge of what I do and don't enjoy doing workwise, and not enough from lived clinical experience, which I hope I can correct somehow (though I am losing hope that I can do this in any significant way while being a full time PhD student).

I do think I have no choice but to go and do my best in this program, but I am curious if mastering out is perceived as being equally flaky. If I have to push through six years of research to not ruin my chances of ever going to medical school, I'll do it, but it's a pretty daunting prospect.