Giving up on MSTP

[IgnisDU]

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Well, good luck kids. I'm throwing in the towel for applying to MD/PhD. My grades are just not competitive enough due to learning disabilities and enough people in the right places have finally convinced me. I'm still going to fight for an MD slot and then once there I may try and join MSTP in my second year.... but I doubt it.

Have fun and study hard.

Ignis.

🙁

 

[QofQuimica]

Well, good luck kids. I'm throwing in the towel for applying to MD/PhD. My grades are just not competitive enough due to learning disabilities and enough people in the right places have finally convinced me. I'm still going to fight for an MD slot and then once there I may try and join MSTP in my second year.... but I doubt it.

Have fun and study hard.

Ignis.

🙁

There's no shame in doing separate degrees if that's what it takes, dude(tte). 😎

 

[PBandJ]

I second Q's advice. If you really think you are not competitive enough to apply MD/PhD, you still have other options. You can do the degrees separately. Or, you can consider doing an MD/MS program. My final note is to consider non-MSTP MD/PhD programs. But don't give up too soon. I almost gave up before I started b/c of competitiveness of one area of my applicaation, and I'm glad that I ended up going ahead with it b/c I got accepted. If there's anything I can help you with, feel free to PM me.

 

[Auraraptor]

It never hurts to try, and it doesn't cost any more...so why not try? 😕

 

[strangeglove]

It never hurts to try, and it doesn't cost any more...so why not try? 😕

I agree. As I've posted elsewhere, it's a dirty secret that it's really not that much harder to get into an MD-PhD program than an MD program, if you are good at research. You'd be amazed to learn that there are people who can't get into MD programs who are getting into MD-PhD programs. The fact of the matter is that a bad grade here and there is more of a hindrance to getting into an MD program, where there are so many applicants and they must use raw numbers to weed people out before they even look at things like research accomplishments. In an MD-PhD program, there are fewer applicants, so the admissions comittees might actually open your application even if it contains the occasional B (or even C, for that matter). It is imperative, however, that you have something to show as far as research accomplishments, such as publications or a stellar letter from a research advisor. So, if you think you can get into an MD program at a school, you can probably get into the MD-PhD program at that school, assuming you've something to show as a potential researcher. If you have little to show in terms of research accomplishments, then MD-PhD is not for you.

 

[pennquaker08]

Moreover, considering that even at the very top MSTPs the average GPA is not 4.0...and not even particularly close...it would seem definitely that many are perhaps getting more than the "occasional" B.

Personally, my GPA is strong but my PS score on the MCAT (11) is a bit weaker than my practice tests had predicted. Nevertheless, I'm still going with it in the hopes that the other parts of my application will overshadow that subscore. I work for an adcom at the Penn MSTP and he says that, frankly, it is the letters of recommendation, the essays, and the research experience that matter the most...the numbers are really just a frame of reference. It would be so easy for programs like Penn and its ilk to fill up their classes many times over with 3.9/39 applicants...but the statistics attest otherwise. A high GPA and MCAT do not necessarily a "strong" applicant make.