Graduate Coursework during PhD portion of MD/PhD program

[sunyata]

In your experience, how many graduate school-specific classes are MD/PhD students required to take during the PhD portion of training?

For example, do programs generally grant graduate school credit for medical school coursework, thereby allowing students to focus more on research in the early stages of their PhD, or are MD/PhD students typically mandated to take the same class load as their PhD counterparts after completing MS1/2?

I suspect there is variation from institution to institution, but I would like to get a good idea of what most programs have required in recent years. If you could, please cite specific examples as well as provide your own insight into the matter.

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[gutonc]

You first.

 

[Fencer]

Big picture is 2-3 semesters of coursework. The first 2 years of MD are equivalent to first year of PhD coursework. NIH is pushing programs to cut time to graduation to a total of 8 years with a 4 yr PhD on average. I suspect that for some programs 2 years of coursework are needed.

 

[gutonc]

My program had 2 required courses (depending on the program you were in) and 2 electives. You could complete it all in a year. This didn't include things like required Journal Clubs and seminar series of course that continued throughout your PhD years.

 

[sakata8242]

It depends on what department you end up doing your graduate work in. Something esoteric like biomed engineering will likely require more coursework after the first two years of medical school than molecular biology or biochemistry. 2 semesters sounds like a good starting estimate.

 

[GaStu1994]

It depends on what department you end up doing your graduate work in. Something esoteric like biomed engineering will likely require more coursework after the first two years of medical school than molecular biology or biochemistry. 2 semesters sounds like a good starting estimate.

How esoteric would you consider neuroscience as the PhD field during an MD/PhD, with respect to the volume of additional coursework required in addition to the MD coursework?


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[phonyreal98]

How esoteric would you consider neuroscience as the PhD field during an MD/PhD, with respect to the volume of additional coursework required in addition to the MD coursework?


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Neuroscience is one of the most common PhD fields for MD/PhDs. My committee/department is having me take two neuroscience classes and two stats classes.

 

[GaStu1994]

Neuroscience is one of the most common PhD fields for MD/PhDs. My committee/department is having me take two neuroscience classes and two stats classes.

How do you like the pace and the content of your particular program?

 

[MSTPlease]

At my school we can use certain med school courses for grad school credit and vice versa

 

[Neuronix]

It's highly program dependent. I recommend doing as little coursework or other requirements as possible to get your PhD. Nobody will care that you did it, and it's just an extra time sink for you. If you want to take more coursework as an option, that will pretty much always be available to you.

 

[MSTPlease]

I recommend doing as little coursework or other requirements as possible to get your PhD.

100% agree. The only parts of your PhD that matter are that you have one, your publications, and what your PI thinks of you.

P.S. how do I get that fancy "verified PhD" tag @Neuronix

 

[Neuronix]

Go to help.studentdoctor.net and submit a help desk ticket with proof of your PhD.