has anyone done this combination of md/phd???

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bbaek

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i was wondering if anyone out there did a md/masters degree out there and after graduating took some time to do a phd in english. is that a wise road to take by not immediately going into residency/internship? should a person just wait until he gets residency/internship done and then go for the phd in english??

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Just out of curiosity, why do you want a PhD in English?
 
I got something about this in the mail:

http://www.med.uiuc.edu/msp/mdphd.asp

It's the only place I know of that allows for PhDs in the humanties, except for Duke's Medical Historian program:

http://www.registrar.duke.edu/bulletins/gsbproof/courses/pdfs/Medhist.pdf

-X

bbaek said:
i was wondering if anyone out there did a md/masters degree out there and after graduating took some time to do a phd in english. is that a wise road to take by not immediately going into residency/internship? should a person just wait until he gets residency/internship done and then go for the phd in english??
 
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Mitro said:
Just out of curiosity, why do you want a PhD in English?

cause i love english and i was thinking about maybe pursuing on a greater level than just in the undergraduate arena.
 
You could do a phd in english after getting an MD - but most people are in serious debt after they graduate medical school and need more than a phd student salary to live/pay off loans. Plus, you would have to put off going through the match, which can be done but seems is would be a pain in the ass - you would have to get letters of rec., etc.
A phd in english would take at least 3 years, i can't imagine how much medical stuff I would forget, and then to go right into a resiendcy where you ordering meds, etc on patients would be a little scary. Yuo would have to keep up on all the new medical info while getting your phd so yuo know about the new drugs, etc.
I would do a phd before med school.
 
I was just curious because the two seem mutually exclusive.

I would suggest going to get your PhD first. Path4 brought up good points about debt and breaking up your training. Any loans will continue to accrue interest while you get your PhD - which is likely to be more like 5+ years than 3. So for financial reasons - getting the PhD now makes more sense. Also, you may find that your graduate studies might be what you really love and may decide on not going to med school. However, if you get your PhD after med school and find out that what your really want to do is study literature for the rest of your life - all you have is a load of debt to pay off on a very hard salary to pay it back on. If you do your PhD first and you end up not liking it, I suppose you could always leave grad school and start med school (debt free). Anyway good luck with your decision. It's not an easy choice.
 
bbaek said:
i was wondering if anyone out there did a md/masters degree out there and after graduating took some time to do a phd in english. is that a wise road to take by not immediately going into residency/internship? should a person just wait until he gets residency/internship done and then go for the phd in english??

It is sooo weird that you brought up this point, because I am in a similar situation myself. I have been accepted to med school, but now I am considering a PhD or a masters in English. Everyone in the world has been basically trying to tell me that I am crazy to give up being a doctor for English, and some people have asked me if I could do both. I didn't know about these programs so thanks for those!!!! I don't know what I am going to do either :)
 
It is sooo weird that you brought up this point, because I am in a similar situation myself. I have been accepted to med school, but now I am considering a PhD or a masters in English. Everyone in the world has been basically trying to tell me that I am crazy to give up being a doctor for English, and some people have asked me if I could do both. I didn't know about these programs so thanks for those!!!! I don't know what I am going to do either :)

hahahah. that is so weird and great at the same time! actually, i have some time because i'm a 2nd year bio sci and english double major, but i just want to get as much education in before i go off to the medical missionary field. i know that once i go out there, there will be almost no time to actually study something on my own free time.

and honestly, i don't think it's crazy. some ppl are telling me that why you want to do this? are you unsure about being a doctor? :laugh: hahaha, that has to be the funniest thing, or the most ironic. i have always wanted to be a doctor, and i am most undoubtedly sure i want to be and will plan to stick to becoming a doctor than they will EVER want to. but english is one of those few passions that i have, and i do want to write novels and poetry and such in the future about my experiences in the missionary field.

i'm still looking, and i did find some recent threads, esp. an important one on the aamc site that showed all the md/phd programs (this not being only the med scientist programs) and i was hindsighted by not paying attention to the english phd programs but only the MPH programs out there cause i want to do a MD/MPH for sure! :laugh:

well, if anyone can help out these people who use "both sides of their brain", that would be helpful! thanks a lot for those who responded and hopefully we humanities and science people can show those strictly science people that there is much more than a double bond :rolleyes:
 
if anyone has to add anything, or give any extra relevant info, it would be greatly appreciated!!

(this info concerning md/phd with the phd being in a non-biomedical field, i.e. english or philosophy)
 
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