Hi everyone! I hope to get some outside opinions in regard to deciding between an MD and an MSTP program. The two schools are similar and the main difference comes down to me deciding which path I want to take.
I applied to both MD and MD/PhD since I am a big research person and I know I want to have it as part of my future career (but I do want to be a clinician more and that's a priority for me). I know that as an MD, I also can do research during residency/fellowship. But it'd be more on the clinical side since MDs are not trained for wet lab (Not that it's not doable but for sure it takes time to do translational research as an MD- only). Although I have been involved in research a lot during my undergrad, I'm not sure what type of topic I want to get my Ph.D. in and that scares me a bit since if I get my Ph.D. in a specific field, then I also need to do my residency based off of that (let me know if I'm thinking about this in a wrong way!). I'm interested in a variety of specialties (mostly surgery) but I don't think it's doable to do surgery as an MD/Ph.D. and I need to explore my interest in other more traditional specialties for physician-scientists (or at least I don't think I can do this due to the age factor; I know other people do this all the time and I really admire them for that!!).
MD Program-
Pros:
- Close to family/friends
- Great match list
- Opportunities for concentration and building my application for residency
- Relaxed environment
- Diverse
- True P/F
Cons:
- Fewer opportunities for research but for sure can find interesting things if I look for it (I'm taking a gap year and also can continue doing research in my current lab as well)
- less chance for competitive residencies
- Location (the city this med school is located in is not that great)
MD/PhD Program-
Pros:
- Close and collaborative community
- more chances for competitive residencies
- Smaller class size (for the MD also)
- A higher-ranked med school
- I love the location of this med school but I'll be far away from my support system
- Free tuition (I know this shouldn't be the focus since in the long run, MDs actually have higher income and can pay off their debts pretty fast considering they are four years ahead and get to that attending paycheck faster)
Cons:
- Just changed their curriculum
- Not that much clinical involvement during the grad phase
- Less diverse
- extra four years (I enter residency much older and by the time I come back to research, the field has changed so much, and need to again figure out how to incorporate this side of my career into my overall practice)
- It's P/F but has internal rankings
I applied to both MD and MD/PhD since I am a big research person and I know I want to have it as part of my future career (but I do want to be a clinician more and that's a priority for me). I know that as an MD, I also can do research during residency/fellowship. But it'd be more on the clinical side since MDs are not trained for wet lab (Not that it's not doable but for sure it takes time to do translational research as an MD- only). Although I have been involved in research a lot during my undergrad, I'm not sure what type of topic I want to get my Ph.D. in and that scares me a bit since if I get my Ph.D. in a specific field, then I also need to do my residency based off of that (let me know if I'm thinking about this in a wrong way!). I'm interested in a variety of specialties (mostly surgery) but I don't think it's doable to do surgery as an MD/Ph.D. and I need to explore my interest in other more traditional specialties for physician-scientists (or at least I don't think I can do this due to the age factor; I know other people do this all the time and I really admire them for that!!).
MD Program-
Pros:
- Close to family/friends
- Great match list
- Opportunities for concentration and building my application for residency
- Relaxed environment
- Diverse
- True P/F
Cons:
- Fewer opportunities for research but for sure can find interesting things if I look for it (I'm taking a gap year and also can continue doing research in my current lab as well)
- less chance for competitive residencies
- Location (the city this med school is located in is not that great)
MD/PhD Program-
Pros:
- Close and collaborative community
- more chances for competitive residencies
- Smaller class size (for the MD also)
- A higher-ranked med school
- I love the location of this med school but I'll be far away from my support system
- Free tuition (I know this shouldn't be the focus since in the long run, MDs actually have higher income and can pay off their debts pretty fast considering they are four years ahead and get to that attending paycheck faster)
Cons:
- Just changed their curriculum
- Not that much clinical involvement during the grad phase
- Less diverse
- extra four years (I enter residency much older and by the time I come back to research, the field has changed so much, and need to again figure out how to incorporate this side of my career into my overall practice)
- It's P/F but has internal rankings