Help with MD/PhD application essays

[chajjohnson]

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Hi everyone,

I'm in the middle of writing my MD/PhD application essays (research experiences and MD/PHD personal statement). I know it's a little late, but I'm applying to the school I'm already accepted to for this year so I don't need to go through AMCAS and have about a month before they look at applications.

The research experiences essay seems pretty straightforward to me, but I have a few questions about the personal statement one. For regular MD applications there are many more threads and advice out there on how to write it. I haven't found much about what people want to hear about in the MD/PhD essay. From what I can gather, it should mostly just be about why you want to do research in your career? Are there any topics everyone should address or potential red flags everyone should avoid? Should you write about what fields interest you or what types of research you would want to do if accepted? Thanks for any advice!

 

[SynBio]

This was recently talked about here.

IMO

From what I can gather, it should mostly just be about why you want to do research in your career?

Yes, it should address your research interests, but also how you hope to couple this in being a physician(-scientist).

Are there any topics everyone should address or potential red flags everyone should avoid?

Perhaps address why you prefer MD-PhD training over other physician-scientist training opportunities. Perhaps avoid talking about how you only want to conduct research and never see patients, you are going through the pathway solely to avoid debt, etc.

Should you write about what fields interest you or what types of research you would want to do if accepted? Thanks for any advice!

I would say broad interests are good, but too specific interests may be frowned upon and make you appear narrow-minded. Maybe talk about disciplines that interest you, but not so much specific topics of that discipline.