honors and being mstp

[peehdee]

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ok. to get into mstp programs you have to be a little bit better above the average medical student... i.e. grades or mcat scores.

so does this translate to getting honors and such?

do mstp do (on average) better than the regular md students?

 

[ears]

MD/PhD students do better on the wards, but not for the reasons you think. Previous experiences with grades and tests have little correlation with doing well in the hospital.

On the other hand, spending those years in the lab gives many MD/PhDs the advantages of maturity. They are better able to relate to residents and attendings as colleagues, they tend to be more organized, they tend to be more self-directed. These attributes are all well-rewarded in the hospital.

On the third hand, some MD/PhD students finish their graduate work, and go to the hospital and act like flaming, arrogant @$$es. These people realize almost no advantage (in fact, quite the reverse).

 

[Habari]

ok. to get into mstp programs you have to be a little bit better above the average medical student... i.e. grades or mcat scores.

so does this translate to getting honors and such?

do mstp do (on average) better than the regular md students?

potentially. but the anecdotal experience of my mstp class, and those a few years ahead indicates that mstps don't do much better than the mean (if that) in the preclinical years, at least. i think everyone in our md/phd class is capable of getting top marks, but i don't think many find a test-oriented approach to med school to be the most fullfilling (however, there are definately 1 or 2 mstp's that make junior AOA, our of 4 possible). the med students work very hard, and the .1-.2GPA and the 2pt MCAT differential probably won't make the difference.

historically, people in our program do well/above average on the boards (doesn't say much - but I don't have any numbers), where being a good standardized test taker may help.

on the wards, students in our program do average or slightly above, but not necessarily the best (again, there are exceptions).

but for residency, everyone has recieved their first choice for many years, which takes a lot of the pressure off. as a result, the mstp students are some of the most active in outside medical/non-medical endeavors. who knows, this may in turn, coupled with the phd, help them get the residencies they want.