I want to do research, do not know if I can do MD/PhD

[steelersfan1243]

PLEASE READ FIRST: Okay after reading this I may be coming off as an over worried applicant, but reading SDN has gotten me really worried for some reason. Honestly, if I am just overthinking everything and am fine please do tell. It will help.

Can I truly do research with just a MD degree? I do not know if I have the stats for a MD/PhD program. My current GPA is 3.80, Science-3.7ish, but my MCAT was estimated to be 71-81% (CHM-85-100%, CARS-32-47%, BIO-85-100%, and PSYC-45-60%). I am retaking the MCAT this upcoming June to get my verbal score up and hopefully obtain an overall better score, but I still feel like my application is too research heavy to get into a MD school. If I have a 31 MCAT, will I be able to get into mid tier and lower tier schools despite being research focus? I do have extracurriculars:
EMT for campus organization-Freshman Spring-Junior Fall
Hospital Volunteering-Senior Spring-Present
Shadowing-50hrs

Founder and President of Fitness and Weightlifting Club (Club dedicated to teach beginners how to lift in the gym and stay in shape through guest speakers, campus wide events, bi-weekly training workshops with certified trainers) Through this club we also started an after school weightlifting program at an underprivileged middle school my Senior Spring.

President of Indian Student Association (this club had little to no members by the start of my presidency. I thought it was important at a white dominated school that the South Asian heritage is still kept in tact. By the end of my presidency we had over 40 consistent members and hosted Holi which had over 400 in attendee and won cultural award of the year by my university)

As for research, I say I am research heavy, but I do not know if I am truly competitive for MD/PhD:
Technically 3 years of research (1 year was just following around a grad student and doing meaningless work):
Officially I have been awarded 4 grants worth $6200
One fourth author publication on journal 10+ IF
Senior Thesis

Hopefully by the end of the summer I will also have a third author publication on journal IF 8

I also was a Resident Assistant for two years, chemistry tutor for all four years of undergrad, as well as a chemistry TA my sophomore year

For pure community service I was a tutor for underprivileged students my freshman year as well as part of Best Buddies my senior year.

As you can tell my biggest worry about applying to regular MD schools is my sporadic clinical volunteering. I have 500 hours as an EMT and about 50 hours hospital volunteering, (continuing) but there was a year (junior spring to senior fall) where I did no clinical volunteering (performed most of clinical shadowing here). How bad does this look? I really have no explanation, I stopped EMT because it was interfering with research and the exec board and I could not get into an agreement. As for the lack of continual service I always felt the two clubs I had presidency in were working to help others. Although for the most part it was limited to my college peers, which in hindsight is a flaw, my void to want to help others was fulfilled and I guess was the reason I did not take the initiative for other volunteering opportunities.

In conclusion, I did not want to do the MD/PhD route because from reading this forum extensively I thought if I truly wanted to do research I could do research with MD. By purely pursuing MD, if I decided my love it towards the clinic I can continue doing so without having to waste four years. However, my stats and ECs tell me I may have a struggle for MD, but may be better suited for MD/PhD. This is a lot, I apologize. I really just need some guidance, I am well aware I might be just neurotic here.

Lastly I already received all my letters of recommendation. Does MD/PhD applications require letters geared towards MD/Phd? So is it too late in that case as well

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[nein]

I'll touch on parts I think I can speak about with confidence.
I think you have more than enough clinical exposure to medicine for MD or MD/PhD apps with those hours for EMT, volunteering, and shadowing. I really don't think anyone will ask "do they have enough hours?"; they'll want to read that your descriptions of these experiences show that you've been exposed to enough, and reflected on your experiences enough, to make an informed decision about pursuing medicine.
Your MCAT sounds like it can be improved. If you have the time and resources, and want to improve it, then you should try to.
Your gpa is competitive for both md and md/phd.
Your research sounds like it would make the cut for md/phd. If you applied to md/phd and anyone asked why you stopped EMT, saying that you wanted to spend more time on research is valid.
ECs should always just be things you enjoy doing, so yours look fine.
You could do research as an MD, but if you ever decide to aim for a career in which most of your time is dedicated to being a basic science-oriented PI, you'll have to dedicate some years to research training at some point after medical school.

If you retake and do really well on the MCAT, I do think you are fine for either MD or MD/PhD. I think you should put some thought towards whether you want to apply MD or MD/PhD, and then apply mainly to one of the two. If you decide MD only, there's nothing wrong with expressing a strong interest in research and having the background to back up that interest in your application. Just have a well-thought out answer for interviewers that ask "Why not MD/PhD?". If you decide to do MD/PhD, your application and interviews should focus on how your research experiences have made you committed to being mainly a scientist down the road.

 

[steelersfan1243]

Thank you for the reply much appreciated. Would you mind going into more detail if I were to apply MD only? Can I express a high interest in doing research and not be looked down upon? With my stats I believe, at the moment, I believe I would be applying to schools that may be more service oriented. Are there schools that are low tier or mid tier that are very accommodating for research focused physicians?

 

[Elixir6]

Yes, SDN is screwing with your mind. Yes, you might have difficulty getting into Harvard. Without knowing much about you other than what you wrote here I don't see why you wouldn't get into a MD or MD/PhD program if you applied broadly, however the specifics of what you did, what school you went to and how you interview will be important factors. Also, you really need to figure out if the PhD/research is right for you. Sounds a little concerning that you aren't sure. You should meet with an physician scientist and ask them to go through all the training and the unglamorous crap they do all day long and then see if it still sounds super to you. I would NOT think of the MD/PhD as a 'backdoor' into an MD. Not a good idea. You have a fine application for an MD (again, if you apply broadly).

... I'm assuming when you say your MCAT was 71-81% that's good score and better than 4/5 test takers (not 71st percentile from the top). Also no one cares about the ECs or number of volunteer hours - just that you did something well rounded and stuck with it (not a list of 15 random clubs you did jack**** in). Even then no one cares I think. More important that you don't look/act like a robot at the interview or have the personality of white bread.

 

[gutonc]

TL;DR

But after reading just the first paragraph, I'll say that yes,you're over thinking everything and will probably be fine. This is true about 90+% of posts by Pre-meds on SDN though so don't take it personally.

 

[steelersfan1243]

Hey guys,

Thank you for your responses. Just to be clear though I wish to pursue a M.D. degree not a M.D./Ph.D. From reading this thread it seems almost everyone dissuades from it and the same outcome can be achieved through a M.D. degree. However, the main problem I see in just pursuing M.D. is most of the schools I will apply to that in which my stats are competitive will be service oriented and my reason to get into medicine is researched focused. I saw this thread which reaffirm my beliefs:http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/what-are-my-chances-3-7-39-reapp.1137753/ (I did contact this person for further help)

I guess my question is, should I remained focused on research in my personal statement and secondaries. Or should I refocus my application towards the service activities I did? My main problem with MD/PhD is the time commitment, is this good reason to go against it? Also I fear I would not get into a program due to its more competitive nature.

I will be scheduling interviews with MD/PhD clinicians in the next week to get a more in depth view.

 

[LAtoDavis]

Hey guys,

Thank you for your responses. Just to be clear though I wish to pursue a M.D. degree not a M.D./Ph.D. From reading this thread it seems almost everyone dissuades from it and the same outcome can be achieved through a M.D. degree. However, the main problem I see in just pursuing M.D. is most of the schools I will apply to that in which my stats are competitive will be service oriented and my reason to get into medicine is researched focused. I saw this thread which reaffirm my beliefs:http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/what-are-my-chances-3-7-39-reapp.1137753/ (I did contact this person for further help)

I guess my question is, should I remained focused on research in my personal statement and secondaries. Or should I refocus my application towards the service activities I did? My main problem with MD/PhD is the time commitment, is this good reason to go against it? Also I fear I would not get into a program due to its more competitive nature.

I will be scheduling interviews with MD/PhD clinicians in the next week to get a more in depth view.

Your CV isn't "research heavy" as you stated in the top post, and on the AMCAS application you are given a prompt to follow for your personal statement on why you want to become a doctor. You can write whatever you want to write about, there; you're not supposed to be retelling your CV or research/community service in your PS, anyways. That's what the activities description portion is for. For your secondaries, you're given prompts to write on, and 95+% of them don't ask about your research experiences. You should be fine. And to me, research is harder and more valuable than volunteering, and medical schools know it, too. You do need to have patient interactions, though.

 

[catzzz88]

Hi there, I am in MD only track right now and plan to become a PI with about 10-20-% clinical work on the side.

It can be done with only an MD, but you need significant research experience, not just running experiments and being told what to do, but planning and executing, interpreting, making decisions, writing papers, making figures, writing grants etc. I had that and was thus told not to add on the PhD simply due to time (I had taken 5 years off between undergrad and Medical school). This is not to say that a PhD would have improved my skills, just that it may have been unnecessary/marginal. I will also always be competing with the many MD/PhDs for grants and such.

I just wanted to give you my perspective as I know that a lot of people that haunt these boards are planning for the MD/PhD.

Hope this helps!