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So is it the same? I was also wondering if MSTP is free (something like when you go to grad school people get free tuition sometimes)? Would I have to have exceptional grades or something like that?
Originally posted by Spiderman [RNA Ladder 2003]
So is it the same? I was also wondering if MSTP is free (something like when you go to grad school people get free tuition sometimes)? Would I have to have exceptional grades or something like that?
Originally posted by jot
or permenant resident
Originally posted by none
No one said there was absolutely no money out there...simply that non-citizens are unable to receive MSTP grants.
Originally posted by MacGyver
axlf,
you're technically right but keep in mind that funds for foreign MD/PhD students are very very limited. I would imagine that out of the 1000 or so MD/PhD students in the United States, probably only 50 or so are foreign.
Originally posted by none
The OP is a foreign national attempting to go to medical school in the U.S. without having to come up with 200k upfront. An MD/PhD program just isn't the way to do it.
Originally posted by Ophtho_MudPhud
If you're doing the MD-PhD program for JUST THE SCHOLARSHIP, then don't do it. You're just wasting 4 years of potential earnings.
Your scholarship is really worth the 4 years of medical school, which is about $160,000 total (assuming $40,000 per year for tuition and stipend).
If you're an average internal medicine doctor, then you'll make ~$150,000. That's $600,000 of potential salary that you're giving up just to take a $160,000 scholarship.
If you're a surgeon, you'll make on average $225,000. That's $900,000 of potential earnings vs your scholarship for medical school.
Only do it if you're interested in academic medicine or research. Otherwise, you'll waste your time.
Personally, I don't think it's a waste of time to do a Ph.D. regardless of whether people want to have a career doing research in the end. PhD in and of itself is a training degree and it exersizes your mind and independence, and I'd imagine that is its purpose rather than preparing you for a particular pathway of career.
Originally posted by Ophtho_MudPhud
Shamus1,
Thanks for the input. I'm curious how many of the MD-PhDs who go into derm, ophtho, and surgery will pursue academics. I am in ophtho and plan to stick with academics and research.
When I started medical school in 1993, NIH dropped the payback requirement because it was hard to enforce and people eventually entered academic careers. There is a lot of potential for research in derm and ophtho so I think these fields are great for the academic research type.
Dr. Ed Stone is at my program, and he is the first ophthalmologist to achieve status as a Howard Hughes Investigator. He's cloned and studied many genes related to degenerative retinal diseases. He's also a MD-PhD and sees patients once weekly.