Life after MD/PhD

[kiilcancer]

I would love to do MD/PhD for the training for research and everything but how long do you work/study after you get your degrees?
I want to have some time for family and church... If I work like 16hours a day, 7 days a week just to be "normal" researcher, I might have to think about alternate pathways for my career... I have just started research (got 2more years left). good GPA, haven't done MCAT yet, good motivation for research but there are some things that I just will not give up for anything, you understand..
I just wanna know some life-style that MD/PhDers live for the rest of their lives...
Thanks for the reply~

Sincerely,
K.C.

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[Neuronix]

I guess I will answer this, but I think the reason nobody has answered it so far is because it is a tricky question and because there aren't many non-applicant posters here.

Your lifestyle after you graduate is flexible. That's one of the benefits of the MD/PhD... You can pick just about any specialty and you can choose to go completely clinical. Or, you could not do a residency and then go straight into post-doc and to a faculty position and do all research for your career. The ideal is some balance of the two of course.

That being said, your hours during your career will depend on what career path you choose and how ambitious you are at whatever career path you choose. Even so, you must take into account the long and often arduous training. If you figure you will not be in your career until you are 30 or 35, you must account for your training being a large part of your adult life. While all of this is going on, I would not anticipate having a great deal of free time. However, even those things depend on the school, the year, the specialty, the lab, etc. Of course, 16 hours a day x 7 days a week would be superhuman, and nobody does that. However, many work 60 - 80+ hour weeks, and to be competitive this will be you for at least part of your training and maybe your career someday.

Regardless of the hours and length of training, many students have families that begin in medical school or sooner, and you should have a couple hours a week on top of that for church activities. So I think that there are certainly easier things you could go into, but I also think that this route does not preclude you from doing anything else but medicine.

I hope I was able to answer your question sufficiently. If you really would like to speak to some people about the MD/PhD lifestyle who are actually living the MD/PhD lifestyle, I could get you some contacts. You have plenty of time to decide about your future path, but if you are seriously considering MD/PhD be sure to rock the MCATs!

 

[dr kevin40]

md/phds r useless and irrelevant

 

[Neuronix]

Originally posted by dr kevin40
md/phds r useless and irrelevant

Best post ever.

 

[isidella]

Originally posted by Neuronix
Best post ever.

I second that!!!!

 

[pathdr2b]

Originally posted by dr kevin40
md/phds r useless and irrelevant

Maybe because not everyone can be an MD/PhD

 

[wack]

Glad DrKevin is back I have missed his wry sense of humor. Just a lowly MD applicant here.

I feel that the MD/PhD is a great option but remember medicine is not really a lifestyle career, either MD or MD/PhD. I mean some people can have a great lifestyle, family kids church, and a great career, publications expertise etc. But some people can also climb Mt. Everest, trek to the North Pole, eat fire etc. Most doctors have to sacrifice. It is a way of life for most normal people in most specialties. If you don't think you will be happy with medicine as a major component of your life then skip the pain of 7-8 years of medical education followed by 3-8 years of post graduate education. If you want to focus on family and church you can make a good living as an MBA, engineer, pharmacist, or lawyer (yuck) and still have time to make important contributions to your community through philanthropy and volunteer work (aka deacon rotary club etc).

If you really want to help sick people get well and prevent well people from becoming sick then become a doctor. To do all of the things in the previous sentence and put more of a research emphasis on your career become and MD/PhD.