Looking for thoughts on my school list

[MagicCatDoctor]

Hey,

So I'm interested in getting my MD/PhD with a non-traditional PhD (comparative lit, history and philosophy of science, feminist studies, or a similar field - really a matter of what department the people I'm interested in working with happen to teach in). I am well aware of all the unique challenges that this presents in applying - having to seriously know what exactly you want to do, why you want to do it, how, etc. Given that, I wanted to present my applications and my current school list to see if folks could provide insight as to which school I might want to consider or not consider. It feels a little top-heavy, so help balancing it out would be nice. Any suggestions on how many I should end up as my final list of schools I apply to?

• Overall GPA = 3.83 (multiple graduate level class, increasing GPA, and graduated in 3 years with honors)
• Science GPA = 3.74
• MCAT = 518 (97th percentile)
• Posters/Pubs = 1 posters at undergraduate research conferences, 1st author manuscript in preparation which I'm currently writing and a 3rd author manuscript in prep as well.

Experience:

• 100+ hours shadowing at various hospitals and units, both rural and non-rural
• 2 years as a CNA at a hospital (with solid letter of rec from nurse supervisor) + 1.5 year as CNA at nursing home and memory care facility
• 4 years volunteering then 4 years working at a meal program that feeds homeless youth around a local university. My supervisor from this place is writing me a great letter of recommendation.
• 1 year (500 hours - will be 2 years/1000 hours when I matriculate) as a research assistant as a neuroscience and psychology lab where I do research with a grad student on effects of subjective socioeconomic status on psychopathology. This will be my 3rd author publication. I know the PI well, she has an H-index score of 60+ in under 10 years and will write me an amazing letter of rec
• 10 months (1400 hours - will be 2 years/3000 hours when I matriculate) as a research assistant at the emergency department in a level one trauma center where I do research on opioid use disorder where I am in the ED all the time. The PI is a doc in the ED and we work together often, I have also shadowed her a bit and she will also write me an amazing letter of rec (e.g., will say I have screened and enrolled the most people out of 4 sites nationally)
• 3 years (1700 hours - will be 4.5 years/2200 hours when I matriculate) doing my own research on consent and sexual assault, I created, piloted and got IRB-approved a survey to ask students about their experiences of sexual compliance, reasons for complying and sexual satisfaction. 6185 students at my university responded to my survey. This will be my first author publication. I am also going to be doing interviews with students later this year. All this work has been very independent but I have a professor (who ive had a professor for courses) who mentors and supervises me and she will write me a stellar letter of rec. This research has largely also been unpaid, after graduating, on my own time despite working full time and also volunteering. I've received multiple awards and scholarships for this work.
• Will also have a great letter of recommendation from one biology professor and a mediocre one from another professor as my two science letters of rec.
• Also have other leadership, volunteering, and extracurricular experiences, none of which are too major.

School List:
University of Washington
Emory
Rutgers
UC Irvine
UCLA
Harvard/MIT
Johns Hopkins
Duke
UC Davis
U of Minnesota
U of NC, Chapel Hill
Washington University, St. Louis
U of Cincinnati
Ohio State

Schools I'm still considering:
Yale
UCSF
UCSD
U of Penn
Penn State
Michigan State University
U of Buffalo
Stony Brook
NYU
Columbia
U of Massachusetts
U of Maryland
U of Wisconsin
U of Pittsburgh
Northwestern University
University of Chicago

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[reveries]

I don't know much about non-traditional PhDs, but have you made sure all the schools on your list allow for the kind you're interested in?

 

[MagicCatDoctor]

I don't know much about non-traditional PhDs, but have you made sure all the schools on your list allow for the kind you're interested in?

Yup, the ones under my school list I have confirmed it'll work out. The ones in my maybe list, some of them I haven't yet been able to confirm. One school that I won't be applying to unfortunately because they won't consider it is U of Indiana. Bumsies.

 

[Lucca]

UChicago i would 100% include. They have a history of graduating MDs with humanities PhDs and they have the “Committee on Social Thought” program which is basically a “work on whatever problem you want” PhD (lots of MDs have done this one). I would also include Yale.

Unfortunately I’m not too familiar with what MD/PhD programs allow this kind of thing but I would include some of the stronger Midwest humanities programs as well because right now your list is small and top heavy. You are a very strong applicant but when you’re looking to do something this niche best to be safe.

 

[moggat]

Stats wise you look fine--you're going to have a very non-traditional cycle because of your non-traditional PhD so it's hard to say for sure.

I would try to personally contact each of the schools your considering applying to and making sure they'll accept someone looking to do a non biomedical science PhD. I can see a few on your maybe list that don't, so best to check before you waste a couple hundred bucks on each application.

Unfortunately your application will require a bit more leg work up front, but hopefully it will pay off. The schools that like non traditional PhDs really like them, so it's worth doing your due diligence first.

 

[Elixir6]

I agree with the suggestion about U Chicago - I remember seeing a humanities PhD from an MD/PhD there. Also consider Stanford. In addition to your insight that it is going to be harder to sell a desire into a non-biomedical PhD, the other big problem you unfortunately have is agism. A lot of older students struggle with getting back into the groove of studying and memorizing, and also these students tend to have a lot of responsibilities outside of school (spouse, children, mortgage etc...). I would stress your ability to keep up with a rigorous curriculum by pointing out your excellent MCAT scores and great GPA.

I think you are taking the right approach to applying broadly. I notice you talk a lot about number of hours volunteering here and there. While all that is good, I think no one really cares about volunteering especially with a slightly older applicant (it's helpful for younger applicants who may not understand what the hell it really is to be a physician or researcher). My last piece of (frankly unsolicited) advice is not to dwell on that. Instead you should really try and emphasize what you want to do going forward and use your research experience to show that you have a track record to achieve that goal. E.g. "I'm really interested in addiction research, especially identifying at risk patients and ensuring prescribed opioids do not lead to addiction. I am currently working on X Y&Z with U of ABC physician in the ED and we are publishing et...". Doesn't even have to really be what you remotely end up doing. Just a vision is nice. Good luck!

 

[MagicCatDoctor]

I agree with the suggestion about U Chicago - I remember seeing a humanities PhD from an MD/PhD there. Also consider Stanford. In addition to your insight that it is going to be harder to sell a desire into a non-biomedical PhD, the other big problem you unfortunately have is agism. A lot of older students struggle with getting back into the groove of studying and memorizing, and also these students tend to have a lot of responsibilities outside of school (spouse, children, mortgage etc...). I would stress your ability to keep up with a rigorous curriculum by pointing out your excellent MCAT scores and great GPA.

I think you are taking the right approach to applying broadly. I notice you talk a lot about number of hours volunteering here and there. While all that is good, I think no one really cares about volunteering especially with a slightly older applicant (it's helpful for younger applicants who may not understand what the hell it really is to be a physician or researcher). My last piece of (frankly unsolicited) advice is not to dwell on that. Instead you should really try and emphasize what you want to do going forward and use your research experience to show that you have a track record to achieve that goal. E.g. "I'm really interested in addiction research, especially identifying at risk patients and ensuring prescribed opioids do not lead to addiction. I am currently working on X Y&Z with U of ABC physician in the ED and we are publishing et...". Doesn't even have to really be what you remotely end up doing. Just a vision is nice. Good luck!

Oh, I thought Stanford's program was discontinued, otherwise I would've definitely had them on my list. I'll look into them. Yeah, I'm not concerned about the agism, I'm still pretty young and while out of school, I've been working on all three research projects and still reading academic texts pretty heavily. In regards to volunteering and what not, its just what I happen to have done. Volunteering isn't really the focus of my application and I'm aware programs won't care too much about it. Its not something I expect to talk about much. Research is above all what I will be talking about and pulling from. Thanks!

 

[deleted927298]

Would the recommendation letters from sources other than PI's really matter than much in admissions? I'm asking for personal insight. What if the school has a cap on how many letters the OP can submit?