•••quote:•••Originally posted by still hopeful:
•It is actually good to hear everyone rave about Mayo. I applied to Mayo but didn't get in. However, I did get into their graduate school. Should I go? I'm currently waitlisted at NYMC and waiting to hear from UC Davis medical schools. My boss thinks I should reapply this coming fall to both medical school and graduate schools and he thinks I will have a better chance at choosing more graduate schools. What do you guys think?•••••Wow... that's a tough call. I think this depends on the kind of research that you intend to do. Of course, almost all research tends to have a certain clinical correlation but the nature of the work is sometimes more applicable in basic science. Mayo's research as you may already know tends to be very clinically driven. Of course, it is approached at the very basic level. Also, the types of research that you would find at the more basic research oriented institutions (i.e. those that pertain to DNA replication, C.Elegans, Zebrafish and Drosophila genetics) tend to be more limited at Mayo. For instance, I know of maybe two PIs that use yeast models. So it depends on what you're looking for. Immunology/Tumor Biology, Biochemistry/Molecular Biology and Biomedical Engineering (primarily on the imaging end of things) departments seem to be their stronger ones. There are a few good molecular/cellular neuroscience labs as well (i.e. Mark McNiven, Tony Windebank, and Julio Fernandez --- although he has turned to atomic force microscopy of modular proteins as his primary focus these days).
I only know of two guys that did their PhDs at Mayo -- one's at Mt. Sinai and one is at Scripps in La Jolla. In general I must say that if a PhD is your goal you should apply to several graduate schools in the coming cycle which are more basic research oriented like UCSF, Hopkins, Harvard and other more university-based institutions. If clinical training is important to you as well either try the MD-PhD route. Also Harvard has program under their HST pathway that enables their PhD students to round on the wards and even take call in their final years just like other medical students.
With that said -- if one of the labs at Mayo really tweeks your interests its defintely a place worth considering. Like I said above, you can really delve into the clinical implications there while at the same time studying the very basic aspects of the mechanics involved. But don't choose Mayo solely based on their Medical School -- for a PhD -- look at its research and see if it works for you. I met a guy finishing his PhD there studying synaptogenesis and growth-cone targeting and had some EXCELLENT publications and is going on to do an awesome post-doc fellowship at Harvard/Mass.General.
Think hard... and good luck 😀
