McNair Fellowship to MD

[Doctormo24]

Hey All

Lets say I was accepted into the McNairs Fellowship Program and do my 2 years in the program of research but at the end of all that I decide that research is not for me and that MD is the way I want to go. By any chance is it gonna look bad that I spent 2 years training to do a MD/PhD but then I decide not to? Is it good to at least have that program experience with you?
Any positives to the program?
Any negatives?

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[LizzyM]

Hey All

Lets say I was accepted into the McNairs Fellowship Program and do my 2 years in the program of research but at the end of all that I decide that research is not for me and that MD is the way I want to go. By any chance is it gonna look bad that I spent 2 years training to do a MD/PhD but then I decide not to? Is it good to at least have that program experience with you?
Any positives to the program?
Any negatives?

From what I know of the McNair Fellowships, this is support for graduate school leading to a master's degree or a doctorate. If you start a doctorate before you are admitted to med school, you can't matriculate at the medical school until you complete the doctorate. So, you don't want to get yourself backed into that corner.

A better choice would be to go for the master's degree, and then apply to doctoral programs if you want to go in that direction, or to med schools or to MD/PhD programs if you want both. A master's degree paid for with a fellowship will look sweet on a med school application. It is not going to look bad at all.

 

[DoctorPardi]

The Mcnair program at my schools is a 2 year requirement involving research, volunteer work and tons of other oppurtunities. Though, I don't know that anyone in the program is being pushed into grad school. I think the help and support to get a masters or PhD (or MD) is there and is useful but not required.

I however am not a member of this program because in most cases it requires you to be a URM or disadvantaged in some way and I do not meet either requirement.

 

[srick]

hai i wont to talk to you

 

[LizzyM]

The Mcnair program at my schools is a 2 year requirement involving research, volunteer work and tons of other oppurtunities. Though, I don't know that anyone in the program is being pushed into grad school. I think the help and support to get a masters or PhD (or MD) is there and is useful but not required.

I however am not a member of this program because in most cases it requires you to be a URM or disadvantaged in some way and I do not meet either requirement.

Undergrads who are first generation in college, disadvantaged, or minority can be McNair Scholars. Fellowships are available to Scholars (& maybe others who fit the criteria) who wish to pursue graduate studies with the goal of becoming college or university faculty. Anyone who'd apply as a stepping stone to med school would be disingenuous but certainly someone who tried it and decided they didn't like research could apply to med school but the more I think about it, the more I believe that someone who isn't totally gung ho about research would not be selected for one of these fellowships.

 

[Doctormo24]

My question is though, If I am accepted to the program and I do the program for 2 years and at the end of the 2 years I decide that I dont want to do a PhD and do an MD instead, will this in any way look bad? The program will start in my Junior year and I will continue until the end of my senior year and lets say at the end of all that I decide that I no longer wish to go to grad school to do a PhD but instead an MD will that look bad that I went through those 2 years and at the end changed my mind?

 

[LizzyM]

My question is though, If I am accepted to the program and I do the program for 2 years and at the end of the 2 years I decide that I dont want to do a PhD and do an MD instead, will this in any way look bad? The program will start in my Junior year and I will continue until the end of my senior year and lets say at the end of all that I decide that I no longer wish to go to grad school to do a PhD but instead an MD will that look bad that I went through those 2 years and at the end changed my mind?

I think you mean "scholars" when you say "fellowship". Doing a couple of years of research as an undergrad is very, very good and can only help you. Be sure to have some clinical experience, too, or else you won't have a prayer at most MD programs (but better odds at MD/PhD, particularly if your grades are good & you like research).