MD/PhD and MD-only at specific schools?

[UsualHomie]

Hello everyone,

I know there have been a few threads on this topic in the past, but I can't seem to find a concrete answer to squelch my concerns!

My overarching question is this--is there a way to know if applying to MD/Ph.D. and MD-only at particular schools won't hurt my chances at an MD-only admission, relative to me just applying regular MD.

Before anyone (rightly) doubts my motives for applying MD/Ph.D., I 100% want to be an MD/Ph.D. and love the meld of clinical/lab life. This is not a question. However, there are particular institutions that I would like to train at, and would rather be accepted MD-only to them and then eventually transfer in to get a Ph.D. (or even get one after med school if I needed to). In short, if there is an equal chance of getting into the MD-only program whether or not I apply MSTP, I'd be happy to apply MSTP on top of it--if not, I'd rather wait.

I know there are schools where there is certainly an impact (since they don't consider you for MD-only or only under "special circumstances"). However, for schools that do explicitly state they consider MD-only, I can't tease out which ones have MD and Ph.D./MD committees simultaneously and independently review your app, so that your MD app is indistinguishable from the rest of the MD apps (and operates on the same timeframe). These criteria of simultaneous and independent are my litmus for a school where applying Ph.D./MD doesn't hurt your MD chances.

Please let me know if that was not clear, and feel free to ask any questions!

Thank you!!

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[dl2dp2]

You are overthinking it. Apply to both if you want to have the option of going to both either way. There's no need to make up a story for the MD separately--it usually doesn't work anyway, because your narrative doesn't fit outside of the MD/PHD rubric. You can even say in your MD-only essay that you hope to become a physician scientist, and have applied at your school MD PhD, but even if you don't get the opportunity to do so you'd hope to do research at X Y Z lab for a year to contribute to science. The strength of the science at this field really attracted me to it, etc. etc. blah blah.

This happens btw all the time. Harvard/UCSF MD might decide to take you, but then you get an offer from Michigan MSTP. But you want to go work for Jack Szostak, so you end up paying 300 grand to go to Harvard and reapply to their PhD program. In fact, rumor has it that half of MD/PhDs at Harvard are "self funded" like that. LOL. I hope it's worth it for them. I guess a lot of people have a lot of wealthy parents...

 

[TheJooce]

In fact, rumor has it that half of MD/PhDs at Harvard are "self funded" like that. LOL. I hope it's worth it for them. I guess a lot of people have a lot of wealthy parents...

Everyone I asked at HMS during the interview said that those who matriculate straight MD and then apply into the MD-PhD program as "affiliates" get funding by the time they start graduate school which extends to the last two years of med school. So they'd be paying half of sticker price, at most. Obviously many students are on financial aid during M1 and M2 years as well.

 

[dl2dp2]

Everyone I asked at HMS during the interview said that those who matriculate straight MD and then apply into the MD-PhD program as "affiliates" get funding by the time they start graduate school which extends to the last two years of med school. So they'd be paying half of sticker price, at most. Obviously many students are on financial aid during M1 and M2 years as well.

Ah yes. “Affiliates” 150g rather than 300g. I bet not many of those are on financial aid—- otherwise why not just fund them straight through?

 

[UsualHomie]

You are overthinking it. Apply to both if you want to have the option of going to both either way. There's no need to make up a story for the MD separately--it usually doesn't work anyway, because your narrative doesn't fit outside of the MD/PHD rubric. You can even say in your MD-only essay that you hope to become a physician scientist, and have applied at your school MD PhD, but even if you don't get the opportunity to do so you'd hope to do research at X Y Z lab for a year to contribute to science. The strength of the science at this field really attracted me to it, etc. etc. blah blah.

This happens btw all the time. Harvard/UCSF MD might decide to take you, but then you get an offer from Michigan MSTP. But you want to go work for Jack Szostak, so you end up paying 300 grand to go to Harvard and reapply to their PhD program. In fact, rumor has it that half of MD/PhDs at Harvard are "self funded" like that. LOL. I hope it's worth it for them. I guess a lot of people have a lot of wealthy parents...

Thank you for the response!

I surely may be overthinking it, but as I've scoured around, many people say that applying both does hurt your MD-only chances. I am really trying to get into particular schools, and although I definitely can't expect anything out of this crapshoot of a process, if I can avoid decreasing my chances knowingly, I'd like to avoid it.

I'm still scouring around the forums to see if I can find some concrete answers.

 

[dl2dp2]

Thank you for the response!

I surely may be overthinking it, but as I've scoured around, many people say that applying both does hurt your MD-only chances. I am really trying to get into particular schools, and although I definitely can't expect anything out of this crapshoot of a process, if I can avoid decreasing my chances knowingly, I'd like to avoid it.

I'm still scouring around the forums to see if I can find some concrete answers.

There are no concrete answers because the answer varies depending on the school, and often administration, and even within the same committee year over year. Why don’t you call their admission office and ask?

 

[UsualHomie]

There are no concrete answers because the answer varies depending on the school, and often administration, and even within the same committee year over year. Why don’t you call their admission office and ask?

That is a great idea! I'll do that.

Thank you for your time, I appreciate it.

 

[TheJooce]

Ah yes. “Affiliates” 150g rather than 300g. I bet not many of those are on financial aid—- otherwise why not just fund them straight through?

Because they may not have applied to the MSTP or been accepted to the MSTP before matriculating. Those decisions are completely independent of financial aid.

 

[dl2dp2]

Because they may not have applied to the MSTP or been accepted to the MSTP before matriculating. Those decisions are completely independent of financial aid.

Or so they tell you....

 

[TheJooce]

Or so they tell you....

Lol the MSTP decision is completely independent of financial aid because it’s fully funded. They don’t have to take your ability to pay into account.