MD/Phd, MD or PhD? Help!

[jubileejay]

Hello everyone! There are probably many threads like this but I still wanted to post something and have some direct answers to my situation.

I am a 22 year old currently doing research in cancer immunology. I have always loved research, and have been doing it for about four years now (since second year of undergraduate). I think I found that cancer immunology my thing. The project that I work on right now is very translational, and I really like the idea of how my work can help further patient treatment and care. I have been recently accepted into three wonderful PhD program's (Penn, UT Southwestern and NYU) in cancer bio/immunology and am very excited. However, I have recently found myself doubting if I want to continue this path as a PhD.

Don't get me wrong, I love research. I think I'll enjoy graduate school, but I'm not so sure I love what might come after grad school (post-docs, industry, academia, etc). Although I have no clinical experience or shadowing, I have recently been considering an MD-PhD. To be honest, I am scared to just go full PhD, and feel like I would end up regretting my decision. However, I also am scared that if I go full MD, I would miss bench work and also regret my decision. I'm basically stuck, I don't know if I should accept PhD program and see how it goes, or hold off on my decision for another year.

I have taken the MCAT (...three times, yelp!) and have done horribly on them. It has mostly been fault on my part, because although I have studied hard and practiced by myself, I think it would have been in my best interest to have taken a course. I was too stubborn to accept this fact. I'm positive that this will affect my chances into applying to either MD-PhD or just MD, so I don't know what to do. Help!

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[gbwillner]

Stick with the PhD. If you've taken the MCAT 3 times and done badly, that's a good sign that you're going to have a miserable time in medical school.

 

[dl2dp2]

Agree with above. Unless you can get your MCAT to a reasonable score, MD/PhD is off the table.

 

[Patros]

Ok, now I am puzzled. Is getting into the biology grad program at UPenn easy? Any premed who was accepted to UPenn's MD would be ecstatic, so why the regret with a PhD? Unless you have a great love for clinical work, I don't see why you have any doubts at all.

As for the grunt work, you're not going to dodge that by going MD/PhD, or research-oriented MD. I think if you are going to dive into medical research, then getting a PhD from a place like UPenn is a solid way to go.

 

[mTORC]

Ok, now I am puzzled. Is getting into the biology grad program at UPenn easy? Any premed who was accepted to UPenn's MD would be ecstatic, so why the regret with a PhD? Unless you have a great love for clinical work, I don't see why you have any doubts at all.

As for the grunt work, you're not going to dodge that by going MD/PhD, or research-oriented MD. I think if you are going to dive into medical research, then getting a PhD from a place like UPenn is a solid way to go.

This may be naive, but if you can get in to Penn grad school shouldn't you be able to do well on the MCAT too?

 

[jubileejay]

This may be naive, but if you can get in to Penn grad school shouldn't you be able to do well on the MCAT too?

Like I said, I think it was mostly me not putting any time on my part. I'm not a very good standardized test taker, so maybe that affected me.

I don't think one necessarily correlates with another (?)

 

[lilybriscoe]

jubileejay, If you want to go to med school, take an MCAT class and go for it. The MCAT does not determine how well you will do in med school and is not a good indicator of how good a doc you would be. If you are passionate about what you do and enjoy it, you will be good. I have taken the MD, PhD (as opposed to MD/PhD) path and I am happy I did. In one I learned to care for patients, in the other I learned how to be a scientist. I am pretty partial to this path, but maybe that's because it is what I am most familiar with.

 

[Jorje286]

I definitely vote for no. It's not because of your MCAT, but it seems to me you're far too committed for research and not committed enough for clinical work based on your experience to slay the medical school beast. Your reasoning for the MD seems to be based on fears from the research environment, not on reasons for pursuing the MD in itself. I think you will be in for a big shock if you go through medical school cause the cultures are diametrically opposed. It will be a struggle and you'll miss the days of research. I think you need to specifically address your fears for a research career, and you'll probably see that you're "catastrophising" and many of them are unwarranted.

 

[okemba]

Hmm....?

http://www.phd-survey.org/advice/molecular_biology.htm

 

[lumpyduster]

Not trying to hijack this thread, but I feel very similar to how jubileejay describes her feelings about research and PhD. I've shadowed many doctors and absolutely loved it. I've done some hospital volunteering and non-clinical volunteering, but I do prefer toiling in the lab, even though I'm very much a people person and feel really passionate about medicine and the work doctors get to do - you're helping people in one of the most fundamental, direct ways possible.

But again, like jubileejay I am worried I will miss research and think I would enjoy (upon reflection once it's all over) the PhD process and the analytical skills I would gain from a PhD program. I'm a junior in college, have about 2.5 years of research under my belt, will probably finish up my project this summer and publish by graduation. I want to take a research gap year, but I don't know why I should if I want to do MD-only and volunteering is the weakest part of my app (right now my mind is saying "why not" because I can still do some research, just worried it won't be enough or as in depth as I'd like). But still, sometimes I wonder if I'd like MD-PhD since I'd really rather research with my gap year and do some volunteering on the side. I feel like that sounds like I don't like people, but I do