MD/PhD School List Help- MD Reapplicant

[turtle02]

Hi everyone! Am looking to reapply during the 2025-2026 cycle- looking for some help with my school list. As a note, I retook my MCAT after the 2023-2024 cycle didn't go well for me. At the time, I applied MD-only, but given my interest/extensive experience in research and higher score, I am strongly considering applying MD/PhD.

cGPA: 3.746
sGPA: 3.5

MCAT (most recent to oldest):
- 520 (130/130/130/130) in 08/2024
- 503 (124/129/123/127) in 01/2023
- 508 (124/130/127/127) in 08/2022

State of residence: MI

URM/ORM: ORM (south asian female)

Undergraduate institution: University of Michigan

Clinical experience:
- Hospice volunteering- 200 hours over 2 years (not really doing anything medical, most of my hours are from in-person companionship visits but some are from "tuck-in calls" where we would check in with patients and their families to see if they needed supplies/medication refills/other assistance before the weekend
- EMT student- 300 hours (passed the class and practical, passed NREMT last month)
- Clinical research experience (below)
- Volunteering at Surgery Reception- probably around 40 hours by primary time. Mostly spent walking patient's families back to see the patient in recovery/telling them when to expect updates.

Research experience (most recent first):
- Clinical Research Coordinator- Assistant: This is the full-time gap year job I started in September, I'm planning to work here until matriculation. I work on multiple studies regarding patients with varying stages of dementia and their care partners, studying their sleep habits and positive/stressful experiences. (Would have over 2000 hours by the time I applied)
- Undergraduate RA: ~ 1500 hours in an endocrinology lab (where I did my honors thesis)- both basic research and mice work
- Note: I have 1 3rd author publication and multiple poster presentations/abstract awards
- Planning to get at least one more publication in with the new lab but may not be done before primaries are due

- Undergraduate RA: 318 hours in a neuroblastoma lab - basic research

Shadowing experience:
- 1800 hours as a medical scribe in a Hematology/Oncology clinic

Non-clinical volunteering:
- Peer Mentor for 1 year- 130 hours
- Hospitality cart volunteer through Ronald McDonald House Charities at my local children's hospital- 100 hours over 2 years (probably a little more by the time I apply since I am still doing this).
- Humane Society- probably around 20-40 hours by primary application time

Other extracurricular activities:
- Orientation leader for my undergraduate university for 4 months (summer)- 70 hours
- Social chair and then mentorship chair of the Neuroscience Student Association at my undergraduate university (a lot of hours I need to calculate this )

Honors/Awards:
- University honors awards a few times
- Highest Honors on my honors thesis
- 2024 Neuroscience Director's Award for outstanding achievements in research, in the classroom, and in teaching or service

MISC:
I have a really strong history of working with the elderly and with kids, both populations which I love working with. I also really enjoy research and am considering pursuing an MD/PhD but am not sure if it would be worth it. I mostly want guidance on my school list because I'm not confident about where my stats fall and what schools I should be aiming for. I want to apply to schools I am competitive for but do not want to overshoot, and I currently have a lot of reach schools on the list I'm having trouble cutting down on, so any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance! I also have the list of schools I would be reapplying to if that would be helpful.

TLDR: Should I apply MD/PhD this cycle? If so, what schools?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[dimplesage]

MD/PhD school lists are heavily based on research interests and personal living preferences (big/small city, loc in the US, etc). If you did an MD/PhD, what type of research would you want to do? I would center your list around schools where you find the research interesting and could live there for 8 years.

One thing I would note, is that MD/PhD programs sometimes have mixed opinions on clinical research simply because most PhDs that MD/PhDs do lean basic science based. I'm not an Adcom, so not sure how that would affect your application.

 

[turtle02]

MD/PhD school lists are heavily based on research interests and personal living preferences (big/small city, loc in the US, etc). If you did an MD/PhD, what type of research would you want to do? I would center your list around schools where you find the research interesting and could live there for 8 years.

One thing I would note, is that MD/PhD programs sometimes have mixed opinions on clinical research simply because most PhDs that MD/PhDs do lean basic science based. I'm not an Adcom, so not sure how that would affect your application.

Hi thank you for your response, the clinical research aspect was something I was thinking about as well. I would be interested primarily in the type of research I did in undergrad (endocrinology/metabolism/neuroscience). My thesis was focused on a CRISPR-Cas9-edited mouse model which produced neonatal mice that had low to no T4 production, so I did motor reflex and other various tests on them to determine whether T4 deficiency plays a specific role in development. Because the work I would like to do is interdisciplinary and likely similar to that, I think the majority of schools I am thinking about would have at least one PhD concentration that would fit my needs.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Hi thank you for your response, the clinical research aspect was something I was thinking about as well. I would be interested primarily in the type of research I did in undergrad (endocrinology/metabolism/neuroscience). My thesis was focused on a CRISPR-Cas9-edited mouse model which produced neonatal mice that had low to no T4 production, so I did motor reflex and other various tests on them to determine whether T4 deficiency plays a specific role in development. Because the work I would like to do is interdisciplinary and likely similar to that, I think the majority of schools I am thinking about would have at least one PhD concentration that would fit my needs.

Maybe to help narrow your possibilities from "a majority" to at least a reasonable number (although you may disregard this advice because we have no clue how many spots will be available for next cycle given the uncertainty of funding), go over the references for your thesis and check out which medical schools pop up most frequently. Write down the PI's names, and then look up the other faculty in their departments.

Most medical schools also foster interdisciplinary research, especially with the Ph.D. students. You might want to see how each medical school promotes its Ph.D. program as a safety net (if we were back in normal funding times).