MD/PhD Support Thread

[Thundrstorm]

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Okay, guys, I know I can't be the only one stressed out with this process and praying for interviews. I simple CANNOT stop checking status pages and e-mail. And why are these schools playing with my emotions? Maryland just sent me an e-mail with the word "interview" in the title. It ended up just being a list of their interview dates and general info on the process. Ummm... unless your writing to invite me, I don't care! Talk about a cheap thrill.

Anyway, who's applying right now, what stage are you at, and what do you want to complain or fret about? 😀

 

[scneuro]

Okay, guys, I know I can't be the only one stressed out with this process and praying for interviews. I simple CANNOT stop checking status pages and e-mail. And why are these schools playing with my emotions? Maryland just sent me an e-mail with the word "interview" in the title. It ended up just being a list of their interview dates and general info on the process. Ummm... unless your writing to invite me, I don't care! Talk about a cheap thrill.

Anyway, who's applying right now, what stage are you at, and what do you want to complain or fret about? 😀

I've interviewed at one school already and have 5 more invites in the coming month or so. Anxiously awaiting word from my other schools and I hope to hear on or around Oct. 15th about the first one. Do you think we'll really hear from them that early (i.e. Oct 15-17)?

 

[ropra]

just curious when did everyone send in their secondaries?

 

[ChyLn]

hehe... still working on my duke one and waiting to submit my harvard one. Waiting for UCSF secondary as well. Everything else has been in around 3-4 weeks now.

Just got an interview from Yale, so I feel excited!

Best of luck to everyone 🙂

 

[Thundrstorm]

just curious when did everyone send in their secondaries?

I've been sending mine in since the beginning of August, but I still have a few left. I'd hoped to be done long before now, but my money ran out. Plus, my research LORs were held up by one writer, so those just got submitted this week. Thus, I'm only complete at about a third of my schools.

 

[stherling]

I'm working on my last secondary.... complete everywhere else (well. on my part. the mail still has yet to get to them..). I took the August MCAT though, so i won't REALLY be complete till the scores come out 🙁

 

[ropra]

have you guys had any troubles in the receival end of your rec letters? i seem to be having many problems in regard to this.

 

[Thundrstorm]

have you guys had any troubles in the receival end of your rec letters? i seem to be having many problems in regard to this.

Do you mean that schools aren't receiving letters that you know were sent? I haven't had any problems so far, though it does take some of the school quite a long time to notify you that you're complete. In fact, I was worried about this b/c several of my LOR were sent before I submitted secondaries, but so far they have all arrived alright.

 

[ChyLn]

I haven't had any problems either. My school submits via Virtual Evals, so they were instaneously received. It does take a couple of days once they are sent for some schools to acknowledge though.

 

[bottles999]

I'm working on my last secondary.... complete everywhere else (well. on my part. the mail still has yet to get to them..). I took the August MCAT though, so i won't REALLY be complete till the scores come out 🙁

In the same boat as you Stherling. I really started getting mine out after the August MCAT and have 19 done & submitted. Yet have a few more to work on that I can work on. A few schools, UCSD and UCSF plus others, are waiting to screen based on MCATs, so I might not get invites (for secondaries) untill after mid Oct. In addition, waiting on one more LOR. So I wont expect interview calls till mid Nov, at best.

Anxiously awaiting too!

 

[Thundrstorm]

Has anyone read the book The Complete Guide to the MD/PhD Degree -- by Ben Rosner, et al? I found it on Amazon and am considering purchasing it, since it will be so much more relevant than the general MD amdission guides, but I don't want to waste money if it sucks (there was only one customer review). Anyone heard of it? Any reviews?

 

[bottles999]

Has anyone read the book The Complete Guide to the MD/PhD Degree -- by Ben Rosner, et al? I found it on Amazon and am considering purchasing it, since it will be so much more relevant than the general MD amdission guides, but I don't want to waste money if it sucks (there was only one customer review). Anyone heard of it? Any reviews?

I have it and was very helpful initially as I was deciding between MD vs. MD/PhD vs. PhD. Its a guide for the entire 7 years or more of the MD-PhD program and doesnt just cover admissions process or What an MD-PhDer (Docter-Docter in there termonology) does. Its not bad and can give ya an overview of what to expect at each turn, such as transitioning from MS2 to Grad school or finishing the PhD and going back to MS3.

The book is head and sholders better than any MD only reference book I have seen. At most they typically only mention the MD-PhD, sometimes as little as a mere footnote let alone cover in any depth the overall structure of the program.

However, You can also gleen alot of the information on these boards from ppl going through the process 1st hand too. I look at it as a decent reference book for the entire process.

Good Luck Tstorm

 

[Vader]

Has anyone read the book The Complete Guide to the MD/PhD Degree -- by Ben Rosner, et al? I found it on Amazon and am considering purchasing it, since it will be so much more relevant than the general MD amdission guides, but I don't want to waste money if it sucks (there was only one customer review). Anyone heard of it? Any reviews?

I would also suggest you check out the site:

intransit.us

which has a detailed MD/PhD guidebook, program reviews, FAQs, info for international students, etc, and is completely free.

Happy browsing and good luck!

 

[stherling]

I'm working on my last secondary.... complete everywhere else (well. on my part. the mail still has yet to get to them..). I took the August MCAT though, so i won't REALLY be complete till the scores come out 🙁

done. finally. today i have to put in a request for my LORs to be sent out, and then i'm.... done. i'm going to have to find a new hobby for the next few months so i don't drive myself mad waiting for the MCAT scores to be released. or waiting for interview invites, which, unlike the MCAT scores, may or may not ever come..... my pre-Allo MD-only friends are interviewing like CRAZY right now... I know MSTP stuff usually gets done later in the game, but still...

 

[Thundrstorm]

I would also suggest you check out the site:

intransit.us

which has a detailed MD/PhD guidebook, program reviews, FAQs, info for international students, etc, and is completely free.

Happy browsing and good luck!

Oh, I have! I've read it repeatedly. This is probably going to sound stupid, but as I'm in this waiting period between secondaries and inteview invites, I just kind want to read about the topic to keep myself siked up, and well... I've exhausted my internet options. 🙂

 

[Habari]

The Complete Guide to the MD/PhD Degree

from what i've heard it isn't worth purchasing. best of luck; it'll be decision time before you know it.

 

[hardy]

Are the MST programs really slow compared to the regular MD programs or do they just not like me?

 

[Vader]

Oh, I have! I've read it repeatedly. This is probably going to sound stupid, but as I'm in this waiting period between secondaries and inteview invites, I just kind want to read about the topic to keep myself siked up, and well... I've exhausted my internet options. 🙂

hehe... I remember the feeling, even though it was several years ago now. 🙂

Have you read the following article:

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v435/n7042/full/435556a.html

It is a very recent (and one of the best) descriptions of how one may take discoveries from the bedside to the bench and then back again. The article describes the study of a mysterious brain-melting disease has helped shed light on the process of protein translation and given this seemingly basic process more clinical relevance than previously thought. A must read for any aspiring physician-scientist IMO! 🙂

 

[stherling]

Are the MST programs really slow compared to the regular MD programs or do they just not like me?

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[stherling]

Have you read the following article:

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v435/n7042/full/435556a.html

Can't access the link... what's the citation?

 

[hardy]

01001101010100110101010001010000001000000111000001110010011011110110001101100101011100110111001100100000010010010101001100100000011100110110110001101111011101110110010101110010

Good, in that case I will just have to wait and check my email every five minutes 🙄

 

[Thundrstorm]

Good, in that case I will just have to wait and check my email every five minutes 🙄

I think I average every 3 minutes. Thank God for days like today when they keep me so busy in the lab that I actually go hours without checking.

 

[Thundrstorm]

Can't access the link... what's the citation?

The link worked fine for me. ?? Anyway, the citation is

Ainsworth, Claire. Molecular Medicine: Lost in Translation. Nature. 435, 556-558. 2 June 2005






Thanks Vader. 😀

 

[Newquagmire]

Another perhaps less thrilling look at "translational research" written by my former boss was published in the Sept 21 issue of JAMA.

http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/294/11/1343

In addition to updated factual data about MD/PhDs, the article documents some of the challenges faced by "late bloomers," whom decide to pursue research during or after finishing the MD.

 

[imsotired]

Who else isn't motivated to study anymore? I have 2 exams next week (nucleic acids and physical biochemistry) that everyone else is freaking out about and here I am just trying to procrastinate as much as possible and stressing out about interviews instead. I hope I get accepted somewhere this year so that these grades don't count! 😛

 

[Reimat]

Who else isn't motivated to study anymore? I have 2 exams next week (nucleic acids and physical biochemistry) that everyone else is freaking out about and here I am just trying to procrastinate as much as possible and stressing out about interviews instead. I hope I get accepted somewhere this year so that these grades don't count! 😛

That's how I feel- got my first interview and feel like senior year of HS. So bad...

 

[Thundrstorm]

I got my first interview!!! I feel like a huge ball of stress that was growing in my chest has dissipated. It's like a sign that I'm not crazy to think that I have a shot at this, or at the schools I chose. Maybe now I can scale back to checking my e-mail only every 20-30 minutes (ummm... sike).

 

[imsotired]

I got my first interview!!! I feel like a huge ball of stress that was growing in my chest has dissipated. It's like a sign that I'm not crazy to think that I have a shot at this, or at the schools I chose. Maybe now I can scale back to checking my e-mail only every 20-30 minutes (ummm... sike).

Congrats! Great feeling huh? 😀 But wait til after the interview. You feel even worse than waiting for the invite. 👎

 

[imsotired]

That's how I feel- got my first interview and feel like senior year of HS. So bad...

Hey, I saw that you got an invite to Pitt. You're going to love it there. I certainly did!! Good luck!

 

[scneuro]

Hey, I saw that you got an invite to Pitt. You're going to love it there. I certainly did!! Good luck!

For all of you who interviewed early in september, do you think you will hear a decision on or around Oct. 15th? I know each school is different and in my case I'm referring to NJMS (interviewed Sept. 7th) where the director of hte MD/PhD program told me that they'd have their decision made by then, but my pre-med advisor said that MD/PhD decision don't normally come out right away w/the first wave of MD acceptances.

What are your thoughts? I'm anxiously awaiting the 15th! Anyone else?

 

[imsotired]

For all of you who interviewed early in september, do you think you will hear a decision on or around Oct. 15th? I know each school is different and in my case I'm referring to NJMS (interviewed Sept. 7th) where the director of hte MD/PhD program told me that they'd have their decision made by then, but my pre-med advisor said that MD/PhD decision don't normally come out right away w/the first wave of MD acceptances.

What are your thoughts? I'm anxiously awaiting the 15th! Anyone else?

Hey~ Pitt has told us that on October 15th, they are sending out the official decision letters. They also said that we can email them to find out if we have been accepted on the 15th. I am getting kind of nervous right now. I can't even concentrate on studying for my exams! The more and more that time passes, the less and less self-confident I'm getting. So yeah, I am anxious too....

 

[Thundrstorm]

Unbelievable. More than one school is interested in me. I am having such a good week. I feel like I need to celebrate with a pina colada or something. 😀

 

[Thundrstorm]

So I got my first rejection letter. I added UPitt to AMCAS kind of last minute, but then I got a bunch of interviews that week and they didn't send me the MD secondary for awhile, so I decided not to bother with the secondary. Well, they sent me a rejection letter yesterday saying they had recvd. a lot of great applications this year and wouldn't be able to interview me. They've gotta reject me even though I already rejected them.