MD/PHD

[MTY]

how does MD/PHD program work?

do u need to be accepted to MD prior being considered for MD/PhD program?

if you get rejected by MD/PhD program, can you still be considered for MD program?

Do you need GRE score?

thanks,

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[Socceroo4ever]

Hrm... don't take me as a definitive reference on this, mate. I considered doing an MD/PhD myself, although for reasons I'll set down in a minute, I decided against that.

First off: how you apply depends on the college. For instance, at UNC Chapel Hill, where I considered doing my MD/PhD, you apply for the MD/PhD program itself instead of for the MD AND the PhD. It used to be the dual application route (and still is at a lot of schools, I believe), but now it's just one application.

Second: if you want to do mostly research, an MD/PhD is fine. But if you want do be more clinical than a researcher, forget the dual degree. The reason I say this is that TOO much time goes into getting an MD/PhD to justify going out for a residency on top of that (and you need a residency to do anything as an MD nowadays). That brings me to:

Third: I think... but don't hold me to it... that the programs used to be just lumped together. In other words, you took the same length of time to do both the MD and the PhD, and sheesh! Talk about overkill! Nowadays, just about every MD/PhD program I've looked at (UNC, UFl, U-Miami, U-Cal, etc) divides it up in pretty much the same way. You do your first two years of med school, and then do three to four years of your PhD, and then go BACK to med school for a final one to three years and get your MD. Yeck...

For me, that last part is what really buggered me. I'm planning on specializing in cardiothoracic surgery, and that's a total seven years residency... and I'm not about to add another three years for my PhD! Hope this helps you out: I remember spending months trying to find out about the MD/PhD programs and not being able to.

Best of luck in all your endeavours! Who knows... you may just be that MD/PhD I couldn't be!

Jason

 

[MSTP I]

Originally posted by MTY:
how does MD/PHD program work?

do u need to be accepted to MD prior being considered for MD/PhD program?

if you get rejected by MD/PhD program, can you still be considered for MD program?

Do you need GRE score?

thanks,

As the previous poster said, the curriculum for most MD/PhD programs is two years of med school, three to four years of graduate research, then two years of clinical rotations.

To apply to MD/PhD programs, send in your AMCAAS application. Each individual school will then send you an application for their MD/PhD program along with the secondary application.

Admission to MD/PhD programs varies. Many schools evaluate MD/PhD candidates separately from MD candidates. Some schools require acceptance to the MD program first, then they choose MD/PhD students from the pool acccepted by the MD program.

At all schools I'm familiar with (even Hopkins starting in 2001) they consider MD/PhD rejects for the MD class. However, if you apply MD/PhD and get rejected, you enter the MD pool later and thus have poorer chances of getting accepted MD.

Almost no MD/PhD programs require GRE scores.

[This message has been edited by MSTP I (edited 07-31-2000).]

 

[MTY]

At all schools I'm familiar with (even Hopkins starting in 2001) they consider MD/PhD rejects for the MD class. However, if you apply MD/PhD and get rejected, you enter the MD pool later and thus have poorer chances of getting accepted MD.


i'm amazed by the above statement that "..they consider MD/PhD rejects for the MD class" i thought it's the other way around.
my question now is..which program is easier to be accepted: MD, MD/MPH, MD/PhD, MD/MBA, or there is just no correlation?

 

[Socceroo4ever]

MD is easiest by a landslide. For one thing, all you have to do is satisfy the adcomm for the med school. For any of the combined programs, you have to meet the requirements for both sections of the degree. Be sure that out of two otherwise equal students, the one with a year of research experience over the one with no research experience will be likely to get into the MD/PhD program.

 

[GeoLeoX]

Originally posted by MTY:

i'm amazed by the above statement that "..they consider MD/PhD rejects for the MD class" i thought it's the other way around.

Whoa! You just need to take a look at some of the statistics of the entering classes to see that the MD/PhD is much more selective than MD. Frequently, the GPAs are as much as .2 points higher and the MCATs a point or two in each category. Not to mention the near requirement to have research experience. I have seen some of the applications for MD/PhD at my school and there are some very impressive candidates (and we don't even have a MSTP program).

Another point about how MD/PhD programs work. Not all are the 2yr med, "3yr" grad, 2yr med. I know someone who did the Ph.D. first entirely before even starting medical school. I, myself, wanted to enter a MD/PhD program out of undergrad but there was no way even with several years of research and post-bac that i could have a solid-enough application, so I went for a Ph.D. first and even several years of post-doc before I start med school next month.

GEo


[This message has been edited by GeoLeoX (edited 08-01-2000).]

 

[baylor21]

Everything in the previous posts is generally correct, but I feel that the main emphasis for admission to MD/PhD programs is research,research, and more research.

Most programs want you to have some exposure to medicine, but once you have one semester/year of volunteer work, its probably better to just do research alone after that. In general, you dont need to be as well rounded for MD/PhD programs, they just want to make sure you've got what it takes to be a medical scientist. Most successful applicants have research experience going all the way to their first year in college, and the ones at Harvard/MIT and other top programs usually have research from high school.

Of course, GPA and MCAT are higher than for regular MD programs, but its really the research experience that determines whether your get in or not (provided that you have an MCAT >= 30 and GPA > 3.5 or so)

The up side of MD/PhD programs is that most provide full funding through medical school.


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"There is nothing more powerful on this Earth as a man who has nothing to lose. It does not take ten such men to change the world--one will do." Elijah Mohammed