MSTP outside of the sciences?

[AppleseedCast]

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Does anyone know anything about doing an MSTP program with the PhD in something not within the life sciences such as social science, humanities etc. For instance, are there programs out there where you can do a PhD in sociology or psychology and get the MD with it? Thanks in advance! 🙂

 

[RxnMan]

When I volunteered at our local ER, there was a MD/PhD who's PhD was in history. Many institutions will allow you to get just about any PhD they grant.

 

[hardy]

Many institutions will allow you to get just about any PhD they grant.

I would not say many, but a few do. Although the only place I have seen MD/PhDs with a PhD in history come out is Urbana-Champaign.

 

[SaltySqueegee]

MD/PhD programs in the humanities exist. Are they MSTP funded? Likely not; probably privately funded with certain restrictions.

Also keep in mind that you have 7 years from start to finish to complete all three USMLE steps. A PhD in the humanities could take you a significant amount of time more than a Molecular Biology PhD. Just a precaution.

Still cool though. 👍

 

[AppleseedCast]

what about in the psychological or sociological sciences? How does one go about applying to these? Does anyone have a list of schools that offer the PhD portion of an mstp program in these areas. Thanks!

 

[RxnMan]

I would not say many, but a few do. Although the only place I have seen MD/PhDs with a PhD in history come out is Urbana-Champaign.

Yeah, UIU-C is one. CU is another. For some reason, NYU also strikes me as another. I just remember that, more often than not, the list of PhDs offered through a school's MD/PhD program matched what the university offered as a whole.

OP, start looking at these (above) universities. Why the sociological sciences? Are you looking to land a better psych residency? Not paying for school is not much of a reason to go, especially when you consider the extra years in training take away from your highest earning years, your last.

 

[Blue Planet]

I'm pretty sure they are not MSTP-funded - NIH grant money probably goes toward training biomedical scientists only.

However, I do know of a few schools that offer MD/PhD joint programs with the PhD being a non-science (Harvard, for one). I don't know about tuition waivers for such programs, since most stipends for graduate work are for people pursuing science degrees.

 

[DecadesOfBigRed]

As a general rule, most MSTP programs do not want to hear that you are not interested in science, hard science. It is, after all, a medical scientist training program. That being said, there are a few that will let you do a phd in social sciences. You can knock most schools off the list simply by where the med school is in relation to the graduate school. Einstein, NYU, Cornell, Sinai, UCSF and many others either have no non-science graduate school to speak of, or, are geographically displaced from the graduate school, precluding any possibility of doing a phd in social sciences. True, some schools will collaborate to let you do the long distance thing, but from what I have seen they like to keep you close, and discourage it. The classic ivies and some others are your best bet. Places like Harvard, Columbia, Yale, etc. are going to be more open to non-traditional proposals, and have the facilities close at hand for you to persue it.