MSTP vs. NYU MD-only

[account12345]

Thank you all for the advice!

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[captain_kirk]

Normally, I would say you'd be crazy to choose an MD over an MD/PhD, but a fully funded MD changes the calculus—even without considering the scorched-earth "Trump variable."

Keep in mind: an MD from NYU was enough for Jonas Salk (whom I’d argue is the greatest biomedical scientist of the 20th century). I suggest you take a look at the departments related to your field of interest at Harvard, Stanford, Duke, etc. Check out the degrees of their faculty. Does it look like there's a barrier keeping MDs from reaching the highest levels? I don't think so. And if you decide later that you want a PhD after earning your NYU MD, you can still pursue one without debt, even as a faculty member. That's what David Curiel (the first person to show that an mRNA vaccine could work) at WashU did while he was still a professor at UAB (David T. Curiel, MD, PhD).

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Fully funded MD means you can get out in 4 (or 5) years. MSTP locks you in for 8-10 years at a grad student salary.

I agree even without the current administration's disdain for scientific research, this isn't a difficult choice.

 

[caffeineallergy]

I would recommend looking very closely at the environment right now at NYU before making your decision as a lot of what people mentioned regarding the NYU MSTP offers being rescinded centered around a lack of institutional funding for both the MD and MD/PhD. In an environment like that, will you be able to or have support to do additional research? Along with that, look at the institution that you are considering for MD/PhD. During my second looks, schools told me about certain donations the schools had received recently or other signs of institutional funding ie hiring faculty, involvement of high level people within the hospital system/medical school at the second looks. which demonstrated that if all things fail, the school itself cares about the md/phd program enough that it would make sure those students were supported.

Additionally, to your second point, I think it really depends on how you envision your own research direction going. The reality is that science now vs science of the past is very different. I have had interviewers and mentors discuss the difficulty of getting their foot in the door of research as MDs, but they also were able to get there. I think ultimately, you won't be closing doors, but it's a difference of how you get there and the time you would have put into getting a PhD will be allocated and spent in other parts of your career to become an MD-only physician-scientist.

 

[ophthoaspirant]

Fully funded MD means you can get out in 4 (or 5) years. MSTP locks you in for 8-10 years at a grad student salary.

I agree even without the current administration's disdain for scientific research, this isn't a difficult choice.

Valid point but you have to consider 2 additional factors:

1. How competitive is the residency you want to target (I understand it is hard to pin that down when you have not even matriculated). Some competitive specialty academic residencies will value 3-4 years worth of PhD research compared to just 1 research year.
2. Only a minority percentage of MD-PhD students take longer than 8 years. If funding constraints remain, programs may encourage and support students to complete their PhD quicker in which case the MD-PhD may take only 7 years.....remains to be seen.

I would also lean towards the fully funded MD but it is not a slam dunk decision in my eyes.