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- Dec 4, 2002
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i am a PhD student in biology at Columbia but am not enjoying it because i have now realized that medicine is the career i want to pursue. i have filed my amcas application and have begun to receive the secondary forms. however i have run into a problem and was hoping you could help me:
- some of the schools require a letter from the chair of the department if the applicant is enrolled in a graduate program. the problem is that i do NOT want to inform any member of the PhD biology department that i am applying to medical schools. the reason is that eventhough it is technically a PhD program, we are awarded our MA and MPhil as we finish the program (every "exam" that is passed means that another degree is awarded). i would like to stay in the program until i could possibly earn my MA, which would hopefully be at the end of the next academic year (unless i am accepted at a medical school within the next year). thus, the department would "frown" upon my applying to medical schools while i am still enrolled in their program and if i were not to get into any medical schools and decided to stay with this program, then the situation would become quite difficult for me to stay at Columbia. i was thinking of taking a short leave of absence while i am applying to medical schools but i was not sure if that would constitute me as "not being enrolled in a graduate program" and i would like to continue with the research work that i am doing now as part of the PhD program. is there anyway that i could bypass this "gradaute chair letter" or could i have someone who is not part of the program write something on my behalf? is there anything that i could possibly do or do i just have to resort to not applying to these schools that have this requirement? any information and advice you could provide would be greatly appreciated.
- some of the schools require a letter from the chair of the department if the applicant is enrolled in a graduate program. the problem is that i do NOT want to inform any member of the PhD biology department that i am applying to medical schools. the reason is that eventhough it is technically a PhD program, we are awarded our MA and MPhil as we finish the program (every "exam" that is passed means that another degree is awarded). i would like to stay in the program until i could possibly earn my MA, which would hopefully be at the end of the next academic year (unless i am accepted at a medical school within the next year). thus, the department would "frown" upon my applying to medical schools while i am still enrolled in their program and if i were not to get into any medical schools and decided to stay with this program, then the situation would become quite difficult for me to stay at Columbia. i was thinking of taking a short leave of absence while i am applying to medical schools but i was not sure if that would constitute me as "not being enrolled in a graduate program" and i would like to continue with the research work that i am doing now as part of the PhD program. is there anyway that i could bypass this "gradaute chair letter" or could i have someone who is not part of the program write something on my behalf? is there anything that i could possibly do or do i just have to resort to not applying to these schools that have this requirement? any information and advice you could provide would be greatly appreciated.
