PhD now or later?

[EastCstBound]

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Hey Guys! I was hoping I could pick your brains about an issue I'm having. I am 3rd year med student - finished my first two years and now I'm doing an MPH in health policy. Now that my program is nearing the end I know that I definitely want to pursue a PhD buuut, because I didn't plan this ahead of time, I didn't apply to any programs for next year which means that if I wanted to do a PhD during med school I'd either have to spend another year doing research before starting a PhD program OR go into 3rd year rotations and then take 3-4 years off again before going back to clinics.

My other option is to wait and do the PhD after residency. I'm interested in pediatrics and have been looking at programs, but it seems they mostly fund fellowships that lead to masters degrees, which I'm not interested in - I want something where I take advanced classes and work with a current faculty member and have protected research time. There are some funded PhDs in the areas I am looking at but after 3 years of experience during residency, I would have to live on a stipend of $26K max! That's a really scary thought.. though it might be a sacrifice I have to make. I'm not interested in doing a post residency fellowship per se - i.e. a program that leads to a masters or working with someone without taking further courses. So I'm kind of at a loss as to what to do!

AND there are only 2 programs in the country I want to go to - Harvard or UPenn... sigh.

 

[BozoSparky]

I think later would be too difficult. Try to make it work now, while you are a medical student, even if you have to float in research somewhere for a year. What research are you interested in?

Has anyone ever done PhD after residency?

 

[itsallthesame]

assuming you have done well in your first 2 years of med school and your mph and you had a decent mcat score and some experience with research...

e-mail the director of the phd program that you want to join at your university today and explain your situation and why you didn't fill out an application. generally if you're a good medical student with strong potential, the phd program would love to have you. you might also e-mail any program directors at other local schools as well. yes, it might be too late, but you'll never know if you don't try. unlike med schools, grad schools accept by dept generally and might bend the rules if they really want someone.

 

[EastCstBound]

Thanks for the advice!

I have seen some CVs of doctors who did their PhDs in health policy and management (the field I'm interested in) after residency. I think this is more because the programs didnt exist when they were in med school.

I will definitely start to email program directors pronto!

Do you guys think its a really bad idea to leave for a phd after a year of clinics? I think one of the MD/PhD programs in Texas has a track where MD/PhDs do a year of clinics first, and then do their PhDs. Yale, if I'm correct, has their students do 6 months of clinics before research...

I'm not sure how much residency programs like this though.