PhD part of mstp admissions

[CMVpromoter]

How much say do the PhD people have in determining a candidate's acceptance?

Medical school admission committees definitely have more defined criteria (GPA, MCAT..) and are supposed to be the more selective of the two, but are there cases where the PhD committees decline a student even if the MD committee accepts?

Another question, how easy is it to switch PhD fields once a student has matriculated into a particular mstp program and after going through the first two years of medical school for example? Is this a relatively common phenomenon?

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[Neuronix]

Medical school admission committees definitely have more defined criteria (GPA, MCAT..) and are supposed to be the more selective of the two, but are there cases where the PhD committees decline a student even if the MD committee accepts?

At the vast majority of schools it's a MD/PhD committee that makes the decision. It's very rare that the MDs or PhDs overrule them.

Another question, how easy is it to switch PhD fields once a student has matriculated into a particular mstp program and after going through the first two years of medical school for example? Is this a relatively common phenomenon?

Yes, it is quite common.

 

[bd4727]

At the vast majority of schools it's a MD/PhD committee that makes the decision. It's very rare that the MDs or PhDs overrule them.



Yes, it is quite common.

Neuronix is correct. In fact, the MD/PhD committee is usually all the program directors and then a few other big name people at the institution who have been involved with the MSTP for a while. You should be able to figure out who they are, and your interview with those people is of tantamount importance. Generally, at least in my program, the other PIs you may interview with are people who are in touch with the MSTP (ie have had a lot of students in the past, are colleges of the directors, etc) and will write a little evaluation of your interview with them but won't actually go to the admission decision meeting. Anyway, that's my understanding of how many schools work.

Also I would note regarding switching PhD departments, that in my experience there are not many MSTPs that actually make you choose a department until during year 2 of medical school. Neuronix may be able to correct me on this, but my impression was maybe only 25% of MSTPs make you pick before MS2 year.

 

[CMVpromoter]

Are interviews with the md-phd committee one-on-one with each member or as a group?

 

[bd4727]

Are interviews with the md-phd committee one-on-one with each member or as a group?

Almost always one-on-one, and you would generally interview with:
- 1 MSTP director/ associate director
- 1-2 offical committee members (faculty but not offically MSTP associated
- 1-2 students who most likely sit on the committee as student members, although their weight on that committee is likely less than the faculty
- a few faculty who you said you were interested in (maybe) who would write up a little not about your interview with them but wouldn't actually go to the committee meeting, and probably doesn't have much of an impact on your admittance

Just as a disclaimer, these things vary from school to school, but this is generally how my MSTP does it and my experience on the interviews were that most are set up similarly.