- Joined
- Jul 19, 2008
- Messages
- 1
- Reaction score
- 0
I know there are several people out there doing the PhD to MD thing, something I have been considering. Here's the situation - right now I'm 26 and in a PhD program in Microbiology. If I went the med school route, and started applying as soon as possible, I would likely be a year away from the PhD - something I couldn't walk away from being that close.
Initially, I wasn't planning a career in medicine - always planned on doing the "save the world thing" in basic research. Lately though, I've realized that #1) basic research is isolating, #2) there is no interaction with the people you help and #3) medicine makes a difference in someone's daily life - not that basic research doesn't, but its more of a delayed response and I grew up as part of the instant gratification/TV generation. More selfishly, residency pays better than a post-doc, and signing MD/PhD after my name would be an ego boost (its a joke, but sadly its true).
That being said - I had a few questions about my situation. The obvious one is that I had a terrible undergrad GPA (2.6 ish, 2.8 in my Bio major) but my MS and PhD GPAs have been very good (3.3ish and 4.0 respectively). Did well on the GRE (not that that means anything for med school) and have a solid research background (with a few publications). Would I be an acceptable applicant (assuming a decent score on the MCAT), should I think about taking/re-taking some of my lack luster undergrad courses, or should I give up?
Also, if someone out there has completed the jump, I'd love to hear what your experiences are in the Residency/Post-residency world. How did you approach it with your PhD mentor? Was your mentor encouraging, discouraging, or just ask you what your name was again? Are you happy you made the switch? Is practicing intellectually fulfilling for you, or does every flu patient start to look the same? What prompted you to say no to a low-paying 80 hour a week Post-Doc for an extra 200K in debt with an 80 hr/week courseload followed by 100 hr/week residency? Sorry, I know there are alot of questions. Thanks for the info/advice.
Initially, I wasn't planning a career in medicine - always planned on doing the "save the world thing" in basic research. Lately though, I've realized that #1) basic research is isolating, #2) there is no interaction with the people you help and #3) medicine makes a difference in someone's daily life - not that basic research doesn't, but its more of a delayed response and I grew up as part of the instant gratification/TV generation. More selfishly, residency pays better than a post-doc, and signing MD/PhD after my name would be an ego boost (its a joke, but sadly its true).
That being said - I had a few questions about my situation. The obvious one is that I had a terrible undergrad GPA (2.6 ish, 2.8 in my Bio major) but my MS and PhD GPAs have been very good (3.3ish and 4.0 respectively). Did well on the GRE (not that that means anything for med school) and have a solid research background (with a few publications). Would I be an acceptable applicant (assuming a decent score on the MCAT), should I think about taking/re-taking some of my lack luster undergrad courses, or should I give up?
Also, if someone out there has completed the jump, I'd love to hear what your experiences are in the Residency/Post-residency world. How did you approach it with your PhD mentor? Was your mentor encouraging, discouraging, or just ask you what your name was again? Are you happy you made the switch? Is practicing intellectually fulfilling for you, or does every flu patient start to look the same? What prompted you to say no to a low-paying 80 hour a week Post-Doc for an extra 200K in debt with an 80 hr/week courseload followed by 100 hr/week residency? Sorry, I know there are alot of questions. Thanks for the info/advice.
