POLL: How long has it taken you or will it take you to finish MD/Phd?

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How many years to complete MD/Phd?

  • 6 years

    Votes: 3 8.6%
  • 7 years

    Votes: 16 45.7%
  • 8 years

    Votes: 12 34.3%
  • 9 years

    Votes: 2 5.7%
  • 10+

    Votes: 2 5.7%

  • Total voters
    35

disque71

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I am interested in this stat. I am really considering going this route. I don’t think the results will sway me either way, just interested. Thanks.

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heh heh, it's going to wind up taking me 13-14 years total. :wow: But I definitely did things the long way: got my MS, worked for a while, went back for my PhD, now getting ready to start med school....
 
Voted with the majority at this point (trying to maintain the shred of optimism). I'll know in the next few months whether I have to +1 to that :(
 
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Most people still in an MSTP or MD-PhD program will tell you when they think they are going to graduate. That will likely change over time. If you are really interested, it is better to get stats from individual programs or the NIH.

Graduation time at my MSTP is between 7-8 years. Hopefully I am not a statistical outlier.
 
Well, 8 years if I'm lucky. I think that's the consensus in my class.
 
mdphd2b said:
Well, 8 years if I'm lucky. I think that's the consensus in my class.

i thought pitt was really big on the fact that they push to have md/phd done in 6-7 years?

here is a quote taken from their website.

"With this early beginning, 6 years to completion of both degrees is a potential reality. I start with the number 6 years and try to hold to that. Every student is unique and thus, the magical number of 6 is not always appropriate. I then work with the number 7. It takes a lot to push me to 8. I will even settle for seven and one-half and strive for an out of sequence residency or fellowship position!"
 
It seems that the average number of years to complete MD/PhD training has gone down compared to let's say 10 years ago.

At University of Michigan, when I entered in 1998, there were many members of "Club X" (or the decade club). This is quite rare now as most people graduate in a flat 8 years. Plus, if you count the fact that 4th year of med school at Michigan really only comprises 4 months of clinical clerkships and a month of vacation, you're really done in much less than 8 years.
 
disque71 said:
i thought pitt was really big on the fact that they push to have md/phd done in 6-7 years?

here is a quote taken from their website.

"With this early beginning, 6 years to completion of both degrees is a potential reality. I start with the number 6 years and try to hold to that. Every student is unique and thus, the magical number of 6 is not always appropriate. I then work with the number 7. It takes a lot to push me to 8. I will even settle for seven and one-half and strive for an out of sequence residency or fellowship position!"


Ands here's a quote of MINE from a previous thread:
"...I can't see how you could get done in 5yr. We've had MD/PhD students barely get done in 7yr, and some of these had previous Masters, so they got out of most grad courses. Most do 8-9 total, with the PhD taking 4-5 yr. We've also had a few outliers taking 7-10 years in the PhD part [yup, there was a G11], but luckily those are few and far between!..."
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=223773

In my 6yrs at Pitt, no one (not even in the recent past) has finished in 6years--that's just an "aim" of the program, nothing more. Believe me, in my class (G4's), all of us are looking at 8-9 years total (except for the one person who dropped out to go straight MD). You need to be careful about checking a program's "recruiting average" advertised on their website vs. the actual time to graduate. The six year "aim" is based on the new curriculum which has just started (and already full of bugs), so as of yet there's no hard data to show anyone graduating in 6years.

In the class before mine (G5's), one person dropped out, one person defended in 3yr (previous Master's), 3 defended in 4yr, and the remaining 5 are still in G5.

Of course, I still love my program and the student involvement, but you still have to get used to living in Pittsburgh 7+ years :laugh:
 
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