What are some of the less selective md/ph.d programs in northeast? what do u think of mcgill in terms of selectivity? what programs place more emphasis on mcat and research and more forgiving towards your gpa?
From what I've seen posted before, really good research will make any reasonable shortcomings excusable. As far as less selective MD/PhD programs...I would guess any that aren't MSTP since there probably won't be as much competition. However, if you are good enough to apply MD/PhD for "less selective" you are good enough to apply for wherever you want, since there seems to be more intangibles in the application process
and if you do undergrad research in one area(for example chemistry), could you do your ph.d in completely another? are you supposed to know some professors in the dept that you would want to have as your mentors before filling out the application, or you just apply in general?
You can do a PhD in anything you want, just know that if you don't have a really good background, you will be playing catch up by having to take a few more classes in some programs. Since you will have taken all the premed requirements, you should have sufficient background to get a PhD in any biomedical field covered by most MD/PhD programs since they are usually fairly interdisciplinary. Apply whereever you want to be for 7-8 years (sometimes longer) as long as there is research you are going to be interested in. It is always a good idea to see if there are multiple labs that are doing research that interests you, but in any decent sized university, you should be able to find interesting projects
also how much vacation do the students have during their ph.d.-candidate years?
That is honestly between you and the PI and possibly your thesis committee. As soon as you are done with core classes, you can pretty much do what you want as long as your PI approves and you are getting your work done. I know that in the lab I work in, everyone takes at least a week off during summer and there are various trips/long weekends throughout the year. Research is not a clock-in type of job, so as long as you get your work done, the PI doesn't usually mind you having a life
