Questions

[ComicBookDude]

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Hello all and thank you in advance for taking the time to read this.

I am currently a junior who will be taking the MCAT next April. I had some general questions regarding the MD/PhD program that I was hoping could be answered.
1. Is an undergraduate degree in Biology necessary? I am a Mathematics major, but am minoring in Chemistry and Biology, so will that fulfill the requirements?

2. Does the type of research matter that you do during your undergraduate years? Over the past year, I have received two fellowships for my research (with stipends totaling almost $12,000.00) and will have a paper published (first author) by the time I graduate. However, my research deals in analyzing chemical pathways of air pollutants (Analytical Chem). Am I at a disadvantage when compared to someone who did cancer research?

3. Approximately what is the breakdown of responsibilities of a physician scientist with respect to teaching, research, and clinical work? Is there some flexibility? a lot? none?

Thanks again!

 

[meowkat444]

Hello all and thank you in advance for taking the time to read this.

I am currently a junior who will be taking the MCAT next April. I had some general questions regarding the MD/PhD program that I was hoping could be answered.
1. Is an undergraduate degree in Biology necessary? I am a Mathematics major, but am minoring in Chemistry and Biology, so will that fulfill the requirements?

2. Does the type of research matter that you do during your undergraduate years? Over the past year, I have received two fellowships for my research (with stipends totaling almost $12,000.00) and will have a paper published (first author) by the time I graduate. However, my research deals in analyzing chemical pathways of air pollutants (Analytical Chem). Am I at a disadvantage when compared to someone who did cancer research?

3. Approximately what is the breakdown of responsibilities of a physician scientist with respect to teaching, research, and clinical work? Is there some flexibility? a lot? none?

Thanks again!

No, an undergrad degree in biology is definitely not necessary. Many MSTP applicants do have science degrees of some sort, but there are even exceptions to that. (I.e. there was a theatre major on my last MSTP interview at a top-tier school.) it's more about depth/breadth/commitment to research than the word on your degree. In any case, math is definitely fine. And it's totally okay if your research isn't traditional biology. Depending on what you want to do in grad school, you may have to fiddle with your school list. (Some schools would probably be more accommodating to grad work in chem than others.) However, the successful research you've done in one scientific field will definitely be looked upon favorably, and as long as you have a convincing reason to want to do so, you could probably transition into other research fields.

As for the career... yes, there is flexibility but schools are generally training you to do majority research. I think what you do with it is in fact largely up to you, though. Good luck!

 

[Neuronix]

I am currently a junior who will be taking the MCAT next April. I had some general questions regarding the MD/PhD program that I was hoping could be answered.
1. Is an undergraduate degree in Biology necessary? I am a Mathematics major, but am minoring in Chemistry and Biology, so will that fulfill the requirements?

If you fulfill the requirements for the medical schools you're fine.

2. Does the type of research matter that you do during your undergraduate years? Over the past year, I have received two fellowships for my research (with stipends totaling almost $12,000.00) and will have a paper published (first author) by the time I graduate. However, my research deals in analyzing chemical pathways of air pollutants (Analytical Chem). Am I at a disadvantage when compared to someone who did cancer research?

No disadvantage. Just make sure you spell out in your essays you want to do more biomedically relevant research now and you think your chemistry will help you do pharmacology or biochemistry or whatever you wanna do.

3. Approximately what is the breakdown of responsibilities of a physician scientist with respect to teaching, research, and clinical work? Is there some flexibility? a lot? none?

Very broad and very flexible.

Sorry for the late response. My last few weeks have been really busy.