reasons for applying

[arsenalrahul]

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I am currently working on secondary applications for various MD/PhD programs and a few of them ask for the reasons I am applying there. I was wondering if it's legitimate to say I have been influenced by research mentors and their colleagues who previously attended that school.

 

[magwi11]

I am currently working on secondary applications for various MD/PhD programs and a few of them ask for the reasons I am applying there. I was wondering if it's legitimate to say I have been influenced by research mentors and their colleagues who previously attended that school.

That might be a good reason to look at the school, but I certainly wouldn't list is as the main reason you chose to apply. In writing these essays, I mostly talked about the strengths of the department that I was interested in doing my PhD work with (or if they have particularly stellar facilities for the type of work you want to do), the advantages I saw in that schools particular MD program or MD/PhD integration, etc.

 

[URHere]

I think a few good questions to ask yourself when figuring out what you like about a school are:

-Is there anything particularly amazing about the MD curriculum that you like? (Layout of classes, PBL versus not, setup of early clinical exposure, etc)

-Do the school's research strengths match your interests? Do they have specific research centers that interest you?

-Is it in an area where you would actually like to live? Is that area similar to one where you would actually like to practice someday?

-And of course (as magw11 has already said), do you like the way the MD/PhD program itself is actually put together (size, integration, etc)?

If you ask yourself all of those questions, you should hopefully come up with a list of things you like about the school. If none of those things explain your reason for applying to the school, then you probably shouldn't be applying there in the first place.

 

[Neuronix]

-Do the school's research strengths match your interests? Do they have specific research centers that interest you?

-Is it in an area where you would actually like to live? Is that area similar to one where you would actually like to practice someday?

These are the two most important factors IMO. A strong and sizeable MD/PhD program is also a good thing, though that's pretty much true to varying degrees for any of the midsize to large MSTPs. It's hard to judge these sorts of things from an interview or two anyhow, so the things quoted are what I like to look at. I would emphasize those things on your secondaries, as those are things truly unique to that school (as opposed to touchy-feelyness of MD cirriculum or "integration" that doesn't really exist).

 

[blazinfury]

So basically try to find a lab in which one may want to work in and then stress that you would liek to do research in that field and explain why you want to work with this mentor and his particular research topic. Correct?

 

[ecoli]

There's more than one way to skin a horse. There's a lot of secondary apps to fill out, and that translates to a lot of research on each school.