- Joined
- Jan 12, 2005
- Messages
- 172
- Reaction score
- 0
after the 7 or 8 years of mstp, will you be doing a 3 year or so residency too? by the time the training's over, i could be 34! or is the residency requirement somehow built into the mstp?
residency after mstp??
- Thread starter adoggie
- Start date
- Joined
- Sep 21, 2004
- Messages
- 9,508
- Reaction score
- 4
A large majority of folks do a residency after they finish the MSTP - it is not built in to the program. A few people just go straight into a postdoc. But either way, there are a few (at least!) years of training after the MSTP.
B
b&ierstiefel
any residency is additive to the # of years you spend doing MSTP. so that's a minimum of 2 more years (if you're short-tracking IM or path at some places).adoggie said:
- Joined
- Feb 6, 2005
- Messages
- 27
- Reaction score
- 0
At my medical school, 80% of our MSTP graduates go on to do a residency.
Lately, the trend in some specialties (including Medicine and Psychiatry) is to have 'Research Track' residencies--which are specialized pathways that are designed to help streamline your experiences to save you maybe a year between your clinical residency training and your post-residency fellowship (often laboratory) training.
Some people have expressed concern that 'Research Tracks' are like doing a second MD-PhD program.
I can definitely understand this concern--as I'm not getting any younger myself.
I never let it get to me that MD-PhD training (in medical and graduate school) would take 7-9 years. But thinking about the big picture with 'Research Track' residencies (now that I have been applying to and interviewing at residencies)...I have to confess it's a little scary that you can be looking at another 6-7 years of training after the MD-PhD.
But I guess my peace of mind comes from knowing that there aren't too many people who can do what I can.
On the interview trail, I learned that for my specialty, nationally, there are only 15-20 trained MD-PhD's (a year) interested in residency & in continuing to do research.
There's a lot riding on the shoulders of this select few...and, when you get to this point, and you realize that the future of research in your specialty depends on people like you...the doubts melt away a little...and you can feel emboldened that all these hopes rest on you and your unique abilities for a reason.
Lately, the trend in some specialties (including Medicine and Psychiatry) is to have 'Research Track' residencies--which are specialized pathways that are designed to help streamline your experiences to save you maybe a year between your clinical residency training and your post-residency fellowship (often laboratory) training.
Some people have expressed concern that 'Research Tracks' are like doing a second MD-PhD program.
I can definitely understand this concern--as I'm not getting any younger myself.
I never let it get to me that MD-PhD training (in medical and graduate school) would take 7-9 years. But thinking about the big picture with 'Research Track' residencies (now that I have been applying to and interviewing at residencies)...I have to confess it's a little scary that you can be looking at another 6-7 years of training after the MD-PhD.
But I guess my peace of mind comes from knowing that there aren't too many people who can do what I can.
On the interview trail, I learned that for my specialty, nationally, there are only 15-20 trained MD-PhD's (a year) interested in residency & in continuing to do research.
There's a lot riding on the shoulders of this select few...and, when you get to this point, and you realize that the future of research in your specialty depends on people like you...the doubts melt away a little...and you can feel emboldened that all these hopes rest on you and your unique abilities for a reason.
- Joined
- Feb 21, 2004
- Messages
- 171
- Reaction score
- 1
If the length of training is going to bother you, MD/PhD probably isn't for you.
Unfortunately, both clinical medicine and research are the kinds of things you can only really learn by doing; there aren't many shortcuts.
On the bright side, only the first couple of years are like school. After that, you're always doing it; either in the lab or in the hospital (sort of like as an apprentice). And that carries forward for the residency part, too; you're more like a journeyman physician and scientist, if that's what you want, since many MD/PhDs do both clinical and laboratory work during residency. And then after that, you get to be a master of both, if you want to arrange your life that way.
But no kidding; it's a long road to become either a physician or a scientist. And becoming both can take a ridiculous amount of time. If you can't take a long view of it, then it's probably not the right path for you. And there's nothing wrong with that, as long as you recognize it about yourself.
Unfortunately, both clinical medicine and research are the kinds of things you can only really learn by doing; there aren't many shortcuts.
On the bright side, only the first couple of years are like school. After that, you're always doing it; either in the lab or in the hospital (sort of like as an apprentice). And that carries forward for the residency part, too; you're more like a journeyman physician and scientist, if that's what you want, since many MD/PhDs do both clinical and laboratory work during residency. And then after that, you get to be a master of both, if you want to arrange your life that way.
But no kidding; it's a long road to become either a physician or a scientist. And becoming both can take a ridiculous amount of time. If you can't take a long view of it, then it's probably not the right path for you. And there's nothing wrong with that, as long as you recognize it about yourself.
