Schools that view MD-only and MD/PhD applicants separately?

[idiotreinventor]

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Can we get a list of schools that one could apply to where there are separate committees and processes for each?

 

[inode]

Well, I'll start off: When I interviewed, the following schools definitely had separate committees/processes for MD/PhD compared to MD-only:

UCLA-Caltech
Cornell Tri-I
Mt. Sinai (Icahn)
UCSF

For following schools, it seemed that a joint decision was made between the MD and MD/PhD admissions people:

UCSD
Stanford
Harvard-MIT

However, for schools where they integrate the MD and MD/PhD admissions, it really varies from school-to-school whether, say, the MSTP committee have leverage to override the MD committee if they feel a particular candidate is very strong. For certain schools (e.g. Columbia), you were assigned a "medical school interviewer" whose evaluation is taken into account by the MSTP committee in making their decision.

 

[Schedar]

UCSD has a "MSTP override."

Separate decisions (added to @inode 's post):

UCLA-Caltech
Cornell Tri-I
Mt. Sinai (Icahn)
UCSF
Hopkins
Northwestern

Joint:

UCSD
Stanford
Harvard-MIT
USC - Caltech
WashU STL
NYU
Michigan (?)

 

[CaliforniaAsian]

Can you clarify? Do you want to know which schools process MD and MD/PhD concurrently, or just have separate admissions decisions? For example, Cornell can process you for MD-only after you are rejected from MD/PhD, but that typically means you are later in the cycle and at a disadvantage.

 

[idiotreinventor]

Can you clarify? Do you want to know which schools process MD and MD/PhD concurrently, or just have separate admissions decisions? For example, Cornell can process you for MD-only after you are rejected from MD/PhD, but that typically means you are later in the cycle and at a disadvantage.

Schools that will consider your application concurrently, so it's not slowed down by one commitee.

 

[Fencer]

All of the Texas schools (BCM, UTH Houston, UTH Medical Branch, UTH San Antonio, UT Southwestern, TAMU, Texas Tech) have AMCAS for MD/PhD admissions, while all of them except BCM have TMDSAS for MD-only admissions. For MD/PhD admissions, state of residency doesn't matter. For MD-only, Texas residents must be 90% of class, BCM has ~75%.

 

[idiotreinventor]

All of the Texas schools (BCM, UT Houston, UT Medical Branch, UT San Antonio, UT Southwestern, TAMU, Texas Tech) have AMCAS for MD/PhD admissions, while all of them except BCM have TMDSAS for MD-only admissions. For MD/PhD admissions, state of residency doesn't matter. For MD-only, Texas residents must be 90% of class, BCM has ~75%.

Wow that's really good to know! Thank you.

Do you know of any other schools?

 

[idiotreinventor]

Separate decisions (added to @inode 's post):

UCLA-Caltech
Cornell Tri-I
Mt. Sinai (Icahn)
UCSF
Hopkins
Northwestern
Case Wester -- Emailed and said you can apply to both and they are considered individually but they are in talks with each other

Joint:

UCSD
Stanford
Harvard-MIT
USC - Caltech
WashU STL
NYU
Michigan
Emory
Pitt

 

[love2chis]

My understanding is MD PhD and MD-only consider totally different things. While MD PhD weighs heavily on research, MD-only views research overrated. If schools have separate processes, how can an applicant pass both MD-only and MD PhD committees?

 

[CaliforniaAsian]

My understanding is MD PhD and MD-only consider totally different things. While MD PhD weighs heavily on research, MD-only views research overrated. If schools have separate processes, how can an applicant pass both MD-only and MD PhD committees?

By having sufficient clinical experiences and compelling motivations for going into medicine. Although I've met people at interviews who applied MD/PhD with 0 clinical exposure, I don't remember if they were screened separately for MD-only and MD/PhD.

 

[love2chis]

@CaliforniaAsian Clinical experiences and motivations are just part of the game. A lot of MD-only programs look at students' leadership, uniqueness...etc MD PhD applicants spent most of their time in the labs hence everyone would have similar "experience" and very little "uniqueness". That is why I am puzzled how could someone pass both committees at top programs with separate processes.

 

[idiotreinventor]

lol so anyways.

Any other programs that separate md from md/phd

 

[NileMasr21]

Adding a few that I know:

Separate decisions:

UCLA-Caltech
Cornell Tri-I
Mt. Sinai (Icahn)
UCSF
Hopkins
Northwestern
Case Western
UW-Madison
University of Illinois

Joint:

UCSD
Stanford
Harvard-MIT
USC - Caltech
WashU STL
NYU
Michigan
Emory
Yale
Boston

 

[Fencer]

Adding a few that I know:

Separate decisions:

UCLA-Caltech
Cornell Tri-I
Mt. Sinai (Icahn)
UCSF
Hopkins
Northwestern
Case Western
UW-Madison
University of Illinois
UT Health Houston (McGovern)
UT Health Medical Branch
UT Health San Antonio (Long)
UT Southwestern

Joint:

UCSD
Stanford
Harvard-MIT
USC - Caltech
WashU STL
NYU
Michigan
Emory
Yale
Boston

 

[Register1]

Stony brook is separate (kind of)
If you get an invite from their MSTP program, they give you the option to interview for the MD-only the following day (as a fall-back if they reject you)
- If you decline the MD interview, then the MD committee has no say in your MSTP decision
- If you accept the MD interview, then the MD committee evaluation is part of your MSTP decision

Separate decisions:
Stony Brook
UCLA-Caltech
Cornell Tri-I
Mt. Sinai (Icahn)
UCSF
Hopkins
Northwestern
Case Western
UW-Madison
University of Illinois
UT Health Houston (McGovern)
UT Health Medical Branch
UT Health San Antonio (Long)
UT Southwestern

Joint:

UCSD
Stanford
Harvard-MIT
USC - Caltech
WashU STL
NYU
Michigan
Emory
Yale
Boston

 

[Fencer]

I am updating the list at the request of someone from Case. This is what I was asked to communicate:

"CWRU is a hybrid system where MSTP admissions does the initial evaluation but coordinates with the med school admissions during interview and evaluation."

I believe that if you are applying to both programs (MSTP & MD), the MSTP will review you first, but unlike other separate review systems, it appears to be a more coordinated review for those who are not selected for MSTP interviews. To be clear, while the process might be a parallel review process, as per LCME standards, all dual-degree applicants are reviewed and approved by the SOM AdComs.

Separate decisions:
Stony Brook
UCLA-Caltech
Cornell Tri-I
Mt. Sinai (Icahn)
UCSF
Hopkins
Northwestern
UW-Madison
University of Illinois
UT Health Houston (McGovern)
UT Health Medical Branch
UT Health San Antonio (Long)
UT Southwestern

Joint decisions:
UCSD
Stanford
Harvard-MIT
USC - Caltech
Case Western
WashU STL
NYU
Michigan
Emory
Yale
Boston

 

[Maebea]

@CaliforniaAsian Clinical experiences and motivations are just part of the game. A lot of MD-only programs look at students' leadership, uniqueness...etc MD PhD applicants spent most of their time in the labs hence everyone would have similar "experience" and very little "uniqueness". That is why I am puzzled how could someone pass both committees at top programs with separate processes.

Not sure if our program would be considered a "top program", but our MD and MD-PhD committees review applications concurrently but separately. If the MD-PhD rejects or waitlists an applicant, the MD committee can bring them in for an MD-only interview. For applicants that the MD-PhD wants to accept, the MD-PhD committee makes a recommendation to the MD admissions committee, which has the final say in all acceptances. The MD committee concurs with our acceptance recommendation 98% of the time. Applicants that the MD-PhD rejects after interview often receive an MD-only admissions offer from our school.

 

[vendetta1897]

I am updating the list at the request of someone from Case. This is what I was asked to communicate:

"CWRU is a hybrid system where MSTP admissions does the initial evaluation but coordinates with the med school admissions during interview and evaluation."

I believe that if you are applying to both programs (MSTP & MD), the MSTP will review you first, but unlike other separate review systems, it appears to be a more coordinated review for those who are not selected for MSTP interviews. To be clear, while the process might be a parallel review process, as per LCME standards, all dual-degree applicants are reviewed and approved by the SOM AdComs.

Separate decisions:
Stony Brook
UCLA-Caltech
Cornell Tri-I
Mt. Sinai (Icahn)
UCSF
Hopkins
Northwestern
UW-Madison
University of Illinois
UT Health Houston (McGovern)
UT Health Medical Branch
UT Health San Antonio (Long)
UT Southwestern

Joint decisions:
UCSD
Stanford
Harvard-MIT
USC - Caltech
Case Western
WashU STL
NYU
Michigan
Emory
Yale
Boston

I'm a bit confused here. What does 'separate decisions' mean? I am interviewing for Tri-I's program, with interviews scheduled with the Weill Cornell Medical College MD Program on one day and the MD-PhD program on the next. Does 'separate decisions' mean I have to get acceptance from both programs? I am only interested in admission to the MD-PhD program; I would not want to be considered for 'MD only' admission.

 

[Fencer]

Sorry but this is too long ago and with COVID in between. I am certainly that policies for some of these schools have changed.

At that time, "separate" meant that your application for MD-only and MD/PhD were considered independently by their respective admission committees or whether they got together and an application was first examined by MD/PhD and only considered MD-only after the first failed and deferred to MD-only typically late in the cycle.