Should I apply...?

[whichbreath]

I'm quite nontraditional age-wise (30) but I have always wanted to be a doctor since my premed undergrad days. I'm trying to see if I should apply this upcoming cycle? I have most of the volunteering, both clinical and nonclinical, shadowing done (and still doing) and will be done with all prereqs except for physics iii (quarter system), which I'm not sure is even strictly needed. I have publications and took the mcat two summers ago (510) with a 3.8 gpa. I'm a regular person and do clubs.
But...I have no idea how to apply given my PhD circumstance. Most of the feedback I've received is that "you should finish your PhD first" or "med schools will wonder why you joined a program you weren't committed to finishing." I don't have a unified answer to this. My advisor and I have agreed to have me graduate within a ~year but it's not guaranteed and a bit hazy. Also this isn't a wet lab phd, it's a data science one where I am analyzing medical datasets using machine learning. I'm like ~70% +/- 10% sure I'll be finishing up after next year.
Can I apply this upcoming cycle given my uncertain PhD graduation date? My application is otherwise decent barring this grey area imo. Like I said, I'm about 70% sure it'll be done by the end of next year, possibly earlier, which would be on time for matriculation if I get in somewhere.
Thanks in advance for any comments on if I should send an application and/or how to frame my PhD uncertainty.

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[Nontrad_FL_LGBT]

I'd just wait the extra year. Trying to finish your PhD as a first semester med student will be tough.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

As an admissions professional with a Ph.D., I urge you to finish your PhD. Your application efforts rely on your thesis defense date, ideally occurring in the initial part of your cycle. Your Ph.D. should be conferred before the spring of your intended matriculation (August degree conferral at the latest, coinciding with your start in medical school). If you are not certain about this, don't start your application.

Granted, this also means you may have to retake your MCAT if it goes beyond 3 years since the exam date.

 

[Dral]

You would almost certainly need to finish up before you matriculate. We cannot help you decide if you should apply now since only you and your advisor will have the best idea if you can pull it off.

If it's any help, I was in a similar situation. I made it happen and finished up. I defended in July and matriculated in August.

 

[Dral]

Another option: You could apply and just be sure the schools to which you apply have a deferment policy that would let you hold off a year if you need it.

 

[whichbreath]

I didn’t know you guys had PhD’s. I understand the importance of finishing the PhD. It will be a good credential to have in the long run, logistical issues. Chances are, it will probably be finished.

I feel like my experience isn’t the typical doctoral one though? Starting year 2 and onward my department cut resources from me, telling me I wouldn’t graduate, saying “sorry can’t help”, and just overall no support. My pubs are all self-done but with PI’s name. My advisor doesn’t know I’m applying to med school, I would never tell them this info.

I was committed to my program. Heck I ACCEPTED the fact that I would never be a doctor and just do math all day. Imagine how messed up and hopeless my program would need to be to completely reverse this.

Still, I’m not applying because I despise my program or because it hurt me. I’m applying because I love a hard day’s work of rounding, because we had to make it to med school (during college).

I’ll probably wake up tomorrow and realize I wrote gibberish.

 

[anon2]

Just a research ethics note - if you truly self-did the work on your pubs and the PI didn't provide anything of note ("but for" resources which do include compute), they aren't an author. YMMV based on your departmental situation.

- PhD with many single-authored pubs, including in math/CS

Also reading what you wrote, (1) maybe introspect if your mental health isn't ideal, (2) ensure you aren't simply escaping from the current situation and have a drive towards medicine, (3) it will definitely be a red flag if your PhD advisor isn't one of your letters.

 

[whichbreath]

(3) it will definitely be a red flag if your PhD advisor isn't one of your letters.

I do need to avoid red flags in my application, but PhD advisor writing a letter isn't possible. Instead, I was going to ask a coauthor who worked closely with me and can attest to research skills, to write a letter from the research angle.

So, the goalpost was '2 papers to graduate'; upon finishing that, it's changed to not 'innovative' and 'novel' enough. Fortunately there's a concrete project PI gave me to do to satisfy this criteria.

So, I'm gonna be working on that. Come June, I'll have a better idea of when my program will finish, and I will likely apply for personal reasons, among them being the mcat isn't something I want to just let expire and I will likely be able to finish by the time of matriculation for 2026 entry.