SMP for MD/PhD?

[emericana]

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Sorry if this has been answered before but I couldnt find it.

I know that MD/DO PHD programs are highly competitive with GPA's etc.

I am a non trad student.

I finished college as a trad student with a molec, cell, dev bio degree with a 3.1gpa cum 3.1 gpa sci. (dec 2008)

I have 3 years of research experience, a publication, and a bunch of grants.

Since college I have been out of science 100%. I have a 2 year gap on my resume because of family issues I have had to deal with. I have unfortunately had to work in the family business which was in the process of collapsing and wrecking my parents livelyhood. However, that is all taken care of now and everything is good. Family first right?

Anywho, I want to get my life back on track and want a MD/DO Phd degree.

Now I know that I did not get a good gpa undergrad and would need to do a SMP to be even considered for a MD program.

My friend told me that MD/Phd degrees are incredibly competitive for GPA.

Would getting a good gpa (close to 4.0 or whatever) in a SMP program, coupled with a good MCAT score (30+) qualify me for admittance to MD/PhD program (as I have a ton of research experience... even though it is a bit outdated) or am I limited to just MD admittance (even though I know MD's can publish etc depending on how you play your cards).

As I am 25 now, I understand that I would not finish this till I am nearly 40 but you know nothing in life worth getting is easy.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[DendWrite]

Sorry if this has been answered before but I couldnt find it.

I know that MD/DO PHD programs are highly competitive with GPA's etc.

I am a non trad student.

I finished college as a trad student with a molec, cell, dev bio degree with a 3.1gpa cum 3.1 gpa sci. (dec 2008)

I have 3 years of research experience, a publication, and a bunch of grants.

Since college I have been out of science 100%. I have a 2 year gap on my resume because of family issues I have had to deal with. I have unfortunately had to work in the family business which was in the process of collapsing and wrecking my parents livelyhood. However, that is all taken care of now and everything is good. Family first right?

Anywho, I want to get my life back on track and want a MD/DO Phd degree.

Now I know that I did not get a good gpa undergrad and would need to do a SMP to be even considered for a MD program.

My friend told me that MD/Phd degrees are incredibly competitive for GPA.

Would getting a good gpa (close to 4.0 or whatever) in a SMP program, coupled with a good MCAT score (30+) qualify me for admittance to MD/PhD program (as I have a ton of research experience... even though it is a bit outdated) or am I limited to just MD admittance (even though I know MD's can publish etc depending on how you play your cards).

As I am 25 now, I understand that I would not finish this till I am nearly 40 but you know nothing in life worth getting is easy.

Thanks for the advice.

I agree that your GPA is going to be your limiting factor here. It sounds like you have a lot of good research experience (publications and grants put you in the top 10% probably of applicants as far as experience goes).

MD/PhD's do tend to be somewhat more competitive GPA wise, but you don't have to have a 4.0. For instance, if you have a 4.0 but lack significant research experience, chances are you won't get accepted either.

If you score quite high on the MCAT (say 36+) it could potentially offset a lower GPA. The only thing that would concern me is that some schools might have GPA cutoffs when considering your application, and you just want to make sure that you get past that so they see everything else.

I'm not too familiar with SMP's for MD/PhD programs, though if you got a 4.0 in one, it certainly couldn't hurt. Most schools factor your undergrad and "grad school" GPA's differently. One student from this SMP (http://smp.georgetown.edu/prevclass.htm) got into UMass MD/PhD in 2009. I don't know if the low number of MD/PhD admits from the SMP is due to the fact that it's harder to do or just simply selection bias (I'd be inclined to say it's the latter).

You could always e-mail SMP's that you think would be viable for you to apply to and ask them if they've had people who wanted to do MD/PhD's, and what they think the success rate is (given your stats).

I don't think that you're completely out of the running as long as you apply broadly and smart, especially if you score high on the MCAT. Put in as much preparation as you can and make sure that you nail it.

One other thing to consider: what are your motivations for doing MD/PhD over say an MD / DO and then a post-doc? The NIH has a loan repayment program that will compensate you up to $35k a year to pay off your student loans / med school loans if you choose do do research as an MD (http://www.lrp.nih.gov/about_the_programs/index.aspx) ... plus you get paid (albeit not a TON) as a post-doc.

Just something to think about. My PI is a really respected name in his field and has over 200 pubs, but he's "just" an MD. Granted, he made his career about 10 to 20 years ago when there was a bit more freedom for them to pursue a research track, but it's still certainly do-able. Just take a look at the papers in your field and see.

Or, say you are interested in just research...PhD programs are easier to get into and more tolerant of a lower GPA -- you can still do biomedical research as a PhD only.

Basically, you have a lot of options.

Edit: One more thing, don't be afraid to mention extenuating circumstances (like you helping out your family). It looks way better to have something about that (I don't know if it should be in your personal statement or perhaps have a pre-medical committee at your school or letter of recommendation writer mention it) than to just have a big gap where it looks like you did nothing. It will pretty much be a non-issue, since you were doing something to help out. It's not like you were just being lazy for two years and doing nothing 🙂.

 

[tensoranalysis]

age shouldn't be a factor here. As you have probably heard, the average age of most incoming class students is ~25.

Even if you are 26, it doesn't matter especially if you are an md/phd student. Regardless of the track you choose, it's going to take about 10-15 years. Your feeling you are "late" by waiting 3-4 years to get the ball rolling is a drop in the bucket compared to the 10-15 years it'll take before you have a job going the MD/PhD route. Having more experience under your belt is always a plus, and as cliche as it may sound, remember it truly is a journey. If they gave us 20-30 year olds our final career/job at this early in the stage we'd sure go insane by age 45...

Don't let your negative/pessimistic side impact this decision. If you want it, then charge it!

 

[bd4727]

You sound like a competative applicant to me. This board is often overly statistics minded. If you had a really good MCAT (35+) and have a solid of a research background as you say (I am not sure what "many grants" means as an undergrad) than IMO you shouldn't let your GPA discourage you. There are certainly people with that GPA who have gotten into competitive MSTPs before. Yes, it would be below average but if you were above average in other categories and people liked you on interviews than it will work out. Life happens and people understand that.