Switching in to MD/PhD program after acceptance as MD

[UMP]

Is this possible? Don't most MSTP students not start their PhD work until after their second year... so does it happen that you can switch in to the MSTP program after you enrolled as just MD?

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[penguinophile]

Is this possible? Don't most MSTP students not start their PhD work until after their second year... so does it happen that you can switch in to the MSTP program after you enrolled as just MD?

You don't really "switch" per se. Most MSTP schools have a second round of MSTP applications, where you apply for the position after M1. This way they know for a fact your ability to handle the stresses of medical school and get to see the kind of contribution you bring to the class. The best idea, if you really want to do this, is to talk to the head of the program and find out what activities the MD/PhDs participate in (journal club, services, lectures) and attend them so that the people who decide know your face and know that you are truly interested.

 

[Reckoning]

You don't really "switch" per se. Most MSTP schools have a second round of MSTP applications, where you apply for the position after M1. This way they know for a fact your ability to handle the stresses of medical school and get to see the kind of contribution you bring to the class. The best idea, if you really want to do this, is to talk to the head of the program and find out what activities the MD/PhDs participate in (journal club, services, lectures) and attend them so that the people who decide know your face and know that you are truly interested.

Why, yes you can. However, generally you will apply to enter AFTER MS2. So you will start your grad school years with the other MSTPers and you will pay for your first two years of medschool. Only rarely can you enter the MSTP program before then, like say if you miraculously come up with your own NIH funding. Someone in my class recently did that, but it is rare.

And like the previous poster suggested, get some good research in before you apply!

 

[Bubchik]

Why, yes you can. However, generally you will apply to enter AFTER MS2. So you will start your grad school years with the other MSTPers and you will pay for your first two years of medschool. Only rarely can you enter the MSTP program before then, like say if you miraculously come up with your own NIH funding. Someone in my class recently did that, but it is rare.

And like the previous poster suggested, get some good research in before you apply!

In my class 3 people just switched after MS 1, and I was told that every year several MS1s switch with MSTP funding. But they have to apply and do really-really well in the 1st year.

 

[Ambs]

In my class someone reapplied to the MSTP program during first year and got in, but I'm not sure what all he did to strengthen his app.

 

[nosugrefneb]

Yes, it can be done. As people have mentioned, some schools' MSTPs allow for late bloomers; some other schools have additional funding programs that mimic MSTP funding but aren't strictly MSTP (I did this through the Growth and Development Training Program at the University of Chicago, funded largely through the Department of Pediatrics).

The other thing I'd like to add is that it's typically much easier to gain admission to these programs once you're already part of the school and already a medical student. I'm actually surprised more people don't take this route in lieu of starting with MSTP right away because it would be just as easy to not apply if you happen to find after a few years of med school that you don't want to pursue another degree, and it would be that much easier to get into a PhD program if you did choose to do it at that point, albeit at the cost of tens of thousands of dollars' worth of a few years of med school tuition. Still.

 

[dr.z]

Is this possible? Don't most MSTP students not start their PhD work until after their second year... so does it happen that you can switch in to the MSTP program after you enrolled as just MD?

Yes, you can.

 

[Reckoning]

Why, yes you can. However, generally you will apply to enter AFTER MS2. So you will start your grad school years with the other MSTPers and you will pay for your first two years of medschool. Only rarely can you enter the MSTP program before then, like say if you miraculously come up with your own NIH funding. Someone in my class recently did that, but it is rare.

And like the previous poster suggested, get some good research in before you apply!

I should add this is coming from Pitt/CMU MSTP. Only 2 or so people enter the MSTP program via the MD program per year. They enter after MS2.

And MSTP programs are not necessarily harder to get into than MD, just a different focus, ie research. So I don't think it is necessarily true that the MD admission is a good back door route to MSTP. Sometimes it is the other way around, depending on the candidate.

 

[Neuronix]

As you might surmise from the posts, policies on this vary wildly from school to school. At some schools it rarely happens, at others you can do it but good luck getting funding, at others they make you wait until after MS2 to make sure you don't get funded as long possible, and at others they'll take you after MS1 with varying amounts of killing yourself first year, depending on how competitive you would have been had you applied MD/PhD. If you are serious about this route, ask the MD/PhD offices at the schools you are thinking about attending, and they'll typically be very frank with you about your options.

 

[DoctorPardi]

This is good information I wasn't aware of. I have considered applying MD/PhD, but it is good to know that there is at least a chance of getting in a program after MS1.