Top 20 schools and MD/PhD

[pathdr2b]

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Okay guys, I'm FINALLY starting to get why almost all of you went the "top 20" school route.

So I've taken classes at a local top 5 school and top 50 school and what can I say? The differences are HUGE! And for me it's not so much about "elitism" as much as it is about the "challenge" of the information, research opportunities, and professors. My advisor at UNC-Chapel Hill told be that I needed to be looking "up" for my next educational opportunities. As much as I hate to admit it, I now think she may be right.

 

[Neuronix]

I think what you're saying is reflected in the decisions of the NIGMS when they pick which schools will receive the MSTP grant. I think it's very important to pick a MSTP school, because you're getting a program that has that seal of quality and that extra level of regulation that looks out for you. All of the MSTP schools (with the exception of Penn State) are highly ranked by USNews, almost all in the top 35, and the reason why they have that ranking/reputation is because they have the research and the reputation for training researchers/academics. These research rankings may be even more useful for MSTPs, because factors like research money available are heavily weighted!

This isn't to say that you should choose the highest ranked school. Just make sure you pick a MSTP if you can, and go from there with other factors like research in your area. I don't think anyone is going to split hairs down the road about which MSTP you went to. They're all excellent programs.

As for why I went with the highest ranked school I got into, it was because Penn had the strongest program in traumatic brain injury of anywhere I applied. The administration here isn't very keen on me going on to do neurosurgery so that I can apply and further knowledge about TBI, but that's not their decision to make for me.

PS: pathdr2b, I agree with everything in your second post. An integrated program may not be best in all circumstances...

 

[pathdr2b]

Originally posted by Neuronix
I think it's very important to pick a MSTP school, because you're getting a program that has that seal of quality and that extra level of regulation that looks out for you.

So you and I have debated this but you know I'm still not interested in an MSTP MD/PhD for a couple of key reasons: 1) I need flexibility and most of these programs appear to be pretty "rigid". 2) Money. I'm getting and will continue to receive 2X the amount of stipend support by continuing with what I'm currently doing. As a single parent, every dollar counts. The sticking point for most MD/PhD students seems to be the PhD portion, and I'd be fool to give up the throughly supportive environment I have now(both personally and money wise) for an MSTP spot assuming of course, I could get one in the first place.

Originally posted by Neuronix
As for why I went with the highest ranked school I got into, it was because Penn had the strongest program in traumatic brain injury of anywhere I applied. The administration here isn't very keen on me going on to do neurosurgery so that I can apply and further knowledge about TBI, but that's not their decision to make for me.

Now here's where I'm starting to see things a little differently for personal and professional reasons. The fact of the matter is that I REALLY like the curriculium's at places like Yale and UPenn and there's no doubt that these schools could greatly compliment what I'm currently doing. It's just a fact that a majority of the pathology residents I see at NIH went to top 20 med schools with VERY few exceptions. At some point, you just can't ignore the obvious.

 

[TheFlash]

Originally posted by pathdr2b
My advisor at UNC-Chapel Hill told be that I needed to be looking "up" for my next educational opportunities. As much as I hate to admit it, I now think she may be right.

Hmm, isn't UNC nearly a USNews top 20 school, or nearly so?

 

[pathdr2b]

Originally posted by TheFlash
Hmm, isn't UNC nearly a USNews top 20 school, or nearly so?

My point exactly! However, "been there, done that", so as George Jefferson would say, "It's time to be moving on up"

 

[Cerberus]

I hate to follow you around but considering you deleted your post
"Anyone only interested in Top 20 schools?" in preallo, i never got to reply. Anyhow, for someone so interested prestigious schools, I really wonder how you expect to get into one considering you posted before that your MCAT score was somewhere around a 21😕 😕

 

[pathdr2b]

Originally posted by Cerberus
I hate to follow you around but considering you deleted your post for someone so interested prestigious schools, I really wonder how you expect to get into one considering you posted before that your MCAT score was somewhere around a 21😕 😕

I so delight in the fact that Pre MD/PhD students are generally an intelligent, mature and respectful group of young men and women. So why don't you take your dumb, racist, stalking a$$ back to the other thread and let me take my 21 MCAT to Harvard!!

 

[divinemsm]

I would like to know if pathdr2b is applying this year ?

 

[pathdr2b]

Originally posted by divinemsm
I would like to know if pathdr2b is applying this year ?

Not this year , next summer.

 

[Cerberus]

Originally posted by pathdr2b
I so delight in the fact that Pre MD/PhD students are generally an intelligent, mature and respectful group of young men and women. So why don't you take your dumb, racist, stalking a$$ back to the other thread and let me take my 21 MCAT to Harvard!!

wow, calling you out for being full of **** makes me a racist. With that kind of analytical prowess I am sure Harvard accept you preinterview!

 

[Cerberus]

Originally posted by pathdr2b
I so delight in the fact that Pre MD/PhD students are generally an intelligent, mature and respectful group of young men and women.!!

I guess you must be the exception.....

Originally posted by pathdr2b So why don't you get a ****in life, have some sex if you can find a person desperate enough to have it with you, and **** off !!! !!

 

[pathdr2b]

Originally posted by Cerberus
I guess you must be the exception.....

No, I'm not the exception, I'm exceptional !!!

So do any of you top 10/20 folks care to contribute to your choice of a top institution?

 

[TheFlash]

Originally posted by pathdr2b
I so delight in the fact that Pre MD/PhD students are generally an intelligent, mature and respectful group of young men and women. So why don't you take your dumb, racist, stalking a$$ back to the other thread and let me take my 21 MCAT to Harvard!!

I don't know if you're being serious or not, but do you realistically expect to gain admission to a top 20 MD/PhD program with a 21 on the MCAT? People on this forum are bugging out if they don't have a 33+ score, so, in all honesty, why/how are you so confident? Do you have some hidden talents that we don't know about? If not, a 21 is not usually Harvard material.

Just curious,

TF

 

[Newquagmire]

Originally posted by TheFlash
I don't know if you're being serious or not, but do you realistically expect to gain admission to a top 20 MD/PhD program with a 21 on the MCAT?

Dude, why are people so competitive/nosy? Maybe it's none of your business what small third-world country she's saved from mass destruction.

Just came across as rather condescending.

 

[pathdr2b]

Originally posted by TheFlash
I don't know if you're being serious or not, but do you realistically expect to gain admission to a top 20 MD/PhD program with a 21 on the MCAT? People on this forum are bugging out if they don't have a 33+ score, so, in all honesty, why/how are you so confident? Do you have some hidden talents that we don't know about? If not, a 21 is not usually Harvard material.

Just curious,

TF

Did you remove your brain before posting this? Or is it just so dam easy to think I really do have a 21 on the MCAT because I'm a minority female?🙄

If Cerbrus told you I could fart and recite Shakespeare while playing the accordian would you believe that too?

 

[crazee8]

Originally posted by TheFlash
I don't know if you're being serious or not, but do you realistically expect to gain admission to a top 20 MD/PhD program with a 21 on the MCAT? People on this forum are bugging out if they don't have a 33+ score, so, in all honesty, why/how are you so confident? Do you have some hidden talents that we don't know about? If not, a 21 is not usually Harvard material.

Just curious,

TF

Just curious, are you Harvard "material," Mr. Flash? No, I don't think so. As a future Harvard student, I think that I am in a better position than you to judge Harvard "material," so please drop the false elitism.

 

[TheFlash]

Originally posted by pathdr2b
Did you remove your brain before posting this? Or is it just so dam easy to think I really do have a 21 on the MCAT because I'm a minority female?🙄

If Cerbrus told you I could fart and recite Shakespeare while playing the accordian would you believe that too?

😉 I really didn't know what to believe, so I was just asking. Not trying to be condescending at all. I know nothing about your background. As for myself, I've heard nothing post-secondary at Harvard, so obviously I myself am not judged fit. I was just asking because you were so confident, you must've had some pretty cool EC's or something.

No need to be an ass, quagmire.

And crazee8, I don't know why I didn't ignore a troll like you a long time ago. You magically appear whenever Harvard is mentioned to make yourself look better every chance you get. Welcome to my ignore list.

Best of luck pathdr2b,

TF

 

[Ceremony]

You guys should stop acting like kids. Everyone should aspire to be the best they can be with whatever talents they have. Who cares if someone gets into Harvard with a 21 MCAT. You don't have to be busting out high scores on standardized tests to be considered a good doctor. And just because you have good scores on a test doesn't mean you're gonna be a good doctor. It takes a lot of skills, talents, personality, intelligence, and a variety of other factors beyond mere scores and grades to become a good physician/physician scientist.

 

[Newquagmire]

Originally posted by TheFlash
No need to be an ass, quagmire.

Just callin it like I see em. Not trying to offend anybody, but I guess the "gunners" just get to me sometimes.

 

[pathdr2b]

Can we all call a truce now? Good !!!!

For the record, I'll be retaking the MCAT next April and I'm realistically shooting for a score in the mid 30's. Since I also won't be enrolled in 16 hours of graduate chemistry classes like the last time, I expect to get a better score than the mid 20's score I got in 99'.

And isn't by definition ANYONE with an MD/PhD goal in mind a gunner😕 . Academic research is not for those who lack either talent or confidence.

Finally, to Ceremony and TheFlash thanks for the boost😉

FYI, Boston is a an academic "mecca" for future Pathologists, second to NIH or course😉

 

[Newquagmire]

Originally posted by pathdr2b
And isn't by definition ANYONE with an MD/PhD goal in mind a gunner. Academic research is not for those who lack either talent or confidence.

For the definition of "gunner" that I am accustomed to, please see this pre-allo thread:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=89304

 

[pathdr2b]

Originally posted by Newquagmire
For the definition of "gunner" that I am accustomed to, please see this pre-allo thread:

That's not the definition of a "gunner", that's the definition of an A$$hole!!

 

[superdevil]

holy cow. i clicked on this thread to read up on top 20 programs and what i saw was......interesting.....

pathdr2b, i really don't think cerberus was being "racist," even if he was annoying you. i also remember a thread where you complained about a bunch of people who you thought were flaming you and you called it a "lynching."

seriously, from what you've posted, you sound like a fantastic candidate for any MD/PhD program (NIH work and all). in my opinion, your race will more likely prove to be an asset to your application (since relatively few minorities pursue such programs/career goals) than any possible negative effect.

so my question is, with all that you seem to have going for you, why are you always being so damn inflammatory? its totally unnecessary. whether its age or race or institutional prestige, there always seems to be some sort of antagonism when you're around. is it everyone else's fault? to be fair, sometimes it likely is, but other times.......🙄

just have fun, don't take sdn too personally, and enjoy your forthcoming career. laters 😉

 

[pathdr2b]

Originally posted by superdevil
pathdr2b, i really don't think cerberus was being "racist," even if he was annoying you. i also remember a thread where you complained about a bunch of people who you thought were flaming you and you called it a "lynching."

I called that particular thread EXACTLY like I saw it then beacuse it was by far the meanest spitited thread I've ever seen on SDN. Funny thing is that a few other URM's saw it the same way I did.

Originally posted by superdevil
so my question is, with all that you seem to have going for you, why are you always being so damn inflammatory?
just have fun, don't take sdn too personally, and enjoy your forthcoming career. laters 😉

Haven't we all been just a little imflammatory on SDN once? And I disagree that I'm inflammatory although I've noticed that I am one of the few women on SDN that doesn't haven't a problem backing up her beliefs and opinions.

 

[Cerberus]

Originally posted by pathdr2b
I called that particular thread EXACTLY like I saw it then beacuse it was by far the meanest spitited thread I've ever seen on SDN. Funny thing is that a few other URM's saw it the same way I did.

No, you used the race card because thats all you have. Go ahead call this a lynching and me a racist🙄

 

[Cerberus]

Deleted by Neuronix (Moderator). This was a violation of TOS for flaming a specific user.

 

[Neuronix]

I'm sorry to pick on you Cerb, but this has to end somewhere. This thread is getting closed and I'm going to clear your last post. This kind of thing is bad enough in the lounge, but it's really not appropriate for pre-MSTP.