UCSF PhD to MSTP or MD/PhD

[LoneCoyote]

Hi there,

I'm venturing over from the pre-allo forum to post for a friend of mine who really needs some advice. I did a search and did not find much on this topic but my apologies if this has already been addressed a million times.

Anyway, my friend has been accepted into a fully-funded PhD program at UCSF to start next fall. But she has constanly gone back and forth between PhD, MD, and MD/PhD. She has realized that she is not going to be happy with just a PhD and that she want to have the ability to practice clinically as well. So, she is wondering is it possible to go to UCSF, start the PhD, and then transfer into the MSTP program or some sort of MD/PhD program the following year either at UCSF or elsewhere? Or is this frowned upon to start a PhD and then try to switch to another program? Should she consider doing the whole PhD first and then doing an MD seperately or even putting the whole thing on hold and applying for MD/PhD programs to start in 2004? She is very stoked to have gotten into UCSF and really wants to get started if at all possible. If anyone has advice it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks 🙂

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[Habari]

there was a guy on the mstp trail who was in the exact same situation: he was in the ucsf phd and was applying out after his first year into mstp's. ucsf has some arcane rule that it will not take its own phd's for the mstp program, but he was free to apply elsewhere. i'm not sure if he got in, i lost touch, but it is quite concievable that he did [i met him at columbia though he did not get in there].

my suggestion is to complete the phd and then go for the md. there are some amazing loan repayment plans that the nih offers [pathdr2b has mentioned some] which are reasonably lucrative for people exactly in this position. take a looksey

 

[surge]

I think that it is generally considered - athough there may be those that disagree, and even offer some anecdotal evidence - very hard, and not too favorably looked upon when a person tries to switch from a PhD program into MSTP. I'm pretty sure many schools don't even allow it. I don't know about UCSF.

The reason is that the criteria looked at for graduate school admission is genetally quite different than that for medschool, including GRE vs. MCAT.
Also, it would be almost wasiting a year of grad school, since she would have to do 2 years of med school before going back to the lab. It would be much, much easier to transfer from MD into MD/PhD (this happens quite often).

As Habari mentioned, I would strongly advise her to either do a PhD and then think about medschool, or, if she can't do that, reapply MD/PhD next year (maybe also some MD only).

 

[Nuel]

Why doesn't she finish the PhD and return to med school? It is not forbidden except that she will have to review some organic chemistry for the MCAT.

 

[LoneCoyote]

Thanks for the quick responses. I will pass them on to my friend and if anyone else has any more input please post it 🙂

 

[ATLien1224]

Hey Habari just so you know...the person to whom you refer in your post actually was accepted to the MD/PhD program at Columbia. For some reason unbeknownst to me (even though I probably should given my position in the program), the medical school refused him admission...it was one of the very rare times that the MD/PhD office couldn't get someone in that they wanted over the wishes of the medical school. So they must have had some big objection to him for some reason, but I have no idea what (I thought he seemed like a great guy as well as extra smart). One of the first year MD/PhDs here applied out of a PhD program (in Mathematics) and is probably the smartest guy in our class...so Columbia definitely isn't adverse to taking people out of graduate programs.

But yeah he definitely said UCSF wouldn't take him out of their grad program...weird rule. I doubt too many other schools have restrictions like that...but for the most part I think you should make up your mind about what kind of education you want to get before you start up a potentially lenghty program.