A well rounded applicant seems to be more desirable for MD admissions whereas a less rounded/more specialized applicants are better suited for PhD. How about for MDPHD? Opinions please
Josh
I will render my opinion.
Your casual observation that MD applicants are more well rounded than straight PhD applicants likely stems from the fact that MD admission committees value outgoing, enthusiastic potential doctors (and virtually require some degree of "well-roundedness" vis a vis the application process) and that PhD applicants, forgive me for saying everyone, are not held to the same standards. I have also met a fair share of straight Phd students who, for some reason or another, just couldn't get into medical school and ended up doing a research project to improve their app, which stemmed into a PhD after multiple rejections. The majority of these people were anything but "well-rounded."
As far as MD/PhD, you need all of it. You need the enthusiasm, outgoing nature, scientific articulation, and level-headedness to be truly successful in your career (and your interview). Have I met total introverted nerds with no social skills applying for our MD/PhD program, or in other programs? Of course. Have I given one an outstanding interview evaluation, barring some ridiculous CV indicative of potential genius? Of course not. But that's just me. Pursuing the MD/PhD is indicative of a higher degree of adaptability than the average MD applicant, and your application should reflect that in other ways than academia, in my opinion.
Also remember at many programs your acceptance to MD/PhD is contingent on your acceptance to MD, so your answer is, in my opinion, that you need to be as well-rounded or more than your average accepted MD applicant to be competitive for MD/PhD.
-G
