Why does the MD come first?

[Haybrant]

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Anyone know why the MD comes before the Ph.D. in the M.D/Ph.D. degree title? Do you think it would change societal perception of the Ph.D. if they switched the two around? just curious...

serious and facetious responses welcome

 

[jeffsleepy]

alphabetical?

 

[dr.z]

alphabetical?

I thought this was the reason too.

 

[Law2Doc]

Anyone know why the MD comes before the Ph.D. in the M.D/Ph.D. degree title? Do you think it would change societal perception of the Ph.D. if they switched the two around? just curious...

serious and facetious responses welcome

I'm guessing that once upon a time somebody just did it that way and everyone else just figured s/he was right. Also since you can get a Ph.D. in any field (difficult or not), people may not necessarilly be as impressed -- the MD only can mean one field of study and so it carries uniform prestige. I know that JD/MDs tend to list whichever degree they are actually using as the first one (i.e. a lawyer who knows medicine versus a physician with a legal background)- so PhD's could always use that methodology.

 

[hardy]

Try to see which one sounds better when you pronounce it... MD/PhD or PhD/MD. It just seems to me that the first one rolls of the tongue better.

 

[ellia08]

Yeah, I agree.

Its more sonically pleasing to prounounce the greater number of syllables last. sounds more final I guess.

 

[liverotcod]

We have MD/MBA but also JD/MD.

 

[thegoogler]

And MD, MPH - even if you earned the MPH first.

 

[jjmack]

The order is usually based on the highest or "hardest" degree. So most MD,PhDs are from MSTP programs. Some people who are PhDs and then get an MD like to be listed as PhD, MD.

 

[nico05]

MD/PhD's are MD's first, PhD's second...You get an MD/PhD from a medical school's affiliation with a PhD program

 

[tigress]

Yes, I know some people who got the degrees seperately and like to be listed as PhD/MD. I've sort of wondered myself, but I think it's really a non-issue. Just sort of the way it sounds better, or the way it came to be done, so it's standard.

 

[Haybrant]

Try to see which one sounds better when you pronounce it... MD/PhD or PhD/MD. It just seems to me that the first one rolls of the tongue better.

i was hoping someone wouldnt respond with this; you havent learned the art of relativism. If we had all been taught to say phd/md it would be more sonically pleasing. Life works this way with many things beyond sounds

 

[DrHuang]

its the same reason why its actor/model...and not the other way around

 

[fullefect1]

The order is usually based on the highest or "hardest" degree.

I was under the impression that Law school is a joke compared to med school. JD/MD?

 

[Haybrant]

I was under the impression that Law school is a joke compared to med school. JD/MD?

first of all law school is not a joke; the people on the law school forum are probably all saying med school is a joke. friend of mine in law school was, b.t school and study, spending ~90 hrs a wk in his first semester

second, the alphabetical ordering makes sense for all except the md/mba; how to explain that?

 

[Larsitron]

Keep in mind, law schools have huge attrition rates and people flunk out all the time. Isn't the phrase, "It's harder to get into med school than it is to flunk out of it."

 

[windzilla]

i have no idea about the real reason, but i know for certain that UMass had to change the order from MD/PhD to PhD/MD so that they could accept out of state applicants, that way it could skirt certain MA state laws pertaining to state residency requirements.

 

[QHamp]

In the good ole' days of carbolic acid you became either a MD or a PhD, but not both.

Then some doctors decided they wanted to stay in school longer, so they tacked on a PhD degree.

Perhaps the order of the degree stems from which field that degree is most used in.

 

[clc8503]

I think it's more important that the "MD" stands out in a hospital setting. Patients need to know that you are an "MD" first. After they see that you are a physician and not a lab director, they can then be dazzled by the PhD part.

 

[QofQuimica]

The order is usually based on the highest or "hardest" degree. So most MD,PhDs are from MSTP programs. Some people who are PhDs and then get an MD like to be listed as PhD, MD.

That is what I've heard, too. All of this PhD versus MD bickering is ridiculous enough; now we have to distinguish combined MD/PhD versus separate PhD/MD??? 🙄 I'll just tell everyone to call me "Q". It sounds like something out of James Bond. 😛

 

[Haybrant]

I think it's more important that the "MD" stands out in a hospital setting. Patients need to know that you are an "MD" first. After they see that you are a physician and not a lab director, they can then be dazzled by the PhD part.

i think we have our winner; this sounds pretty reasonable

 

[calcrew14]

MD comes first because..... because..... because it does not have as much endurance...Oh how I wish this kind of question was on the MCAT I took. 😱


Obviously, MD comes first because it will also be the one to go first. Both PhD and MPH are always there to stay. The mix up in MD/JD and it's reverse image is only because no one can be certain which one is going to go first.

 

[scattered]

Perhaps this is the rule: if a person has more than one doctoral degree (e.g., M.D., Ph.D, Ed.D, J.D.), then the list should be alphabetized. If a person has a doctoral degree and a master's (e.g., M.B.A., M.P.H., M.S.), list the doctoral (the higher-level degree) first.

 

[PostalWookie]

It's because mudphud sounds better than phudmud