Advice on reapplying for MD/PhD or matriculating to MD

[Barbara4]

Hi pals, I have a feeling you've probably heard a version of my question before, but I couldn't find previous threads that addressed this so here it goes:

As an undergrad, I struggled to decide if I wanted to go MD or MD/PhD, I enjoyed research but I wasn't confident that I liked it enough for an extra 4+ years of med school. After working as a research technician in a basic science lab for about a year, I've become more confident in my career goal to be a clinician and a translational researcher, where I would benefit from having an MD/PhD.
However, because I'm a doofus, I applied to medical school this year, and have already been accepted to an MD program.

Would it be better to take next year off and apply MD/PhD OR is it possible to transfer into an MSTP program OR forget trying to get the PhD and try to make it as an MD researcher?

In case this helps, I worked as an undergraduate researcher for three years with a number of research fellowships, poster presentations, and research talks. I will present a poster at a national meeting this spring on my work done while I was working as a technician, and I will be on at least one publication by the end of spring.

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[Go4Doc]

Do you want to one day run your own lab and are you comfortable devoting up to 80% of your time to research? That is the expectation of most MD/PhDs. It is certainly possible to be a physician scientist without the PhD and depending upon how much of your time you want to devote to research, remaining a pure MD might even be a better fit for you.

That being said, it's entirely possible to transfer into an MSTP (provided your school is an NIH-funded MSTP). I'd definitely avoid turning down an offer of MD to re-apply MD/PhD. That's usually a big red flag for adcoms and they'll question how much you truly want to be a physician.

 

[Barbara4]

Thank you! That helps a lot!

 

[Lucca]

Agree above. Turning down an acceptance to RE apply is absolutely a bad move. Don't do it. If your MD school is associated with any mD/PhD program you will likely be able to transfer in. Contact the MD/PhD director and explain your situation / reasoning like you did here and they can give you the lowdown on their internal process.

Congratulations on being accepted!

 

[moggat]

Congrats on your acceptance!

I think turning down an MD admission would make MD/PhD committees look at you a little funny, so I would DEFINITELY not suggest that. Applying internally is absolutely an option, and I would contact the MSTP/MDPhD director if that's what you're interested in, but keep in mind that those are often also very competitive.

However, there are lots of ways to become a physician-scientist without necessarily doing a combined MDPhD. A lot of regular med students at research schools I've spoken to take time off to do research during medical school, and it's always possible to do a research fellowship, PSTP, or post-doc as an MD-only, and get the research skills that way. A PhD is nice because it gives you protected research time, but fundamentally it's a degree that tells people "I have trained to be a good scientist", and there are other ways to accomplish that. Just know that if the MD/PhD doesn't happen, you can still be a successful physician-scientist or physician-who-does-research.

 

[deev04]

You should definitely not turn down an MD offer.

I especially agree with contacting the MD/PhD director and would recommend doing it soon if you want to pursue the internal transfer option. Some programs require that Med students looking to apply for internal transfer into the MD/PhD program complete a research rotation before applying, and many recommend this. Many programs allow/require MD/PhD students to do their first rotation the summer before M1, so contacting the program and seeing if this is option would need to happen soon. Internal transfer applicants need to meet with the MD/PhD director anyways, so reaching out now and making your interest known will only help. It'll also give you a better sense of your prospects and the specifics steps required.