<p>Well, if the median is 1 year off, we know that 50% plus 1 kid take one year.</p>
<p>After reading some posts on that other premed forum, applicants seem to fall into a few different groups.</p>
<p>1) 21 year olds between jr and sr year. They’ve often dotted the i’s and crossed the t’s so their application doesn’t have many/any missteps…so they’re “good to go.” The ones who have missteps often reapply after an unsuccessful cycle.</p>
<p>2) 22 year old Glide Year students. These students may have decided late in their undergrad to pursue medicine, they need their senior year grades to help their GPAs, or they need/want to pad their resumes with some cool ECs/research.</p>
<p>3) 24/25 year old applicants. These students either went out in the real world and decided that medicine is their goal, a personal issue delayed their app, and/or they needed to do a post-bac or SMP.</p>
<p>4) much older applicants…up to those in their 40s… Many have similar reasons as Group #3 has. Many of these applicants are married with children, they’re often limited to where they will/can apply because of family obligations. Some completed their college educations attending night school. </p>
<p>Obviously, there are more types and more reasons. These are just some of what I’ve noticed. Others will have made other observations. :)</p>
<p>m2ck - I know a few people in your group 4! They seem to be men who went to med school, supported by their doctor wives!</p>
<p>hmm son falls between 1 and 2… doesnt NEED senior grades, but would like further research, he is good to go and could apply all i’s dotted and t’s crossed and appointments scheduled.</p>
<p>m2ck - I know a few people in your group 4! They seem to be men who went to med school, supported by their doctor wives</p>
<p>So do I!! There are also a few posting on that other site. Many will say something like, “My spouse is an Attending and I’m applying this cycle.” </p>
<p>Our former family doctor put her paramedic husband thru PA school about 7 years ago. It works for them because they’re in the same office and they “cover for each other” when they have a “child issue”…they have 3 kids.</p>
<p>My son took a gap year and was just admitted to an MD/Ph.D. (MSTP) program. Personally, I think a gap year is a good idea because that’s a whole lot of school to go through non-stop. It’s also a very big commitment to make and I think that extra year of maturity can be helpful when you are talking about committing a decade of your life to something (including fellowship, residency, etc.) He used this year to do more research. Also, the apps are far more time-consuming because there are different essays for both programs and he would have missed a lot of school flying around the country to interviews. He checked MD/Ph.D. on the application and also checked that he wanted to be considered for MD. While the app goes through AMCAS, different schools have different ways of handling it on their end. Some schools look at the application at the same time and one hand doesn’t really know what the other is doing. Many schools let the MSTP committee have the app first and only when they reject it does it go to the MD program, which can end up putting you late in the MD pool. A few schools are all or nothing. If you apply to the MSTP and they reject you, you are done there. Some let you know, others do a “silent rejection” when they send you to the MD committee.</p>
<p>Congrats to your son, mimk6. Isn’t he a Pomona grad? (as is my D)</p>
<p>More than one way to do MD/PhD</p>
<p>The MSTPs are fully funded from NIH (or were, who knows now), highly structured programs with 2 years of pre-med, 4 of PhD, then return to 2 of MD, which explains the competition for a few fully funded spots.</p>
<p>There are many ways to do MD/PhD, though. About 10 students in my MD class already had PhDs (including me). This may explain some of the older mean applicant ages. </p>
<p>Harvard, for example, has two application cycles for MSTP, one prior to beginning med school, and one after the pre-clinical years. The 4 years of PhD research go between MS2 and MS3. This can actually be arranged at most university based programs, the funding really is the issue (that’s a lot of tuition). </p>
<p>Many MDs pursue PhD after med school too.</p>
<p>Congrats to Mimk’s son! It is an amazing achievement getting into an MSTP program considering so few seats exist.</p>
<p>Thank you. Yes, there are other ways to get an MD/Ph.D. I think some MSTP programs have some funding from the school itself in addition to the NIH.</p>