<p>Just curious, what's the general consensus here on CC about taking a gap year before an MSTP (beginning the application process as a senior in college)?</p>
<p>Gap years are wonderful and they help you make decisions about your career before getting yourself into something long (like MSTP!). I was set on doing an MD/PhD up until the beginning of my senior year of college, and my gap year has helped me realize that I don't really want to be a PI and the things I want to do with research and medicine can be accomplished without a PhD. They're also great for saving up a bit of money and maturing enough to handle yourself in the real world (economically, socially, etc.) I'm applying to medical school and a few one year masters program abroad for another potential gap year. Of course, I can definitely see why MD/PhD is a great track for some.</p>
<p>Medicine is a long career, as is life, so make sure to enjoy it rather than rush to the finish. The journey is really the fun part.</p>
<p>I’m not sure how declining the PhD part will save money in the long run.</p>
<p>Sorry wasn’t worded well. I meant that taking a gap year where you have a job (that pays $$$), teaches you a lot about the realities of living on a budget in the real world. That was unrelated to my own decisions about my career path.</p>
<p>On a side note though, the idea that the MD/PhDs save money in comparison to MDs is not entirely true. While you are receiving a stipend (albeit pretty small) during medical school and research training, you lose about 4-5 years of physician income for your time spent in your PhD. Coupled with the fact that physicians who later pursue science are eligible for 30k/year debt repayment programs via the government, the main advantages of an MD/PhD is more so the fact that you receive research training well and above an MD…rather than the monetary benefits.</p>
<p>Well from what I’ve been told the MD/PhD benefits PhD-oriented (aka research, planning on postdoc fellowship afterwards) people more, so the physician stuff is irrelevant to them. I guess I’m thinking about top 10 MSTPs where all the med school years cost nothing and on top of that you get a stipend for your PhD years.</p>
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<p>Same with a PhD, except you don’t have to go through the torture that is med school. There’s no reason to go into a MD/PhD program if all you’re interested in is a career in research. If you get a MD/PhD, you should plan on seeing patients at least some portion of the time.</p>
<p>Doesn’t not having an MD prevent you from getting certain grants and restrict your ability to do any clinical research?</p>
<p>Define clinical research? If you’re talking about research involving work with human patient samples, like looking for common gene defects in a cancer subtype, or studying patient cells of a particular disease. Then no, you don’t need an MD. You will need a doctor to get any necessary samples for you, but this is common practice in hospitals (it’s part of a doctors job to lend a hand in academic research…and the reason why research is part of a hospital community, to facilitate such collaborations). </p>
<p>If you’re talking about getting a grant to oversee a clinical trial that involves the administration of a new drug or a new therapy, then yes…there will have to be an MD on the grant. If you just have a PhD (alone) though, you probably won’t be involved too much in that type of research.</p>
<p><- is still trying to figure out how your logic of -200K > 100K works.</p>