How much clinical experience needed for MD/PhD?

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

<p>I am a junior who has basically changed her mind, and I want to do an MD/PhD program now, rather than just a PhD.</p>

<p>The problem is, I have no clinical experience, nor any health-related volunteering from the past 2 years. If I start this January, and continue part-time through the summer while working in a lab, is that enough?</p>

<p>I have research experience: an honors organic chemistry lab for spring semester, summer program at Harvard, and am currently at a Top 40 medical school in research. Will continue there till I graduate. My best recommendation will probably come from the medical school. And I will most likely have at least 1 publication, if not 2, by the time I graduate (or at least in the process).</p>

<p>So, general thoughts? Just need a straight answer on how much clinical experience I need. Should I even consider waiting another year to apply rather than straight out of undergrad to get more clinical/volunteer experience?</p>

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<p>Not sure if I can give you a definitive answer. I’d say in general a minimal benchmark would be 30 hours, but 50 is probably better. 2-3 hours a week for at least 6 months essentially. However, given how competitive MD/PhD is (at least to MSTP programs), if you can excel in anyway, I’d make every effort to get beyond that.</p>

<p>In terms of putting off another year. If it’s just to do clinical experience, I’d say no. If you have other areas of your application that need work or could stand to be polished a bit more, then it’s worth examining.</p>

<p>The other thing is that there may be the option of applying MD only, and once on campus, pursue a mentor for research and see if you can develop a plan for getting the PhD. I have a couple of friends that did this. It’s certainly a less certain proposition initially, but does provide an alternative way of reaching your goal.</p>