<p>Thanks for more input guys. I really appreciate it. </p>
<p>phagocytosis, I would love to do an MD/Ph.D program (in fact I think that is the perfect credentials for the type of research I want to do), but the problem is I just don’t think I am competitive enough for the MD/Ph.D programs. To put it bluntly, I think I can get into a much better Ph.D program than an MD program and since MD/Ph.D hinges on admission into the medical school more so than the Ph.D program, I would be screwed at the top MD/Ph.D programs. I have pretty good research experience, and I am looking to work at a 2nd lab soon (both labs research very relevant to what I want to do in graduate school, and I will be published for sure by the time I graduate from college) so I will have two jobs that are extremely relevant to my graduate school admission, but not really med school. I won’t have time to do clinical internships and the like. I plan on having 3+ years of research experience in 2 labs (I’m a second year in college), and some publications that are pertinent to what I want to do in graduate school. I was very lucky to get into a good lab at the department I am interested in. None of this really helps a lot for medical school as much as it does for graduate school so that is why I am not really competitive. Also, I am just not a cutthroat person, I expect to graduate with a GPA that is not in range for the medical schools of colleges I would expect to get into Ph.D programs for. For example, I am decently confident I could get into a top 15 grad program for my field of interest since I have reasonable experience, know exactly what I want to do, will be published, and will have known professors for over 3 years for good recs. However, my GPA is nowhere near the the range of top 15 medical schools in the nation. I like to explore, take classes in different departments, and came into college not trying to get a 3.8-4.0 which 99% of top 10 med school admits have.</p>
<p>tl;dr: I would love to do MD/Ph.D; however, I am not confident I would be able to get into a decent med school. I am much more confident I can get into a great Ph.D program since admissions to each degree are not very similar, and admission to MD/Ph.D hinges more on MD acceptance.</p>
<p>Advice is very appreciated.</p>