MD or MD/PHD?

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

<p>Wondering what are the pros and cons for each side. Greatly appreciate it! </p>

2

<p>MD program is faster and you graduate with a large debt. Do it if you want to work as a doctor.</p>

<p>MD-PhD program is funded, but it is a massive time commitment. Both the MD and the PhD aspects of it are interconnected; you do something like 1 year MD, 1 year PhD, etc, until you graduate, so you can’t just leave early with one degree or the other. Best for academic work in medicine.</p>

3

<p>Honestly, even if you wanted to do academic work in medicine, an MD is probably enough. There are plenty of researchers who only have an MD (and at least one who got a Nobel Prize that I know of). And not all MDs will have a huge debt. There are some medical schools with cheap in-state tuition. It’s entirely possible to graduate with very little debt if not debt-free. </p>

4

<p>AAMC FAQs for potential MD/PhD applicants:</p>

<p><a href=“https://www.aamc.org/students/research/mdphd/109850/mdphd_faqs.html”>https://www.aamc.org/students/research/mdphd/109850/mdphd_faqs.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>MD/PhDs program are for those interested in fundamental research in areas of biomedical sciences.</p>

5

<p>Are the MD/PhD programs more selective than the MD program? </p>

6

<p>Yes, MD/PhD programs are extremely selective. Generally, you have to high MCAT scores, a high GPA, and at least 2 (preferably more) years of research experience. </p>

7

<p>In terms of number of applicants vs. matriculants, MD/PhD programs are more competitive than MD programs.</p>

<p>In 2013, there were 1937 MD/PhD applicants and 609 matriculants/ (Acceptance rate = 31%) </p>

<p><a href=“https://www.aamc.org/download/321548/data/2013factstable35.pdf”>https://www.aamc.org/download/321548/data/2013factstable35.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>In comparison , there were 48,014 applicants and 20,055 matriculants in MD-only programs ( Acceptance rate = 42%)</p>

<p><a href=“https://www.aamc.org/download/321494/data/2013factstable17.pdf”>https://www.aamc.org/download/321494/data/2013factstable17.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

8

<p>“MD program is faster and you graduate with a large debt.”

  • Yes, there is no reason for PhD part if you are planning to be an MD and not a researcher. It is just way too long. The “large debt” part depends on each family situation combined with your previous decision choosing the UG (expensive/cheap/free). I heard (do not know exact statistics, I am not big believer in internet published statistics anyway), I heard that about 25% graduate from Med. School without debt. One way to accomplish it is to choose tuition free (for you) UG and negotiate with family paying for Med. School instead (or at least a big chunk of Med. School tuition). </p>