ApplyMD: Applying to MD and MD/PhD Programs

As an undergrad, I was on the path towards graduate school.  I really had a passion for biological research in the cancer field since I had a family member with cancer.  I still feel to this day, that investing my time in this pursuit towards studying how the mechanisms of cancer cells go awry will help lead to future advances in the fight against cancer. 

However, I soon realized that I wanted to pursue my MD/PhD after I did summer research with a physician-scientist in the Department of Pathology at Baylor College of Medicine.  There, I was paired with a physician-scientist mentor who showed me the thrill of being both a physician and a scientist.

As a scientist, you have an indirect yet critical role in the discovery of future medical marvels.  As a physician, you have a very direct role in the care and treatment of patients.  Why not get the best of both worlds by pursuing a dual degree?  The opportunity cost is obviously huge with an extra 4 years of your life for medical school.  However, you will find a certain satisfaction when you are able to connect your basic research to an unmet medical need. 

Only after having finished my first 2 years of medical school did I realize that having the medical degree will give you a certain “instant gratification” when you treat a patient of their illness.  It’s not like in the lab, where your lab work may or may not yield results that you had hope for.  Having a bit of instant gratification in the clinic and then coming back to struggle in the lab for ultimately delayed gratification provides a nice balance in a scientist’s life. It’s like a breath of fresh air.

What is a premed? What is a premedical education?  Do I have to be a premed in order to apply to medical school?  These are common questions for new students exploring majors. A premed education is a general label for the prerequisites for medical school.  You do not need to be a biology major to be a premed.  Most premeds are biology majors because the premed requirements satisfy the requirements for the undergraduate biology major.  In fact, there are people majoring in art history, engineering, and history who are also taking the premed courses.  The Premed requirements are:

1. 1 year of general chemistry with laboratory
2. 1 year of organic chemistry with laboratory
3. 1 year of physics with laboratory
4. 1 year of English
5. 1 year of Biology with laboratory 

However, some medical schools will have extra requirements for special programs in their medical school such as a foreign language requirement.  Be sure to check with each schools requirements 1 to 1.5 years in advance since you may need to sign up for a class to satisfy that prerequisite.  

Even if you decide not to pursue a career as a physician, you can still use your premed curriculum to satisfy the prerequisites to enter into other health professions such as nursing, dental, and pharmacy.  Just be sure that you satisfy the prerequisites for those individual programs.

The best time of the year is to find an undergraduate research position at your home institution would have been before the end of school.  If the lab likes you, they may be willing to wait until you return from the summer to start, however more likely than not, they will want you to start working during the summer to show a level of commitment in the research that you would be pursuing when school is back in session.  

The SECOND best time would be right before school starts.  This way you won’t be competing with the dozen or so students vying for that one undergrad research position in the lab.  The earlier you start, the more successful you will be in landing that great research position.

If your school has a database for research opportunities on campus, don’t solely rely on that source for research contacts.  You and hundreds of other students will see the posting for that one or two undergrad research position in the lab.   What you should do is look for labs that interest you, and then send an email to the professor/PI of that laboratory that you would be interested in what he has done and that you would be interested in doing undergraduate research.     By sending out solicitations, some professors will see it as you are taking initiative which is a very good quality in researchers.  However, if they are not interested, they will just write back to you saying they have no space or on the rare occasion just ignore your email.

I’ll write more when I have more ideas.  But for now, just send out emails to labs that you are sincerely interested in working in until you graduate.