Apply to how many MD/PhD programs?

[CaNEM]

Why does it seem like eveyrone is applying to around 20 MD/PhD programs? I was just going to apply to 9 -- 8 AMCAS and Columbia.

Are the people who are applying to that many schools doing so because MD/PhD is more difficult to get into, or would you apply to that many if you were just trying for MD as well?

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[Spudster]

I think that in general, people apply to far too many schools, but then again it is only "far too many" once you've received your first acceptance. I applied to 15, but I ended up not accepting interviews and withdrawing from more than half because I got into what I consider to be a great program early on. If you've got a strong application, you could very well be fine with just 9, so you shouldn't necessarily feel that you need to apply to every one, especially if you don't think you'd be happy at some of the schools.

 

[jot]

hah i guess no one knows if they are a stellar great program worthy person until those first acceptances come in. i'm applyign to about 20 as well, and i'm sure i will find that its overkill - when is the earliest people hear back after interviews? do they tell you relateively sooner than md applicants?
-jot

 

[Spudster]

Timing is completely program dependant, as has been noted before. Wash U, UCSD, and Baylor were all really quick, as in ~1 week post-interview response and early interviews.

 

[jot]

oh right, i think i was the one who asked that before. thanks though spudster. spudster, does Mark Tessier-Lavigne take any grad students? i wonder if they get any attention in a lab like that.

question for columbias app if anyone did it - there is supposedly an essay about Motivations for becoming a physician; i imagine one should stick more to the medicine side of things, and relegate physician scientist aspects to md/phd specific questions. i imagine its all a personal choice, but what do you think?

 

[Spudster]

Jot,
Yes, Mark Tessier-Lavigne does take students. When my previous PI left, there was a 1st year MSTP that went to that lab, and he seems quite happy there. I don't know how much attention you would get, but I think that your satisfactiono would also depends on what you are accustomed to receiving. There are not a lot of Empire labs here at Stanford, as there are in such places as Harvard, so in even the biggest of labs you could interact with the PI, depending of course on personality and such.

As for Columbia, I didn't even apply there since my wife didn't think that raising young children in NYC around Columbia with a semi-absentee father would be very fun.

 

[Vader]

Hey jot,
I don't know how Marc's lab is set up at Stanford, but when he was at UCSF he had a pretty large lab that was fairly postdoc-heavy. From students who rotated in his lab, I've heard that he sometimes micromanages things. However, he's a great guy and absolutely brilliant. An MSTP in his lab that I know has done really well. If you are interested in working with him, I would try to set up a meeting when you visit Stanford during interviews.

 

[dl2dp2]

Is columbia sending out applications already!! Damn the oct 15th deadline.

Jot, I didn't know that you were interested in axon guidance? I thought you were a molecular biologist through and through.

 

[jot]

well i learned about his robo/slit/netrins stuff in my developmental bio class and thought it was absolutely cool; then i had the good fortune to attend a seminar and lunch with Corey Goodman when he was visiting merck (he is Mark Tess's mammalian counterpart - also very good, but no longer in acadamia). my PI was a post-doc in Mark Tess's lab, and hes a brilliant guy, Rhodes Scholar, a million and 2 papers, young and energetic. umm, this isn't a males wanted add. my work here at merck is heavily neuro tilted so i dunno, it would be a great opportunity. the minor pitfall is getting into stanford to work with him hah, but we'll see.
-jot

 

[jot]

wow, that was incoherent. cool.
-jot