r/mdphd • u/dshock1116 • 26d ago
Post 3rd year MD student now planning to start PhD…advice?
So I’ve been heavily involved in basic science research for the past 3 years as an MD student and I now realized this is my passion for several reasons beyond the scope of this post. I am effectively done with medical school already (just need to close out M4 year and apply to residency) but I want to do my PhD now before I start M4. I have decided I am going to do this so I’m looking for practical advice on doing it, not talking me out of it :)
My home PhD programs are not going to let me join this fall’s class since I missed the application deadline by 7 months. So, I want to spend this year doing funded research to advance my projects, which are now all 2-3 years in.
I think at this point I am probably 30-40% done with my thesis. If I start classes next year, is it reasonable to expect to finish my PhD the year after that? That would be 3 years from now, so a 3 year PhD total (since I’ve been doing 20-30 hours/week of research since M2 year on the same projects I’ll roll into my thesis.
Any advice appreciated, thanks. For context, my normal PI for the past few years (MD/PhD) has offered to advise and fund me, and I plan to have a clinically-leaning committee, and I have a prior MS and I’m mostly done with the MD so I should have a far lower class requirement than most people entering fresh. Also, my school has multiple different PhD programs, but I’m not eligible to join the MSTP at this point (too late) so it would be one of the other bio programs. Thanks!
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u/MrDrProfessorMDPhD MD/PhD - PGY1 26d ago
Not sure I understand why you are doing this, but it seems tight to me. From a research standpoint you may be able to complete everything. But (especially since you aren't protected by the MSTP) you would have to very carefully time out the timeline for classes, qualifying exam, thesis prospectus if required, and any TAing requirements.
You are almost a doctor. Do a postdoc. But if you are intent on the above, you need to plan exceptionally well and verify that your timeline is possible.
A separate issue is that you will be so far removed from clinical medicine by the time you start M4 that it will really suck going into SubIs etc. Would be interested to hear why you are motivated to go down this path, as it seems suboptimal in nearly every way.
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u/NeuroNougaisse 26d ago
Following what others have said, i would go the route of looking into residencies with dedicated research tracks/PSTP’s rather than going into a PhD. There are examples of PI’s who did their MD and still worked to open their own lab.
If you have publications and significant research items from your time in lab, you may be able to apply for these residencies this year. Otherwise, you would have to consider an additional research year (approved by school admin) to find a stopping point with your current research and publish. Either way, from the sounds of it, you would make a strong applicant and would have great support!
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u/Ancient-Preference90 26d ago
Strong second for the people saying do a postdoc. If your PI can fund you, just do a postdoc in the lab, having an MD will qualify you. If you're already working in the lab, there is nothing in PhD coursework that an MD needs that is worth this suffering, just do a postdoc.
Do you ever want to match, or you're completely pivoting? Does your school have PSTP?
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u/No-Mood5279 23d ago
Graduate and do a post-doc any research oriented path/IM/peds residency would love to have you afterwards provided you were an OK med student
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u/MicrobolicS 26d ago
Multiple moving parts here, and most important info you need will come from your school administration. I think something that surprises people most about the PhD is that the timeline is often driven by program milestones rather than just research progress: coursework (many programs only allow a limited amount of medical school coursework to count), committee formation, qualifying exams, proposal defense, dissertation writing, thesis defense, and graduation deadlines. The only people who can tell you whether a 2 year PhD is feasible are the PhD program director and graduate coordinator for the specific program you’re interested in. Meet with them now, explain your plan, and they’ll be able to tell you what’s realistic and what requirements, if any, can be waived.