Is anyone here considering an MD/PhD program? When I went back to school, I had no intention of “falling in love” with anthropology and after a year of pre-med and anthropology classes, I definitely know I want to combine both fields.
If you happen to be in an MD/PhD program, how do you like it so far? I know its a long road and I’d like to know how people feel if they are already in the midst of a program.
Hello, and welcome to OPM! I have been on this site for some time now, and have found it very welcoming and helpful. I hope you find it to be the same.
Like you, I hope to get my MD/PhD. And like you, I had no “intention of falling in love” with my own field of interest. But I did, and I fully intend on going for the dual degree.
I honestly don’t know anyone else on the OPM boards who is considering MD/PhD, much less IN one of these intense programs. So I’ve had to do most of the research on programs, requirements, etc. on my own.
I will PM you with more info, and more of my story …
SSanders80: 13 U.S. medical schools offer combined degrees in MD/PhD in the social sciences, including anthropology, and all are high-powered schools.
You should also check out the RenaissanceDocs listserv and their organization American Physician Scientist Association www.physicianscientists.org. I went to one of their humanities and medicine conferences in 2005 and it was very interesting and rewarding. I was only one of two non-doctors present (the other was my friend whom I convinced to go); everyone else was a physician scientist MD PhD.
I, too, also wanted (and in some ways still want) to do a combined MD/PhD with the PhD in anthropology as well. I was an undergrad cultural and archaeology anthropology major and did lots of medical anthropological fieldwork and field studies. Indeed, it was those very same studies and fieldwork that got me into working in a clinical settings, which then led to my interest in health care.
Unfortunately, while I did well in anthropology, I did not do so well in my basic sciences. Most MD/PhD programs have high GPA cut-offs. I am also much older than what most MD/PhD programs will accept.