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Contrasting the application process and daily life of MD, MD/PhD, and PhD career tracks
Author(s) -
Gutierrez-Hartmann Arthur
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.26.1_supplement.105.1
Subject(s) - internship , career path , presentation (obstetrics) , process (computing) , medical education , psychology , medical school , test (biology) , mathematics education , computer science , medicine , engineering , engineering management , operating system , paleontology , biology , radiology
Almost 60% of college matriculants who plan to pursue a STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) major end up switching to other degrees or not graduating at all. But for those persistent enough to complete their undergraduate STEM degree, then the choice of the next career step becomes critical. Every fall, tens of thousands of college seniors and college graduates apply for a coveted 19,230 medical school slots, 610 MD/PhD slots, and ~8,000 biomedical PhD graduate school slots. While a strong academic performance, national test scores, and leadership/extra‐curricular activities help identify the top candidates, each of these career tracks require a previous substantive “internship”‐type experience and outstanding letters of recommendation. Moreover, the character traits that might best predict success are not measured by any of the above criteria. Thus, applicants are faced with making the optimal career choice between these highly related fields, and Programs are faced with identifying the very best candidates destined for the most productive and highest impact careers. In this presentation, I will contrast the application process and the daily life of the MD, MD/PhD, and PhD career tracks, with the goal to help clarify the best path for any individual considering these diverse, but related career trajectories.