mlg22

First of all, thanks a lot for your immediate replies. What needs to be clarified here is that I dont want to get into a phd in order to establish myself in the US and improve my chances for a residency match. My goal is to become a physician-scientist in academics. Here in greece most of professors have a phd and a huge amount of biomedical research is based on physicians. I neither want to polish my CV for residency nor to do unoriginal research just to put my name in a number of publications. Im really interested in research and I cant see why being a physician at the same time should be an obstacle. The in-depth knowledge of the pathophysiology of diseases you are diagnosing and treating makes you to better understand the way everything works and makes you a better physician. On the other hand, the clinical background and the clinical observations made by a physician generate new research hypotheses that could be tested in epidemiological studies and after that in basic research experiments to investigate their biological background. I don think that I am going to be the person you are describing. If I just wanted what you' re saying, I would just come in the US and do observerships and 1-year clinical research as a fellow. What I really want with the phd is to obtain the appropriate education in order to be able to do research in the future. Do you think that as an MD, I would be able to do the same thing? That possibly the phd is not necessary for this career?

Hi everyone, I am now in my sixth and final year of medical school in Athens, Greece and I want to ask about my chances of geetting accepted into a phd in neuroscience if I apply next year for entrance in fall 2016. My grades are above average (in the upper 10% of my year) and I have some research experience during my undergraduate year. Specifically I have been a research assistant for more than a year now in the epidemiology department. This has led to 3 presentatons in greek conferences (2 out of 3 in neurology) while I am working on other projects that will result in at least 4 publications (mostly in neurology subjects). Moreover I already have one review publucation in a renowned peer-reviewed journal (regarding pathophysiology of atherosclerosis) and a review published in a greek journal (about epilepsy). My plan is to obtain basic research experience during next summer and autumn in a neuroscience lab (I have already made an arrangement about this) and then apply for a phd in neurosceince in the usa and canada. I will sit the examinations for GRE and TOEFL the upcoming summer. Which universities do you think I should apply to? My objective is to study in the USA, since I plan to stay there for residency after the phd, but I have relatives in Montreal, Canada and I plan to appy for the McGill neuroscience program as well. Is a foreign MD a competitive candidate for a neurosceince phd? What are my chances in general? Lastly, I would like your opinion on another issue. I was tthinking of applying to a combined master's/phd program in neurobiology in my university for the upcoming year. I know that my chances of getting accepted here are really high. This would give me the theoritical background in neuroscience that I must have in order to go on with the phd in the US and would be a good plan B if I am noy accepted in the US. However, the msc is awarded only after 2 years of study, so this would mean that when I apply in the USA next november-december it will look like i just have started a graduate program that I plan to quit. How will this appear for my application? And a final question, I know that the mean time to graduation for a phd student is 4 to 7 years. Do you think that this is dependent on the candidate or it is mostly randomly determined? Thanks in advance!