Banana-valid Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 Hi! I'm Oli and I'm from the UK. I had a question about when people think it would be worth doing a PhD, particularly because my current plan means I'll be a student for another 9 or so years (which isn't necessarily a bad thing!). Currently, I'm a third-year medical school student at Sussex university (medicine is an undergraduate degree in the UK, 5/6-years long) and will be doing an extra year for a BSc in developmental biology at Edinburgh University (so I'll be 25 when I graduate with a UK MBBS and BSc). Developmental biology is a topic I love, and I've investigated it through summer projects, etc. etc (I currently don't want to be a medical doctor, but a biological researcher). At the moment I plan on doing a PhD in the topic and have identified some courses in the UK/America that I really like the look of. However (and assuming I get offers!), if I go on to do a PhD in America then I will be 31/32 by the time I graduate (assuming it takes the average 6 years to complete). In the UK I could do the courses and graduate at 29 or 28, but even this seems quite a long slop. My questions are simply: do people think I am taking too long to get into research (i.e. graduating at 31), and do people think it's more advantageous to graduate younger so you can spend longer researching as a career? The difference in the time it would take me to graduate is a considerable 3 years (although I come more and more to realise that age isn't that important in the long run, at least I think so?!?). I am looking at this as if I would be doing my best research when I am younger and also in terms of competing for post-docs and so on (which would take longer to reach if I graduate later etc etc.). If anyone can offer any advice (or just get through this essay!) then I really appreciate it! Thanks, Oli Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rising_star Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 At least in the US, you can do research as a physician without having a PhD. What are you hoping to gain from the PhD that you won't have already learned or gotten experience with? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theartman1193 Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 I think there are generally programs that combine the PhD with the MD? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Banana-valid Posted May 19, 2015 Author Share Posted May 19, 2015 In the UK you can do Md/Phd, but only at UCL, and the people I really want to work with are elsewhere (plus I don't really fancy being in London). The reason I am thinking of doing a PhD is to gain skills and experiences my MBBS/BSc won't give me enough of, namely lab experience and techniques, publishing developmental biology articles, and generally the ability to do high-level research (which I don't think I could get through my MBBS/BSc course). Thanks for your advice though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now