Med school or Grad school ???

[alliecat2224]

I'm a junior biology major with a math minor at a good state school. I have a good GPA, good relations with my professors, and ample research experience. 

My problem- Growing up I always wanted to be a doctor. I still have that desire, however I'm really into research too. I don't know if I should pursue a career in research or continue being premed. I know there are some options that would allow me to do both, like MD/PhD programs, however they are highly competitive. 

Does anyone have any advise/opinions on what I should do? I'm just really at a standstill now and depending on which path I choose to take, I would need to change my class schedule and start preparing for standardized tests.

[Eigen]

It's a very personal decision. 

I was pre-med and chemistry throughout undergrad, and was interested in an MD/PhD joint program. 

What I ended up deciding was that since I was interested in doing both, but also might be interested in just the PhD.... I'd do the PhD first. Med school accrues quite a bit of debt. A PhD, on the other hand, depending on where you end up, can pay a living wage. 

I'm no longer interested in going back to med school, and after having friends in joint programs, I'm really glad I didn't do one.

That said, I didn't have to do any modifications to my class schedule/prep either way. Take the MCAT, take the GRE. Coursework should be fairly similar between the two tracks. 

[TakeruK]

Although I never considered Med school myself, I know a lot of people who did. Like Eigen, they were able to pursue both tracks simultaneously by taking both sets of standardized tests and choosing coursework that fits both tracks. Some of them even applied to both med school and grad school in their senior year and didn't make the decision until later (although this would certainly require a lot more work).

I don't think there are a ton of pre-requisite courses required for med school right? I did remembering taking a quick look at one point and the first year courses are the same core courses that most science degrees would require and then the other other pre-reqs are 2nd and 3rd year courses that you can easily count as electives towards any other degree. I know a lot of physics undergrad majors that just added on about 4 or 5 courses** (mostly organic chemistry and biochemistry courses) they normally wouldn't take (fulfilling Physics degree elective requirements) in order to meet med school admission requirements. Since you are a biology major already, I'd imagine you would meet most of the requirements with just your major program? 

(**Note: I just looked up the requirements for my undergrad school's med program and the minimum coursework is 4 additional courses beyond the standard core first year introductory science courses but I know my friends took additional relevant courses because they felt that without a biology or chemistry degree, they would be better prepared with additional coursework.)

I can imagine how it would be tough to meet both med school requirements AND do a math minor though, so maybe a small change regarding that may be necessary depending on your minor requirements. A math minor is certainly not necessary for grad school though and you can still do part of the minor requirements just to get the necessary training without the formal recognition. I think this is the only area you might have to make adjustments in coursework in order to be able to be competitive for both med and grad school. Changing your math minor into a series of math electives without recognition will not harm your grad school chances at all though, so if I was in your shoes and if that was necessary to fit the courses for med school, I would rather do that than make a decision between MD vs PhD right now.

[Eigen]

It didn't really add any coursework for me to do a math minor, but bio has a lot less base math requirements. 

That said, I think a basic Bio degree should also have all of the necessary pre-med coursework built in, so you should be able to put electives towards math. 

I wouldn't worry too much about taking "extra" courses to prepare for med school, if that's the issue.

[sixgunguerilla]

Nobody can tell you what is best for you except yourself. Each case is different. Particularly on an internet forum, when it comes to what would be the best fit for an individual person, the only thing that people who are mostly strangers can give you is bad advice. 

[Eigen]

Nobody can tell you what is best for you except yourself. Each case is different. Particularly on an internet forum, when it comes to what would be the best fit for an individual person, the only thing that people who are mostly strangers can give you is bad advice. 

This isn't strictly true. While no one can decide for someone, or know what is best for them, even strangers on an internet forum can help an individual think through their options and provide insight on possibilities. 

[sixgunguerilla]

This isn't strictly true. While no one can decide for someone, or know what is best for them, even strangers on an internet forum can help an individual think through their options and provide insight on possibilities. 

You're wrong. It's exactly true. Strangers can only speak to generalities about the process, and usually they give bad advice even about generalities because they are projecting themselves into their replies. "The Grad Cafe" is good for answering fence post questions (Do I need to do A? How do I do A?), but it is not good about informing strangers on lifelong career decisions nor about opinion questions (Should I do A?). Everyone is different and this sort of thing is too exact and too important to rely on uninformed and often unrealistic opinions.

There are simply too many psychological and emotional variables upon which strangers on the internet can not draw from the personal experience and emotional contacts of the person. 

I understand it's in the best interest of people associated with this forum to suggest that this forum can provide answers to all possible scenarios for prospective candidates, but it's simply, unquestionably, inarguable that this is false. I cannot be moved from this opinion. The OP should speak with co-workers, family members and school advisers who understand the OP's situation more exactly and can possibly draw from scenarios and social aspects that even the OP may not immediately recognize about themselves. Additionally, the OP should really be asking themselves this question. How can a Chemistry or History major tell whether or not you should become a doctor or a teacher, knowing only about you a few paragraphs of information you wrote? It's not smart to expect they can. 

It is quite simply bad form to suggest a person can figure out what their career path should be by posting on an internet forum. Do people here really think that deciding to become a doctor because someone they've never met and spoke with on a forum told them to is really the best way to make such an important decision?

If that is their only outlet for measuring their options -- or the best outlet they think they have -- there are clearly other problems which need to be addressed. 

 

 

 

[TakeruK]

By design, TheGradCafe is a place where a person can come here and write a few words about themselves and see what kind of response they will get from anonymous people that don't know them.

I completely agree with you that there are many things I do not know when I give my advice and that the OP should definitely be talking to people that know them well to get personalized advice.

When I write a post here, I do not even try to pretend that I know exactly what is best. Instead, I assume the OP knows that this is the opinion of a stranger on the internet based on the very little information that they have provided. I expect the OP to read what we have said and critically think about our input in the context of what it is---advice from strangers based on limited information. I expect each question-asker to realise the limitations of the medium.

No one on the moderating team has any interest in people thinking they can come here and get advice about complicated questions like this. We do not get paid and we have nothing to gain. No one is also advertising or claiming that TheGradCafe is the right place to come and get answers. TheGradCafe is simply a medium where people can discuss their thoughts and questions with other graduate students or early career professionals. 

But I am confused why I even have to explicitly say this or defend this? That is, no one is saying that you must come here, ask questions and follow advice given from strangers!

[fuzzylogician]

It is quite simply bad form to suggest a person can figure out what their career path should be by posting on an internet forum. Do people here really think that deciding to become a doctor because someone they've never met and spoke with on a forum told them to is really the best way to make such an important decision?

There is more in your post to address but TakeruK got most of it so let me just reply to this bit, which I think is the crucial part. Anyone who comes here asking "what should I do?" and expecting that we will make a decision for them simply has the wrong idea about what internet forums can do for you. "Should I be a doctor or a researcher" is a personal decision that no one is able to make for you, and no one here is trying. Your post seemed to suggest that we pretend we can do that, but I don't think any regular poster here is of that opinion. 

What this forum can do--and is in fact quite good at, because we get people with diverse backgrounds and lots of experience donating their time to post here--and why I assume people come here with such questions, is help them think about the pros and cons. We can bring considerations to your attention that you might not have thought about. We can tell you personal stories that we know or heard about. It is then your job to filter that advice and those stories, consider the source of the advice and whether it's coming from a relevant and knowledgable source, think through (or discard, as needed) the issues we raised, and make your own decision. So I think we can definitely help someone figure out what career path they should follow, by guiding them to think through each choice, but that does not mean that we can (or should, or want to, or will agree to) make the decision for them. 

[sixgunguerilla]

By design, the Grad Cafe is a place to receive practical answers to pragmatic questions and unrealistic answers to people with unrealistic expectations. I wouldn't want to be treated by a doctor who only became a doctor because they were convinced to become one on an internet forum. As I stated, I will not be moved from this opinion. I dismiss your many, many, many, many, many other points without merit. 

[TakeruK]

By design, the Grad Cafe is a place to receive practical answers to pragmatic questions and unrealistic answers to people with unrealistic expectations. I wouldn't want to be treated by a doctor who only became a doctor because they were convinced to become one on an internet forum. As I stated, I will not be moved from this opinion. I dismiss your many, many, many, many, many other points without merit. 

By design, TheGradCafe is a place for people (mostly prospective or current graduate students, but also some postdocs, graduates, and faculty) to form a community to discuss whatever topics interests the community. By nature, the topics are going to be graduate school and academia related.

There is no promise or guarantee of useful answers. I am not trying to say TheGradCafe is objectively useful resource and I'm not trying to convince you of this either. As I stated above, TheGradCafe is what it is and some people find it useful and helpful and they stay. Others do not find it helpful beyond what they already asked so they leave. I am not arguing against your opinion that you do not think TheGradCafe is a good place for career questions. No one is forcing you to come here and ask the community any sort of questions at all.

[fuzzylogician]

I dismiss your many, many, many, many, many other points without merit. 

Good news -- we write not only for you, but for the many other readers who surf here who may or may not even have an account. I really don't care whether you or anyone else in particular agree with what I say, but I do think it's on the disrespectful side to have a conversation with someone and announce to them that you aren't interested in entertaining their opinions before even hearing them. I hope this is not how you have conversations in person.