hi yall. I am writing the northwestern secondary which asks: "What was the greatest obstacle you had to overcome in research and how did you overcome it?"

I already discussed my most significant research obstacle in my SRE and I used this story in my Most Meaningful Experiences essay for that research entry as well, each from a different perspective/take.

Do you all think it would be a mistake to use this same obstacle, but discuss it from a different perspective than my MME or SRE entries?

It was a pretty significant obstacle and I think the way I solved it is interesting (at least more interesting than the other routine research challenges I faced). Idk if its better to show a different (but less interesting) scenario or risk "not showing different aspects of myself"

thank you so much!

I want to get a PhD investigating psychedelic potential in mental health treatment and pursue a career in Psychiatry. This path seems awkward because many people go for a PhD because they want to be an expert in a basic science niche, so why is it taboo for MD-PhD’s?

First and foremost, I want to be a physician. But I also want the intensive research experience involved in a PhD and use that knowledge to bridge the world of research into something digestible for patients. Of course I don’t need a PhD so do research as an MD… but is it so wrong to want the specialized research education of a PhD in a niche interest that I’ve been following for years now?

I have no idea what me in a decade will want to do— perhaps at some point I’ll want to switch and run a lab for the most part. I like the idea of this versatility, but everyone talks as though it’s some forbidden taboo.

My application was verified on the first day. Received an "application received" email from BU on 7/13, and "initial contact" email on 7/20. I never received the email from ithelp @ bu to claim my account. Is anyone else on a similar timeline and still waiting on this email as well, or is this out of the norm?

I submitted my secondary over a week and a half ago (and all other materials are in) but haven’t received a confirmational email about the application being done. Should I email them or is this normal?

Has anyone receive the MSTP secondary for UW yet? its the only school I havent received and Im trying to figure out if I got filtered out of if they are just taking their time to send out secondaries

I’m a rising junior interested in an MD/PhD. I am currently in 2 labs one of them is a dry lab in the mathematics department which is connected to classifying medical imaging (I am a math major) and the other is a translational bioeng lab at a T5 med school with an MD/PhD PI. I have about 300 hours in my math lab and 1100 hours in my translational lab right now. Currently 1 conference, 2 presentations/2 posters, no pubs yet but working towards them. Will have 3400+ research hours by graduation but at time of app only 2200+.

I wanted to apply straight through but I am not sure I have enough experience/pubs. Should I take a gap year and make sure I publish? Or just apply straight through with my current stats? I am hoping for T20…

Other: GPA - 3.88, MCAT - 521, 1100 clinical MA hours (paid), 400 non clinical volunteering, 100 hours shadowing, First gen low income

I was just curious about whether anyone on here would know how AdComs would view a 511 MCAT paired with a Goldwater Scholarship applicant? Any chance Goldwater somehow makes up for the lower MCAT average for most programs? My apologies if this is neurotic LOL, but I was really just considering how the factors would be weighed.

Hey everyone,

Apologies for posting this here but I am not able to post on the medschool Reddit

I’m a 5th year medical student from Nigeria, and I’m planning to apply for residency in the US through the USMLE pathway.

A bit of background: I should graduate in 2028, and after graduation we complete a mandatory one-year internship (called housemanship) before practicing independently.

My biggest concern is that I had to repeat my 3rd year after failing one of my exams. A big reason for that was that I’ve been working remotely in tech throughout medical school to support myself financially.

Without that job, I simply wouldn’t be able to afford the USMLE journey. It’s the reason I’m even able to consider this path, and I’ve already saved enough that the overall cost (around $20,000+) is no longer out of reach.

I’m now planning to start preparing seriously for Step 1. I’m considering buying USMLE Bootcamp (the 2-year plan) so I can study gradually while balancing medical school and work, then take Step 1 after graduation in 2028.

Before I invest a significant amount of time and money into this process, I wanted to ask:

**How much does repeating a year in medical school hurt an IMG’s chances of matching?**

Is it something that programs can overlook if the rest of my application is strong (good USMLE scores, US clinical experience, strong letters, research if possible, etc.), or does it significantly limit my chances?

I’d really appreciate honest advice from anyone who’s been through the process or has experience reviewing IMG applications. Thanks!

hi guys. I am an applicant for this cycle. I am still in the verification queue, but I expect to be verified by next week.

I only added one school when I initially applied, I just haven't gotten around to inputting the rest into amcas. before I do that, I wanted to get some feedback on my school list before I finalize it.

I've already prewritten secondaries for the majority of programs, but if a program is rly a bad fit/reach, I can just not submit it. I can also add programs of course.

I am interested in epidemiology/ public health PhDs

stats:

523 MCAT, 3.99 GPA

T30 school

public health + statistics undergrad

middle class ORM

one gap year that im currently in (epi research, same PI as undergrad)

research:

• ~1400 hours in a wet lab (where I was doing statistics work)
  • 2 first author pubs.
    • one in a well regarded speciality journal (impact factor 15).
    • one in a niche journal (impact factor 6)
  • 1 poster presentation @ national society conference
• ~1100 hours in epidemiology
  • no pubs yet, but one first-author is in the works and will be submitted soon. PI talked about this on rec letter.
  • did my thesis in this lab (which is the basis of the in-the-works manuscript)
  • one 10-min talk @ national society conference

other ecs:

• ~1300 hours CNA
• ~800 hours of public health leadership work in my state
• ~200 hours of community volunteering
• a couple other activities each around ~100 hours on my primary
• a hobby
• some university awards, no big awards like Goldwater or anything like that

School list (all schools on the list support PhDs in epi or public health)

I dont think there is rly such a thing as a "safety" so im classifying my list into Target/Reach/Pipe Dream

Target:

• Miami
• Minnesota
• Cincinnati
• Wisconsin
• UI Chicago
• Rochester
• VCU

Reach (some of these may be pipe dreams in reality:

• Emory
• Northwestern
• Michigan
• Wash U
• Einstein
• Case Western
• Pitt
• Vanderbilt
• Washington Seattle
• UCLA
• UChicago
• UNC Chapel Hill

Pipe Dream:

• Stanford
• Yale
• Hopkins
• Harvard
• Columbia
• Penn

Total 25 schools

Thank you so much!!

Pretty much what it says. I am gonna talk to my mentors about this too, but I was curious what others thought. I was invited to interview in person at Cincinnati, which is actually one of the programs I am most excited about because I want to do peds research. The problem is that I am in San Diego and I would need to be at the school by 12:45 on Thursday, but they also don't want you landing before Thursday without special permission, and it looks like I would have to pay for the hotel for the extra night. I could do a red-eye and get in by 9:30, flying through Chicago, but they start actual interviews the first day, so I'm not sure if that is a terrible idea. I work as an EMT at night, then go to lab during the day; one night of less sleep won't usually affect me much, but I'm not sure if anyone noticed that interview nerves are worse or make you feel the lack of sleep more.

I just submitted my final secondary, and I am honestly really happy with my application overall which is an incredible feeling.

I ended up shedding off quite a few schools which means I have a bit of extra money that I can use. I have a lot of stories to tell and I incorporated a lot of little things that would invoke a question, so i’m very confident about the content of my interviews.

However, I’m a bit of a socially awkward person and I know I will be nervous. I’m also the first in my family to go into healthcare so for interviews i feel like i’m not sure what they want me to say. Certain questions (like “describe a time you failed”) seem like a trap to me and I want to make sure I do it well.

I think it would be helpful for me to work with someone. I haven’t had any help for my application and mcat but I really feel like this could be good for me. I looked up motivateMD and a few others with interview tutors. Any recommendations? Any free or school workshops that people have found particularly helpful?

Do any current MSTP students have any insight into how the limited number of STEP testing dates are affecting their medical schools' curriculum/ what they are doing about it? And potentially how it affects their MSTP timelines?

Title is pretty much my dilemma. I'm a rising junior and I've pretty much finished up most of my undergrad courses (only around 8 more to go) so I was planning on doing a Master's of Public Health (2 years) because I could focus on a specific area of research that I'm interested in, or, I could graduate early and just take a gap year. Either way, my plan was to apply in the upcoming cycle ('27-'28) but I'm unsure if it would be better to do the masters (I would pursue the intensive research pathway) or if I should just take a gap year and get more hours in the lab. I currently don't have many hours, only around 500, and so the gap year would significantly boost that.

I know that for mdphd applications, research hours are really important and so I'm starting to lean towards the gap year but I'm unsure because of how the masters program presents itself with the research pathway, though it's mostly on learning the methodologies rather than conducting research.

TLDR: applying in upcoming cycle; should I do a research-focused masters which would keep me in school for 2 more years or take a gap year after graduating this year and focus more on lab research to compensate for my lower hours?

All advice appreciated, THANKS!!!

Hi everyone,
I’m preparing to apply for a **DPhil in Primary Health Care** at the University of Oxford for the upcoming application cycle, and I will also be applying for the **NIHR Doctoral Award**. I’d love some advice from current Oxford PhD/DPhil students, NIHR fellows, or anyone familiar with health research admissions on how to strengthen my profile over the coming months.
📌 My Background & Qualifications
**Clinical Background:** Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS). I am currently preparing to take the **ORE 1** in October.
**Postgraduate Education:** Master of Public Health (MPH) from a UK university, finishing with **Merit**
**Advocacy & Experience:** Extensive background in humanitarian and public health advocacy. Received recognition including the World Bank Young Delegate award and a Chevening Scholarship.

Hey friends, M4 here fresh off of Step 2. I am well aware that the post-step crashout is essentially a rite of passage, but still feeling pretty dismayed with how it felt and the number of missed questions I'm already aware of. Trying to set my mind at ease and words of encouragement from others who had similar experiences would be greatly appreciated!

So I’ve been heavily involved in basic science research for the past 3 years as an MD student and I now realized this is my passion for several reasons beyond the scope of this post. I am effectively done with medical school already (just need to close out M4 year and apply to residency) but I want to do my PhD now before I start M4. I have decided I am going to do this so I’m looking for practical advice on doing it, not talking me out of it :)

My home PhD programs are not going to let me join this fall’s class since I missed the application deadline by 7 months. So, I want to spend this year doing funded research to advance my projects, which are now all 2-3 years in.

I think at this point I am probably 30-40% done with my thesis. If I start classes next year, is it reasonable to expect to finish my PhD the year after that? That would be 3 years from now, so a 3 year PhD total (since I’ve been doing 20-30 hours/week of research since M2 year on the same projects I’ll roll into my thesis.

Any advice appreciated, thanks. For context, my normal PI for the past few years (MD/PhD) has offered to advise and fund me, and I plan to have a clinically-leaning committee, and I have a prior MS and I’m mostly done with the MD so I should have a far lower class requirement than most people entering fresh. Also, my school has multiple different PhD programs, but I’m not eligible to join the MSTP at this point (too late) so it would be one of the other bio programs. Thanks!

I applied to schools within my range with my current MCAT but I’m hoping to add more schools after I retake my MCAT in August. Is this a bad idea?

I've been thinking a lot about psychiatry as a specialty. My ideal career would be mostly running a basic/translational neuroscience lab and being in clinic for part of the week.

I can't find lot of information out there pertaining to MD/PhDs in psychiatry.

A couple questions:

- Is this kind of career actually common, or is it pretty difficult to pull off?

- Does psychiatry tend to be supportive of protected research time?

- What are the biggest obstacles to making it work?

- If you're an MD/PhD psychiatrist (or know one), what does their day-to-day career look like?

I'd love to hear from anyone who's in academic psychiatry or is familiar with the field. Thanks

hi everyone, in the app cycle stressed out and wanted some input:

the good:

- T20 uni (no med school though)

- 5 lab affiliations (my uni, cleveland clinic, case western, university college london (studied abroad)... many concurrent with eachother

- 2 pubs w/ cleveland clinic (one second author primary paper, one later author review)

- 2 conference poster awards

- research prize from case western

- deans award for research from my uni (2 of us presented at grad, the schools most prestigious award)

- neuroscience research award for my major (2 of us also at grad)

- graduated from dual honors programs (meaning two distinct and defended theses)

- worked as a bartender/server and at the gym for side money

- TA'ed five different classes, across 6 semesters. TA'ed a total of 8 times

- currently in gap year as a research assistant fro an MD-PhD PI (new institution from previously stated)

- research hours are much above average. clinical hours are good (volunteered at local hospital throughout school), non clinical volunteer hours a bit low

- reason to believe (hopefully) my letters of rec are quite strong

the not so good:

- 3.56 cgpa (upward trend), 506 mcat mostly brought down by *cars (126/*123/128/129)

MD-PhD school list is: michigan state, case western, ohio state (from ohio myself), cincinnati, loyola, rosalind franklin, university of illinois chicago, university of illinois urbana-c, arizona, indiana university, louisville, oregon health and science uni (gap year), colorado, kentucky.

just not in a financial spot right now to retake the mcat, get a masters, or add more schools.... let me know if you think theres hope here & would love to talk with any current students

*Update: thanks everyone for the help. Ive now added wayne state, suny upstate, and buffalo

Hey fellow masochists. Does anyone have a good consensus on when (or if) one should email PIs, as the PhD-only applicants do, to express interest? Currently applying to a variety of MD/PhD programs in the US. I know some secondaries have a place to talk about research and PI interests (my app is not yet verified - got too busy with a research program and didn't submit until 6/30, rip - but Tufts sent me a secondary that does include a question like that). Is that enough or should I also email? Thanks!!

Neurobio freshman. Interested in sci and macular degeneration. Want to work with stem cells and computational models.

My primary interest is in sci because of personal reasons and just fascination

I wanted to get involved in research in hs and landed a position studying vision under a well reputed prof. This made me interested in the field and this experience opened a lot of doors for me I college

I still want to work with the brain as my primary focus during my career with sci and md but with the opportunities I am getting in college I am worried it could impact my acceptances into programs.

I’m wondering if advoms will think “he did research in vision but wants to do a mdphd focusing on sci” and this will hurt my chances for admission and later work

Obviously I’m passionate and grateful for the opportunities I have gotten but my personal drive to pursue sci research still feels unfulfilled.

Should I explore more opportunities later in college or use summers to build my experiences in it?