How to Approach the MD/PhD Essay and Application | Ask Dr. Gray: Premed Q&A

How should your tone and writing style in the MD/PhD essay differ from the personal statement? And should your MD/PhD personal statement be written differently from an MD personal statement? That's what we cover today!
If you found this video helpful, be sure to subscribe, hit that notification bell, and check out all our Meded Media podcasts at premedpodcasts.com!
On this episode of Ask Dr. Gray: Premed Q&A, we address some specifics of the MD/PhD application. I explain the importance of telling stories and engaging the reader, and how to do that. We also talk a bit about this student's specific interests in research and why she chose MD/PhD!

[@mojoman0195]

Missed a real opportunity to call this channel Grays application anatomy

[@DaKuawn]

Disclaimer *Currently an MD/PhD Student in an MSTP Program* I disagree about the way you said to approach the application for MD/PhD and caution people for for focusing too much on the medical side. It is an easy way to come off as not knowledgeable or passionate about your research and to get accepted to the MD part and rejected from MD/PhD. For MD/PhD apps there are 2 additional essays that give applicants way more real estate to be purposeful with their writing without being very repetitive. Many programs make it a point to state that the research portfolio is one of THE MOST IMPORTANT aspects of the application. In many cases MD/PhD applicants have to be more competitive on the research fronts than PhD only students. The medical aspects seem to be more lenient at most programs. You have to convince the schools that you want a medical degree, but if it is too medical you will get rejected and they will say just do MD only. The two extra essays you get (the 10k character essay he addressed is in fact the research statement where in fact you ARE supposed the "boring" research stuff he was talking about. The "Why MD/PhD" essay only adds up to about half a page double spaced, which is significantly less than the personal statement and the research statement). I share my essays somewhere on my youtube page if anyone is interested in how I structured my application and how I used the extra real estate to really explain why I wanted MD/PhD. The goal of the research statement (after being apart of the admission committee at my school): to assess student's interest in research, their technique exposure and understanding, ability to take ownership of their work, and their ability to communicate "what they contributed/did to an educated audience not in their field" Why MD/PhD: it is exactly what it sounds like, why on earth are you deciding to derail your medical progress to do a PHD in the middle. Why aren't you just doing one or the other. You typically have too little space to really get into story telling mode for this piece, but the goal for readers is to see "has the student really thought about what it means to be a physician-scientist". Does the student have a practical understanding of what a physician scientist is? Personal statement: you will want to make sure that you show why you like medicine and how science and medicine are linked in your mind. What experiences showed you that one can't exist without the other (normal personal statement style). The approach I took personally was really taking advantage of writing real estate and not being repetitive. I used my personal statement as a piece heavily rooted in pathos and emotional to show my long term commitments and my ability to overcome adversity and stay focused (traits you need to finish a track that could take up to a decade). If you read down this far, I have shared my documents on my youtube videos if you're interested. But that is one approach, but gives you an idea that there are many approaches to this. kzbin.info/www/bejne/jYqznXqPgLeghLM

[@DaKuawn]

@Stephen Congrats man!!!! I know that has to be a HUGE relief. I remember getting my first admission offer like it was yesterday. You're definitely going to work hard and a lot of life will happen during your training, but I definitely don't regret my decision one bit. It's a blessing to be in an MSTP to get paid to learn, develop as a scientist and a physician, and really just enjoy the process of becoming great.

[@worldwildmed]

Agreed! When I applied, I viewed each one as a stand alone essay. the general PS was a narrative showing the emotional and intellectual journey, the why MD/PhD was a bit of a mix in which I addressed the points Dakuawn mentioned, and finally the research statement was a long "boring" and very technical description of my research background.

[@DaKuawn]

@@worldwildmed Glad to have another person who thought of approaching the application like I did. I like your channel btw

[@tnicholasdomitrovic9915]

@@DaKuawn and @WorldWild Med these comments are gold. Thanks for the well thought out responses!

[@DaKuawn]

@@tnicholasdomitrovic9915 not a problem. We understand how mysterious this process seems and how little information is out there. So we are trying to help out as best we can. Take care. Stay safe and healthy.

[@claireworld_]

Thank you so much for doing this episode.There is barely any information anywhere for MD/PHD. I want to pursue an MD/PHD for physics and I just have a lot of questions and there are is not as much information

[@worldwildmed]

What questions do you have? I remember coming across some schools with physics programs. I have to look it up my full list but I know UWisconsin has a biophysics program. A lot of biophysics projects might also overlap with BioE.

[@claireworld_]

WorldWild Med I just don’t know if they even offer physics. Yes I would like to go biophysics too but I don’t know the programs who have

[@AB-ob2ye]

Need a video like this on how to approach the two supplemental TMDSAS essays!

[@SunshineKane1]

Just received copy of Med school personal statement today....it’s in quarantine until tomorrow😂😷😂 Love your content!!

[@hassankhokhar204]

I don't see the link for your book. I would love to order it as well as your interview book.

[@scottrolen27mvp]

I’m Dr Gray’s #1 fan as you can tell. First like, first comment hahahah

[@AlphaNumeric123]

She’s extremely well spoken

[@Sleepygirlyy]

Me watching this even tho I'm applying MD 👁👄👁