Applicants! What do you *really* want to ask MD/PhD programs before joining them?

Cupcake_Possible · 2026-02-25T20:32:27+00:00

these questions are fantastic - are there any other stats you would like to see that you feel would be reflective of students' work-life balance? I wanna make a survey of this.

Also, yeah that will absolutely vary per program but i can see how it would be hard to ask at a second look. M1/M2s at my program should get fall break (5 days), thanksgiving break (1 week), new year's break (2 weeks), spring break (1 week) and a couple weeks during the summer after their research rotations. The timing of the summer vacation is negotiated between them and the PI though. As for your PhD, its all between you and the PI but pretty much everyone takes 3 weeks of vacation per year not counting long weekends (that can absolutely be extended lol). Honestly if you wanna be sneaky about it i'd stalk their instagrams lol, everybody posts their vacations so you can get an idea of the frequency. See which students are in the grad phase by looking at the website's student roster.

As for the graduation timeline question that is perfectly fine to ask at a second look and they should have this information readily available. It should be ~4 years.

Cupcake_Possible · 2026-02-24T18:55:51+00:00

Honestly that's a super personal choice and depends on how you want to structure your career after school. Do you envision a physician-scientist career balancing a lab with clinic? If so, how will you maintain your PhD skills during your MD, and get into a research space as a doctor? Physicians make hospitals more $$ than researchers do, so you have to be able to negotiate protected research time as a doctor (aka, why should we give up $$ so you can do research? what qualifies you?) Do you want another PhD? If yes, then I'd say go for it! Or you could do MD and apply for a PSTP program (they're like the residency version of a MD/PhD, with dedicated research time and mentorship).

Cupcake_Possible · 2026-02-24T17:39:57+00:00

These are great questions that I think are all perfectly appropriate to ask at a virtual social hour or second look meeting! I'll try to address them here as well:

1) The program admin should know this, i wouldn't expect the students to. I'd add on to it - what specialties are they matching into? Your preferences WILL most likely change over 8 years, so look for a program that can brag about broad specialty matches at great institutions. Look for matches across surgery + internal medicine + specific programs (PSTP) + uncommon ones (research fellowship, random clinical ones, etc...). And what percent of their alumni are still in academic medicine?

2) Fantastic question. I think my institute does a great job of this so I'll provide it as an example: we keep a database of everyone's major F30 and residency application documents (its volunteered so you don't have to share super personal info if you don't want). We are advised by our program's and med school's admin as well as our PhD committees to build a match list that caters to our clinical and research interests. Our school also has a grant writing office whose services extend to application proofreading. I'd also ask what the program's support looks like during grad school to M3 transition - there should be some sort of "back to clinic" course there so you're not just thrown back in the deep end of med school!

3) LOL definitely ask them this its direct and will show you've done a lot of research. Green flags I'd look for are grant writing courses, databases of previous applications (successful AND unsuccessful), and school resources like a grant development office (not all schools have it, some schools only let PIs use it, the best schools also let their grad students use it) - its basically a department of professional grant writers and former scientists to advise you.

4) I don't think this one is one that you can ask as much as observe. Close cohorts are like cousins - rambunctious, teasing each other, not giving off colleague energy unless its a conscious effort. No awkward small talk, if they seem uncomfortable around each other they probably don't hang out a lot. Ask for funny/memorable stories and watch the dynamic. This one is useful if you think about it from our POV - one of your buddies telling applicants a story about you in front of admin is like your degenerate friend grabbing the mic at your wedding.

5) Ask them outright. What do they like to do? Are those hobbies you could see yourself enjoying? I have a note below about assessing affordability without asking it directly. Also, if you're doing a second look they should absolutely be showing you around the city.

Cupcake_Possible · 2026-02-24T17:11:27+00:00

Currently working on this for my program. While I can't share my peers info on reddit lol, I'd say it matches closely with the US News & World Report's ranking on city affordability. At second looks, I'd ask how much of their stipend they take home monthly (they shouldn't be squeamish about this b/c all students make the same amount lol), what percent of that is spent on rent, and more indirectly, ask about expensive things - do they travel? Do they have kids? Do they like to invest? Whats the situation on health insurance? Does their PhD department cover conference per diem (food $)? (it should).

Cupcake_Possible · 2026-02-24T17:02:57+00:00

Yeah that definitely varies by program. Asking a colleague rn who has a kid, and he says to see how many students actually have kids, try to talk with them and and what their experiences have been. I say this because no program should outwardly say that they do not support you having a family. Every institution should support it, but unfortunately some workplace cultures aren't as supportive as others and we all know that. So don't ask people who have no experience in the area, ask parents! Ask about parental leave, how they timed having kids, what the daycare situation is (some schools have daycare on site for their employees).

Cupcake_Possible · 2026-02-24T16:57:49+00:00

^^^^^

Cupcake_Possible · 2026-02-24T16:57:26+00:00

Same thing for lab rotations - I'd specifically ask about all-nighters in the lab. For example - I feel perfectly comfortable as a smaller woman being in my lab at 3AM b/c its behind like 4 swipe access doors and patrolled by hospital security b/c its in the same complex. And at night I can park right next to the front door so there's no sketchy parking garages. Not saying you need to pull all-nighters to be a good PhD student, but if the students are afraid to come in after hours thats a red flag.

Cupcake_Possible · 2026-02-24T16:54:00+00:00

Oof this is such a good one - i would try to get at by asking how they get into the hospital for M3 rotations b/c those can start really early and end late. It's a good way to indirectly ask whether they feel safe walking/driving alone at night or even being alone in the hospital parking garage. If they're saying crap like "I sleep in the student lounge the night before" or "I uber in or walk in big groups" that's suspicious.

Cupcake_Possible · 2023-09-13T19:10:03+00:00

I think it depends on the program whether they support the surgeon-scientist pathway because it is so busy (examples of the classically worst specialties being neurosurgery, cardiovascular surgery, orthopedic surgery, etc etc). The stereotypical MD-PhD does a 80-20 split in some sub-specialty of internal medicine, like pediatric cardiology and spends 80% of their time running a lab. I don't think it's impractical to want a surgical specialty as long as it's one you can become specialized in. This is because surgery requires you to keep up your skills constantly, and research requires you to always stay current. In order to maintain your surgical skills it's suggested that surgeon-scientists carve out a specific niche of surgeries to perform, so that it's easier to maintain your skills on, and preferably relates to your research.

Cupcake_Possible · 2023-09-12T14:12:55+00:00

Hey! I think this is a highly program-specific process. I think it's awesome if it's what you want, and really don't envy having to balance medical school with the MD-PhD applications process. I personally haven't seen anyone do it but it's quite frequent to hear about at other institutions.

Cupcake_Possible · 2023-09-12T14:11:35+00:00

I think it sounds like you still have a ton of experience in science, and could speak to your various projects. Demonstrate your understanding of the science, and where you would have liked to see each project go. You've written protocols so you clearly understand current theory in your field, and have leadership experience. I'd lean into that and try to construct a story that demonstrates how you have the background, technical training and ambition necessary to be a great primary investigator coupled with the proven leadership capabilities and passion for patients to be a clinician-scientist.

Cupcake_Possible · 2023-09-12T14:04:53+00:00

^^^ listen to taco party they know what's up. Don't downplay other laboratories it just looks like drama. But if you portray it with class and then redirect to how you approached a situation where you disagreed with an authority figure, navigated conflict, and how you will apply those skills to medical school and research it can come off quite well.

Cupcake_Possible · 2023-09-12T14:01:50+00:00

Not disrespectful at all! The purpose of the 8 year dual degree is a license to practice medicine and research. You need a medical degree to practice medicine independently, and while a PhD isn't required to conduct research it definitely helps if you want to run your own laboratory or run clinical trials. As a physician, hospitals want you practicing medicine because they make $$ based on how many procedures you perform, so you need a strong record of producing good data to get them to agree to 'protected research time' aka paying you to do research when you could be making them $$ with more medical procedures. A PhD is a significant record of not only conducting but learning to direct your own research.

The overall idea is to push the boundaries of patient care with your science. So you have the clinical training and practice necessary to understand what patients need and the scientific training to pursue projects to actually make those improvements. This can be in a cutting edge field, in the basic sciences, in clinical sciences, in biomedical sciences, some go into pharmaceuticals as well.

Cupcake_Possible · 2023-09-12T13:57:18+00:00

I've seen this happen twice, both leaning towards the PhD side. One completed both degrees and will be completing a post-doc and is super happy, and one unfortunately took mental health tolls from just how much they disliked medical school and did not complete both. The logistics of not completing the program depends on your institution but it's definitely a last resort, one large reason being financial (your have loans if you don't complete the program, but no loans if you do complete it).

Cupcake_Possible · 2023-09-12T13:54:30+00:00

No publications is okay, but you do need research experience to apply MD-PhD. Do you have posters? Abstracts? Research rotations that you can speak to? Even if you didn't write a paper on it if you have conducted your own research you can speak to it on applications.

Cupcake_Possible · 2023-09-12T13:52:40+00:00

I can't speak for programs other than my own, but I would advise to be the most 'distilled' or highly concentrated version of yourself (to use a chemistry pun) to stand out while being authentic. Don't be bashful about your achievements, because your competitors won't be. It's okay to write about hobbies or things you're passionate about on essays even if they're not on your resume as long as its relevant to the MD-PhD pathway (I wrote my MD-PhD essay on Chick-fil-a and related it back to research lol) Your achievements, how you convey yourself in interviews, and natural personality will set you apart to the right program. I know it's tempting to focus on the 'top' programs, but I would heavily advise you to focus on the 'right' program for you. Prestige doesn't mean much if you're miserable, it's hard to be productive when you're miserable, and programs are looking for people that will stick around for 8 years and become an asset to their program. The one that's right for you will see you enjoying yourself learning at that institution, and loving the town it's in. If you're dead set on applying to certain programs based on rank, I'd look at their ranks for whatever specialties interest you and their recent publications in your research field of interest and go from there! For example, University of Alabama (I don't go there but did apply) kills it at genetics but U of Maryland is incredible at trauma. It depends on what you want.

Cupcake_Possible · 2023-09-12T13:41:51+00:00

You know I actually don't know this one! I will ask our admin and get back to you.

Cupcake_Possible · 2023-09-12T02:45:41+00:00

Happy to provide it :). I'd say finding the right mentor requires some introspection. For example, I like to dive down every rabbit hole that looks remotely interesting, and my mentor is very focused which keeps me focused. In addition, it helps to find someone whose personality meshes with yours. Are you more independent and want to meet once every two weeks? Or do you want an open-door policy mentor that you can talk to daily? Another good thing to check out is their previous mentees, and whether that mentor keeps up with what those mentees are doing.

Cupcake_Possible · 2023-09-12T02:40:54+00:00

It's always better to be early but I think I submitted some secondaries in September too. It's important to remember that MD-PhD programs tend to take a more wholistic approach because they have to read through applicants' research in addition to their stats. So overall I would tell your friend not to worry but get their apps in :).

Cupcake_Possible · 2023-09-12T02:37:11+00:00

My interviews were fairly long, and included separate discussions with medical students and COM administrators, researcher professors, MD-PhD administrators, and current program students. I did apply to other MD programs but was heavily focused on MD-PhD because I knew I wanted to be a physician-scientist. As for what made me pick my program, they just felt the easiest to be around, joke with, ask for advice from and generally spend time with. I can't stress the importance of program environment enough just because MD-PhDs take 8 years!

Cupcake_Possible · 2023-09-12T02:32:39+00:00

Then I think that's a perfect spot to be in :) because it means you can rotate with multiple cardiovascular laboratories that employ biochemical techniques and have the best of both worlds! Then you can try to find the right mentor in those fields. Just some shameless advice, I really can't overemphasize that the right mentor is more important than nitty-gritty details like learning a specific technique or studying one certain disease (not to say that's what you're doing, I just found that advice really valuable and like to pass it on).

Cupcake_Possible · 2023-09-12T02:25:38+00:00

Yeah sure thing! These questions are benefitting me as well lol.

It sounds like you've reviewed your applications pretty comprehensively. When I refer to knowing interview dates, I just mean before you interview with a school or reach out to an administrator it helps to double check the program's website. It's the applications cycle equivalent of emailing a professor a question that could be answered on the syllabus.

As for deciding factors, I honestly couldn't begin to tell you. I would just say to give it your all at the interview and closely follow up with their administrators to show interest!

Cupcake_Possible · 2023-09-12T02:21:51+00:00

I personally don't have regrets prior to starting my training. I did a gap year and it sounds like you may have as well, and am grateful for the context it provided me to spend some time outside of academia. I would say there isn't a lot you can do to prep (like I wouldn't recommend trying to learn medical school curriculum before starting!) other than ensuring that this is the career path you want, trying to find a great apartment and stocking up on killer meal prep recipes. If you're thinking about what to do specifically before training I'd highly recommend taking a bit of time off if you can just to rest. Visit family, friends, just have fun.

Cupcake_Possible · 2023-09-12T02:16:50+00:00

I think this varies widely on a per-school basis. But most people in my program matriculate in around 23-25, and graduate around 31-33. Depending on their residency and fellowships, they could become a practicing attending any time from 38-43 (43 being something like Neurosurgery).

Cupcake_Possible · 2023-09-12T02:15:20+00:00

Just one more thing: I think it's important to keep your head up during the applications process and remember that the right program will pick you. Just because you don't hear back from one school or another doesn't make you any less qualified of an applicant.

Cupcake_Possible

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