PhD and/or MD? Advice would be helpful.

GFPCat
Wed, 21 Nov 2018 16:17:33 +0000

Hey everyone. So I’m technically a current graduate student. I’m getting a Master’s in Microbiology. Earlier this month my thesis was accepted and I passed my thesis defense. So now its that time again for me to think about what I’m doing next.

The thing is, I got my BS is Pre-Med Biology. I’ve wanted to go to med school ever since I was a teenager. But when I graduated, I only had a 3.0 GPA. My adviser suggested I try graduate school. It would only take 2-ish years, she said. And I did enjoy lab work, so I went to grad school.

I loved the lab work, but it was a really turbulent 2 1/2 years. Halfway through, my PI resigned due to conflicts with the school. And he was the only one left studying viruses, which is what I was working on. So my new PI helped me out where she could, helping me with methodology and statistics. But of course she and the rest of my committee mostly left me to my own devices. Thankfully, I still got through it and I’ll be getting a Master’s degree. But once again, at the end of the year, I’m left with another 3.0 GPA.

So at this point, I’m left to wonder if I should give up trying to go to med school. I would really love to be a research physician, because I love both research and clinical aspects of pathogenic disease. But I also want to be realistic. Which is why I’m asking people on the internet that might have an idea. I still haven’t taken the MCAT because, if I were to do so, I’d want to be prepared. Maybe take one of those summer MCAT Prep courses. But if I’m going to go for a PhD, I’ll want to be applying here soon for next year admissions.

So my question is this: Would it be better to go to grad school again and get a PhD right away and maybe get an MD later? Or should I try and get an MD first? Should I even try and get an MD at all with my current GPAs?

Advice would be very helpful here. And I apologize if I’ve posted this to the wrong forum, this is my first time here.