<p>Congrats on your options! </p>
<p>As others have commented, there are many variables to consider. From my perspective, as an MD/PhD physician scientist, the key is to keep as many doors open as possible before you embark on this very long road. Emphasis on long. FWIW, I had similar decisions to make many years ago, for example, I chose UC Berkeley over UChicago largely for financial reasons. It worked out great and I look back on my undergraduate years with great fondness. But I am sure that UChicago would have been great as well. As a matter of fact, my daughter will be matriculating there in the Fall and I am thrilled for her.</p>
<p>Just some general opinions from someone who has been there, done that and is also deeply involved in Med School education.</p>
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<li><p>While the combined BA/MD programs are enticing (one of my trainees completed the Albany program), try to remember that you have a long career ahead of you to pursue medicine and only 4 years to go to college. Frankly, if you are considering OrthoSurg or Path you will be completing long postgraduate training periods and if you want to go to academic medicine – add an intense post-doc to the mix. It’s a real treadmill at times – and while I understand the desire to cut off a year or two early on, try to resist this. Enjoy your undergraduate time to the fullest – you will never have the opportunity to indulge your intellectual curiosity (without job/grant pressures) like this again. 30 years from now you will never regret having experienced a real 4-year undergraduate experience, you might regret having skipped it.</p></li>
<li><p>Medicine is constantly changing – it will be very different when it is your turn. For example, academic medicine is experiencing a great deal of turmoil at present, try to choose a school where you can be exposed to both physicians and physician-scientists so you can see where you best fit. </p></li>
<li><p>If you truly decide you want to become a physician scientist and successfully compete for NIH funding at the R01 level, go MD-PhD. Graduate training in the basic sciences is another facet of training that you will never regret and gives you a significant leg up. Plus, it’s a blast.</p></li>
<li><p>If you decide to go MD-PhD, get involved in research at your university at your first opportunity. Find a subject you enjoy, join a lab (and stay there) and try to earn the opportunity to run your own project (work hard). While grades are important, the MD-PhD programs want to see that you have significant experience. Bear in mind that you really won’t know if this is the career you want to pursue until you try it, there is no substitute for that experience. And not just standing at the bench and pipetting. People dropout of grad school all the time when they realize what is truly involved. In my case, my undergraduate research experience changed my life – instead of applying to straight Med Schools, I only applied to MD/PhD and PhD programs. I never thought of becoming a physician-scientist until my junior year.</p></li>
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<p>So, I would argue against getting “locked in” early — I routinely tell applicants that the road to being a physician scientist is far, far more flexible than it seems. In my case, I changed my choice for my medical specialty <em>after</em> my first year of internship – if anyone had suggested to me in med school that I would end up in my eventual field I would have laughed.</p>
<p>So pick a great school-- keep your options open and enjoy yourself. Plenty of time to get on this long road.</p>
<p>JT</p>