It seems my department hadn't really thought through how they were going to pay for my first two years of PhD coursework when they accepted me 3.5 years ago. Though I have been repeatedly assured that paying for me won't be a problem since, "They made a commitment to me," I have my concerns since these promises are often followed by admonishments that, "You really need to get your own grant next year."
See, most of the pre-doctoral grants a) are not in my field, and b) require that you're done with your PhD coursework in order to be eligible. The upshot of this is that I'm going to have to get creative with my project.
The plus side: This is probably good training for "the real world" of research because.... let's face it. All researchers have to whore themselves out and compromise on research topic in order to get money. Yay! Practice!
Oh why couldn't I just have been interested in running randomized control trials or curing cancer, obesity, or aging?
3 Pearls of Wisdom:
Considering how organized you are, you've probably looked at all kinds of grant opportunities, but just in case - look at F31's from the NIH. They're specifically for MD/PhD students. At my school almost all (probably about 90%) MD/PhD students have one.
Yes, those are on my list. Thanks for the suggestion anyway. I've just started looking at these things, so there are undoubtedly sources I haven't considered yet.
Yep, F31s. But welcome to my life...minus the funding pledge. Some schools are of the belief that it is irrelevant, this requirement that one must be post-qualifying exam, to get funding.
It is tough. It is also the primary reason I left my program...
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