Here

Yesterday I found out that one of my MD-PhD compatriots in a class below me chose [myschool] in part because of reading my blog.

I thought that was kind of cool and I was really flattered, actually. I never expected my blog to have that effect, and it's really not the intent.

(The intent, in case anyone was wondering, is to be an online journal of my experiences, and to make me less crazy.)

Then it occurred to me that since my last year has been my most difficult to date that perhaps people would be turned off and decide NOT to come to my school after reading this year.

:-P

And while I don't in any way see myself as an ambassador of my program, I suppose because I AM blogging about my life on line, I become one by default.

So in any event, I thought I would list the reasons that you should choose to come here for an MD-PhD. Since I have no experience at other schools, I have no idea whether they do things better than we do, so please take these reasons with the grain of salt:

1. Getting you to finish in a timely (7-9 year) fashion is a priority of the program. You might think that this doesn't matter, that you will finish in 6 years regardless. However, I personally know people who did MD-PhDs at other institutions (*cough cough* -- my former institution) that took 11 years to graduate. ELEVEN YEARS!! That is freaking insane. And yes, he does great research now. But sheesh. At some point it really does become time to move along.

2. The MD-PhD office takes care of you. They do their best to smooth things out for you so that you end up with the career that you want. MK, our program administrator, is one of the most awesome and helpful people you will ever meet, and I have gotten fantastic advice on how to deal with everything from interpersonal conflict to choosing a medical specialty. If you're having difficulties (which actually does happen to people even though nobody admits it), they will work WITH you in a NON-BLAMING fashion to resolve the issue. They are truly on your side in a way that I have rarely felt before in my life.

3. The program is huge. There are something like 150 students. If you think you'd prefer to be in a smaller program, think again. It is so much easier to do things when other people before you have carved a path.

4. They take PhD students in non-traditional fields. There are currently students in Health Care Management (over at the business school), Epidemiology, Anthropology, and History and Sociology of Science, in addition to the usual Cell and Molecular Biology, Neuroscience, Engineering, etc. In the past they've worked with other departments as well. I think it really adds something to the program. Also, it's nice not being the only person doing a non-basic science PhD.

5. The med school is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. Med school is a ton of information and can be very stressful. They do their best to minimize it, and students still learn what they need to know, and match very, very well. They instituted team exams in anatomy a few years back, and are always playing with the curriculum to make it more interesting and engaging. The surgery clerkship is incredible -- the director instituted a 6AM - 6PM M-Th schedule that emphasizes spending time in the OR over doing scut. It has made a huge difference to quality of life during the clerkship years.

6. Medical (and MD-PhD) students here are relatively happy. Yes, many of them are stressed out freaks, and there will always be a set of gunner assholes. It really isn't that bad here though. Most people are pretty nice.

7. I will stop short of recommending the school because it's in Philadelphia. Philly is ok. It's main claims to fame are that it's relatively inexpensive for being an East coast city, restaurants are very VERY cheap here, and that it is small and manageable. I liked Chicago better.... but I am obviously biased. My personal preference is for West Philly (despite the tulip destroyers and the shootings) because I like the neighborhoody feel and the big rambling houses and gardens. But (as we established long ago) I am not cool. If you are cool, you will prefer center city. Many of my friends LOVE it there.

I was talking with my prospie these past few days, who was a really lovely person. He asked me why I came here as opposed to another school, and I said because it was the only MSTP program that accepted me. Which is actually true. When I applied, I took an August MCAT (I somehow didn't realize that this would hurt me as much as it did -- but I didn't even get interviews at a lot of competing programs, and I think that may be why), and I was applying in Epidemiology, which many schools don't even offer. I applied MD-only some places, and MD-PhD others. If I had to do it over again, I would have been a lot more focused, and probably would have applied to a different set of school -- EARLIER.

(My prospie looked at me like I was the biggest, most disorganized loser on the planet when I told him this, but that's another story....)

But then I was talking with my husband, who asked me, "But would you really have preferred to have gone someplace else if you'd had the choice?"

And I say with complete honesty that my answer to that is no. I really can't imagine getting a better combination of PhD-school and med school. I think Columbia might have been close, but then I'd have been in Manhattan again, which.... I am SO GLAD I'm not. It's just too expensive, and well, been there done that. And who knows what would have happened with Luca if I'd gone there. And I certainly wouldn't have the Boo.

This program really is the right program for me despite the troubles I've had over the past year.