Choosing A Medical School & MD-PHD Program: A Black Student's Guide
Choosing A Medical School & MD-PHD Program: A Black Student's Guide
Choosing A Medical School & MD-PHD Program: A Black Student's Guide
SCHOOL AND
MD-PhD Program
A Black Student’s Guide
Volume 1
Hi Accepted Black Student,
Overall, this short document is out of place of love (and our own pain), so
that you feel less frazzled as you try to make the choice best for you. Even
when these institutions may not support us, we got us y’all.
7) It’s a red flag sign if students don’t have anything bad to say
When you ask students, what they like or don’t like about a school, and
they cannot provide you with constructive examples on how to improve
medical education, it is best to find another source to help inform your
decision. This is important to note because every school has it’s issues
and no school is perfect, so if someone has nothing bad to say, that’s
probably more concerning than hopeful. Each medical school has
areas of improvement that are constantly being addressed, especially
in terms of increasing the matriculation, retention, and graduation
rates of Black medical students. It is important to ask students that are
informed on campus environments. A place to start soliciting opinions
are students that hold leadership positions for student government.
However, these students may also be required to participate in revisit
days and recruitment, so make sure you ask a broad group of people.
11) Look into grading policies for pre-clinical vs. clinical year and
failing/re-taking exams.
You’d preferably want to go to a school where at least pre-clinical year
is P/F and where there is no internal ranking. Questions to think about
regarding grading:
● You also want to know what their policies are regarding if
students fail and re-take coursework like do they need to be
remediated, how are remediations provided (e.g. essay vs. repeat
final exam)?
● Do they need to just re-take and nothing shows on their
transcript about re-taking?
● How many times are you offered a re-take for a given course?
● In the event a student fails a re-take, what are the policies
dictating an individual’s promotion to the next block?
● How long do students receive to prepare for the re-take and
when are re-takes offered? Knowing about this takes asking
administrators about this and even students about their
experiences.
Additionally, look into if your school has longitudinal integrated clerkships, i
students apply for this and if it’s competitive because this can also
improve one’s clinical experience.
15) Bylaws
It is important to review your school’s bylaws regardless of where you
choose to attend medical school. When it comes to advocating for
yourself and seeking adjustments to your curricular pace, these policies
will define the routes of action you are able to pursue. There is variable
interpretation of the school’s bylaws, depending on who is able to
enforce said policy, but it is critical that you are well-informed
on the expectations your school sets for you. Oftentimes, you will not
hear about students who had to decelerate, therefore it is up to each
individual student to understand when they are able to slow down and
regroup if that is what is needed and best for you as a medical student.
17) People say not to consider the medical school program much, but
you really should understand the support and curriculum structure of
the medical school.
The PhD portion is important but you are also in the medical
school for four out of the eight years of the program, so don’t
neglect the other 16 points made in this document section.
18) Speak to your PhD Director and other Black PhD faculty members
who could maybe be possible mentors
Speak with possible Black research mentors and gauge if you get
along when speaking with them but also beware that just because
someone is Black, doesn’t mean that they may be a good mentor to you
at an academic institution. However, speaking with them can give you
a better idea if they would be supportive as a Black faculty member.
19) It may be a red flag sign if MD-PhD students avoid speaking about
or advertising the medical school program
For MD-PhD Programs, there tends to be a really big emphasis on the
PhD portion, but definitely look into whether or not students talk much
at all about the medical school. If not, this may be a red flag sign that
students may not want to tell the truth or say something about the
medical school (this may or may not always be the case, but it’s
possible). However, if this does happen, definitely ask specific questions
about the Medical school program.
20) Look into whether there are multiple possible PhD mentors with
your research interest and that your PhD department has many options
in case you change your research interests.
Make sure there are multiple PhD researchers that you are interested in
in your department. Understand the reality that PhD mentors can leave
in a couple of years, so ask them if they are on sabbatical soon. In
addition, know that just because you like someone’s research,
doesn’t mean that they will be a good mentor, so if you’re able to ask
current students within the lab about their experience.
When speaking to possible PhD advisors, ask them if they have ever
mentored a PhD student or MD-PhD Student in the past because you
may or may want to work with a PI who has prior mentoring
experiences.
21) Check to see if there are multiple students in the MD-PhD Program
pursuing your PhD degree.
For example, if you are pursuing an MD-PhD in a non-traditional PhD
Degree, it is important to have more than one person within the
MD-PhD program who is pursuing PhD with non-traditional degrees
because they can also provide support and advice to you during your
Journey. This advice can definitely apply to other PhD departments.
22) Examine what people say about the MD-PhD Director and also Meet
with privately with both the MD-PhD and PhD Director
Ask multiple students about both the MD-PhD Director and PhD
Director. Do they say good things about the director? Also when you
speak with the MD-PhD Directors, do you feel comfortable around
them? Do you laugh and/or feel relaxed?
23) Speak to Black students within the PhD Department who are part of
the MD-PhD program and those not in the PhD Department
Ask them the hard questions about whether they feel supported in their
department by asking them to provide specific examples. Inquire about
how their department handles sexual assault/harassment,
microaggressions and mistretament.
Encouraging Note
At the end of the day, be completely HONEST with yourself about your
priorities and what is important to you. That may look different for everyone.
Others might be okay not having friends around and may want to move away
and explore something new. Some may really need to be in a city where they
have their people close by.
Overall, being supported and examining which factors can make a negative or
positive impact on your wellness is more important than prestige.
2) What are specific examples of ways that you have not been
supported as a Black student? But also ask: What are specific
examples of ways that you have been supported as a Black
student?
Remember, to understand if someone is a good resource, they would
give you at minimum a balanced review of their school. There is no
perfect medical school so someone who is withholding critique is
probably not the best resource to use when determining how to rank
your acceptances and ultimately choosing your final school.
5) What are specific ways that the school has listened to student’s
feedback?
6) What are specific ways that the school hasn’t listened to student’s
feedback?
10) Ask alumni and students: Would you choose the school or
program again?
You’d be surprised at how many people will be honest. Some won’t be
honest, but others will be honest and the answer to this question can be
extremely eye opening.
11) Does the institution allow there to be a space just for Black
students or do they think it’s segregation to promote these
spaces?
12) What does student activism look like? Are only Black students
involved in the work?
13) Do you have an active White Coats for Black Lives and/or SNMA
Chapter? How much freedom do these student organizations have
to engage with communities?
Sometimes Diversity offices will in a way ‘take control of SNMA’ and
sort of use those in SNMA Eboard positions to do a lot of their
departments’ tasks. It’s better to go to a place where SNMA and White
Coats for Black Lives have their own freedom to do more independent
initiatives and community oriented work.
19) What does funding look like during the graduate phase? Is it
guaranteed funding?
20) How does the MD-PhD Program help with the transition from
preclinical to medical program and graduate phase to clinical
program?
It’s best to ask older students in the program or students during the
graduate phase about these transitions. Like, are there programs in
place to make these transitions easier within the PhD Portion?
24) How much coursework do you have to take for your PhD
Program?
If you do have a lot of coursework, would you be able to start your
dissertation work before you finish your coursework so that you are
able to finish on time?
27) What does support look like for first year MD-PhD Students?
● Is there a peer mentorship program within the MD-PhD
program where first year students are paired with second year
students?
1) Do not neglect the power of having non-Black mentors. Not all skinfolk
are kinfolk especially when it comes to higher positions and peers within
these predominantly White institutions.
2) Contact people via social media (Ex: Twitter, Linkedln, Instagram, etc)
to ask current students, faculty members they can connect you with and
be a mentor with. It may be best to contact M4s or people near the end of
the MD-PhD program for advice on who is best to contact.
3) Start finding a Black therapist now BUT also explore other coping
mechanisms whether that is accupunture, meditation, exercise etc
4) Trust your suspicions and gut instinct about others. Don’t be too quick to
judge, but you’d be surprised at how accurate your instinct is about
people you first meet in predominantly White institutions.
5) For MD-PhD students, ask older students within your PhD program who
you should speak with based on your research interests and who you
should maybe avoid due to past mentorship problems.
6) If you want to get more involved with your local community, get
involved earlier rather than later by attending local events and meeting
with people. For MD-PhD students starting summer research rotations,
you also have the freedom to start doing this in the summer time before
school begins.
7) Determine what your values and boundaries are and understand that it is
okay if your values and boundaries change over time.
8) Actively decide now that you will remain true to yourself and still
prioritize keeping in contact with your non-medical school friends. It is
easy to get swamped into letting medicine and/or research become your
whole life but try to resist. It’s hard to do this but it’s important to
remain yourself.