Not that I’m currently applying but I found some info and I was thinking about comparing these two. Some good info to know in case I want to try one of these in the much much later future.
DEBT: MD usually will loan about 50k a year while Phd students would get free tuition + about 15k stipend a year from research or teaching undergrad courses.
LENGTH & TESTS: Time to graduate for MD is about 4 years mostly while Phd can range from 4-7 years depend on how long it takes for them to finish their thesis. MD has 2 years of coursework and the last 2 years are spent doing rotational in hospital, clinic, etc. I assume they would have a test where they are doing something on a human and a test similar to a lawyer bar exam to get their license. Phd also spends about 2 years of coursework with separate written and/or oral overall tests beside the ones in the coursework and then the next 2-5 years doing research on the thesis.
GPA: GPA maintain during the MD and Phd program. I assume MD would require only about > 2.5 GPA during the 4 years because I saw the dentistry at UCSF has this requirement. Phd GPA need to be > 3.0 for Chem at UCLA while > 3.5 for Electrical Engr at UCLA. Most other schools would probably be in this range.
POST-GRADUATION: MD will have to spend 3-4 years in residency making about 30-40k/year while Phd would also spend about 3-4 years doing post-doc research with salary of about 30-40k as well. Some might be able to get some Assistant Professor tenure-track position and make about 70-80k/year or they decide to enter the work in the industry, then they can make about 100k/year.
CAREER – POST-POST-GRADUATION: After residency, MD will make about 120k or higher each year continuing to about 300k/year or more as they grow older. In the meantime, Phd who were post-docs would then apply to an Assistant Professor position at some university to make about 70-80k/year, then get Associate Professor and eventually Full Professor after 10-15 years, making ony about 150k/year by the time they reach Full Professor. Industry Phd would probably had moved up in the companies, perhaps making about 130k/year or higher depending on technical or management track.
DEMAND: MD are usually in more demand than Phd. I’d say MD have better chances of finding job although this is only my own opinion because people are always sick. Depending on the kind of Phd, it would be hard to find job in the industry. Especially in engr, some field like might not be popular anymore like analog stuff. A lot of people use cell phones, even their homes have digital phone, digital cable, and not much of the old analog phone.
ADDITIONAL COMMENT: I think MD is a better choice. I think MD are more like people who applied the theories into practice while Phd are people researching those theories. But if you want to find some cure to a disease or something, you’d probably need to be a Phd in biology and not an MD. Neither have time to do both. Personally though I’d like both of them. Some people have both degrees…
. wouldn’t it be nice if the market gives me 20% annual return? I’d be super richhhhhhhh!
