The College of Medicine offers an integrated MD/PhD curriculum that enables students to fulfill all requirements and earn the Doctor of Medicine and the Doctor of Philosophy.
APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS
Students interested in pursuing a combined MD/PhD degree must apply and be accepted into the medical school and the Biomedical Sciences PhD program. Separate applications are required and students wishing to pursue this joint degree program should indicate this on both applications.
Applicants entering the program with regular status are expected to have completed course work required for a bachelor’s degree in chemistry, cell biology, biochemistry, biophysics, genetics, molecular biology, or microbiology.
Students who desire to attend medical school should note the following information:
- Applicants are required to take the MCAT Exam
- Applicants are required to complete the AMCAS Application
The MD Program Admissions Office will begin to communicate with applicants upon receipt of a verified AMCAS application. The Admissions Office will conduct a brief review to ensure that the application meets or exceeds the minimum GPA and MCAT scores, as well as citizenship requirements. Upon verification of these elements, the Admissions Office will send an email to each qualified applicant that includes the link to the Supplemental Application.
For those applications that have been verified by AMCAS and meet minimum GPA and citizenship requirements, but do not yet include an MCAT score: the Admissions Office will send the link to the Supplemental Application, if the MCAT exam is scheduled for that application year.
- Applicants are required to participate in interviews (August-March)
Completed applications are again reviewed to ensure that all program requirements have been met. Applications that meet all requirements will be fully reviewed and considered for an interview. Applicants chosen for interviews must be academically excellent and have demonstrated an interest in medicine through clinical and/or research activities. Those selected for interviews are contacted by telephone and e-mail by the MD and Biomedical Sciences PhD Program Admissions Office to schedule interview visits.
MD Program Application Process
Applicants to the UCF College of Medicine MD Program must complete both the online American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS) and UCF College of Medicine Supplemental applications. It is the responsibility of each applicant to meet established deadlines and to monitor the status of their applications.
PhD Program Application Process for MD/PhD Candidates in Biomedical Sciences
Applicants selected for a medical school interview will be eligible to complete the PhD Biomedical Sciences application (by invitation only after successfully completing the medical school interview) and submit the following:
Letters of Recommendation – Minimum of three strong letters of recommendation required. Letters should attest to your academic skills and your potential to perform in Biomedical Research. It is a good idea to request recommendation letters from faculty, supervisors, and/or mentors who are familiar with your academic achievement and potential.
Personal Statement – Statement of research interest and purpose, including a summary of relevant work or research experience, professional experiences, and goals. Highlight your career goals and research experience. You should also include any academic honors, awards, fellowships, or scholarships you’ve received.
Resume – When writing your resume, be sure to include such items as research conducted and volunteer work.
MD/PhD Program Curriculum
Students must fulfill all requirements for both programs to earn both the MD and PhD degrees. As indicated in the curriculum description, some medical modules can be substituted for certain graduate courses and vice versa to help reduce redundancy and streamline time to completion of this integrated program. Students will be able to complete the MD/PhD program in as few as 6 years, although most students will likely require 7-8 years to fulfill all of the requirements. An MD/PhD program committee consisting of faculty from both the medical and graduate programs will serve as the oversight committee responsible for tracking and evaluating student progress in this program.
Students in the integrated MD/PhD Track in Biomedical Sciences must be accepted in the College of Medicine MD program and begin working on their PhD research project during the first two years of medical school. Students take medical courses during the first two years and must successfully pass the USMLE Step 1 exam at the end of year 2 prior to beginning full-time graduate studies in the Biomedical Sciences PhD Program. Required and elective graduate courses for the PhD program are completed in years 3-4 while the student is continuing research. Clinical clerkships that are typically completed in years 3-4 of medical school will in most cases be deferred until the student has completed the PhD program requirements, though some minimum level of ongoing clinical training will continue throughout the entire duration of the program. This ensures that the student remains connected with clinical education and training even while primarily focused on the graduate portion of the MD/PhD program.
The Biomedical Sciences PhD program requires a minimum of 72 credit hours beyond the bachelor’s degree, including a minimum total of 27 hours of formal course work exclusive of independent study that are required. The 72 credit hours in the PhD program consists of 23 credit hours of core courses, 12 credit hours of electives, and a minimum of 15 credit hours of dissertation research. The remaining 22 credit hours may consist of additional electives, doctoral research and/or dissertation research. Students entering with a master’s degree may request that up to 30 semester credit hours of previous course work be waived as degree requirements with approval from the dissertation committee.
The MD curriculum can be found here:
https://med.ucf.edu/academics/md-program/integrated-curriculum/
Programmatic deficiencies expected of applicants from diverse settings will be addressed early in the program by completion of appropriate course work. Students may register for doctoral research until they have been admitted to candidacy, after which they must register for dissertation research.
New students will rotate through at least two different laboratories to identify a faculty mentor/sponsor and research area of interest for their dissertation. Finally, a sequence of required seminars will familiarize students with field-related literature and introduce them to the conceptual and technical frameworks in which they will work. All students receiving assistantships must enroll full time.
MD/PhD students are required to maintain good academic standing in both the MD and PhD components of the curriculum. Students must first satisfactorily complete the first two years of the medical school curriculum and pass the USMLE Step 1 exam before they can begin full-time PhD enrollment.
For more information, please visit the graduate catalog here
View the program handbook here
