{"id":2784,"date":"2019-05-30T06:53:30","date_gmt":"2019-05-30T06:53:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/md-phd-applications-rising-above-rejection\/"},"modified":"2025-04-05T06:17:34","modified_gmt":"2025-04-05T06:17:34","slug":"mdphd-applications-rising-above-rejection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/mdphd-applications-rising-above-rejection","title":{"rendered":"MD\/PhD applications: Rising above rejection"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"line-height: 115%;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,sans-serif;\">The current Twitter storm about grad school applications made me consider my own applications. My thoughts span more than a 280-character length, so I decided to write a blog post that I have toyed with writing for a while, but was never certain about how it would impact me professionally.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"line-height: 115%;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,sans-serif;\">The first time I applied to MD\/PhD programs I got rejected. Completely. Not a single interview. It hurt \u2013 a lot. I applied again the following year and ended up turning down interviews. So, what changed?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"line-height: 115%;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,sans-serif;\">There were a few factors. I finished my Master\u2019s program in that time and had been able to present my research at a few conferences, but I made another major change: my essays. For those who don\u2019t know, MD\/PhD applicants in the USA write 3 primary essays whose prompts, for all intents and purposes, are:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"line-height: 115%;\"><span style=\"tab-stops: list .5in;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,sans-serif;\">Why medicine?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"line-height: 115%;\"><span style=\"tab-stops: list .5in;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,sans-serif;\">Why MD\/PhD?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"line-height: 115%;\"><span style=\"tab-stops: list .5in;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,sans-serif;\">Describe your research experience.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: .25in; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"background: white;\"><span style=\"line-height: normal;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,sans-serif;\"><span lang=\"EN-IN\" style=\"font-size: 12.0pt;\" xml:lang=\"EN-IN\">The first time I applied I naively followed the advice of those around me:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"background: white;\"><span style=\"line-height: normal;\"><span style=\"tab-stops: list .5in;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,sans-serif;\"><span lang=\"EN-IN\" style=\"font-size: 12.0pt;\" xml:lang=\"EN-IN\">Don\u2019t be clich\u00e9<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"background: white;\"><span style=\"line-height: normal;\"><span style=\"tab-stops: list .5in;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,sans-serif;\"><span lang=\"EN-IN\" style=\"font-size: 12.0pt;\" xml:lang=\"EN-IN\">Don\u2019t tell them you\u2019ve always wanted to be a doctor<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"background: white;\"><span style=\"line-height: normal;\"><span style=\"tab-stops: list .5in;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,sans-serif;\"><span lang=\"EN-IN\" style=\"font-size: 12.0pt;\" xml:lang=\"EN-IN\">Don\u2019t tell them that you want to help people<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"background: white;\"><span style=\"line-height: normal;\"><span style=\"tab-stops: list .5in;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,sans-serif;\"><span lang=\"EN-IN\" style=\"font-size: 12.0pt;\" xml:lang=\"EN-IN\">Don\u2019t tell them that you love research<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"background: white;\"><span style=\"line-height: normal;\"><span style=\"tab-stops: list .5in;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,sans-serif;\"><span lang=\"EN-IN\" style=\"font-size: 12.0pt;\" xml:lang=\"EN-IN\">Don\u2019t tell them about your personal experiences<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: .25in; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"background: white;\"><span style=\"line-height: normal;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,sans-serif;\"><span lang=\"EN-IN\" style=\"font-size: 12.0pt;\" xml:lang=\"EN-IN\">Over and over, I was told these things were clich\u00e9 and would bore admissions officers. So I trod carefully and tried to be honest and interested but not clich\u00e9. Unfortunately, in doing so, I couldn\u2019t write about me and my motivations. Instead, my essays were devoid of personality and said very little about me (obviously, I didn\u2019t really think that when I submitted them, but it is clear to me looking back). I was so scared of being clich\u00e9 because I was told that would get me rejected immediately and I was desperate to avoid personal anecdotes because supposedly that\u2019s what everyone did and it was boring.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: .25in; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"background: white;\"><span style=\"line-height: normal;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,sans-serif;\"><i><span lang=\"EN-IN\" style=\"font-size: 12.0pt;\" xml:lang=\"EN-IN\">\u201cWe were told that in writing \u2018I have always wanted to be a doctor,\u2019 we were assuring rejection. So I tried to hide this fact in my initial applications, feeling that admitting my passion would make me appear naive and uninformed. I realize now that my prolonged dedication to practicing medicine has always been one of my greatest strengths.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: .25in; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"background: white;\"><span style=\"line-height: normal;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,sans-serif;\"><span lang=\"EN-IN\" style=\"font-size: 12.0pt;\" xml:lang=\"EN-IN\">\u2013 A portion of my \u201cWhy MD?\u201d essay (second attempt)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: .25in; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"background: white;\"><span style=\"line-height: normal;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,sans-serif;\"><span lang=\"EN-IN\" style=\"font-size: 12.0pt;\" xml:lang=\"EN-IN\">The second time I applied (after my pre-med advisor told me not to bother because I wouldn\u2019t get in), I figured \u201cscrew them.\u201d I wanted to be honest and I was giving it one more chance, so I would be myself.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: .25in; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"background: white;\"><span style=\"line-height: normal;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,sans-serif;\"><span lang=\"EN-IN\" style=\"font-size: 12.0pt;\" xml:lang=\"EN-IN\">I wrote and re-wrote many times. I am lucky enough to have a patient partner who is a fantastic editor. In my \u201cwhy medicine\u201d essay, I did write that I have wanted to be a physician for as long as I can remember, that I wanted to help people, and that I like science. In my \u201cwhy MD\/PhD\u201d essay I talked about my curiosity and interest in science. I didn\u2019t have defined ideas of how I could contribute to the field; I just knew I wanted to. Of course, my first drafts were terrible piles of clich\u00e9d phrases and analogies, but by the end they were a little better (though they are still painful for me to read now).<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: .25in; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"background: white;\"><span style=\"line-height: normal;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,sans-serif;\"><span lang=\"EN-IN\" style=\"font-size: 12.0pt;\" xml:lang=\"EN-IN\">Those aren\u2019t the only topics I wrote about in the essays. I framed my \u201cwhy MD\u201d essay with a personal anecdote (not related to familial sickness, although that had been in an earlier draft). My MD\/PhD essay began with an example of my curiosity; I had to be hammered over the head with the idea of \u201cshowing, not telling\u201d and by the 100th draft I finally got a little better at it.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: .25in; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"background: white;\"><span style=\"line-height: normal;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,sans-serif;\"><i><span lang=\"EN-IN\" style=\"font-size: 12.0pt;\" xml:lang=\"EN-IN\">\u201cI had my first coherent (but decidedly unethical) research idea when I was 13. I wanted to have identical quintuplets and then charge each of my best friends to raise them separately and watch how they developed. I knew that it neither practical nor ethical, but was interested in the nature\/nurture debate and this seemed like a fantastic way to study it.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"background: white;\"><span style=\"line-height: normal;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,sans-serif;\"><span lang=\"EN-IN\" style=\"font-size: 12.0pt;\" xml:lang=\"EN-IN\">\u2013 The beginning of my MD\/PhD essay (second attempt)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: .25in; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"background: white;\"><span style=\"line-height: normal;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,sans-serif;\"><b><span lang=\"EN-IN\" style=\"font-size: 12.0pt;\" xml:lang=\"EN-IN\">What is the point of this post?\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: .25in; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"background: white;\"><span style=\"line-height: normal;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,sans-serif;\"><span lang=\"EN-IN\" style=\"font-size: 12.0pt;\" xml:lang=\"EN-IN\">I think there are many things you could take away from this. At this moment, the purpose of writing this is to speak to those students writing and submitting essays and worrying about sounding clich\u00e9d and boring. Reading conversations on Twitter and being scared that their applications are being thrown into the\u00a0<i>reject<\/i>\u00a0pile for sounding too much like everyone else. Reading Twitter conversations from faculty about how all essays sound the same certainly don\u2019t help these feelings.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: .25in; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"background: white;\"><span style=\"line-height: normal;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,sans-serif;\"><span lang=\"EN-IN\" style=\"font-size: 12.0pt;\" xml:lang=\"EN-IN\">I do not mean to imply they should be ignored. There\u00a0<i>is<\/i>\u00a0an important point to be found in the unpleasantness: we need to find a way to stand out. Don\u2019t let those types of comments stop you writing about the reasons that you want to enter a program. If people say your reasons are clich\u00e9d, that\u2019s okay. You can still write about them. Instead of being concerned about your reasons being \u201cwrong\u201d or \u201cboring,\u201d focus on finding a way to share your curiosity and passions in a way that illustrates who you are and why someone would want to accept you.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: .25in; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"background: white;\"><span style=\"line-height: normal;\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt;\">Note: I am not going into all of the details of what changed between my applications or providing my full essays, but if you are interested in reading them, or want advice on reapplying, feel free to reach out. Also, I do not think the essays I wrote the second time around were amazing in any way, but they reflected personality, and I think that made a difference.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><i>Tabitha Moses is an MD\/PhD student at Wayne State University. This story was published on January 6, 2018, on Tabitha\u2019s <\/i><a style=\"color: blue; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/tabithamoses.com\/\"><i><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt;\">blog<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt;\"> (available <\/span><\/i><a style=\"color: blue; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/tabithamoses.com\/2018\/01\/06\/my-md-phd-application\/\"><i><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt;\">here<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt;\">), and has been republished here with her permission<\/span><\/i>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The current Twitter storm about grad school applications made me consider my own applications. My thoughts span more than a 280-character length, so I decided to write a blog post that I have toyed with writing for a while, but was never certain about how it would impact me professionally. The first time I applied [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":955,"featured_media":33313,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2414],"tags":[2666,2454],"new_categories":[],"new_tags":[],"series":[],"class_list":["post-2784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiring-researcher-stories","tag-phd-life","tag-researcher-stories"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>MD\/PhD applications: Rising above rejection<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The first time I applied to MD\/PhD programs I got rejected. Completely. Not a single interview. It hurt \u2013 a lot. But I applied again the following year and ended up turning down interviews. So, what changed?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tabithamoses.com\/2018\/01\/06\/my-md-phd-application\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"MD\/PhD applications: Rising above rejection\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The first time I applied to MD\/PhD programs I got rejected. Completely. Not a single interview. It hurt \u2013 a lot. But I applied again the following year and ended up turning down interviews. So, what changed?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/tabithamoses.com\/2018\/01\/06\/my-md-phd-application\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Editage Insights\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Editage\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-05-30T06:53:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-04-05T06:17:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/MD-PhD-applications-Rising-above-rejection.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"656\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"336\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Guest Author\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Editage\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Editage\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Guest Author\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tabithamoses.com\/2018\/01\/06\/my-md-phd-application\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/mdphd-applications-rising-above-rejection\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Guest Author\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#\/schema\/person\/f11026ed9e9969d852ec6950027eb5c0\"},\"headline\":\"MD\/PhD applications: Rising above rejection\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-05-30T06:53:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-04-05T06:17:34+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/mdphd-applications-rising-above-rejection\"},\"wordCount\":992,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tabithamoses.com\/2018\/01\/06\/my-md-phd-application\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/editage-insights-generic-banner_298.webp\",\"keywords\":[\"PhD Life\",\"Researcher Stories\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Researchers and Their Stories\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/tabithamoses.com\/2018\/01\/06\/my-md-phd-application\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/mdphd-applications-rising-above-rejection\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/tabithamoses.com\/2018\/01\/06\/my-md-phd-application\/\",\"name\":\"MD\/PhD applications: Rising above rejection\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tabithamoses.com\/2018\/01\/06\/my-md-phd-application\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tabithamoses.com\/2018\/01\/06\/my-md-phd-application\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/editage-insights-generic-banner_298.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-05-30T06:53:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-04-05T06:17:34+00:00\",\"description\":\"The first time I applied to MD\/PhD programs I got rejected. Completely. Not a single interview. It hurt \u2013 a lot. But I applied again the following year and ended up turning down interviews. So, what changed?\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tabithamoses.com\/2018\/01\/06\/my-md-phd-application\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/tabithamoses.com\/2018\/01\/06\/my-md-phd-application\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tabithamoses.com\/2018\/01\/06\/my-md-phd-application\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/editage-insights-generic-banner_298.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/editage-insights-generic-banner_298.webp\",\"width\":656,\"height\":336},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tabithamoses.com\/2018\/01\/06\/my-md-phd-application\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"MD\/PhD applications: Rising above rejection\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/\",\"name\":\"Editage Insights\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Editage Insights\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/editage-insights-logo-1-scaled.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/editage-insights-logo-1-scaled.webp\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":324,\"caption\":\"Editage Insights\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Editage\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/Editage\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#\/schema\/person\/f11026ed9e9969d852ec6950027eb5c0\",\"name\":\"Guest Author\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/27830a5350df03deabe604d3182f79b54a29d610ae8e5c84aef68eefc4938f4a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/27830a5350df03deabe604d3182f79b54a29d610ae8e5c84aef68eefc4938f4a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Guest Author\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/guest-author\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"MD\/PhD applications: Rising above rejection","description":"The first time I applied to MD\/PhD programs I got rejected. Completely. Not a single interview. It hurt \u2013 a lot. But I applied again the following year and ended up turning down interviews. So, what changed?","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/tabithamoses.com\/2018\/01\/06\/my-md-phd-application\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"MD\/PhD applications: Rising above rejection","og_description":"The first time I applied to MD\/PhD programs I got rejected. Completely. Not a single interview. It hurt \u2013 a lot. But I applied again the following year and ended up turning down interviews. So, what changed?","og_url":"https:\/\/tabithamoses.com\/2018\/01\/06\/my-md-phd-application\/","og_site_name":"Editage Insights","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Editage","article_published_time":"2019-05-30T06:53:30+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-04-05T06:17:34+00:00","og_image":[{"width":656,"height":336,"url":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/MD-PhD-applications-Rising-above-rejection.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Guest Author","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Editage","twitter_site":"@Editage","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Guest Author","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/tabithamoses.com\/2018\/01\/06\/my-md-phd-application\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/mdphd-applications-rising-above-rejection"},"author":{"name":"Guest Author","@id":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#\/schema\/person\/f11026ed9e9969d852ec6950027eb5c0"},"headline":"MD\/PhD applications: Rising above rejection","datePublished":"2019-05-30T06:53:30+00:00","dateModified":"2025-04-05T06:17:34+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/mdphd-applications-rising-above-rejection"},"wordCount":992,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/tabithamoses.com\/2018\/01\/06\/my-md-phd-application\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/editage-insights-generic-banner_298.webp","keywords":["PhD Life","Researcher Stories"],"articleSection":["Researchers and Their Stories"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/tabithamoses.com\/2018\/01\/06\/my-md-phd-application\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/mdphd-applications-rising-above-rejection","url":"https:\/\/tabithamoses.com\/2018\/01\/06\/my-md-phd-application\/","name":"MD\/PhD applications: Rising above rejection","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/tabithamoses.com\/2018\/01\/06\/my-md-phd-application\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/tabithamoses.com\/2018\/01\/06\/my-md-phd-application\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/editage-insights-generic-banner_298.webp","datePublished":"2019-05-30T06:53:30+00:00","dateModified":"2025-04-05T06:17:34+00:00","description":"The first time I applied to MD\/PhD programs I got rejected. Completely. Not a single interview. It hurt \u2013 a lot. But I applied again the following year and ended up turning down interviews. So, what changed?","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/tabithamoses.com\/2018\/01\/06\/my-md-phd-application\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/tabithamoses.com\/2018\/01\/06\/my-md-phd-application\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/tabithamoses.com\/2018\/01\/06\/my-md-phd-application\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/editage-insights-generic-banner_298.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/editage-insights-generic-banner_298.webp","width":656,"height":336},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/tabithamoses.com\/2018\/01\/06\/my-md-phd-application\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"MD\/PhD applications: Rising above rejection"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/","name":"Editage Insights","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#organization","name":"Editage Insights","url":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/editage-insights-logo-1-scaled.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/editage-insights-logo-1-scaled.webp","width":2560,"height":324,"caption":"Editage Insights"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Editage","https:\/\/x.com\/Editage"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#\/schema\/person\/f11026ed9e9969d852ec6950027eb5c0","name":"Guest Author","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/27830a5350df03deabe604d3182f79b54a29d610ae8e5c84aef68eefc4938f4a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/27830a5350df03deabe604d3182f79b54a29d610ae8e5c84aef68eefc4938f4a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Guest Author"},"url":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/guest-author"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/955"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2784\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2784"},{"taxonomy":"new_categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/new_categories?post=2784"},{"taxonomy":"new_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/new_tags?post=2784"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=2784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}