The reality is a decent chunk of people who go to a podiatric medical school do so b/c they can't get into an MD or DO program. An equal, if not bigger, reality is that DOs go to osteopathic medical school b/c they can't get into an MD program. I say this is a bigger reality b/c the only things that seperate a DO from an MD is less prestige, a significantly decreased chance at specializing, higher tuition (all DO schools are private) and manipulation (OMM). I highly doubt there are that many people out there who are so interested in OMM that they would sacrifice said benefits to becoming an MD. So if you like podiatry, I would not recommend going DO when you still will have to answer the "why not MD" question your whole life, yet good luck giving a believable answer. At least with podiatry, you can explain it is it's own thing (similar to optometry or dentistry) yet fully integrated into general health care teams in every health care setting (a doctor, surgeon and specialist) with a physician's training of the whole body, which appealed to you. I had a 4.0 and 27 MCAT in undergrad, but I chose podiatry and am not looking back. Forget the whole prestige thing ... it is very subjective if you're not an MD. IMO a podiatric surgeon handling all the lower extremity surgeries in a well-respected orthopedic practice says "success" more than the dime-a-dozen DO family practioner.
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