Disadvantages to DO?

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I have been pre-accepted into Nova Southeastern for Fall of 2013. I have yet to apply to other schools and am currently in the process of doing so.
With this pre-acceptance I can apply for the military HPSP program and pretty much guarantee my acceptence into that. If I wait the scholarship becomes more competitive.
I do not care what intials come after my name only that I have available every opportunity I would like to explore. I know DO's can do every MD does but what are my chances of getting specialties in surgical areas, interventional rad and card? If I choose Nova (which I really like) am I forfetting oppurtunites?
Also I am only 21 I could always do grad school or a 2nd bachelors and go to an MD school but I am excited for Nova and ready to be done with undergrad.
Thanks

Originally Posted by Ahockey21

I have been pre-accepted into Nova Southeastern for Fall of 2013. I have yet to apply to other schools and am currently in the process of doing so.
With this pre-acceptance I can apply for the military HPSP program and pretty much guarantee my acceptence into that. If I wait the scholarship becomes more competitive.
I do not care what intials come after my name only that I have available every opportunity I would like to explore. I know DO's can do every MD does but what are my chances of getting specialties in surgical areas, interventional rad and card? If I choose Nova (which I really like) am I forfetting oppurtunites?
Also I am only 21 I could always do grad school or a 2nd bachelors and go to an MD school but I am excited for Nova and ready to be done with undergrad.
Thanks

When you do HPSP, you most likely do your residency through the military. So your chances of doing those specialties depends on a combination of your board scores and available spots in the military/chances of deferment.

I suggest taking a year off. Starting medical school in the Fall 2013. Take the boards COMLEX and USMLE. Do well in them and when it comes time for residency you first go through the military match. If you dont match, you get deferred into civilian. Chances are, unless you do something uber competitive, you do your residency through the military.

Originally Posted by Ahockey21

I have been pre-accepted into Nova Southeastern for Fall of 2013. I have yet to apply to other schools and am currently in the process of doing so.
With this pre-acceptance I can apply for the military HPSP program and pretty much guarantee my acceptence into that. If I wait the scholarship becomes more competitive.
I do not care what intials come after my name only that I have available every opportunity I would like to explore. I know DO's can do every MD does but what are my chances of getting specialties in surgical areas, interventional rad and card? If I choose Nova (which I really like) am I forfetting oppurtunites?
Also I am only 21 I could always do grad school or a 2nd bachelors and go to an MD school but I am excited for Nova and ready to be done with undergrad.
Thanks

It sounds like you're not against having "DO" after your name. Of course it doesn't matter when it's time to start practicing, but you should make sure DO is what you really want. Try to create a list of pros/cons (like you actually started doing on the thread) for going to nova vs waiting for an MD acceptance. My one tidbit of advice is that the longer you wait, take more ugrad classes and aren't training to become a physician you are losing out on salary/time.

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Originally Posted by Ahockey21

I have been pre-accepted into Nova Southeastern for Fall of 2013. I have yet to apply to other schools and am currently in the process of doing so.
With this pre-acceptance I can apply for the military HPSP program and pretty much guarantee my acceptence into that. If I wait the scholarship becomes more competitive.
I do not care what intials come after my name only that I have available every opportunity I would like to explore. I know DO's can do every MD does but what are my chances of getting specialties in surgical areas, interventional rad and card? If I choose Nova (which I really like) am I forfetting oppurtunites?
Also I am only 21 I could always do grad school or a 2nd bachelors and go to an MD school but I am excited for Nova and ready to be done with undergrad.
Thanks

Don't be silly, take the opportunity in front of you. To be this early in the game and looking at IR, or cards is like hoping for a spot on an NBA team. Those guys are top 10% in class and 98% on boards. Plus as the others have said, being on HPSP can limit your options since the military dictates your future first. To be able to go through debt free is a HUGE advantange, don't throw it away on a maybe longshot residency slot when you don't even know at this point how well you will do on the boards.

Originally Posted by Ahockey21

I have been pre-accepted into Nova Southeastern for Fall of 2013. I have yet to apply to other schools and am currently in the process of doing so.
With this pre-acceptance I can apply for the military HPSP program and pretty much guarantee my acceptence into that. If I wait the scholarship becomes more competitive.
I do not care what intials come after my name only that I have available every opportunity I would like to explore. I know DO's can do every MD does but what are my chances of getting specialties in surgical areas, interventional rad and card? If I choose Nova (which I really like) am I forfetting oppurtunites?
Also I am only 21 I could always do grad school or a 2nd bachelors and go to an MD school but I am excited for Nova and ready to be done with undergrad.
Thanks

Your chances at getting competitive specialties will be reduced compared to if you went MD. Your chances of getting competitive fellowships will depend on your chances of getting competitive residencies, which is reduced compared to if you went MD.


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In the military DO=MD. Your competitiveness for residency is going to depend on your board scores, grades, if you have any publications, and your rank/years in the service. If you do GMO tour for few years after your intern year, that will increase your chances as well.

avoid if possible.
it's md/do = rn in military medicine.
our army surgeon general is a nurse:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=818148

How are you accepted for Fall 2013? I thought the cycle didn't begin until June1.

It was a pre-acceptance program through my undergrad school in FL.

Thank you. That just knocked some sense into me. I try not to look that far ahead I just didn't want to be hindered going into those future aspects of my career. I'll be taking it step by step.

Make sure you really want to do HPSP first, and talk to some current students. Some of my buddies are in various branches of the program; they love serving their country, but it takes quite some sacrifice on your part (required GMO years after, boot camp in the summer, have to go through military match first, which limits residency location/position choices).

Military match makes DO = MD in terms of consideration, unless you want to do something that's very competitive and there are few spots for it in military match; deferment to civilian match would then be a bit harder.

Anything you know off hand that is really unappealing? I've been a Guard medic sine I was 18 so I'm use to the military. But I figured how bad could HPSP really be?

Originally Posted by Ahockey21

Anything you know off hand that is really unappealing? I've been a Guard medic sine I was 18 so I'm use to the military. But I figured how bad could HPSP really be?

If you are used to the military life, then the gripes that civilians usually have probably do not bother you as much.

-- Residency options are limited to very specific locations for the military match.

-- You have little control over where you will be living for the 5 years post residency working as a military doctor.

-- Your salary as a military doctor is relatively mediocre compared to your civilian counterparts who will be making much more than you.

The reason people say you should do HPSP only if you really like it, ie. enjoy the "military life", is because if you are doing it just for the money then it really isn't worth it. This is because as a civilian working post residency you could use the extra money you would be making over a military doctor to pay off your loans. When I looked into it the salary differences were pretty significant. Significant to the point where you wonder if it is really worth sacrificing all of these other things when you really aren't saving that much more money because you get paid more as a civilian. For me, I think it would be very hard to get married and start a family while being tied to the military until I'm in my mid to late 30s. Of course, this is all relative to each individual person. If you are going to a private DO school that costs almost $50k in tuition per year (i.e. NOVA!!!), I would be considering it a lot more than I am now (my education will cost much, much less than that).

I dont want to hijack this theard


but do you guys feel, for example if you have your private practice..that having a DO is a disadvantage...

After all, being a physicians is like running a bussiness....the more customer..err patients..lol..you have the better income...

if I open a private practice, do DOs see the same amount of patients as an MD?would they avoid comming to a DO over and MD esp in urban areas? etc...ive always wondered this...and would love to get your input

I do believe however....The DO-patient exposure HAS TO INCREASE!

through media, ads, iam all for increasing DO schools...(and it was one of the reasons why I picked the DO route) -- the rez problems are overblown as the int rez spots will die out

the future looks bright with 1 in 4 physicians being a DO...but patients need to see this...

Most patients don't even pay attention to the letters at the end of someones name... only SDN does.

Originally Posted by dntke1518

Most patients don't even pay attention to the letters at the end of someones name... only SDN does.

true

A very successful Hematologist/Oncologist MD always used to tell me that MDs get more patients. Not sure how representative this is of anything but referring to the previous post, yes, being in private practice is like running a business and the MD arguably makes it easier to advertise yourself.

double post.