Caribbean Now or US Later?

[ratiocinate]

Hey Guys,

My academic career so far has been good, but not stellar. 3.65 GPA and 27 MCAT. Good volunteering, but nothing special. 1 poster presentation, and probably a publication this summer. 1 really strong rec letter, and 2 good ones.

I'm pretty sure that I'd have a good shot at a caribbean school. I'm pretty sure that I don't have a good shot at an American school. I am pretty sure that, in the next year, I could beef up my application to be US-med-school-worthy.

My dad (a doctor) says that no one cares where you go to medical school, as long as you do well wherever you are. However, I'd feel stupid if, in 20 years from now, I suffer from my med school alma mater.

So...what would you do? Apply to the Caribbean now, or give it another year (do a couple minors, or a double major, and research) and apply to US med schools?

Thanks so much!

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[northernlights15]

You have a good shot at a DO school. Definitely do not go to the Carribean.

Either apply DO or take some time studying for the MCAT and apply next year. And make sure you have clinical volunteering. You'll be good to go! Again, don't go to the Carribean.

 

[midweststudent1]

Apply to 15 or so DO schools this cycle and you should get several acceptances. That's your best way of becoming a board certified physician.

Going to a Caribbean school is your best way of becoming a graduate with no residency and no board certification....you seem like a smart guy, so I won't bore you with the details, but research the attrition rates and failure rates at Caribbean school--->NOT GOOD!

 

[MerciMerci]

Depending on your state, you could apply to your state MD schools with those stats (if you don't have under an 8 in a section), and you are a good candidate for DO schools. Don't even consider the Caribbean.

I don't know your dad's age, but I assume he remembers Caribbean schools 25+ years ago. (When they were a viable option.)

 

[GrapesofRath]

This can't be a serious post.

 

[ratiocinate]

I got 10/10/7, the 7 was in verbal. Thankfully my state (FL) has 9 med schools...would you guys recommend applying to them all? Any estimate on the cost of this?

@GrapesofRath wtf?

 

[Dares Dareson]

U.S. later for sure.

 

[Mad Jack]

US every time. The market for Caribbean grads is set to collapse care of the expansion of US schools and the lack of available residencies. Don't go 400k in debt just to have no job at the end.

 

[Cyberdyne 101]

If you do a search, you'll see that there's an abundance of threads that give compelling reasons to not take the Carribean route. In addition, as others mentioned, your stats seem to meet DO standards. And DO >>>>>> Carribean.

You could try your luck with US MD schools, but your chances will obviously increase with a better MCAT. Have you considered a retake?

Edit: Apparently I can't spell Caribbean correctly

 

[ratiocinate]

"DO >>>>>>>> Carribean" but Caribbean schools give an MD degree and DO gives DOs. I'd rather be "John Smith M.D." from the caribbean than "John Smith D.O." from the US. Or am I missing something?

 

[mimelim]

Hey Guys,

My academic career so far has been good, but not stellar. 3.65 GPA and 27 MCAT. Good volunteering, but nothing special. 1 poster presentation, and probably a publication this summer. 1 really strong rec letter, and 2 good ones.

I'm pretty sure that I'd have a good shot at a caribbean school. I'm pretty sure that I don't have a good shot at an American school. I am pretty sure that, in the next year, I could beef up my application to be US-med-school-worthy.

My dad (a doctor) says that no one cares where you go to medical school, as long as you do well wherever you are. However, I'd feel stupid if, in 20 years from now, I suffer from my med school alma mater.

So...what would you do? Apply to the Caribbean now, or give it another year (do a couple minors, or a double major, and research) and apply to US med schools?

Thanks so much!

Systematically.

#1 Where you go to medical school matters for residency placement. Anyone that tells you otherwise doesn't know anything about residency or is lying to you. I'm sorry, but your father doesn't know what he is talking about. First, there is a gap between US MD schools and US DO schools and then a substantially larger gap between those two and everything else. You will be at a huge disadvantage coming out of the Caribbean. For every success story, there are 10, if not more unhappy stories and probably 10 more disaster stories. What people will debate is, how much difference between different US MD schools there is. For the vast majority of applicants (90%+) the US MD schools are functional equivalents. However, if you are looking at going into a competitive specialty or a competitive academic program in any specialty, what school you go to matters.

#2 Where you go to medical school matters for your education. Your first two years of school are going to be basic science and organ system classroom learning. There is very little difference between different schools. Some would even make the argument that a well organized, motivated student could self study the first two years and turn out just as well as any US MD student. What is different between schools and where there is a huge difference between US MD schools and everything else is the quality of rotation sites. If you are at Hopkins, you rotate at only Hopkins hospitals, unless you choose to do some electives elsewhere. And yes, where you do your clinical rotations matter. Can you still learn and do well not going to a big name program, yes. But, you are going to be at a disadvantage later.

#3 https://www.aamc.org/download/321518/data/factstable25-4.pdf

If you take all 3600 Caucasian students that had a 3.60-3.79 PGA and a 27-29 MCAT, 45% of them got into a US MD school. DO NOT MISINTERPRET this statistic. This does NOT mean that you have a 45% chance of getting into medical school. It means that a good number of people with your statistics will get into medical school somewhere. The ones that do, a) applied smart and broad, b) had other things on their applications that made them superior to the others in the applicant pool. It is well worth taking a full year to apply once and apply well. With good planning and some buffing, you stand a reasonable shot at getting into a US MD program. Forget the minors/double majors. They are meaningless. If you prepared inadequately for the MCAT the first time, you should evaluate if you can reasonably improve on your score. You should retake if in your estimation you can on average improve your score by 3 or more points. Then you should focus on continuing your ECs and developing stronger connections for your letters.

 

[mimelim]

"DO >>>>>>>> Carribean" but Caribbean schools give an MD degree and DO gives DOs. I'd rather be "John Smith M.D." from the caribbean than "John Smith D.O." from the US. Or am I missing something?

#1 Functionally MD = DO. A DO can do every job that an MD can.

#2 Yes, there is bias in the community and among physicians against DO. It is logical, after all, almost by definition US MD students had better scores than their US DO counterparts. People tend to look down on others they see as being 'inferior' to them. A bit silly, but such is life. I would argue (with faculty and a father in this group) that physicians who trained in the 70s and 80s hold the largest bias. But, the reality is that the vast majority of the public and people at large don't know the difference and are going to go to you if you are a good practitioner, regardless of the two letters after your name.

#3 Your residency chances are much higher as a DO than a Caribbean MD. Thus, your chances of being employed as a physician after you invest a lot of time, money and effort are significantly higher if you go DO over Caribbean MD.

 

[ratiocinate]

Very helpful post, mimelim. Thank you very much!

 

[mimelim]

My pleasure.

 

[samac]

 

[Medical Bear]

I agree with everyone else, go DO route and hope for an acceptance. Absolute worse case scenairo, you end in the same position you are now. The only other option would be to retake the MCAT and try to get a higher score.

 

[ZedsDed]

"DO >>>>>>>> Carribean" but Caribbean schools give an MD degree and DO gives DOs. I'd rather be "John Smith M.D." from the caribbean than "John Smith D.O." from the US. Or am I missing something?

*sigh* This is not the way the real world thinks

 

[midweststudent1]

"DO >>>>>>>> Carribean" but Caribbean schools give an MD degree and DO gives DOs. I'd rather be "John Smith M.D." from the caribbean than "John Smith D.O." from the US. Or am I missing something?

Seems like a troll here now. I regret even offering advice

 

[Goro]

I'm getting the whiff of troll, but it's a teaching moment. Your post should actually read "I'd rather be deeply in debt and unemployed than be a DO".

Cue argus to come in, sputtering "but, but, NRMP!"

"DO >>>>>>>> Carribean" but Caribbean schools give an MD degree and DO gives DOs. I'd rather be "John Smith M.D." from the caribbean than "John Smith D.O." from the US. Or am I missing something?

 

[candbgirl]

"DO >>>>>>>> Carribean" but Caribbean schools give an MD degree and DO gives DOs. I'd rather be "John Smith M.D." from the caribbean than "John Smith D.O." from the US. Or am I missing something?

Well there is that but personally I'd rather be John Smith DO from the U.S. And have a residency and career. The option of being John Smith MD from the Caribbean and being an unemployed doc with no residency is a very real possibility. You need to do some research on the situation with residencies and Caribbean grads.

 

[Gandyy]

Doesnt a 27 and 3.65 give him a great chance of getting into multiple DO schools?

I'll tell you something. I am a non traditional applicant, and I've worked in various hospitals. Patients do not care or know or want to know what the letters after your name are.

They want a doctor who can HELP them as much as possible. They have a medical problem they need to get fixed and they will come to you if you are good at your job. If you are worried about measly things like that.... lots of people call Nurse Practitioners "doctors"....

End point is no one really cares and/or brings it up.

 

[WingedOx]

My dad (a doctor) says that no one cares where you go to medical school, as long as you do well wherever you are.

If you think the fact that you got your medical education in the same places where FIFA executives stash their bank accounts won't get brought up when you need to assert yourself in a clinical setting, I have a small Caribbean island to sell you.

 

[ChrisMack390]

If you go Caribbean and absolutely kill it and finish at the very top of your class, you can do pretty much anything an MD from the US can do.

If you go DO and absolutely kill it and finish at the very top of your class, you can do anything an MD from the US can do.

If you go DO and do something like average and finish around the middle or even the bottom of your class, you can still get a residency in family med, peds, OB, or even internal med, and end up a physician with all of the privileges, monetary and otherwise, that come with it.

If you go Caribbean and do anything but the absolute best and get a bit lucky, you will end up with no residency, likely unemployed or employed as something nothing like the physician job you are seeking, and will be in a massive amount of debt for no reason.

Simple logic.

 

[ZedsDed]

If you go Caribbean and absolutely kill it and finish at the very top of your class, you can do pretty much anything an MD from the US can do.

If you go DO and absolutely kill it and finish at the very top of your class, you can do anything an MD from the US can do.

If you go DO and do something like average and finish around the middle or even the bottom of your class, you can still get a residency in family med, peds, OB, or even internal med, and end up a physician with all of the privileges, monetary and otherwise, that come with it.

If you go Caribbean and do anything but the absolute best and get a bit lucky, you will end up with no residency, likely unemployed or employed as something nothing like the physician job you are seeking, and will be in a massive amount of debt for no reason.

Simple logic.

But! But! I want that sweet MD next to my name bro!

 

[moisne]

LOL - troll I hope...

 

[FutureOncologist]

Get 90th %ile in each of the subsections on the MCAT and I think you'd be set on MD schools. Your GPA is fine and taking additional courses will be unnecessary financial and mental stress on you.

If you don't feel like you can take the MCAT again, look at in-state MD schools and DO schools.

 

[I'mJustCurious]

I still don't get why people would go to the Caribbean than become a DO. Is DO like a virus or something? Honestly I would apply to both MD and DO schools and see where I land.

 

[ratiocinate]

If you go Caribbean and absolutely kill it and finish at the very top of your class, you can do pretty much anything an MD from the US can do.

If you go DO and absolutely kill it and finish at the very top of your class, you can do anything an MD from the US can do.

If you go DO and do something like average and finish around the middle or even the bottom of your class, you can still get a residency in family med, peds, OB, or even internal med, and end up a physician with all of the privileges, monetary and otherwise, that come with it.

If you go Caribbean and do anything but the absolute best and get a bit lucky, you will end up with no residency, likely unemployed or employed as something nothing like the physician job you are seeking, and will be in a massive amount of debt for no reason.

Simple logic.

Ok, I understand now. DO > Caribbean. Thanks for helping.

 

[jqueb29]

Never Caribbean.
Never Caribbean.
Never Caribbean.
Never Caribbean.

How are people still asking this??!!?!?!?

 

[mimelim]

Never Caribbean.
Never Caribbean.
Never Caribbean.
Never Caribbean.

How are people still asking this??!!?!?!?

This is something that you should learn now rather than later. Just because something is obvious to you, doesn't mean that it is obvious to other people. Lord knows that you will run into this every day as a physician. There are no TV shows about physicians who are DOs. There are no TV shows about IMGs/FMGs. When immigrants comes to the US and push their kids to be physicians, they are all thinking 'MD' and most will have never heard of DO. Most pre-meds have never heard of DO. Many, if not most have never heard of a PA or an NP as crazy as that sounds. They don't live under rocks, it is just something that isn't obvious unless you go looking for it. People should search prior to posting, but that is sometimes easier said than done. The biggest problem with this pathway is students don't know what they don't know and don't even know the right questions they should be asking.

That is what SDN is here for, so people can ask the stuff anonymously and learn the stuff that they 'should' know.

 

[WingedOx]

There are no TV shows about physicians who are DOs

Coming this Fall Season: A rogue Osteopathic physician fights the medical establishment in his epic quest to treat THE WHOLE PATIENT.

Oh man, I'm going to pitch this one to NBC. (they greenlit "Do No Harm and "The Night Shift" so it's not like they have standards for medical dramas anymore)

 

[nRomaleos]

Coming this Fall Season: A rogue Osteopathic physician fights the medical establishment in his epic quest to treat THE WHOLE PATIENT.

Oh man, I'm going to pitch this one to NBC. (they greenlit "Do No Harm and "The Night Shift" so it's not like they have standards for medical dramas anymore)

Either i'm delerious from AMCAS or this is the funniest thing I've read on SDN since forever...

 

[ZedsDed]

Coming this Fall Season: A rogue Osteopathic physician fights the medical establishment in his epic quest to treat THE WHOLE PATIENT.

Oh man, I'm going to pitch this one to NBC. (they greenlit "Do No Harm and "The Night Shift" so it's not like they have standards for medical dramas anymore)

Lol you know you just opened the door to jokes about OMM being a useless super power?

 

[Law2Doc]

If you go Caribbean and absolutely kill it and finish at the very top of your class, you can do pretty much anything an MD from the US can do...

Um no. This is certainly what the offshore schools would like people to believe, but these days actually you'd have to "absolutely kill it" just to end up with a shot at the same place the guy at the very bottom of his US med school class might contemplate -- IF you are very lucky. It isn't a level playing field. You aren't going to get derm, optho, ortho, rad onc, ENT, etc. Coming from offshore. You just won't. And that's even if you absolutely kill it - tops on the whole island. And that's assuming you finish THIS year -- odds will be much worse in four years. Let not pretend the guys who are top offshore grads are regarded as competitive applicants -- 40% currently get jobs because there aren't enough US grads (yet) but their footing is far from equal and the best from there is lucky to be considered over a below average applicant here. That's just the way it is. Osteo by contrast has some of it's own residencies in competitive fields so the top DO students will get a shot at som of these fields.

 

[Law2Doc]

[QUOTE/] I'd rather be "John Smith M.D." from the caribbean than "John Smith D.O." from the US. Or am I missing something?[/QUOTE]

not buying your post as not trolling, but FWIW I think John Smith MD from the Caribbean was driving my cab last night.

 

[IslandStyle808]

I still don't get why people would go to the Caribbean than become a DO. Is DO like a virus or something? Honestly I would apply to both MD and DO schools and see where I land.

There are too few DOs out there to know what they are. I remember walking into the hospital with a listing of doctors there were around 50 MDs and 5 DOs. DOs are so underrepresented in quite a few places in the country that they don't standout to the common layman. Plus if a students comes from a family of doctors or know family friends that are doctors, especially if they are foreign immigrants, they would have heard about SGU, Ross, AUC, AUA, and other foreign schools. These people are like walking advertisements as well. I myself can name more family friends that are FMG/IMG than I can DO. Family and friends can be very persuasive and hence misguide the gullible pre-med.

 

[ChrisMack390]

Um no. This is certainly what the offshore schools would like people to believe, but these days actually you'd have to "absolutely kill it" just to end up with a shot at the same place the guy at the very bottom of his US med school class might contemplate -- IF you are very lucky. It isn't a level playing field. You aren't going to get derm, optho, ortho, rad onc, ENT, etc. Coming from offshore. You just won't. And that's even if you absolutely kill it - tops on the whole island. And that's assuming you finish THIS year -- odds will be much worse in four years. Let not pretend the guys who are top offshore grads are regarded as competitive applicants -- 40% currently get jobs because there aren't enough US grads (yet) but their footing is far from equal and the best from there is lucky to be considered over a below average applicant here. That's just the way it is. Osteo by contrast has some of it's own residencies in competitive fields so the top DO students will get a shot at som of these fields.

Meh, you ignored the entire point of my post. I know if you finish in the top couple of percent and get high USMLE scores you can actually graduate with a diploma from a school like NYU instead of whatever island.

Again, I was not defending the Caribbean schools, I was actually trying to emphasize that a ridiculously small portion of their students come out of the match in a good place, especially when comparing them to DO who have good chances that are getting better.

 

[Mad Jack]

Lol you know you just opened the door to jokes about OMM being a useless super power?

^This is actually about a rogue osteopath.

 

[Law2Doc]

Meh, you ignored the entire point of my post. I know if you finish in the top couple of percent and get high USMLE scores you can actually graduate with a diploma from a school like NYU instead of whatever island...

That's not what I said at all. I said even if you are the top student from Ross or SGU, with crazy high steps, you are still F'd for many of the competitive specialties. Period. Not that you could've gone somewhere else, although that might be true.

I think even when you say "a ridiculously small portion come out of the match in a good place" it's not going to be AS GOOD in terms of a ceiling as your prior post implied. And that's today. It'll be much worse in a few years when anyone stating out now will be finishing.

 

[Law2Doc]

I think we should have a realty show for 8 premeds fighting for admission with full scholarship slot at a medical school . Bet you we could get SGU or Ross to sponsor it. Certainly make their pitches to undergrads more enticing. We can get Amy and Sheldon from Big Bang to be hosts!

Sort of "The Biggest Loser" on "Temptation Island"... FWIW the Sheldon character looks down on various advanced degrees in the show (Masters, Humanities, Geology) so I don't think his take on a Caribbean education would have a positive spin... Given the questions surrounding some of those schools, and his willingness to shill for $, maybe Dr. Oz would be a more appropriate host.

 

[jl lin]

One thing that AAMC, AACOM, NRMP and all the other acronyms have is data.
http://www.nrmp.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/ADT2015_final.pdf (see Table 4)

In 2014, for US citizens who were graduates of International Medical College (IMG) here is a breakdown of the numbers

6,917 Total who submitted the ERAS application for NRMP.
691 Withdrew, which is mostly and automatically done if they did not pass STEP II exam
1,796 Did Not submit a ranking list, which is mostly done because they did not get any interviews at a residency program
2,354 Did Not match into any residency slot
2,660 Matched into a slot

A total of nearly 7,000 US citizens IMGs applied for residency slots, only 2,660 got them. The above indicates that upwards of 3,000 graduates of International Medical Schools who likely passed STEP II did not get a slot in the main match for residency. There is a supplement match (SOAP) for unfilled open slots which this year included 1,193 of the 1,306 slots. Yet there were 1,093 senior US-MD graduates who did not match and another 60 who did not rank. These students are automatically entered in this supplemental round, as I assume are the seniors at the international school . So you can see even in the SOAP match, there is intense competition.

I also like to note that this table includes DO graduates who matched in the “MD” slots. It does not include the DO graduates who matched in the DO/AOA slots. Combining NRMP, AOA, Military and Supplemental/Final Opportunity, DO match at 99.45% (see http://www.aacom.org/docs/default-source/medical-students/aacom_match2014_infographic_finalv2.pdf)

Those numbers speak volumes.

 

[northernlights15]

This is something that you should learn now rather than later. Just because something is obvious to you, doesn't mean that it is obvious to other people. Lord knows that you will run into this every day as a physician. There are no TV shows about physicians who are DOs. There are no TV shows about IMGs/FMGs. When immigrants comes to the US and push their kids to be physicians, they are all thinking 'MD' and most will have never heard of DO. Most pre-meds have never heard of DO. Many, if not most have never heard of a PA or an NP as crazy as that sounds. They don't live under rocks, it is just something that isn't obvious unless you go looking for it. People should search prior to posting, but that is sometimes easier said than done. The biggest problem with this pathway is students don't know what they don't know and don't even know the right questions they should be asking.

That is what SDN is here for, so people can ask the stuff anonymously and learn the stuff that they 'should' know.

This is totally true. Before SDN, I told myself I would probably lean more toward Carribean MD than DO if US MD didn't work out. It was a really foolish mindset.

 

[jl lin]

"DO >>>>>>>> Carribean" but Caribbean schools give an MD degree and DO gives DOs. I'd rather be "John Smith M.D." from the caribbean than "John Smith D.O." from the US. Or am I missing something?

 

[Bancrofti]

Hey Guys,

My academic career so far has been good, but not stellar. 3.65 GPA and 27 MCAT. Good volunteering, but nothing special. 1 poster presentation, and probably a publication this summer. 1 really strong rec letter, and 2 good ones.

I'm pretty sure that I'd have a good shot at a caribbean school. I'm pretty sure that I don't have a good shot at an American school. I am pretty sure that, in the next year, I could beef up my application to be US-med-school-worthy.

My dad (a doctor) says that no one cares where you go to medical school, as long as you do well wherever you are. However, I'd feel stupid if, in 20 years from now, I suffer from my med school alma mater.

So...what would you do? Apply to the Caribbean now, or give it another year (do a couple minors, or a double major, and research) and apply to US med schools?

Thanks so much!

I went to a carib school and was able to transfer to a US school. I saw that a significant number of my classmates had parents who were physicians who told them the same thing: just go to the caribbean, nobody will care down the line. I think this is how it used to be and to an extent still is, but there are many reasons now why it isn't a smart decision.

First off, you should study hard and retake the MCAT. If you apply broadly, even with your current scores, you will probably get a few allo interviews. If your application is not strong enough you should also look into applying to SMP or post-bacc programs afterwards. I think you'll have a solid shot if you bust your butt for the next year to prove it's what you want.

As is often stated, the risk going with the carib isn't worth it for the average student. Further, if you're like the average pre-med who "knows" the want to be a doctor, but doesn't have a clue as to what specialty, it is unwise to go to the caribbean as your residency options are essentially relegated to primary care and low tier "competitive" programs.

 

[GummyBeh]

Edit: You know what I don't care enough to discuss the DO thing.

To the OP, probably applying next year might be a better idea. However, despite what the people above are claiming some international medical schools (including a couple in the Caribbean) have fantastic reputations.

 

[samac]

Actually, as a non-American I will never understand the obsession with DOs among Americans here who on the same breath make fun of chiropractors, naturopaths and heck... even question the legitimacy of nurse practitioners. But then you visit any psuedoscience watch site and a number of fundamental practices to the field are brought under serious question. Yes people will say most modern DOs no longer practice some of the sketchy osteopathy fundamentals, and the things that they do which are evidence based are the exact same as medicine. Which in that case begs the question (1) it's either a md plus added non evidence based quackery? or (2) if it's the exact same as an md-- if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, with just lower standards and competency than a duck? then really it's redundant and shouldn't exist.

To the OP, probably applying next year might be a better idea. However, despite what the people above are claiming some international medical schools (including a couple in the Caribbean) have fantastic reputations.

Carribean schools don't have a fantastic reputation. I think that's a pretty safe consensus.
I also don't believe that DOs have a lower standard. You might not have to have as high stats to get in, but once you're in it's a similar standard. Same medicine + OMT.
Most DOs I know don't do OMT.
In the future all the residencies are in one pool, but until 2020 DOs take COMLEX and then can also take the USMLE and get the same residencies as MDs.

 

[ZedsDed]

Edit: You know what I don't care enough to discuss the DO thing.

To the OP, probably applying next year might be a better idea. However, despite what the people above are claiming some international medical schools (including a couple in the Caribbean) have fantastic reputations.

No schools in the Caribbean have a good reputation outside of circles of premeds on SDN.

 

[Mad Jack]

This is totally true. Before SDN, I told myself I would probably lean more toward Carribean MD than DO if US MD didn't work out. It was a really foolish mindset.

Before SDN I was dead set on going to medical school in Poland or the Philippines because I wanted the opportunity to spend some time in another culture. Thankfully, I got set straight.

 

[Redpancreas]

Hey Guys,

My academic career so far has been good, but not stellar. 3.65 GPA and 27 MCAT. Good volunteering, but nothing special. 1 poster presentation, and probably a publication this summer. 1 really strong rec letter, and 2 good ones.

I'm pretty sure that I'd have a good shot at a caribbean school. I'm pretty sure that I don't have a good shot at an American school. I am pretty sure that, in the next year, I could beef up my application to be US-med-school-worthy.

My dad (a doctor) says that no one cares where you go to medical school, as long as you do well wherever you are. However, I'd feel stupid if, in 20 years from now, I suffer from my med school alma mater.

So...what would you do? Apply to the Caribbean now, or give it another year (do a couple minors, or a double major, and research) and apply to US med schools?

Thanks so much!

Your GPA isn't the culprit! The MCAT is. Are you allergic to the MCAT? If not.. Retake the MCAT! Score well, apply MD! I don't get why students go to the Carribbean after one bum MCAT. Even if you're allergic to the MCAT, you've got the DO! A degree that is virtually equivalent to the MD. The only reasons one should not pursue a DO is if:

1. They don't like the letters/want more prestige.
2. They plan to work in a country not accepting of DO physicians.
3. They know for sure they want a DOPE (Derm, Optho, Plastics, ENT) residency. (Don't add more residencies...it'll ruin it!...kidding aside, there are likely more).
4. They plan for a prestigious career in academic research.

All very uncommon reasons...

That being said, there's nothing wrong with retrying MD a second time, but after a while, if you want to be a physician, it's best to just take the DO.

The only classes you should be considering now are MCAT classes.

 

[ratiocinate]

Haha I like the DOPE mnemonic.

Right now I'm planning to apply to my state med schools, then finish my bachelor's, and re-apply if I don't get in the first time (to US MDs, DOs, and Caribbeans). Do y'all see anything wrong with this plan?