Ok, lets see... out of the places listed your best chances are probably in Chicago. UIC, Resurrection, and to a lesser extent Cook County have and will take DOs, Christ hasn't to my knowledge, Northwestern is pretty much a no go, and I think U of C is the same way. As for Boston, that's pretty much a no go. Some of the most competitive programs in the country are there and I can't think of any that would ever take a DO (with the Harvard connection or mentality prevailing in many). The exceptions would be Umass and Baystate but both are not in Boston but a good ways outside of it... more than 30 min. NYC... yeah, there are a few and honestly I can't remember any off the top of my head except Downstate and Staten Island but I do know there are like 3 or 4 that consider DOs. D.C... can't help ya there as I only know what I've seen on resident lists but I don't think there are too many DOs in that market from what I remember. That brings me to LA and CA as a whole... good luck. Yes, there are a couple of places in CA that take DOs (Kaweah and either Fresno or Davis... forget which) but outside of Kaweah which was new last year I don't think any ACGME CA program has more than one I believe. The question you have to ask yourself is this... why does USC and these other places only have ONE... why not more?
The answer can be a number of reasons but I'll tell you the few that I have actually been told by advisers and residents from various programs (and no, they weren't talking about why they don't take DOs in their OWN program... just about why they had heard DOs weren't taken in many places that had just one and that's it). First, a connection. Sometimes these DOs that were the "one taken awhile ago" type people had nepotism, perhaps worked for the hospital before school, had a close friend that was a resident or attending that advocated for them, etc. The point is that they had an "in" and the DO part was kinda overlooked. The biggest question is... why didn't they take another DO AFTER that first one? I mean if they were now open to DOs that makes sense, right? Most times there is a reason. The ones I've heard were these... An ex-Pitt resident told me his PD refused to consider DOs anymore because of an experience they had with their first (and I'm told only) DO resident. It was a nightmare and he said "no more". Supposedly it wasn't a competence issue, but a personality one (which makes you think he/she would recognize that DOs were fine... it was just a personal thing) but no matter the case the one chance that DOs got the bridge got burned. Truth to the story? Possibly... guess we'll see if they ever take a DO. Another reason is that the DO might have been selected by a PD/chair that is no longer there. Leadership changes can open and close programs instantly depending on what the leaderships opinions are about DOs and just cuz they had one 2 or 3 years ago and not sense does not necessarily mean they are "friendly".
Finally the sad but realistic truth... they don't have to take DOs. Most programs now are inundated with apps from stellar to great MD candidates and that means you have to shine that much brighter as a DO to stand a chance. For PDs, MD education is a known commodity that they don't have to question (too much) what kind of schooling or rotations the person did but DO... well, they aren't as familiar with that. Yes, everyone knows DOs are taught the same stuff as MDs (for the most part) and that many kill the boards as a result but what PDs wonder is what your DO rotations were like compared to the MD standards they are used to. Basically, some are willing to gamble on this if they think they have a great person on the table but others are not and just prefer to go with a more familiar commodity cuz, frankly, it's easier and there are plenty of good MD candidates that they don't "have to" dip into the DO pool to find a good applicant to fill their roster. Still, some like having the diversity that a DO or 2 bring to their staff, some see no difference, and those are the places you should be targeting. CA as a whole has been historically DO unfriendly for the most part and I think the big part you have to consider is why you think your chances would be any better than any DO in the past who has tried and failed to get into CA. Lets remember, there are several hundred DOs a year trying to get ACGME spots and every year they come up dry in CA (and Boston and some of the other places you mentioned) outside of one or two outliers... in history. Why do you think that is? Do you think you are that much better than every previous DO applicant? I can guarantee you that I know of applicants with 250+ boards that did not match and were very CA centric and got a lot of interviews and great letters... can you beat them? Maybe... but odds are against you. Now let me say I'm definitely not trying to be condescending towards you or DOs at all... just trying to pass along the reality of this as un-sugarcoated as possible so I apologize if it comes across brusk or harsh.
This would be a monumental task for you to match into one of the CA programs or Boston programs or most of the NYC programs or a few of the Chicago programs (NWtern, U of C, Christ), or many of the places you asked about. If you want some pure honest advice I would say this... find programs that have taken 2 or more DOs in the last 2-3 years and target them. That's where your chances are. Find the program you think you like the best and try to rotate there... and make sure you absolutely kill it. Get a great letter and use it to open doors to other places once interview season starts. If you aren't severely limited in the number of EM rotations you can do I'd suggest 3... your home to use as a "primer" and get you all good and taught up before you head on the road, THEN do your dream program next that fits the criteria above and go out and kill it. I say this because you will probably never be more ready to tackle the challenge than your second rotation as you'll know a good bit, still need to learn a lot so will come off as teachable, and will still be super enthusiastic. By the third one, believe it or not, you will be starting to wear down a bit. For your third I'd suggest a solid program that may not exactly be the best fit geographically but that you can accept and that you know takes DOs. Consider these to be mid tier type places in bigger cities or "smaller" big cities such as some of your upstate NY, AZ, IL, OH, MI, etc. These will provide you with a good safety net and possibly even a better fit than you expected or got from the bigger programs.
Finally, apply broadly... and I mean broadly. People will tell you "oh, you only need to apply to 30 or 40" and that might be true... but do you want to put stock in "what they say" and risk the unknown? I say apply to as many as you can financially manage. That's a personal opinion and some don't agree but that's just me. Here's my philosophy... you only get one chance to do this (hopefully, lol) so do you want to try and do it as cheaply as possible and save some cash or do you want to finish this off in the end and say "I did everything I possibly could to match at the place I wanted to and left no stone unturned"? I know my answer. This may mean applying to 60... 70... 80... maybe more places and just see how the invites shake out. Just because you get invited doesn't mean you have to accept but would you rather have more options and be able to turn some down or pick and choose your places to apply limit the number and then hope you get a fair response from only a few places just to make your numbers? Again, you can decline interviews if things are going great or you can cancel interviews if you get a much better response than you expected but you can NEVER get more interviews after you applied to too few. Just a personal choice you'll have to make. Yes, you should apply to all those CA, Boston, and NYC places that you want but when it comes to interview time consider all of those "reach" type programs and schedule you interviews with about 1/2 reach programs at the most and 1/2 more likely (or safety) programs. Really, it should be more like 1/4 reach and 3/4 safety/reasonable places but I know it would be hard to convince you or anyone to turn down invites from dream programs even if you know it's a long shot.
Holy shiot.... that's a wall of text. I apparently don't like paragraphs much but I think that should answer a lot of your questions. Others who have or are going this route feel free to chime in with agreements or disagreements to all for the OP. Best of luck.
