M4 (DO) Ask Me Anything

[Goro]

Sup ladies and gents,

Bored sitting here waiting for residency interviews and figured id hop on and answer any questions about med school in general, boards, preclinicals, shelves etc. I can also tell you if youre an M2 it does get better (until intern year lol)

You're a fourth-year student already??!! When did that happen?? You were just a pre-med like 3 days ago! Where did the time go??

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[Proudfather94]

Go on vacation and do as little as possible. Chill as hard as you can and please for the love of God do not prestudy lol

Lol thanks I'm about to quit my cna job soon so I can do something less stressful until I start. I do want to see the ocean one more time before I start.

 

[Deecee2DO]

You're a fourth-year student already??!! When did that happen?? You were just a pre-med like 3 days ago! Where did the time go??

Lmao Goro its crazy it really flew!

 

[ConstantlyFailingUp]

How much of a role will OMM play in your personal practice going forward?

 

[Deecee2DO]

How much of a role will OMM play in your personal practice going forward?

whats omm? lol

 

[ConstantlyFailingUp]

whats omm? lol

Osteopathic Manual Medcine/Manipulation?

Is it called OMT at your school?

 

[Deecee2DO]

Osteopathic Manual Medcine/Manipulation?

Is it called OMT at your school?

I know im joking ill never use OMM in my life

 

[DO2015CA]

I’m a senior resident

The whole “it gets better” trope is a total farce. In fact, it gets worse. If you’re an M1 and contemplating getting out I 100% would. If I could go back in time …

I said it gets better until intern year then it gets worse and then attending life gets better i guess depending on what specialty youre in. If youre an attending and hate your job then why are you even in medicine. I know the specialty I am applying into (IM) has horrible hours as does OB and GS and those 3-5 years will suck no matter how you put it but being a fellow or an attending life does get better after speaking with many

Pgy-3 here. It definitely gets better. Intern year sucks. But it gets better each year

 

[DOVinciRobot]

Pgy-3 here. It definitely gets better. Intern year sucks. But it gets better each year

Honestly even intern year is so much better than medical school IMO. Especially now that I’m past Level 3 it’s all just focusing on my specialty. Sure the floor work is tedious, but it’s still focused in my specialty

 

[Whysoez]

Plural. And sure did. Was also a mistake to pursue medicine. Ad hominens are irrelevant to the point and relevance. Just makes you appear naive at best and idiotic at worst

Would love to hear your reasons of why medicine was a mistake though.

 

[Proudfather94]

Very fair and level-headed response, unlike others here. I’m honestly not sure. I’ve made a lot of personal sacrifices over the time of training, that I wish I could get back. The old medical adage that it’s a “lost decade” I’ve found to be more true than I ever desired. As such, it has soiled the experience for me. I’ve also grown very tired of the vast exploitation that is medical training. Being an attending only shifts that exploitation, IMO. Ever so true now with big business taking over medicine. Im hopeful things are better once I’m done with training. Unsure. If not, I will pay off my debt and get out completely. That or cut back my hours ridiculously to however low I can to still earn a modest income.

Good luck to you.

There's supposedly going to be alot of physicians retiring soon. Do you think that the shortage that will come from that will give physicians more power to fight for better pay and living conditions?

 

[Deecee2DO]

I've never done any research and have little idea of what you actually do. Any advice on finding/doing research to build a competitive app, especially as a DO with no research at my own school?

Best advice is to email research coordinators at a bunch of academic places you are interest in and then ask them if they have any research opportunities for you. You have to hustle and cold email these people. You can also find DOs on the roster at Academic places u want to go to and network amongst them ask them what specialty they are pursuing and ask them if they have a PI they can connect you with. This is how I ended up getting research. I ended up cold emailing tons of residents which ended up with gettin to know them over the years and in the end when residency interviews roll around can lead to “hey can you put in a good word for me with the PD and signal my strong interest in the program?”. PDs take senior residents input very seriously so a little tip as well is keep track of the year the resident is in when you contact them as an M2 or M3 and see if you can time it to where when you are an M4 they are a senior or chief and they have pull (this is what i did its kinda sneaky but it can really help you out). You gotta network as a DO if you want to match at an upper tier program Having the scores and the grades are required because everyone does at the best places but having the connections ans the research will make you a standout DO applicant that can hang with the big dawgs. I have an interview at a place in December I have no business interviewing at as a DO in a million years but I know its because of my research experiences and academic letters I got from networking. You are doing a great thing getting involved with research!

 

[Deecee2DO]

Thanks so much! I will definitely get on this as soon as I have my studying methods down, hopefully soon. So for the work itself, I assume you did it remotely? Is it mostly busywork like data entry, writing up summaries, etc? How much time did you spend weekly on average with your research? Do you have tips on how to get the most out of your time doing research, and finally, how many publications did you end up with?

Thanks again for sharing!

Yes remotely! Mostly looking up research on pubmed and citing stuff writing up sections. Data entry is part of it but I didnt do too much of that. Best tips I can give you is boards and 3rd year clerkship grades in your specialty of interest come first as far as time priority. I would work on something like a few hours per week but always always always stay on top of your PIs deadlines you want them to think highly of you so they can vouch for you during residency interviews and write you a good LOR. Download Endnote it is very good for citing stuff as you write its a microsoft word add on and links stuff with pubmed so it will cite as you write. I ended up with 5 pubs and have submitted 8 so waiting on acceptance from those probs will update programs when they roll in

 

[DO2015CA]

I’m genuinely glad that has been your experience, truthfully. Hasn’t been mine and, from my vantage point, the majority of physicians I know/ interact with.

Very fair and level-headed response, unlike others here. I’m honestly not sure. I’ve made a lot of personal sacrifices over the time of training, that I wish I could get back. The old medical adage that it’s a “lost decade” I’ve found to be more true than I ever desired. As such, it has soiled the experience for me. I’ve also grown very tired of the vast exploitation that is medical training. Being an attending only shifts that exploitation, IMO. Ever so true now with big business taking over medicine. Im hopeful things are better once I’m done with training. Unsure. If not, I will pay off my debt and get out completely. That or cut back my hours ridiculously to however low I can to still earn a modest income.

Good luck to you.

It gets better is all I’m saying. I still have days I regret it and think about leaving. These tend to surround my 80h/week rotations. I 100% agree about physician exploitation. I think healthcare administration is the worst thing to ever happen to medicine. It might be too late for you. But I recommend to everyone to pick a specialty that can work outside of a hospital. That way you can say suck it and go to a better situation.

 

[NY_Med]

Dude you’re a freaking M1. I’ve been in this **** for over 7 years. circle back when you’ve earned some stripes. Otherwise, you have quite literally no idea what you’re talking about, just like the preclinical PhD who, very weirdly, always prances around here like he knows what’s he’s talking about

Damn, when did Jay Cutler lose his sense of humor?