New admission's standards?

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Dr_Feelgood

I know that we have been discussing the admissions so I thought that everyone might be interested in knowing why people see pods as want-to-be DOs or MDs. Our very own Viet4, telling us how dedicated he is to being the best pod, and guess what he's been begging for scraps from the DO forums. Check out the threads he's started elsewhere:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/search.php?searchid=1512392

This is why people make assumptions about our level of commitment to podiatry. Maybe we should all start expecting more form all of our schools, so we stop letting in the garbage from the other programs.

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Ah yes, the reality of podiatry is beaming through cyberspace....

It's wrong to let in a student with poor mcat scores, but who is willing to work for his/her grades, but it's "wink-wink" to pass along the smart gnats (who got those high mcat scores of 19 and 20) by letting them hoard those beloved old podiatry exams and pretend to be smarter than those dumb average goats?

Gee, we'd better be careful what rabble we let in! We wouldn't want to ruin our reputation and academic integrity with low mcats!

I don't know, but maybe we should start somewhere other than the “admissions booth” to hone our already sharp reputation!

To be honest, I wonder why many residency programs have academic interviews instead of more social ones…. Hey, those podiatry grades really do mean something…. Honest!!!

I know an Ivy league level education when I see one! I would actually like to see each residency programs give their own admissions tests... on top of those podiatry school honor rolls lists.....

Listen up residency programs, life is unusual in the podiatry ether zone! Please, grill us in basic sciences without mercy!!!! We want to impress you with our hard-earned and expensive educations! Ask us about biochemistry! anatomy! and go heavy on the physiology! Throw in a few good questions about microbiology and genetics too! That should warm us up for your next Q's about clinical skills and our fabulous surgical skills!

Then test our honesty and ask us if we ever used old tests without the permission of the professor! Lol, ethics is important in medicine too! Maybe even ask how much they (old tests) played in our GPA! There is nothing better than knowing that your resident (podiatry employee) is an honest chap(ett) and you can TRUST him or he to be honest about the little things in life!!


But then again, you may have already "stumbled" across some of those “ivy-league” podiatry educations before!

I don’t know, maybe I have it all wrong, I guess I was kind of concerned about who we were letting out more than who we were letting in!

Go figure!
 
What do you all except wiskers think about....

Do you think the AACPM or APMSA should mandate that all schools only accept the MCAT - and no other GRE, DATs... scores. We are after all a branch of allopathic medicine. We are not grad schools - GRE, and I don't know if any of you took the GRE but I did for a little fun and it was almost the same as the SATs except now you have a college education to help out. Imagine taking the SATs after you finished college don't you think you'd score like 300 more points at least unless you already got perfect scores?

And we will not be dentists - DAT.

So in conclusion we should only accept MCAT scores and a minimum of 25.
 
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krabmas said:
What do you all except wiskers think about....

Do you think the AACPM or APMSA should mandate that all schools only accept the MCAT - and no other GRE, DATs... scores. We are after all a branch of allopathic medicine. We are not grad schools - GRE, and I don't know if any of you took the GRE but I did for a little fun and it was almost the same as the SATs except now you have a college education to help out. Imagine taking the SATs after you finished college don't you think you'd score like 300 more points at least unless you already got perfect scores?

And we will not be dentists - DAT.

So in conclusion we should only accept MCAT scores and a minimum of 25.

That's so ridiculous! PODIATRY SCHOOLS should not accept any test than the MCAT. the fact is we cannot change the profession all ay once. we need to be patient to let go the old fashion ones who refuse to make important correction whithin the profession. we cannot say minimum 25 but they should require aminimum in each part ( like 8 in bio 6-7 in verbal and 8 in the other section. I think students from all podiatry schools should come together to define the future of the profession.
 
krabmas said:
What do you all except wiskers think about....

Do you think the AACPM or APMSA should mandate that all schools only accept the MCAT - and no other GRE, DATs... scores. We are after all a branch of allopathic medicine. We are not grad schools - GRE, and I don't know if any of you took the GRE but I did for a little fun and it was almost the same as the SATs except now you have a college education to help out. Imagine taking the SATs after you finished college don't you think you'd score like 300 more points at least unless you already got perfect scores?

And we will not be dentists - DAT.

So in conclusion we should only accept MCAT scores and a minimum of 25.

I agree that stronger admission requirements should be implemented. Some people get accepted before taking the MCATs. Its all for monetary reasons. A minimum of 25 may be a little high. There are many DO schools with lower MCAT averages than that. And its not all about the scores. But there should be some standard set. Fortunately, the curriculum at most schools weed out those who are not prepared to work in medicine. I think the biggest problem are those few who use podiatry as a back-up and end up not enjoying what they do. They become disgruntled and loud, giving a negative perspective to the profession. Though I think that occured more in the past than now. And with standardized residency training we will become more recognized as leaders in lower extremity pathology. The public will become more aware at what we do and therefore attract more applicants.
 
IlizaRob said:
I agree that stronger admission requirements should be implemented. Some people get accepted before taking the MCATs. Its all for monetary reasons. A minimum of 25 may be a little high. There are many DO schools with lower MCAT averages than that. And its not all about the scores. But there should be some standard set. Fortunately, the curriculum at most schools weed out those who are not prepared to work in medicine. I think the biggest problem are those few who use podiatry as a back-up and end up not enjoying what they do. They become disgruntled and loud, giving a negative perspective to the profession. Though I think that occured more in the past than now. And with standardized residency training we will become more recognized as leaders in lower extremity pathology. The public will become more aware at what we do and therefore attract more applicants.

I agree with that - the public will start to recognize us and we will atract more applicants.

I just can't stand the a$$hole MD students who are better than thou and want to rip the scalpels out of our hands.
 
krabmas said:
I agree with that - the public will start to recognize us and we will atract more applicants.

I just can't stand the a$$hole MD students who are better than thou and want to rip the scalpels out of our hands.

Well, I think that medicine attracts that kind of personality. They want the prestige. They probably thought they were better than everyone else while growing up. This is evident in different specialties of medicine. The surgeon bags on the FP and ortho doc bags on the cardiologist. The competetive attitude does not stop at medical school. Its the false notion of "my career defines my character and integrity". This is the type of people that are attracted to the attention of being a doctor. So I think its safe to say that its not so much an "MD vs DPM" thing as it is a "Im better than you" thing regardless of who it is. And the more threatening a person is to him, the more condescending he will be. This is a generalization. I know that there are many MDs etc who are not like this.
 
I also do think that they should only accept the MCAT as the standardized test. There should be a minimum of 6 in every section and 2.75 GPA. That is the minimum standard for most MD/DO programs. With the minimum, you shouldn't be getting anywhere anyways. If those were the standards, it would reduce the number of qualified applicants but to solve that, class sizes should be reduced.
 
gsrimport said:
I also do think that they should only accept the MCAT as the standardized test. There should be a minimum of 6 in every section and 2.75 GPA. That is the minimum standard for most MD/DO programs. With the minimum, you shouldn't be getting anywhere anyways. If those were the standards, it would reduce the number of qualified applicants but to solve that, class sizes should be reduced.


6x3 is only 18. That is really low I like the 23 better. 6 points is less then half of the possible points. at least a 7 in everything. Even on our boards this year (part 1) you needed to get at least 55% correct to pass that is a little more than half. So it only makes sense that on the MCAT you should get at least half the possible points. (each section is out of 15)
 
Krabmas, I agree with you. I stated that with the minimum, no one should be getting anywhere anyways. With 18 as the minimum, it automatically discourages those to apply with below that score. I also think that a MCAT of 21+ is a qualified applicant or a recommended score.
 
Admissions would drastically drop if there were these minimums. If someone gets above a 25, there is a good chance they could get into a DO school. Besides this, 25 is a pretty low standard anyways. Why not higher... say around 30?
 
billclinton said:
Admissions would drastically drop if there were these minimums. If someone gets above a 25, there is a good chance they could get into a DO school. Besides this, 25 is a pretty low standard anyways. Why not higher... say around 30?


GO study something so you don't accidentaly kill your patients in the future :idea:
 
Hey everybody,

bill, I don't think admissions would drop, just look at it as a way of trimming the fat. Medical schools unfortunately should not allow every Tom, Dick, and Harry because they decide on a whim that they should be a doctor. Higher standards with test scores are an easier way to weed those out who are not serious about becoming a doctor. If medical school was easy, everyone would be doing it. We are trying to help people, not make macaroni art for them.
 
Dr.Nick said:
Hey everybody,

bill, I don't think admissions would drop, just look at it as a way of trimming the fat. Medical schools unfortunately should not allow every Tom, Dick, and Harry because they decide on a whim that they should be a doctor. Higher standards with test scores are an easier way to weed those out who are not serious about becoming a doctor. If medical school was easy, everyone would be doing it. We are trying to help people, not make macaroni art for them.

I think that Nick has a point, if we were to up standards maybe pod haters like you really would get off of our backs. It is funny how the ignorant really think that we went into podiatry because we could not get into DO/MD school (notice how I put DO before MD). That is true for some people and I can gurantee that there are people on this site that chose podiatry as a last resort. But, that is a few and we dont like them anyway :) most are here because we love podiatry. I think that we upped the standards we would be losing some of the fat and that would be good because the fact is that most of the "fat" ends up quitting school anyways. I truly feel some schools take these students for their own revenue knowing full well that they will never make it. That is why I believe more schools need a cap, start making podiatry more elite in people's mind. If it takes raising the standards then so be it. I think that the views on podiatry are changing for the better and that we could move in this direction with ease.
 
Dr.Nick said:
Hey everybody,

Tom, Dick, and Harry because they decide on a whim that they should be a doctor.

Is the Tom, Dick And Very Nervous Harry?
 
Admission standards are something I've been giving some thought to lately. While I'm all for raising MCAT score mins, you all have to realize that pod schools are also a bussiness that need to make money....lots of it in order to improve programs and facilities. I don't think school's really care if people can't make it pass their first year, as long as the school gets 20some thousands dollars out of the deal. Yeah its not the best way to run a program, but seats need to be filled and money needs to be made to sustain programs.
 
TeamSkene's said:
Admission standards are something I've been giving some thought to lately. While I'm all for raising MCAT score mins, you all have to realize that pod schools are also a bussiness that need to make money....lots of it in order to improve programs and facilities. I don't think school's really care if people can't make it pass their first year, as long as the school gets 20some thousands dollars out of the deal. Yeah its not the best way to run a program, but seats need to be filled and money needs to be made to sustain programs.

I totally understand what you are saying. The problem is that not all colleges of podiatric medicine are affiliated with a medical school. It is a lot easier for those schools to pick and chose candidates because, financially, they are much better off. For schools standing on their own, you're absolutely right, it's a business. If they don't take basically everyone that applies, they'll have to close their doors.
The problem is that many people flunk out or are pushed through schooling when, in all truth, they probably are not cut out for medicine. Whether they don't pass boards, don't get a residency, or don't get sufficient training, they become very bitter against the profession. Just take a look at Network54! You've got people talking about failing boards multiple times, not getting residencies, not getting good jobs, etc. Sure, they must take some responsibility but so must our profession.
For you pod students and podiatric physicians, you all know what I'm talking about. We've all met people that do not belong. (Ilizarob???????) :laugh:
 
OOK said:
That's so ridiculous! PODIATRY SCHOOLS should not accept any test than the MCAT. the fact is we cannot change the profession all ay once. we need to be patient to let go the old fashion ones who refuse to make important correction whithin the profession. we cannot say minimum 25 but they should require aminimum in each part ( like 8 in bio 6-7 in verbal and 8 in the other section. I think students from all podiatry schools should come together to define the future of the profession.

Podiatry Schools used to only accept MCAT scores. I believe Class of 2003 was the last class that Podiatry schools required MCAT scores for admission. After that class, they started to accept GRE or DAT scores as alternative tests for admission. Since applicant pool is on the rise, they should revert back to old standard and accept only MCAT scores for admission.
 
Dr.Nick said:
Hey everybody,

bill, I don't think admissions would drop, just look at it as a way of trimming the fat. Medical schools unfortunately should not allow every Tom, Dick, and Harry because they decide on a whim that they should be a doctor. Higher standards with test scores are an easier way to weed those out who are not serious about becoming a doctor. If medical school was easy, everyone would be doing it. We are trying to help people, not make macaroni art for them.

Tom = Tendon of Tibialis Posterior
Dick = Tendon of Flexor Digitorum Longus
A = Posterior Tibial Artery
N = Tibial Nerve
Harry = Tendon of Flexor Hallucis Longus

These are the structures posterior to the medial malleolus that pass deep to the flexor retinaculum.

Just a little FYI for non-pods and pre-pods. ;)
 
Dr_Feelgood said:
I know that we have been discussing the admissions so I thought that everyone might be interested in knowing why people see pods as want-to-be DOs or MDs. Our very own Viet4, telling us how dedicated he is to being the best pod, and guess what he's been begging for scraps from the DO forums. Check out the threads he's started elsewhere:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/search.php?searchid=1512392

This is why people make assumptions about our level of commitment to podiatry. Maybe we should all start expecting more form all of our schools, so we stop letting in the garbage from the other programs.

Again what is your deal? I'm not begging for anything more like asking for advices. If you dont have anything positive to say.. dont say anything. Yeah i understand that i did switch around a lot but hey it's better to switch around now than later on in life when i've been through it all... sorry i'm not as decisive as you.. even though you didn't say that "oh did I say i was decisive all through life" but hey your words give its own impressions.. and you'll probably say, " I was the first one who asked you if pod was what your really wanted and if not retake your mcat again.." well DR. Thanks for the great advices but that doesn't give you the right to say crap about me whenever you want... and I'm going to take my own advice that it's not fair for my patients and pod field to become a pod just because I didn't want to take the mcat again.. however I am planning on retaking it and applying to DO schools so you can just shut up from now on... some people need to switch around before he or she really know what to do with their life. Hell some undergrad switch their majors llike 10 times..
 
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