New to podiatry, need some questions answered!

[iliveinmyguitar]

Hey guys, I am looking into Podiatry at the moment. I graduated from college as a Bio major in May 2014 and am currently on my gap year. I was originally planning on applying to DO schools in October but due to my MCAT and a family situation I had to postpone applying. I've recently stumbled upon Podiatry and to me it sounds like something I will be interested in.

So here are my stats:

GPA: 3.45
sGPA: 3.5
MCAT: 23 (6V,7PS, 10BS), 23(5V,9PS, 9BS)

Education
Biology Major and Chemistry Minor
Dean’s list, September2012- May 2014
BLS certified
Bilingual

Work Experience

Clinical Assistant @emergency Department
Waiter/ Busboy @ restaurant Restaurant
Home security and entertainment company
Chemistry Tutor on campus
Private Guitar/ Music Tutor in my town

Extra-Curricular Activities

Biology Research Experience@ College
Co-Historian/Co-Vice President of Club
Member of Phi Delta Epsilon

Volunteer Work

EMS in my town
Senior Center helping out on the weekend

Hobbies/Interests

· Writing and Producing music
· Self-improvement and reading
· Exercising and hiking
· Meditation
· Cooking
· Traveling
- Really good at Trivia Crack lol jk

Questions:

What do I need to apply? Recommendation letters? shadowing?

Am I competitive? my GPA/MCAT/ ECs

What schools around the East Coast would you recommend for me? So far I have only heard of Temple and the school in NYC.

Is there a high demand for the service that podiatrists provide? I would imagine that Diabetic patients are common. How about sport medicine/ surgery? How does private practice fit into all of this?

Hows the $$$? I personally don't care as long as it allows for a comfortable lifestyle, but my parents ARE particularly interested in this aspect of my future lol.

So is it 2 years in class and 2 year clinical followed by 2-3 years of residency? how does that work?

I probably have alot more questions but if you guys can help me with this I will be greatly appreciative. I am going to go see a podiatrist that has a practice on the street that I live on, how convenient, and see if I could shadow him.

Thanks again guys!

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[SLCpod]

There is a thread for this.

You're good.

When to apply: Now

Competitive? Yes.

Schools? Any of your choosing

Demand? There is a high demand.

$$? Good.

Education? 4 years of med school with a 3 year residency.

A good place to find the information about these things is probably your pre-professional advisor at your school. They will have a lot of materials about the profession and have the resources to tell you accurate and unbiased facts.

The best online resource with detailed answers for your questions is here: http://www.aacpm.org/html/careerzone/pdfs/2015 CIB.pdf

Best of luck in your research.

 

[iliveinmyguitar]

Sweet thanks! I did look through the threads and they were very helpful. But just so I have a vague idea, when is the latest I can apply to say, Temple or NYCPM? I know they have deadlines up on the websites but sometimes that doesnt mean much if its a rolling admission. I called a podiatrists office today and left my number with the secretary. So hopefully I will be shadowing soon. How important is LOR for pod schools?

 

[SLCpod]

You need to call the schools you want to go to and asks these questions. They will tell you how full the class is and when they expect to be full. I am sure they will also be happy to tell you what LOR's they will need.

 

[BoilerPod]

There are only 9 podiatry schools in the country, so those are the only two schools on the east coast. There are probably still some spots, so I would move quickly. A recommendation letter from a podiatrist you have shadowed is required, so keep that in mind too.

All podiatrists are technically surgeons, although you don't necessarily have to do surgery in practice.

 

[referee3]

Patience is a virtue OP. Retake the MCAT, get more clinical experience and apply DO.