Podiatry Back up Plan

[Doctor Dream]

Hey there everyone,

I'll be entering my junior year of UG in about a month and am pursuing medical school (most interested in rural FM), won't be applying for a couple of years. In case med school application doesn't work out though, I'd like to go in to podiatry (shadowed a pod before pursuing med school).

I love the patient/caregiver dynamic, flexibility, and intellectual, social and moral gratification both jobs can offer. Also don't mind doing the extra schooling for a stable job I'll love and compensates well. I'm confident both jobs would suit me well and keep me excited to come to work day in and day out. I'm choosing MD/DO over DPM though because I enjoy the greater diversity of cases involved in FM, rather than feet day in and day out. Bottom line though is I want to be a medical doctor, and podiatry has many parallels to MD and DO obviously.

My question though, is how will my app be viewed by pod school adcoms if/when I apply to pod schools after being rejected by med school?

I understand pod schools may question my commitment to the field, but what can I do to best avoid this?

Thank you

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[YeastyMan]

no one will know that you got rejected from which schools except yourself

 

[hughesn2]

The pod schools will not know that you got rejected from a med school, but you do have to check a box on your application whether you have applied to other pre-professional schools. From the application this is the question: "Have you applied or will you apply to other Health Professions schools?" You just better make sure you have a great reason for the question to come in the interview: "Why podiatry?"

What can you do best to avoid this? Don't rejected from MD or DO school (I am kinda stating the obvious there). At least you have shadowed a podiatrist and aren't one of those typical seniors on here (over the last two yrs) who realized they got their MD or DO school rejection so they immediately apply to podiatry school without understanding the field.

 

[Doctor Dream]

The pod schools will not know that you got rejected from a med school, but you do have to check a box on your application whether you have applied to other pre-professional schools. From the application this is the question: "Have you applied or will you apply to other Health Professions schools?" You just better make sure you have a great reason for the question to come in the interview: "Why podiatry?"

What can you do best to avoid this? Don't rejected from MD or DO school (I am kinda stating the obvious there). At least you have shadowed a podiatrist and aren't one of those typical seniors on here (over the last two yrs) who realized they got their MD or DO school rejection so they immediately apply to podiatry school without understanding the field.

Thanks for the input, yea it wouldn't seem right to be pursuing a profession without learning and getting some hands on experience first.

What are some of the typical EC's successful pre-pod students do that a pre-med would not normally engage in? I'm already volunteering (clinical and non-clinical), tutoring, CNA, long term part-time job (not CNA work), shadowing, club leadership, etc. Is there anything else I should look in to as someone who may apply to podiatry school in the future? Obviously I would need more than one day of shadowing a podiatrist but is there anything else I should look in to?

 

[hughesn2]

You're already doing enough in my opinion. Just continue to shadow a podiatrist or two for a bit. For me I had shadowed my family friend podiatrist over the last 4yrs and it was easy for me to get a letter of recommendation from him because I have known him since I was 13 and shadowed him in HS.

The one positive thing about being pre-med as compared to pre-PA is that you don't need the clinical patient care hours, but it can't hurt for pre-med.

Since you are just an entering junior you have a lot of time to continue to shadow a podiatrist. Just like your pre-med route you need to take the MCAT and get your letters of recommendation. And since you are attempting to go both routes between DPM and DO/MD you should make sure that you mention to the teachers you eventually ask for the LORs see if they can not mention the Osteopathic or Allopathic Medicine in your podiatry letter.

 

[AttackNME]

I was rejected from MD school applications and I'm here doing residency. We take care of really sick patients with the increased prevalence of diabetes-related foot diseases, so our need for medical knowledge is ever increasing. If you practice in a rural area where there is no podiatrist available, I can guarantee you'll see a huge diversity of foot problems.

 

[Doctor Dream]

I was rejected from MD school applications and I'm here doing residency. We take care of really sick patients with the increased prevalence of diabetes-related foot diseases, so our need for medical knowledge is ever increasing. If you practice in a rural area where there is no podiatrist available, I can guarantee you'll see a huge diversity of foot problems.

Thanks for the reply! The rural city I'd like to practice in (my hometown) is about 30,000 people, and if the smaller cities around us are included I think it's somewhere around 50,000-60,000?

I'm not sure how many podiatrists are in my area, I shadowed a podiatrist that worked in a clinic owned by a hospital, and I know there's a Bone & Joint clinic as well as some private practices around here. I'm not sure if that's a lot of podiatrists for 60,000 people though.

The podiatrist I shadowed did a lot of the same procedures in a day, which is why I chose med over pod. She removed I think 3 or 4 ingrown toenails, trimmed 4 or 5 diabetic's nails, and removed calluses from them. I know n=1, but she said a day like that was pretty common. When I shadowed FM, he treated/diagnosed a bunch of different things. Nothing glamorous, but it ranged from abdominal and chest pain, to kidney infection, to an injured shoulder, herpes, depression, acne, etc.

Question for you though, did any pod schools question your commitment to podiatry, since you applied med first, and if so how did you respond? I realize pod schools don't necessarily know you applied MD, but they may be able to tell by your EC's. Thanks!

 

[hughesn2]

Question for you though, did any pod schools question your commitment to podiatry, since you applied med first, and if so how did you respond? I realize pod schools don't necessarily know you applied MD, but they may be able to tell by your EC's. Thanks!

What I was trying to say is that the podiatry school DOES know that you applied to either MD or DO. Unless you want to lie to them and see what happens if you do. You have to check a box on your application that says whether you applied to any pre-professional programs like MD, DO, PT, DDS

 

[Doctor Dream]

What I was trying to say is that the podiatry school DOES know that you applied to either MD or DO. Unless you want to lie to them and see what happens if you do. You have to check a box on your application that says whether you applied to any pre-professional programs like MD, DO, PT, DDS

Oh ok I see. No I obviously wouldn't lie to them. I'm still curious though how already applying to a different pre-professional program like MD or DO would affect adcoms' opinions

 

[hughesn2]

Based on what I have heard from past stories it affects their opinion if you have a lousy letter of recommendation from the podiatrist and you have basically no shadow experience (lets say less than 5 days shadowing). I am taking a guess that if you apply to MD, DO, and DPM you better make sure you have good answers to the "why podiatry?" in your personal statement. It is not like they are going to throw your application in a reject pile because you have other aspirations in life. You just have to WOW them in the personal statement and interview to show why you are interested in podiatry. (In my personal opinion)

 

[AttackNME]

Thanks for the reply! The rural city I'd like to practice in (my hometown) is about 30,000 people, and if the smaller cities around us are included I think it's somewhere around 50,000-60,000?

I'm not sure how many podiatrists are in my area, I shadowed a podiatrist that worked in a clinic owned by a hospital, and I know there's a Bone & Joint clinic as well as some private practices around here. I'm not sure if that's a lot of podiatrists for 60,000 people though.

The podiatrist I shadowed did a lot of the same procedures in a day, which is why I chose med over pod. She removed I think 3 or 4 ingrown toenails, trimmed 4 or 5 diabetic's nails, and removed calluses from them. I know n=1, but she said a day like that was pretty common. When I shadowed FM, he treated/diagnosed a bunch of different things. Nothing glamorous, but it ranged from abdominal and chest pain, to kidney infection, to an injured shoulder, herpes, depression, acne, etc.

Question for you though, did any pod schools question your commitment to podiatry, since you applied med first, and if so how did you respond? I realize pod schools don't necessarily know you applied MD, but they may be able to tell by your EC's. Thanks!

I don't think they knew, how would they know? In any case, they never asked me about my prior applications, only asked me questions related to why i wanna pursue podiatry.