Residencies that DO's should not apply to

[DO_or_Die]

I feel like I'm a rather competitive DO student. 250+ step 2, 685+ Comlex 2, hundreds of hours of consistent volunteer, research etc. I'm applying peds or psych. When I'm looking on residency explorer I see many top tier programs that have matched 0% DO's. I'm not sure if that means they don't interview DO's at all or what.

I hate the thought of wasting money on a program that will only trash my application because of my credentials. Anyone know of any programs specifically that it would be a complete waste to apply to? Thank you.

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[AlbinoHawk DO]

Yeah, there will be programs that will screen you out by pressing a button that basically says "only see US MD grads." The problem is many places won't say this directly. Many places will lie and say they'll consider. The worst is you can't rely on ranks alone. Some places simply don't get DO grads applying. If I were you, I'd apply 90% to programs that have at least 1 DO in their roster and 10% to reaches

 

[DO_or_Die]

Yeah, there will be programs that will screen you out by pressing a button that basically says "only see US MD grads." The problem is many places won't say this directly. Many places will lie and say they'll consider. The worst is you can't rely on ranks alone. Some places simply don't get DO grads applying. If I were you, I'd apply 90% to programs that have at least 1 DO in their roster and 10% to reaches

That's just really a shame. I'm biased but there's no difference between us and them other than perhaps a better MCAT. We should come together as physicians rather than looking down on each other. But I hear you, I might apply to 5 'reach schools' but some of the programs that don't take DO's didn't even strike me as programs with that big of a name attached to them which is the really surprising part.

 

[deleted1139416]

Yeah, there will be programs that will screen you out by pressing a button that basically says "only see US MD grads." The problem is many places won't say this directly. Many places will lie and say they'll consider. The worst is you can't rely on ranks alone. Some places simply don't get DO grads applying. If I were you, I'd apply 90% to programs that have at least 1 DO in their roster and 10% to reaches

Problem with JUST 1DO is that it could have been a unique connection

 

[Arabia Magna]

How accurate are the residency composition by degree type statistics in residencyexplorer.org? Would it be smart to just not apply to any program with <~15% DOs if applying in a moderately competitive specialty, or any specialty for that matter (outside of FM)? I pose this question to our more experienced posters.

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

Problem with JUST 1DO is that it could have been a unique connection

Or it could be that it opened the door for you. I wouldn't discount it easily. I was the only DO in my class during residency and fellowship. No DO faculty at all. I didn't have any connections. There were 2 DOs that were matched after me

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

Apply where you want to go. Pediatrics is DO friendly and with a strong board score set they'll eat you up. Psych isn't very competitive, but most psych programs are more interested in some sort of story, experience, etc than they are your boards.

 

[BorntobeDO?]

Or it could be that it opened the door for you. I wouldn't discount it easily. I was the only DO in my class during residency and fellowship. No DO faculty at all. I didn't have any connections. There were 2 DOs that were matched after me

Agree completely. 'Waste' some money applying on reachs. Its really hard to tell who will screen you out. Sometimes you get surprised by who offers you an interview. There are still less DO's than MD's by a lot in many specialties.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

Or it could be that it opened the door for you. I wouldn't discount it easily. I was the only DO in my class during residency and fellowship. No DO faculty at all. I didn't have any connections. There were 2 DOs that were matched after me

The problem is most DO schools lack legitimate mentorship to actually advise people to make good residency application choices.

 

[Ho0v-man]

I remember not applying to a program I was really interested in because they’d never taken a DO. I think they have 3 now. Just shoot your shot.

Edit: I forgot about signals since that started after I applied. Obviously save some for realistic programs I guess.

 

[DOVinciRobot]

How accurate are the residency composition by degree type statistics in residencyexplorer.org? Would it be smart to just not apply to any program with <~15% DOs if applying in a moderately competitive specialty, or any specialty for that matter (outside of FM)? I pose this question to our more experienced posters.

No that wouldn’t be smart. It’s really hard to predict who will be interested in your app or not.

I am the only DO in my program. We graduated one a few years ago but it’s rare to have DO’s here. If I did what you are saying above I wouldn’t be here. Zero connections, they just liked my app. If you can afford it then it’s worth it to throw some “let’s just see” apps.

 

[MifflinDunder]

I'm applying for heme-onc and avoided all fancy tier 1 programs filled with MDs. It just would've been a waste of $

I did apply to many regular university programs with no DOs in their roster. It was a shot worth taking

 

[djiboutiman]

If you have access to Texas STAR you can see which programs have interviewed DO applicants.