biocmp said:
If I have a 3.0 or a little less, but rock the MCAT, do I stand a chance at Scholl , DMU, or Temple? Apparently these are the schools so I was just wondering what you thought. I may have found a profession here due to my own recent interaction with a podiatrist. I have horribly flat feet and never had them checked but my back had been hurting for a while. (always active, playing sports or lifting) So I talked to a podiatrist and have an appointment set up. Anyway, just a side story.
I am new to this profession, but is it possible to specialize in sports medicine after podiatry school? Would I be limiting my practice range if I did such a internship?
I believe that Podiatry is a great field that has many opportunities in specialization. Currently Podiatry seems to be working towards a field of specialization in foot and ankle surgery. But, don't let that one area limit your thoughts. There is so many things you can do as a DPM: General Podiatrist, sports medicine, research, general and reconstructive surgery, trama in a hospital setting, ect... With an open playing field that PODS have with little competition, you know that there is always options to specialize in your choice. I believe that more and more ORTHOPODS (MD's/DO's) surgeons are letting the DPM's have the foot and ankle.
If you rocked the MCAT, but have a 2.8-3.0 GPA you should be a competitive applicant. If you apply right now, there are still a lot of seats left for the up coming year. Keep in mind that the only reason it is much easier to get accepted to a DPM program is because of the lack of competition. Honestly, in POD school you are learning just as much as MD/DO students with a common rigor in studies. However, the MD/DO programs take people with high MCAT's and GPA's because there are so many people applying to those programs. Honestly, Podiatry would be a much more competitive field to get into if every pre-med student knew what opportunities you have being such a specialist. You have better hours than Derms, don't have to be on-call, you can get into surgery without a stellar board pass rate and match list. Also, you have a better opportunity to have your own practice or be in private practice with a few other docs. I know that the booming trend seems to be in practice with a few specialist. A lot of Orthopedic Surgeons are taking in POD surgeons into their practice just to do foot and ankle surgeries. I personally know of a couple POD specialists in a sports medicine/orthopedic practice who make 200k+/year. Also I heard of a POD close to my hometown area who has started his own sports & orthopedic practice and has MD's, PA's, CRNA's, RN's working under him in this practice.
So, just do some more research and you need to shadow some pods. However, if you can, choose a pod to shadow that has simular interests. Some older pods do not have all the surgical residency training so they may just mainly treat nails, bunions, and corns with occasional simple surgerys. If you come across some of these pods, don't let this turn you away from Podiatry, there is a lot of different choices you have. Back in their day, residency training was very competitive (more residents than residency openings) and only competitive pod students could get the 1 year or 2 year surgical residency. So some PODS may seem limited when it comes to surgery. However, now-a-days there are a lot of residency openings and the scope is surgical specialization with 24month and 36month surgical residencies.
The main thing you need to think about now, is this something that you may want to dedicate yourself to. If so, I think you have a really good chance of getting accepted somewhere. Feel free to PM me if you have more questions.
