Totally worth it if primary care is definitely what you want to do. If you're unsure or are just doing it to knock off a year at school, go ISP.
Just to clarify, PCSP is actually strictly FP or IM now--they no longer allow Pediatrics or OB/GYN. I guess that residencies weren't too willing to accept PCSP students that only rotated through those specialties just once. Losing all of the electives kind of limits you there, especially with both of those specialties being fairly competitive these days.
Has anyone in this situation - interviewed, then requested to submit the DO letter - subsequently not been accepted?
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All of the pathways are together for anatomy block (anatomy, histology, and embryology), and lectures are mandatory for everyone during that time. Attending LDP lectures as an ISP student really isn't all that helpful. In fact, they'll usually confuse you more than anything else, as the LDP people tend to get a lot more extra "fluff" in their lectures that you won't have to cover in your modules. Also, while you can switch to LDP at any time, you might not be able to switch back to ISP ever again. Once you leave a pathway, you lose your spot, and ISP usually has a waiting list for people to switch into it.That's what I heard too - that you could attend any of the lectures that you wanted to as an ISP. Also, one of the main reasons I chose it 🙂
Not to mention, you can switch to LDP basically at any time if you would prefer. The first weeks I understood that ISP will be with LDP for anatomy (lecture + lab), so if have done those before I don't think you will get out of those lecture - not that I'm saying you would want to
LDP - now to find an apartment.
It is usually a list of chapters to read, and each chapter then has objectives that you have to answer. Exam questions come straight from the material covered in the objectives, so if you work your way through and cover everything, you're almost guaranteed to do well and learn everything you need for boards. Some modules include appendices or other extra resources to use with the textbook. Some modules you can use the LDP slides to answer the objectives and not even buy a textbook. I love the way ISP modules are set up--my time is spent on schoolwork is much more productive than sitting in lecture where I usually zone out after an hour.
The only new edition that I bought was for pharmacology. That's about the only subject really that changes on a regular basis. All of my other books were one edition older and cost me about 25% as much, some even less. And actually, a lot of the professors write the objectives using old editions, so a few of the core modules were actually easier for me (namely physiology and immunology.)
This year, PBL and only PBL used the software--ISP and LDP got to use cadavers in the lab. As bad as they smelled, I feel like I learned a lot better than I ever could have from a computer screen. Anatomy is one of those subjects where you need to see the 3D spatial arrangement of everything to truly understand it--pictures on a screen just can't pull that off.
It is my theory...and only a theory, uhm, I should say hypothesis that they only ask for a D.O. letter after they make a decision (that is not reject, but could be accept or waitlist). However, I'm not sure about later in the application season, or the fact that they are just pointing out that they there was something wrong with the letter. But it is possible if they meet yesterday and you got the letter since then that they have already reached a decision on your application. However, the sample size is still too small and it seems that people receiving rejections are not chiming in (which often happens in science where negative results are not published). Having said all that - Good luck! I hope you can get the D.O letter resolved quicky then you can tell us your good news
