Defer DO school to take Gerogetown SMP and reapply MD?

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DObound

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This cycle is not going as good as I hoped. I got 5 MD rejections so far out of 15 schools I have applied. Things are not looking that great. However, I have been accepted to PCOM. I got 30 MCAT and 3.21 UG GPA.

I am grateful that I got accepted to at least one school but I do not feel that thrilled about PCOM and much less thrilled about Philadelphia. I also feel that going into DO cuts the number of specialties I can get into. I do not want to get into MD vs. DO thing here. I respect both philosophies. There are some things that I like and dislike about each of these teachings, but ultimately I feel my heart lies closer to MD.

Here is the question. Do you guys think it would be OK to defer at PCOM for this year in favor of going into SMP (i.e. G-town). I am still taking classes and I feel my next year MD application will be stronger. If I can’t get into MD program again, I will just go to PCOM. The advantage of getting a SMP is that I will be more ready for medical school classes regardless whether it is DO or MD school. Any thoughts on this? Is this ethical?

Thank you.
 
Can someone move it to pre-allo? I think I posted in the wrong forum.
 
I don't think PCOM will let you take a deferment so you can apply to MD schools. I mean, you can try, but it probably ain't going to work. Were you so unimpressed by PCOM that you outright dislike the school? Other than that, I'm not sure how MD schools handle you cancelling an acceptance to a DO school. Someone else would have to answer about that issue.
 
Not happy about school/city. Well, I wont tell them the exact reason I am deferring of course... MD schools will not find out that I have a DO deferral?
 
DObound said:
Not happy about school/city. Well, I wont tell them the exact reason I am deferring of course... MD schools will not find out that I have a DO deferral?
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Well, besides the ethical qualms (I know you really want to go to medical school, but do you want to outright lie?), that may work. However, if you seek a deferral, I think you are legally obligated to go to that school. I'm not quite sure.

Hopefully, one of the more experienced med students or more knowledgeable pre-meds can answer more completely.
 
At the PCOM open house I asked about deferring and they said only under extenuating circumstances. For your reason you will be denied. I guess if you fake a major life altering operation that has recovery last the duration of your SMP you may be OK. But on your applications you will more than likely be asked if you were ever admitted to a medical school. Lying on the application is like jumping into a meat grinder. Its not pretty.
 
Jesus Christ man, PCOM is probably one of the best DO programs out there...if you had no allopathic school to fall back upon you would be a fool to pass it up.

Oh, and you could pal around with Ahaydt in your spare time. I'm going to apply to several Philly schools solely for that chance. 😉
 
Is that your science GPA? If it is indeed in that range, you definitely could benefit from an SMP. It's great that you're trying to address your shortcomings. At this point, though, it's still totally early in the game, and you may get an interview and acceptance from your remaining schools. The SMP is a great plan B, but I would try to stay optimistic. Good luck!
 
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I just wanted to add - please do not count on getting into the Georgetown SMP unless you have been accepted already. Competition for any post-bacc/SMP program is fierce, and waiting lists are generally several hundred people long, not to mention those that do not get in at all. It might be to your advantage to make this decision once you have the SMP acceptance in-hand, rather than pass up PCOM ... you could also wait it out - it's still early in the interviewing season.
 
DObound said:
This cycle is not going as good as I hoped. I got 5 MD rejections so far out of 15 schools I have applied. Things are not looking that great. However, I have been accepted to PCOM. I got 30 MCAT and 3.21 UG GPA.

I am grateful that I got accepted to at least one school but I do not feel that thrilled about PCOM and much less thrilled about Philadelphia. I also feel that going into DO cuts the number of specialties I can get into. I do not want to get into MD vs. DO thing here. I respect both philosophies. There are some things that I like and dislike about each of these teachings, but ultimately I feel my heart lies closer to MD.

Here is the question. Do you guys think it would be OK to defer at PCOM for this year in favor of going into SMP (i.e. G-town). I am still taking classes and I feel my next year MD application will be stronger. If I can't get into MD program again, I will just go to PCOM. The advantage of getting a SMP is that I will be more ready for medical school classes regardless whether it is DO or MD school. Any thoughts on this? Is this ethical?

Thank you.
Click to expand...



Honestly, I would take the acceptance. Why did you bother applying DO if you were for sure you didn't want to do that? And I am not trying to start an MDvsDO war either, but they are essentially the same thing, with the same specialty opportunities. Your career and education are pretty much what you make of it, not what letters you have after your nametag.

A lot of people seem to think that if you enroll in an SMP you are guaranteed acceptace or something. The SMP route is tough as nails (especially Gtown, and its also tough to get in); and you still may be rejected. And it's 35,000 more clams than you would otherwise spend on your education. So I would only do it as a last resort and if I didn't get accepted anywhere.

If you turn down an acceptance at PCOM to do an smp, DO schools will pay no attention to your application next year because they would know your only trying to get in an MD school and don't care about their philosophy. So you would shoot those chances in the foot.

Take the acceptance. Go be a doctor.....
 
ahaydt said:
I actually host great times, sir or maam... I'm not sure. You would be missing out by not matriculating with me.
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I know....there was nothing facetious about my comment. 🙂
 
a word about the smp program at g'town...altho i am not an smp graduate, i share many of my classes with the current smp's. of a class of about 150-160, only about 20 get accepted to georgetown each year, with about that many getting accepted to schools elsewhere...the rest, thanks, try again. you basically have to be prepared to honor every single course (and you are graded against whatever curve the med students set). it is a highly stressful year, and many of the smp's are probably more stressed out than the M1's are around exam blocks. i dont think any of them would be doing it if they had a guaranteed acceptance somewhere, no matter where it was. your medical education is what you make of it, not just the school.
 
WTF?

Are you kidding me?

Let me ask you something:




When you say your "heart" lies closer to allopathic medicine, WHAT EXACTLY DOES THAT MEAN?




What about allopathic medicine do you like?



And don't give us the "you don't like Philly" BS, because you're talking about going to GWU of all places...LMAO...
 
Crazy4F1 said:
a word about the smp program at g'town...altho i am not an smp graduate, i share many of my classes with the current smp's. of a class of about 150-160, only about 20 get accepted to georgetown each year, with about that many getting accepted to schools elsewhere...the rest, thanks, try again. you basically have to be prepared to honor every single course (and you are graded against whatever curve the med students set). it is a highly stressful year, and many of the smp's are probably more stressed out than the M1's are around exam blocks. i dont think any of them would be doing it if they had a guaranteed acceptance somewhere, no matter where it was. your medical education is what you make of it, not just the school.
Click to expand...

SMP is a huge risk. If you are not top 10 to 15% (maybe 20% at the tougher ones), you can pretty much say GAME OVER
 
PilSeungKorea said:
MD's prestige >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Do's prestige. That is all 😀
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And this is the exact same post that you've made in other MD vs DO threads.

You have nothing to offer this conversation, so GTFO of it.

I will be waiting for an answer to my post by the way.
 
PilSeungKorea said:
MD's prestige >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Do's prestige. That is all 😀
Click to expand...

Except not really. When you tell the average person you're a doctor they're not going to go "MD or DO?".

Not to crap on the people that enjoy lording over others, just sayin...to the average person you're some guy in a white coat.
 
Originally Posted by PilSeungKorea
MD's prestige >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Do's prestige. That is all

Lose the alias.
:thumbs down:
 
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having attended gtownssmp last year, i do agree that it is a big expensive risk. with your current numbers, i believe u will get into the smp but those numbers will not carry u into an allo school. your acceptance to an allo school (getting an interview) will be determine almost entirely on your performance at gtown.

the number that is quoted is 50% of smp students matriculate into medical school directly after the program. based on my observations, i would say half of these students didnt need the program to get in anyways. their numbers are something like 33/3.5 but they just happened to apply late the year b4. this is not your case and it was not my case. someone mentioned in a post above, but to be a competitive applicant from the smp, u need to kick ass. not a 3.4 or a 3.5. no dice until u hit a 3.7... that means honoring half your classes, which means scoring in the top15% of med students at gtown, not the easiest task in the world when u are already stressed about dropping 35k for tuition and sweating bullets waiting for interviews, if they every come.

once again, and this is my opnion based only on observation, i would say half of the smp students who matriculate directly after the program did so because their numbers from undergrad were already or close to being golden. other students like me (32/3.2) relied mainly on the numbers earned during the smp to get an interview. its a big risk. all the smp student know that and are some of the most driven ppl u will ever meet. but not all make it. and pcom is a good school. fyi, i applied to DO schools during the smp, and would have gone in a heart beat if an allo school didnt come through.
 
So the question is, why did you apply to a school (and spend all that money and all that time on their secondaries/interviews) if you wouldn't consider going there?
 
ahaydt said:
your applications you will more than likely be asked if you were ever admitted to a medical school.
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Can the op say that he did not know that PCOM was in fact a med school?
 
Philly is a great city. What are you, scared?
 
hahaha yeah man turn down PCOM 👍👍


Go into the pre osteo forums and read up about people's opinions regarding PCOM.
 
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PilSeungKorea said:
Can the op say that he did not know that PCOM was in fact a med school?
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That is just hilarious...omg. If I was told that, I would immediately just reject the individual.
 
If you didn't want to go, you should never have applied. I don't have the experience, but here are my 2 cents anyway...if you did this, you would be shooting yourself in the foot. You might not get into any medical school, DO or MD, the next year. The adcoms could only interpret such action as very very strange, not something that's going to help you get into MD school next year.
 
Ok, let's call a spade a spade. You applied to a DO school as a backup. There's nothing shameful about that, a lot of us do it hoping to get into an MD program. If plan A doesn't work out, that's what plan B is for. Nobody makes plan B because they prefer it - if they did, it would be called plan A. If you get no MD acceptances (which are still possible, by the way), go to the DO school. Your specialty choices won't be irreparably damaged. Yes, you're going to have to take two sets of board exams depending on your decision but that's life.

At the end of the day, you'll still be a doc in your specialty. Yes, you are going to have to explain to people at dinner parties what a DO is. But none of your professional colleagues will distinguish between the two.

Bottom line, I think what you are proposing has a real possibility of backfiring. Plan B isn't that bad.
 
take what you already have, an acceptance, and be happy with it. that's my opinion. now do you dislike philly in general or do you just dislike it based on what you have heard?
yes the city is having some serious crime issues, but for the most part YOU will not be affected because if you go to PCOM you will be living and going to school on City Line Ave. That's considered a "posh" area of Philly, so unless you go wondering in West Philly, or Germantown at 3:00am the violence factor wont affect you. To put things in perspective i am a tiny skinny girl and have lived in philly since i was a kid, and have never been mugged/shot/assaulted...... because i make a note to be careful where i go and at what time, but what city person doesn't? so if you take your dislike of philly out of the equation it comes down to taking a chance on something and you might want to consider that:idea:
 
Yes, you are going to have to explain to people at dinner parties what a DO is.
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Not if you don't point out you're a DO. I don't know many osteopathic physicians that do this in social situations. They just say they are a physician and no one ever asks "Which degree do you have?" Hell, I don't know many of them who make it a point to tell their patients explicitly that they are a DO so they only have to explain it when someone sees their business card or something. Besides, how hard is it to go "It's the same as an MD so basically it's just a historical difference going back to the 1800s...sort of like how some schools still write their diplomas in Latin even though no one cares one way or another anymore"?
 
I just can't get over the fact that his self-selected name is "DObound" and yet he's wondering if he should pass over a DO acceptance to apply again next year...
 
Crazy4F1 said:
a word about the smp program at g'town...altho i am not an smp graduate, i share many of my classes with the current smp's. of a class of about 150-160, only about 20 get accepted to georgetown each year, with about that many getting accepted to schools elsewhere...the rest, thanks, try again. you basically have to be prepared to honor every single course (and you are graded against whatever curve the med students set). it is a highly stressful year, and many of the smp's are probably more stressed out than the M1's are around exam blocks. i dont think any of them would be doing it if they had a guaranteed acceptance somewhere, no matter where it was. your medical education is what you make of it, not just the school.
Click to expand...

Well this is simply inaccurate. About 55% of the SMP students are usually accepted after their first year (mostly MD schools and some DOs) and a good many more are accepted in the subsequent year or two (up to about 85%). Also, you might need to Honor a lot of the courses to get into Georgetown med, but you certainly do not need to Honor all of them for a shot at an MD school. A 3.5 overall (which = about half Honors) is sufficient if the rest of your application is good (besides your GPA of course, but that should still be above 3.0).

edit: OP, I don't think it's such a good idea to defer and do the SMP, however. It could very well help. BUT you've already been accepted somewhere and if they won't grant the deferral it could end up in you being blacklisted for not attending (makes it look like you're not committed to medicine). Then again, I'm not sure that MD schools (AMCAS) will even know about your acceptance to a DO school (AACOMAS).
 
tacrum43 said:
Well this is simply inaccurate. About 55% of the SMP students are usually accepted after their first year (mostly MD schools and some DOs) and a good many more are accepted in the subsequent year or two (up to about 85%). Also, you might need to Honor a lot of the courses to get into Georgetown med, but you certainly do not need to Honor all of them for a shot at an MD school. A 3.5 overall (which = about half Honors) is sufficient if the rest of your application is good (besides your GPA of course, but that should still be above 3.0).

edit: OP, I don't think it's such a good idea to defer and do the SMP, however. It could very well help. BUT you've already been accepted somewhere and if they won't grant the deferral it could end up in you being blacklisted for not attending (makes it look like you're not committed to medicine). Then again, I'm not sure that MD schools (AMCAS) will even know about your acceptance to a DO school (AACOMAS).
Click to expand...


whoops, sry. just going on what i had heard! i do think there are about 20 that actually stay at georgetown tho, at least based on this year's class.
 
Crazy4F1 said:
whoops, sry. just going on what i had heard! i do think there are about 20 that actually stay at georgetown tho, at least based on this year's class.
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No problem. 🙂

And 20-30 is about right for acceptance to Georgetown med from the SMP. It kinda depends on waitlist movement (although some are accepted straight away post-interview).
 
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thanks guys. I probably will not go to SMP... too tired to be hanging.
 
Polynikes said:
WTF?

Are you kidding me?

Let me ask you something:




When you say your "heart" lies closer to allopathic medicine, WHAT EXACTLY DOES THAT MEAN?




What about allopathic medicine do you like?



And don't give us the "you don't like Philly" BS, because you're talking about going to GWU of all places...LMAO...
Click to expand...

The thing that puzzles me that most of DOs actually do not use OMM at all when they are out of medical school (see my pre-osteo post about it)... that's a quote from Dean of Admissions from one good DO school. I had an MD interview a year ago and it seems that MD student are more throat-cutters than DO's.
 
I applied to both D.O. and M.D., and although I was accepted to both, I would have gone to the D.O. school in a heartbeat if thats what it came to. I think it is a tad bit disingenuous for a future doctor to wait an entire year just so they can change the initials behind their name. Look, you can get into any specialty you want with a D.O. -- allopathic residency programs judge on competency, exam scores, and other areas that do not include a candidates degree specification.

Unless you are counting on doing lab work or research, (which almost everyone can attest allopathic medical schools have a long head start on osteopathic schools in the research arena) you have no overwhelming reason not to go to D.O. school. Try to come to grips with the area in Philly -- its only four years, and then you'll move on. The way that I see: the degree is only a means to an end, the same end, no matter which way you go!! 🙄
 
PCOM is the hotness in the DO world... take it


BTW:
someone should make a form letter for "why DO schools are just as good as MD schools and blah blah" I've seen the same **** over and over so many times....
 
DObound said:
The thing that puzzles me that most of DOs actually do not use OMM at all when they are out of medical school (see my pre-osteo post about it)... that's a quote from Dean of Admissions from one good DO school. I had an MD interview a year ago and it seems that MD student are more throat-cutters than DO's.
Click to expand...
Many DOs "set up shop" for only OMM and treat very few other cases. Some don't use it. Some use it and run a regular practice. I doubt that is what the Dean meant. Its in use.
 
about a month ago, I got a match list from PCOM. about 35% of the graduates went into specialty residency other than primary care. there were couple neurosurgery spots as well.
At MSUCOM they emphasize the medical school academics as a teamwork(adding to the supportive evironment of the school). and their state wide post graduate program is quiet impressive. and the basic science courses are taken with the allo students in same class. Their specialty residency numbers may not be as high but they have graduates going into most toughest residency programs in Mayo, John Hopkins, etc each year.
Also,
Medical Director of UPenn Cardiology is a PCOM graduate.
If specialty is what you want, you can obtain it either way, allo or osteo.
I don't think it is worth pushing it off one year.
Good Luck!:luck:
 
ahaydt said:
Many DOs "set up shop" for only OMM and treat very few other cases. Some don't use it. Some use it and run a regular practice. I doubt that is what the Dean meant. Its in use.
Click to expand...

He said that in actuality most of DO will not use OMM ever again, but it enhances their comfort level with their patients and great for learning anatomy. Actually there are very few DOs that go into doing purely OMM. Some might use as one treatment methods. He explained that OMM is great for post-op care and pediatrics.
 
I don't understand this mentality. You've been given the opportunity to realize a huge part of your future. What about the MD could possibly so much better than the DO that it would make it worth endangering your opportunity?
 
DObound said:
He said that in actuality most of DO will not use OMM ever again, but it enhances their comfort level with their patients and great for learning anatomy. Actually there are very few DOs that go into doing purely OMM. Some might use as one treatment methods. He explained that OMM is great for post-op care and pediatrics.
Click to expand...
It is up to the physician to decide. The numbers may not be that high. But of those that use it, many will do OMM with other care, and a significant number will do OMM. He gave you the pros of OMM, run with it.

I still think there is too much risk: you're hoping to get the SMP and you're hoping to get admitted to an allopathic school. That's too much hope. Karma rears its ugly head and you don't want to be staring Karma in the face.
 
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