This post is wrong IMHO for many reasons
Thats very helpful... it is also solely opinion based which the OP said they didn't want.. they were asking about differences in requirements of the programs
But : the 'best', big name general surgery programs tend to be malignant. Do you really end up a better surgeon if you have to work long hours way past the cap that you don't even remember afterwards?
Quite a big sweeping generalization that I mostly disagree with, but since neither of us did residency at the 'best' big name programs (you might have done it at one)... And you also claim that this does make you a better surgeon, which also might be a falsehood, but if it is true, then there are definately people out there that are willing to put in the "extra" work if it makes them a better surgeon...
If you study for the USMLE as well as your regular boards, that diverts a lot of your resources away from other things that you could be using to maximize your chances of success. If you'll notice, your odds are not good for matching any ACGME programs at all. The match has gotten a lot more competitive, and being osteopathic is going to count against you lots of places.
This is just a weird statement... not all ACGME programs require USMLE scores, and if they do, they don't require COMLEX scores... plus, unfortunately one of the biggest things they look at is your USMLE score (as well as LOR, but you don't look for LOR's when you are studying for Step 1 which is much more valuable than Step 2 in the process)... so, to divert energy for 4-6 weeks to maximize your Step 1 score is one of the best investments to match competitively
You're trying to steal a spot from an allopathic student. Your own organization won't allow allopathic students to compete for AOA spots. It's not just that PDs will thinking you must have been academically weaker if you're osteopathic, they'll think it is unfair to be giving you a spot when there are so many well qualified allopathic students also competing for the same seat.
Up until this paragraph it seemed like you were an DO student with a grudge against the process against you. Now it seems like you are an MD student with a grudge against DO students who enter the Allopathic match. Not all PDs out there think of DO as academically weaker than MD programs, because frankly they aren't. There are the notions that pre-med you were weaker by going to DO (but not all DO students are those that failed to get into MD schools), and typically PDs don't have the notion of entitlement for Allopathic students to get allopathic residencies, at academic centers they feel they are stronger applicants, but most community programs have no issue... some might have a bias against non US citizens (which you can look at the NRMP/ERAS forum for several threads about the debate on how the match is run and whether it should exclude non Allo students).
But the big reason : there are a whole bunch of AOA ortho spots. Rethink general surgery, will you? Orthopods work better hours, do lots of cool cases, make more money, and commonly known to be happier.
This is also a weird and unusual statement. I am going into gen surgery, and would HATE to do ortho. Surgery is not just about how cool the cases you do are. I like the pathophysiology, the diagnosis, the management, and the finese of general surgery, most of which is lost in ortho in exchange for power tools, brute force, and little else (ortho onc is slightly different). I also don't think they necessarily work better hours and i don't know if it is commonly known they are happier. There might also be a bias against a DO orthopod too? Maybe.