My suggestion for getting a LOR from DO

Amy B · Aug 30, 2003

Hi all,

Just git back from an interview with a DO who has offered to write my LOR. Here's what I found out. Many DO' s turned me down to shadow them. This DO who I found throught my state's Osteopathic association.

He had me come for an "interview". I faxed him my personal statement, some secondary questions I had answered and my EC list. He read them before I came and knew all about me. He asked me more questions and we talked for 30 minutes. He told me a lot of private practice DO's don't allow pre-meds to shadow because they have paying patients, not like a clinic where the patients get free care and can expect some intrusions from students.

He has agreed to write my LOR and has also volunteered to help me with my choices if I get into more than one school. He specializes in OMM and did ask if I get accepted if I would like to come and watch some OMM procedures for one afternoon.

I checked with my schools and they said it is perfectly ok to get a LOR from a DO who has just interviewed you rather than trying to find someone to shadow for months.

ANyway, here is my experiance in how I got my LOR from a DO.

Chronotropic · Aug 30, 2003

HIPPA is making it hard to get direct exposure with any kind of physician (outside of maybe path or rads).

Heres what I did,

I asked my family doc if he knew of any DOs that I could contact. He gave me the name and numbers of two DOs he had worked with. I contacted one and was VERY straightforward about the whole situation. I explained that a LOR from a LOR would be extremely beneficial to my application and asked if there was anything he could do to help me. I also explained that I was "referred" to him by my family doc which may of been helpful. He told me to go ahead and come into his office.

I went in and he offered to let me shadow him, I did and now I'm just waiting for the letter. What really helped with the shadowing situation was that it was a clinic that has med students rotating in all the time. So it wasn't a big deal to them if I shadowed. Had this been a private practice things would of been different.

fabiolablake · Aug 30, 2003

It's really discouraging to hear both of you had a hard time finding a DO to shadow. I live in Oregon and the DOs that I know encourage students to come in and watch. I have shadowed one orthopedic DO, who wrote my letter of recommendation, and I am going to shadow two others. They are very helpful and eager to help in Oregon. I'm sorry that you have had such a difficult time with that.

Blake

Robz · Aug 30, 2003

I wrote about this in an earlier thread but the jest of it was that I just called a ton of people up. I shadowed many DO physicans and only ogt turned down once. That was from a surgeon that the hospital would not let me in to shadow him but he was more than happy to have a phone interview about the profession. I thought since I live in Tennessee (hense no DO schools) I would have a problem. What I did end up having was two DO physicians want to write me letters. That was a problem I was willing to deal with.

My suggestion for getting a LOR from DO

Amy B

I miss my son so much

Chronotropic

fabiolablake

Incompetent

Robz

La Vie Boheme

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