Caribbean MD or US DO?

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hockeykspiky

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If someone doesn't have the stats to get in US MD schools, what's the better choice?
US DO or Caribbean MD?

She only needs to get the physician license, so I think she doesn't need to do residency.
Just one year of internship after med school will qualify her to get a physician license, right?
(She only needs the bare minimum to practice legally. )

She is very concerned that if she goes the medical school route her years in her 20's will be wasted.

Which route is faster?
Which route is easier to get the bare minimum to practice legally?

Added:
She probably won't practice. If she does, she will be "re-taught" after med school
She just needs the license to "look good" when taking over a medical-related family business.
 
Last edited:
hockeykspiky said:
If someone doesn't have the stats to get in US MD schools, what's the better choice?
US DO or Caribbean MD?

She only needs to get the physician license, so I think she doesn't need to do residency.
Just one year of internship after med school will qualify her to get a physician license, right?
(She only needs the bare minimum to practice legally. )

She is very concerned that if she goes the medical school route her years in her 20's will be wasted.

Which route is faster?
Which route is easier to get the bare minimum to practice legally?
Click to expand...

What the heck is this persons end goal? But DO > Caribbean MD
 
Tell her not to be a doctor if she is looking for time efficiency. Medicine is time commitment. There is no way she can learn enough within a year after medical school in order to practice safely. She will be putting others' lives at risk.

Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk
 
i say pick from forget all that and choose between nursing, dentistry, podiatry, optometry, pharmacy, clinical psychology, homelessness, audiology, speech therapy, physical therapy, or occupational therapy
 
I'm shooting for an MD myself, but...

US-DO all the way! It will be SO hard to come back to the United States from the Caribbean that it's really not worth it.
 
Go to the carrribean! Sure due to the residency crunch you pretty much will have no chance at a residency slot, but hey the booze is cheap, the girls are brown and easy and the view is nice!
 
MusicJunkie said:
What is the point of her taking a DO or MD spot if she has no intentions of practicing? That seems like a complete waste. On top of that, how is it that she's concerned that the medical school route will eat up all of her 20s, but then she is willing to go to medical school and do a year of internship? That's five years. She might as well do the full seven.

If she wants to "look good" to take over a medically-related family business, I think getting a Master's in Public Health or something that pertains to medicine/business would be a better option.
Click to expand...

No, she wants to practice. But she wants to take the route that will require the least time, which is idiotic in my opinion. Since she doesn't have the stats for medical school anyways, just give up. Pick another profession that will let you enjoy your 20's.

Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk
 
MusicJunkie said:
What is the point of her taking a DO or MD spot if she has no intentions of practicing? That seems like a complete waste. On top of that, how is it that she's concerned that the medical school route will eat up all of her 20s, but then she is willing to go to medical school and do a year of internship? That's five years. She might as well do the full seven.

If she wants to "look good" to take over a medically-related family business, I think getting a Master's in Public Health or something that pertains to medicine/business would be a better option.
Click to expand...

Oops, didn't read the latter part. But yea, MPH is a better option. You can also get an MD without practicing/doing internship or residency. You will have the MD title behind your name, so it will look good.

Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk
 
hockeykspiky said:
Added:
She probably won't practice. If she does, she will be "re-taught" after med school
She just needs the license to "look good" when taking over a medical-related family business.
Click to expand...

What does this even mean? Does she just want to be the one that pulls the pug on someone or something? (lol??) I mean who really wants to be in charged of the family medical stuff? What a mess.
 
naturopathic medicine. ND. all day. everyday.

in the right light and/or when read quickly, it resembles an MD. and honestly, how many people even know what an ND is? they'll just think it's an MD. think about it: Drew Peacock, ND vs Drew Peacock, MD. same shiz really.

also, on posters and signs, put an M on it, but scratch of part of the M so it looks like an N. that way, it's not actually false advertising and most people will simply think it's an old sign/poster for an MD. wins all around.

or better yet, cover it all up with the "Dr" in front. again, another win.
 
Tell her to go Caribbean MD. Wouldn't want a perfectly good DO spot wasted on someone who has no intention of being a real doctor...
 
hockeykspiky said:
If someone doesn't have the stats to get in US MD schools, what's the better choice?
US DO or Caribbean MD?

She only needs to get the physician license, so I think she doesn't need to do residency.
Just one year of internship after med school will qualify her to get a physician license, right?
(She only needs the bare minimum to practice legally. )

She is very concerned that if she goes the medical school route her years in her 20's will be wasted.

Which route is faster?
Which route is easier to get the bare minimum to practice legally?

Added:
She probably won't practice. If she does, she will be "re-taught" after med school
She just needs the license to "look good" when taking over a medical-related family business.
Click to expand...

If she really wants a license to practice medicine (whether she uses it or not), just remember that Caribbean medical school graduates are still considered FOREIGN medical graduates (in the eyes of the state boards) and usually requirements for foreign medical graduates are higher for foreign medical graduates compare to US graduates (US MD or DO)

For example - Alabama requires 1 year of postgraduate medical education if you're a US MD or US DO, but 3 years if you are an IMG.

California requires 1 year if you're US MD or DO, but 2 years if IMG

Colorado requires 1 year if US MD or DO, but 3 years if IMG

Some states don't have any difference, but a lot do.
 
or what a completely different direction that is challenging, albeit in a different sense?

maybe goat herding? new zealand is recognized internationally for the quality of its goats.


edit:

just joshin' bruh. i just think the OP's question is bordering on ridiculous. becoming a doctor without the intention to practice? LOL. c'mon, man.
 
Last edited:
Thanks to all those who answered the question with relevant answers. Yes, I thought US DO was the better option, too. I wanted to make sure with those who are pursuing the MD degree. Best of luck to all you pre-meds. You guys have worked hard, and you will succeed.

For those who gave irrelevant answers/comments or thought my question was ridiculous...
well, I don't really care.
 
rafman said:
Go to the carrribean! Sure due to the residency crunch you pretty much will have no chance at a residency slot, but hey the booze is cheap, the girls are brown and easy and the view is nice!
Click to expand...

Didn't Ross U just add more clinical sites in CA??
 
Would not recommend pursuing an MD degree if you don't plan to practice. A business degree with some focus on health management could be helpful. Getting an MD to run a family business doesn't make much sense to me without more detail.
 
hockeykspiky said:
She is very concerned that if she goes the medical school route her years in her 20's will be wasted.

Added:
She probably won't practice. If she does, she will be "re-taught" after med school
She just needs the license to "look good" when taking over a medical-related family business.
Click to expand...

"Man, I can't choose between med school, and hanging out with models and partying every night while still being able to take over the family business with an ounce of credibility."

This post is ridiculously self-serving. Get an MD if you plan on practicing, otherwise you're just taking someone else's spot who actually wants to be a physician.
 
wasabee said:
Tell her not to be a doctor if she is looking for time efficiency. Medicine is time commitment. There is no way she can learn enough within a year after medical school in order to practice safely. She will be putting others' lives at risk.

Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Nonsense. After a year of internship, you should be able to confidently run an urgent care center or outpatient medical clinic.
 
DrCaliBoy said:
Nope, dental avg is a 3.5, which is about the same as DO.
Click to expand...

A pre-med telling dental averages. This is too cute. Go read ADA averages.

Conventional wisdom on SDN is that, in general, ds have a cut-off point for both GPA and DAT scores. The number usually thrown is 17 for DAT and a 3.0 for GPA. The data for the class entering 2011 does not support this misconception. There are 22 ds with a reported minimums of either gpa or dat or both. Out of these, 10 show a min of 17 for dat and 3.0 and above for gpa. More importantly, there are 22 ds with enrollees with DAT below 17, 43 with science gpa and 23 with overall gpa below the magic 3.0. As it has been mentioned before, since Dean/Directors of Admission make the guidelines they can just as easily ignore them. Before members of the Under 3.0 Club start popping the corks on Champagne bottles, let' s keep this in perspective. Only 5.9 % of enrollees had an of AA below 16, 9.3% sci GPA and 2.3% overall GPA below 3.0; roughly 1/3 of the applicant pool with low scores gained acceptance. By contrast, 73% of applicants with AA scores at 21+, 72% of applicants with either sci GPA or overall GPA at 3.75+ gained acceptance.

What an ignorant thing to say. Just because someone can't get into an MD school they go to dental school? Dental school is not med school. If you're insinuating that anyone who can't do medicine does dentistry, I don't need to say anything. You obviously don't know what it takes to get into either pre-med.
 
hockeykspiky said:
If someone doesn't have the stats to get in US MD schools, what's the better choice?
US DO or Caribbean MD?

She only needs to get the physician license, so I think she doesn't need to do residency.
Just one year of internship after med school will qualify her to get a physician license, right?
(She only needs the bare minimum to practice legally. )

She is very concerned that if she goes the medical school route her years in her 20's will be wasted.

Which route is faster?
Which route is easier to get the bare minimum to practice legally?

Added:
She probably won't practice. If she does, she will be "re-taught" after med school
She just needs the license to "look good" when taking over a medical-related family business.
Click to expand...

Worst case DO scenario: Family Medicine + $200k debt
Worst case Caribbean scenario: Nothing + $200k debt

No one is going to insure her with just an intern year, so good luck with that.
 
Parklife said:
A pre-med telling dental averages. This is too cute.
Click to expand...

Didnt you just do the same thing a couple posts earlier by talking about carib MD and US DO averages? Hypocrisy? Please dont turn this into an MD vs DDS debate, we had one of those last week.

Edit- also, there are DO schools with GPA averages of 3.6. All it takes is 15 seconds to look at matriculant information for schools by looking on their websites.
 
hopefulMD9 said:
Didnt you just do the same thing a couple posts earlier by talking about carib MD and US DO averages? Hypocrisy? Please dont turn this into an MD vs DDS debate, we had one of those last week.

Edit- also, there are DO schools with GPA averages of 3.6. All it takes is 15 seconds to look at matriculant information for schools by looking on their websites.
Click to expand...

Except, I was right. Yeah, well there are also DMD/DDS schools with GPA averages of 3.7. Mainly, Harvard, penn, Columbia, the schools of the like.

I'm not trying to turn this into an MD vs DDS debate. They're two separate fields. If you read my post you would realize that I was trying to do just the opposite. Can't do MD so do DDS over DO? What is that?
 
Parklife said:
Except, I was right. Yeah, well there are also DMD/DDS schools with GPA averages of 3.7. Mainly, Harvard, penn, Columbia, the schools of the like.

I'm not trying to turn this into an MD vs DDS debate. They're two separate fields. If you read my post you would realize that I was trying to do just the opposite. Can't do MD so do DDS over DO? What is that?
Click to expand...

I agree that you are right in saying DDS stats are high but you cant lump ALL DO schools with the under 3.6 crowd (although there are plenty) so you were wrong there. I also never said anything about DDS stats. If A person wants to become a PHYSICIAN then he/she should choose DO over DDS. A dentist is a doctor, but not a physician. However, in OP's case, a business degree should probably be chosen over any type of medical education.
 
nonsense. no one in this thread is giving any sound advice.

OP, here's the deal. best field: managing director. she can manage the family business and it's technically an MD. bam. done.
 
Or better and easier, change her last name to be her middle name, and have her last name be M.D. =)

She's be: First Last M.D.
=)
 
The OP is NOT ADDRESSING THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION

What is the end goal of this person? If you don't wanna practice as a physician, don't go the DO/Carib route. If you wanna run the business, you don't need the post-residency training if you are not that committed.

Honestly, I'm so confused by this topic, and it seems we aren't getting enough info at all...
 
MedPR said:
The MCAT is about a billion times harder than the DAT.
Click to expand...

agreed- dental school admissions are way easier than M.D/D.O admissions any day. There are far fewer applicants and there is no great statistical matriculation stat difference between DMD/DDS as there is with M.D/D.O
 
rafman said:
Go to the carrribean! Sure due to the residency crunch you pretty much will have no chance at a residency slot, but hey the booze is cheap, the girls are brown and easy and the view is nice!
Click to expand...

You have a good chance at a residency slot in Grenada 😉
 
GOMERE said:
Or better and easier, change her last name to be her middle name, and have her last name be M.D. =)

She's be: First Last M.D.
=)
Click to expand...

hahah now we're talking. best advice on this thread. OP, take notes.
 
MedPR said:
The MCAT is about a billion times harder than the DAT.
Click to expand...


Percentile negates difficulty of the test. True, DAT is easier than the MCAT.
But a 90 percentile is still harder to achieve than a 30 percentile.
 
hockeykspiky said:
Percentile negates difficulty of the test. True, DAT is easier than the MCAT.
But a 90 percentile is still harder to achieve than a 30 percentile.
Click to expand...

Lol. I know you're trying to make it seem like Dental = Medical, but you're not helping your case with posts like that.
 
thesauce said:
This is not true. You cannot compare percentiles across exams unless the same group of people are taking them.
Click to expand...

This is true.

@ Hemorrage:

- https://www.aamc.org/data/facts/applicantmatriculant/
there were about 44k applicants, and about 19k Matriculants = 43/44% For Medical School in 2011.

http://www.adea.org/publications/tde/Documents/Forms/AllItems.aspx?Paged=TRUE&p_FSObjType=0&p_FileLeafRef=Distribution%20of%20Race%20Among%20Professionally%20Active%20Dentists.ppt&p_ID=142&View={2C47CDD8-6C1A-4DD1-8026-5B428A026978}&PageFirstRow=101

% of Applicants enrolled in Dental school is about 41.2 in 2010 ( . This does not mean getting into dental school is more difficult, it merely points out that your comment " far fewer applicants" is not a great argument, because there are also far fewer spots available as well.

I believe getting into a U.S MD program is the most competitive. But I believe becoming a physician is easier due to the multiple options available to pre-med students ( DO and Caribbean). There is no Caribbean route for dental, and if one decides to go to dental school abroad(which might arguably be just as competitive , if not more competitive), there are intense regulations in order to return and practice in the U.S.

@ DrCaliboy and Parklife
According to ADEA: the avg total gpa of dental school matriculants = 3.53 (2011), and science gpa: 3.45

According to AAMC: the avg gpa of medical school matriculants = 3.76 (2011), and science gpa of 3.61
 
Last edited:
Parklife said:
Dumb thing to say. D-school avg gpa are 3.6. DO and carri schools are way lower.
Click to expand...
um....
DrCaliBoy said:
Nope, dental avg is a 3.5, which is about the same as DO.
Click to expand...
yeah pretty much. Don't harp on the pre-med just for being pre med. He also has to be inaccurate 😉
Don't cite top tier dental schools. The mere fact that some exist with a 3.7 in no way makes a rule - it is saddening and a little scary that you would actually propose this as a valid argument.
And dont derail this thread into an MD vs DDS thing. Do most dental students end up there after med rejection? Absolutely not. Does it happen? Well, yes I know a few :shrug: suck it up because flat out rejecting it as a reality only stands to make the argument look like a defense mechanism. The overwhelming majority of you are there because it is what you want to do and nothing more so dont read too far into a slightly lower acceptance stat 👍


as for the OP.... we are missing pertinent information. DO is the obvious choice over carib if all she wants to do is get licensed. I am curious as to why she wants this and what sort of "family business" requires a medical license but not any sort of certification. I am not aware of too many nepotistic rural outpatient clinics....
 
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