Slickness,
I guess I am going to take "the road less traveled." I never really knew of the "stigma" of osteopathic medicine, until I started reading things on SDN. I work with a group of about 20 cardiologists and one is a DO. She completed an allopathic residency and then a Cardiology Fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation (arguably one of the best cards fellowships). She was even made chief cards fellow while there. It was she who encouraged me to pursue osteopathic medicine and ultimately her encouragement is what solidified my decision. She said she has never faced any sort of discrimination for being a DO?so I?m not TOO worried about it.
I thought COMP was okay when I interviewed there. The faculty and students seemed nice, but I felt the campus left a little to be desired (compared to other schools I had already visited). As for Pamona, most of the students I talked to said they lived outside of Pamona, though some said Pamona was completely safe. I liked the option of living on-campus at AZCOM and being close to the school. As far as academics go, I am not sure how the two compare. I think both are good schools?though I really liked AZCOM, so I am sure I am a bit bias.
On the topic of residency, I don?t think it will be hard for me (or anyone) to find a spot. I think it is very rare for people not to match in SOMETHING in the end (if they don?t match, then they enter the scramble, and get something). Depending on what program you want, it might be harder (e.g. allopathic derm). For me, I want to do cardiology and will probably enter an internal medicine residency?most likely allopathic. The nice thing is that we have the option of entering both the osteopathic and allopathic residency programs?so we have a much larger pool to pick from. While it is rumored that some allo programs are ?biased? against DO?s, I doubt it is the majority (though I could be wrong). For me, I don?t believe internal medicine is extremely competitive, so I am not overly worried.
Did this help at all? Any other questions?