Advice...oh boy.

[Macb85]

Im in my final year of Chiropractic School i have a 3.2 and am considering the options of an NP degree or a DO degree in addition to the DC. I need advice on the prospects of the NP vs DO degrees. if i choose the DO route I'll take the MCAT in august. Im looking at LECOM bc its close to home and i like the ISP route (is that available at the Lake Erie Campus?) I like Chiropractic and truly believe its a great Healthcare profession but id honestly rather not get into why i want to go another route...That being said what should i shoot for in an MCAT score...Anyone with any insight on the ISP route? ..if i get $$ through the military would i do my residency through the military?...With the ISP route would i still be able to work in my own practice? Im not here to stir the pot on ideologies...just seeking advice from those in the know...thanks

p.s. A buddy of mine has a father who is a DO i've done a lot of shadowing; and i'd like to note that us DC's and DO's are more alike than different (other than the obvious). On reading up on Osteopathy and this message board over the last year I've learned that you guys worry about a lot of the same stuff we do; insurance reimbursement, personal practice philosophies, etc...surreal. flame away...

-matt

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[Macb85]

i just wanted to clear one more thing up...


I don't want to do this bc i want to be a "real" doc or anything like that ...

I am of the personal philosophy that you are what you make of yourself. you can me an MD and be a fool or a DO and be a fool or a DC and be a fool. or vis versa.
My reasoning is this...if a patient comes in to my family practice with kidney failure, there's not a whole lot that i can do as a DC other than refer (an there's nothing wrong with that, in fact that'd be the right thing to do) sure manipulation would improve quality of life in this situation but its not the one and only answer. If i'd not been as naive as i had been when i was 21 maybe id be at LECOM now, but I am 100% not ashamed or regretful in this path now i have a whole body perspective on care, and i personally feel thats worth it...

now you can flame away..

 

[Daedra22]

There's one other guy who was around a while back who also wanted to go from Chiropractic school to DO school. I don't remember who he was, you might do a search for that >.>

I can't answer all of your questions, but I can answer a couple. Very competitive for DO school tends to be in the 27+ MCAT range. Anything close to 30 is pretty good (above 30 is great). As for the military route, you should look through the military medicine forum here on SDN. Where you do your residency would vary by military branch--in the army or air national guard, you would get to pick pretty much any residency; if you go active duty anything, it is likely that you will do a military residency (although they sometimes allow deferment to a civilian residency).

I don't know what the ISP route is, so I'll leave that to someone familiar with LECOM.

 

[bleeker10]

Im in my final year of Chiropractic School i have a 3.2 and am considering the options of an NP degree or a DO degree in addition to the DC. I need advice on the prospects of the NP vs DO degrees. if i choose the DO route I'll take the MCAT in august. Im looking at LECOM bc its close to home and i like the ISP route (is that available at the Lake Erie Campus?) I like Chiropractic and truly believe its a great Healthcare profession but id honestly rather not get into why i want to go another route...That being said what should i shoot for in an MCAT score...Anyone with any insight on the ISP route? ..if i get $$ through the military would i do my residency through the military?...With the ISP route would i still be able to work in my own practice? Im not here to stir the pot on ideologies...just seeking advice from those in the know...thanks

p.s. A buddy of mine has a father who is a DO i've done a lot of shadowing; and i'd like to note that us DC's and DO's are more alike than different (other than the obvious). On reading up on Osteopathy and this message board over the last year I've learned that you guys worry about a lot of the same stuff we do; insurance reimbursement, personal practice philosophies, etc...surreal. flame away...

-matt

LECOM-E is the only campus that has ISP. Seton Hill and Bradenton are PBL only. You could theoretically work in a practice while doing ISP but it will take away from school. Also, I can tell you that Erie seems to be oversaturated with DCs. I can drive down one street near LECOM and see 5-10 different DC offices. Plus you end up competing with the DOs who practice OMM religiously. What specialty are you thinking about? If you want something competitive, you need to focus on school and not working. I am LDP and Army HPSP. They pay me ~$900 every two weeks plus pay for school and reimburse me for books. I also got a $20,000 sign on bonus that was about ~13,500 after taxes.

As far as the military, depending on what branch you do will determine if you do a civilian or military residency. If you go Army then you are 99.99999999999999999999999999999999999999% guaranteed to do an Army residency. I think the only deferments I have ever heard of have been for neurosurgery but I could be wrong on that. Reason being is the Army has many residencies and spots for their residents. Now if you do Air Force you may get deferred to a civilian residency. The big caveat is if you do a military residency, that time counts toward retirement. If you do a civilian residency it doesn't count. The Navy sends most of their residents to a GMO tour after internship. The Army doesn't really do that a lot unless the student prefers that route. Now what will the world (especially the military world) look like in 4-6 years? Nobody knows. I was told by a recruiter that folks who signed up for HPSP in 2000 were told they probably wouldn't have to worry about deployments or GMO tours. But then 9/11 happened and it changed everything. So residency choices will all depend on the climate of the military when you apply for residency. If you have any more questions about HPSP send me a PM

 

[Macb85]

thanks for the very detailed answer...

I am from buffalo thus i plan on opening my doors in and or around buffalo ..2 days a week..I'd prefer army, but have spoken to Navy..my bro is a 2 tour iraq/ purple heart Captain, my father was a marine in Vietnam. I plan on joining regardless (navy is commissioning DC's as Aerospace Physiologist as a result of our biomech background and non drug stance). Bleeker does the DC degree help or hinder? my outlook is this: ive been through a grad level course work and load. thoughts?

 

[Daedra22]

thanks for the very detailed answer...

I am from buffalo thus i plan on opening my doors in and or around buffalo ..2 days a week..I'd prefer army, but have spoken to Navy..my bro is a 2 tour iraq/ purple heart Captain, my father was a marine in Vietnam. I plan on joining regardless (navy is commissioning DC's as Aerospace Physiologist as a result of our biomech background and non drug stance). Bleeker does the DC degree help or hinder? my outlook is this: ive been through a grad level course work and load. thoughts?

Whether it helps or hinders depends on how you frame it. Keep everything about yourself on a positive tone--as long as you stay positive about what you learned in chiropractic school and how it will make you a better doctor, I think it'll turn out great.

 

[st2205]

*The following is entirely my opinion*

I was accepted to the ISP at LECOM but ultimately ended up elsewhere. I can say, though, ISP is the way to go (or at least not attending class is the way to go). Assuming you feel you know the basic science curriculum well enough, spending the summer studying for the PS portion of the MCAT could be decent. I would think, considering your background (and I must qualify that I know little outside you're finishing your DC and have a 3.2), I'd think a 25 or higher would place you in a good spot for LECOM, assuming you had applied at the very beginning of the cycle (apply before your MCAT so there's nothing else holding it up).

With regard to working, so long as you feel you know the science curriculum well enough and aren't shooting for top of the class, my opinion would say that it's reasonable to work so long as it was <20 hrs/wk.

 

[Buckeye4life]

I went through the ISP pathway at LECOM with a PT background. I would definitely say that a DC would only help get u through the door and also be a big advantage when it comes to OPP. I would shoot for at least 8's on all sections of the MCAT and apply as early as you can. There is a DC in the class below me and I know of a former DC who is in his second year of orthopedic residency. Good luck.