Anything I should know specifically for osteopathic interview?

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kurite

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Hello,
i will be going in for an interview with an osteopathic school and I was wondering if there is any information about osteopathic medicine that I should specifically look into aside from philosophy/omt that would be helpful?
Thank you!

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Why you specifically want to go into osteopathic medicine. Also be ready to answer why you applied to MD schools (if you did) if you wanted to go into osteopathic medicine.
 
Alright perfect! Anything else??
 
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1) Compare and contrast MD vs DO...which includes philosophically and OMT
2) Why you would be a good fit for DO.
3) Experiences following DO vs MD.

Of course...know everything there is to know about that particular programs curriculum. If it is PBL...you better know what PBL is and why you would be a good fit.
 
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Know how to reference all and any experiences mentioned in your app and secondary and how they relate to medicine and specifically to osteopathic medicine. Avoid making unfounded statements of osteopathic medicine that can appear grandiose or imply that an Osteopath is a better doctor than a MD as your interviewer may be a MD.
Be humble both in temperament.
 
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Don't say DO's are more holistic. This is simply not true. I know at my school, they told us that when interviewers said that "DO's are more holistic" it only showed that they did not understand DO's. Some MD's are more holistic than DO's and some DO's will prescribe everything in the medicine cabinet. If you really want to impress them, I would talk about how DO's relate structure to function.
 
Know how to reference all and any experiences mentioned in your app and secondary and how they relate to medicine and specifically to osteopathic medicine. Avoid making unfounded statements of osteopathic medicine that can appear grandiose or imply that an Osteopath is a better doctor than a MD as your interviewer may be a MD.
Be humble both in temperament.

This is excellent advice.

I was interviewed by MDs at multiple DO interviews. Furthermore, even if you have a DO interviewer, they likely have fellow faculty, friends, family, colleagues, or personal physicians that are MDs so it sounds ridiculous to preach the DO superiority platform. It sounds doubly ridiculous because you limited context as a pre-med student.

Stick to your passions, personal draw toward the DO philosophy, and specific interest in the school -- keep the MD thing out of it.
 
Definitely be able to answer why you want to go to that specific School.

This.

During my school's mock interviews, they reworded JFK's speech:
- Ask not only what your school can do for you, but what you can do for your school.
Find out what the school has to offer, anything that can help you out when you get into internship, or residency. Find out what special programs you can do so you can match appropriately, and ask about the resources, if nothing at all (but don't be ignorant and not look it up beforehand).
 
I once almost had a conversation of how big some of the DO schools are (basically I was trying to make a point why an MD school is better student-faculty ratio wise) with an academic physician who I thought was an MD

Well, it turned out she was a DO

No more MD/DO discussions for me!
 
1. Tell us about yourself.
2. Why do you want to go into medicine?
3. Why DO?
4. Why our school?
5. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
6. Can you talk about _________ (something on your application).
7. What do you think is the biggest issue facing healthcare today?
8. Do you have any questions for us?
 
Don't say DO's are more holistic. This is simply not true. I know at my school, they told us that when interviewers said that "DO's are more holistic" it only showed that they did not understand DO's. Some MD's are more holistic than DO's and some DO's will prescribe everything in the medicine cabinet. If you really want to impress them, I would talk about how DO's relate structure to function.

Completely agree. The truth is that most DO programs have some percentage of MD staff. And even the ones which don't...those DO staff members have MD friends/colleagues. Saying that DO makes better doctors is NOT the way to go.

Stick with "I like the concept of the body is a unit...I believe that OMT could be a useful tool...I want to get a strong medical education MD or DO and I believe that this is a strong program because x, y, and z."
 
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