DO schools and DO physicians have significantly less prestige than MD, don't believe me? Ask a random person on the street how they feel about DOs. Most will say "what?"
Now, you shouldn't be going into medicine for the prestige.
They make the same amount of money as a MD in the same job, but they are often rarely found at large academic medical centers/MD programs.
Yes, people take loans just like at MD schools.
DOs can practice anywhere in the US in any specialty, but the quality of training between MD and DO is debated.
DOs are legally equivalent to MDs. Educationally and professionally? That's up to debate.
you have a total of 5 posts (as of right now) and of those 5 posts, exactly 5 of them has been to bash on DOs in some manner. This makes you about as credible as a flaming bag of poo. You make broad statements about how 99+% of DO students wish they were MDs. You also say crap about DOs on the street. When I am talking to someone, they don't say "hey, I'm an MD." And when they say, "I'm a doctor," no one says, "MD or DO?"
And you talk about crappy DO training? It may seem as a surprise to you that there are crappy MD residencies. And even more, a DO can *gasp* go into an MD residency. And if they weren't educationally the same, why are they legally be the same? That is why optometry and ophthalmology aren't equivalent. And many residencies are DO friendly. Why would they voluntarily take inferior students?
And saying DOs and MDs aren't equivalent professionally, it is like saying truck drivers aren't the same, or car salesman aren't the same. That is entirely subjective.
You say that DO students are 3.3gpa students with 25 MCATs. I am sorry you had those numbers, but both of those are below average, so if most of them cannot get into MD schools, why is the average for a school like DMU a 3.6+ and a 28? Sure there are people with lower, but you say most, so that should bring the average down. And if you are correct, that means there are a bunch of DO students well above this average to offset the lower ones. Why couldn't they get into MD schools?
There are tons of reasons people choose DO over MD, and there are tons of students that choose DO over MD when they have acceptances to both. I will consider you credible when you show me a peer reviewed study in a professional journal that supports anything that you claim.