competitive residents

[JO300]

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Being a student at a DO school, which values rural medicine, do you guys think it will affect my chance to get into competitive residents.
or will I have the same chance like anyone else, who will be graduate from other DO or MD schools?

Thank you

 

[eyedr]

Being a student at a DO school, which values rural medicine, do you guys think it will affect my chance to get into competitive residents.
or will I have the same chance like anyone else, who will be graduate from other DO or MD schools?

Thank you

If you are shooting for a competitive residency (i.e. derm, ophtho, rad onc, ent) or are looking into a top tier program in a non-competitive specialty, you will be at a disadvantage since most of those spots are for allopathic applicants (i.e. accredited by the ACGME). US allopathic applicants tend to have the best chances. Good luck!

 

[cchoukal]

The most accurate way to answer this question is to figure out the match percentages (# who ranked/# who matched) among DO's in the specialty of interest and compare it to that percentage among MDs. It is likely that these numbers are published somewhere (AOA website? ERAS? ACGME? Frieda?).

I think most people would say DOs have a harder time getting into competitive specialties, just by virtue of the fact that we don't see a lot of them, but, of course, we don't know whether fewer are applying/ranking, or if they really are accepted at a lower rate than MDs. And, of course, fewer may be applying due to self-selection and self-perception that their chances are lower and then going into less competitive things. And I suspect there are some subtle pressures at DO schools to go into primary care, but I guess I don't really know this.

I suppose the best advice, and this is probably also true for MDs, is to shoot the moon, but have a backup you can live with.

 

[Buck Strong]

If you are shooting for a competitive residency (i.e. derm, ophtho, rad onc, ent) or are looking into a top tier program in a non-competitive specialty, you will be at a disadvantage since most of those spots are for allopathic applicants (i.e. accredited by the ACGME). US allopathic applicants tend to have the best chances. Good luck!

To be fair, it's not only strictly a DO issue. On the interview trail, I didn't encounter any DO's, but at certain programs, I didn't encounter any MD's from mid or lower tier schools. There were definitely places where I felt ridiculously out of place. If you have your heart set on Harvard, Hopkins or Penn for Derm, you might be better of not only avoiding DO schools, but avoiding middle tier MD schools. In the end, it's all about what you want and what's important to you...

 

[JO300]

Thank you for your responses
But my question mainly was about comparing my chance to get into competitive residents if I attend to DO school like VCOM, which values primary care medicine to if I attend other DO school who do not, like NYCOM.
Is not about DO Vs. MD chance.

Thank you so much for your help.
You guys are big help for us.

 

[Buck Strong]

nope...most residency directors at these competitive programs don't know the difference between the different DO programs.

 

[ExtraCrispy]

What do you mean by "values" rural medicine? The strength of the curriculum is going to determine how highly the school is regarded. If, when you say "values," you mean that there's a paucity of exposure during med school to research opportunities and to a broad range of pathology, then you'd probably be better off at a school with a more urban focus. However, if the breadth of training at the school can compete with any other in the US, but they just have a couple of elective programs in place to encourage students to pursue a rural medicine career, I don't see why that would be a problem. Some of the "big name" schools have such programs, themselves, to push people into primary care.

I'd take a close look at the clinical exposure and curriculum compared with other schools.

 

[cchoukal]

I think you're splitting hairs here, and buck strong's point is a good one. I'd guess that most competitive programs wouldn't know the difference btwn two different DO programs, and whatever this difference is, right or wrong, it wouldn't amount to nearly the difference btwn an MD and DO school.

 

[psychedoc2b]

Being a student at a DO school, which values rural medicine, do you guys think it will affect my chance to get into competitive residents.
or will I have the same chance like anyone else, who will be graduate from other DO or MD schools?

Thank you

There are always exceptions. Don't be discouraged. You should just do the best you possibly can and score high on the USMLE's and do well in your clinical rotations. Get good rec's. Try to do something that will make you a superb applicant. i.e. doing NIH research and having published several papers. I'm sure if you look hard enough you will find other D.O.'s in competitive residencies. You should look on the internet or ask at your school if there are others in competitive residencies. You should remain positive if this is your goal to obtain a competitive residency.

psychedoc2b

 

[Doctor Bagel]

normally, i'd advise comparing the match lists of the different schools, but vcom doesn't have a match list yet, so i guess that's not a workable plan. honestly, if i wanted to do something competitive, i'd feel more comfortable going to nycom because i could look at their match list and verify that grads have gotten residencies in tough fields and in competitive programs. i'm too innately conservative to go to a new school, i guess.

why would you choose vcom over nycom? if you have really strong reasons, it's probably worth it to go to vcom and try your odds. if the two schools are pretty close in your estimation and if you're not interested in rural primary care, i'd go for nycom.

 

[NJCU05]

I think you're splitting hairs here, and buck strong's point is a good one. I'd guess that most competitive programs wouldn't know the difference btwn two different DO programs, and whatever this difference is, right or wrong, it wouldn't amount to nearly the difference btwn an MD and DO school.

Would the DO title impose great difficulty on the osteopathic medical graduate to pursue some certain residencies?

What are these certain residencies?

How could I overcome such an imposed difficulty to pursue my desired residency if it were one of these certain residencies?

Thanks greatly to any one who could contribute his or her thoughts