Dude, come on. Are the med schools that you visited or heard about that bad? Bad enough that you would turn down going there instead of realizing the dream of becoming a doctor (MD)?
it was a hypothetical situation. I obviously don't have any negative opinions about any schools b/c I haven't interviewd yet or had a chance to visit most of the campuses to get a feel for the atmosphere, the students, teh faculty, etc.
Say I get accepted to School X in State Y. It is the only place I get accepted. During the interview, I was unimpressed by the facilities, the weather was ****ty, i was insulted by the demeanor of the students (for whatever reason), and felt generally unwelcomed as a prospective student. There is no way I attend that school. I am not goin to be miserable for the next 4 years of my life. I'll GLADLY decline and wait a year so that I can get into a school that I am happy at. It will make me a better student and physician, and I will have a happier life because of it.
Now, I think i've done a decent job at picking out the schools I applied to, so I dont see that situation happening in reality. However, sometimes you get the wrong impression and you find out later its not what you thought it was. If that is the case, I would not hesitate to decline an acceptance.
Let us not forget that a lot of premeds apply to both MD and DO, and if you are suggesting that pre-med students going after an MD acceptance shouldn't even bother applying D.O then osteopathic schools wouldn't be able to fill their classes with marginally intelligent people.
I am not suggesting that if you apply MD you should not apply DO. Obviously, becuase that is what I am doing. But your scenario described something different. I am applying to both programs because I am genuinely interested in both. DO programs are not a last resort....its not "oh i'm only going to go to this DO school if i get rejected from every MD school." If that is the type of attitude you have, then I don't think you should apply. You will likely be miserable if you do end up going to a DO school anyway. If you dont have a legitimate interest in going to the school, then you shouldn't apply...its that simple. DOs shouldn't be at the bottom of your list just because they are DO schools....what an idiotic way to choose where you go to school.
And trust me when I tell you that you won't find many people that would turn down the ONE acceptance they get and wait another year such as yourself.
Okay....I trust you. Now its your turn to trust me when i tell you that I don't care. What other people do has no baring on my life. I do a lot of things that others probably wouldn't agree with.....great. I'm not going to change how I would handle something just b/c you (and apparently most everyone else) disagree. You do your thing, I'll do my thing and we'll both move on with our lives.
For most neurotic pre meds...medicine consumes and always will consume their lives. I'm not willing to sacrifice my happiness to realize my goal as a doctor (MD
or DO). If it ever came down to it, I would decline the acceptance and find something productive to do for the following year, and I would likely be better off because of it.
