D.O. LoR Absolutely Necessary?

[IV Zulu VI]

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My question to you guys is if having a D.O. LoR is absolutely necessary to become accepted into a DO program. Will shadowing and working with a DO suffice? I have an exceptional GPA (3.9), okay MCAT (28)... Thanks

EDIT: Also I will have a committee letter, would this also suffice?

 

[LUCPM]

My question to you guys is if having a D.O. LoR is absolutely necessary to become accepted into a DO program. Will shadowing and working with a DO suffice? I have an exceptional GPA (3.9), okay MCAT (28)... Thanks

There may be several schools that do not require DO LOR. However, that will limit your school choice even though your stats are above their average. Getting a LOR is not all that hard, especially if you will be shadowing/working with a DO. If they let you shadow, they will write a LOR for you in most cases. Best of luck.

 

[TriagePreMed]

All of your questions are school dependent. Some schools will not consider you without a DO letter, but some, for example LECOM, are willing to give you one on the spot when you go interview with them. Some schools will ask you to find your own. Some other schools will be okay with an MD letter as substitution. And some programs will be okay with a committee letter only, although it's best to apply with more than just one letter.

 

[IV Zulu VI]

Thanks, Its funny you mention LECOM because that will be my primary DO program that I am interested in. I do have other letters of reccomendation as well including science professors as well as non science professors along with clinical experience letters. But like you said, I am shooting to have a letter from a DO after my shadowing experience this month. Also , would it be wise to include a DO letter when applying to MD programs?

 

[AnthroDocFL]

Even if LECOM says they will accept an MD letter in lieu of a DO letter... get the DO letter. Better yet, get 2 DO letters if you can.

While it is not "absolutely necessary" per se, it is one of those things that is "strongly/highly recommended", which pretty much means DO IT.

 

[Jlaw]

Yeah get the letter. It is listed as "highly recommended" at pretty much every school that doesn't outright require it. If you are missing it the schools are going to question your interest in being a DO...i.e. how could Zulu be so committed to becoming a DO if he couldn't even bother getting to know one.

Every DO had to get a DO letter at one point or another so most of them are very willing to write a recommendation even if they don't know you well.

 

[Poisson]

I would say the DO letter is not necessary given your extraordinary ugrad gpa. If you really want DO though, it would be a bit of a let down to have you not get a DO letter. What do you think is respectful?

 

[AnthroDocFL]

I would say the DO letter is not necessary given your extraordinary ugrad gpa. If you really want DO though, it would be a bit of a let down to have you not get a DO letter. What do you think is respectful?

It doesn't matter how good your GPA is... If practically every school says a DO letter is "strongly/highly recommended" what they really mean is "Please, get a DO letter."

Especially if they see that you have an awesome GPA and decent MCAT, they will question not having a DO letter based on whether or not you truly want to become a DO or just using DO schools as back-up.

 

[jinobi]

Nah, not every school needs a DO letter. A lot of my friends who tried MD but didn't get in applied to DO come December - they had no problem getting admitted to DO with only MD LORs.

Every school is different though - while you think your GPA will overcome not having a DO letter, admissions is a tricky business. It only takes one admissions committee member voicing their displeasure at you not having enough exposure to DO to make you go on waitlist/rejected.

If you shadowed and worked with a DO, just ask for a letter; they'll be expecting to write one for you anyways.

 

[FrkyBgStok]

I didn't have a DO letter and I got plenty of interviews at DO schools. But I didn't apply to any schools that require a DO letter. Your scores are good enough that if you want to apply to schools that don't require it, you will probably get multiple interviews. But if you are looking more for a region, it is different. NSU is the only school I applied to that could be considered "east coast." CCOM was the next farthest east.

 

[DrMediterranean]

No. But highly recommended. It is a good way of showing you genuinely took interest and learned about osteopathic medicine.

 

[SLC]

As people above me have all said, a DO LOR is not required at all schools. I know the ATSU system doesn't require one, though it is recommended. I was accepted with only MD LOR's.

But as others have said, if you can find a local DO, getting shadowing and a LOR shouldn't be difficult and will open you up to a lot more potential places to apply, and will increase your chances at the schools that don't "require" it.

 

[Planets]

If the school doesn't list it on their website, then it's NOT necessary (although it will help). At the end of the day, those schools want to make sure you'r committed to being a good physician.

 

[tenndoc]

id use the search function next time. this is the 4th time ive seen a DO LOR thread in a month

 

[AnthroDocFL]

id use the search function next time. this is the 4th time ive seen a DO LOR thread in a month

Amen to that tenndoc. Next time one pops up I'm giving them the lmgtfy search result.

/thread

 

[tenndoc]

Amen to that tenndoc. Next time one pops up I'm giving them the lmgtfy search result.

/thread

I know we are supposed to be semi professional on here but sometimes users make that hard

 

[COMedic2Doc]

Yes I'd agree that we need to use the search function more often as a group. OP, there is some good advice here. Listen to those that recently were accepted in the process and it will serve you well. 🙂