DC student to DO?

[meg_]

Hi!

I am a first-year chiropractic student and have decided to leave chiropractic school for a variety of reasons. I know it is not the right fit for me.

I plan to take a gap year, to build up my application for osteopathic school. Here are my stats so far:

Major: Pre-Med Nutritional Science
Over- all GPA: 3.95
Pre - req GPA: 4.0
Research: One year in my undergrad on metabolic syndrome for PCOS. About 400 hours in the lab (give or take).
I don't have ANY clinical hours but have job shadowing lined up with an osteopathic physician.

Do you feel leaving chiropractic school after one year would significantly hinder my application?

What are your suggestions for making my application more competitive during this next year? Such as the amount of job shadowing, clinical experience, recommended jobs, and MCAT score to shoot for? Anything else?

I know I would like to go to an osteopathic school because it teaches OMM. My ultimate goal is to shoot for a PM&R residency, although I know it is a long shot and I'm not even close to touching medical school right now.

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[Angus Avagadro]

@Deecee2DO
Thoughts?

 

[Faha]

Try and accumulate 50 hours of DO shadowing and 200+ hours of clinical volunteering with patient contact. You will need a MCAT score of at least 500 for DO schools. Which schools you are competitive for will depend on your MCAT score.

 

[Deecee2DO]

Hi!

I am a first-year chiropractic student and have decided to leave chiropractic school for a variety of reasons. I know it is not the right fit for me.

I plan to take a gap year, to build up my application for osteopathic school. Here are my stats so far:

Major: Pre-Med Nutritional Science
Over- all GPA: 3.95
Pre - req GPA: 4.0
Research: One year in my undergrad on metabolic syndrome for PCOS. About 400 hours in the lab (give or take).
I don't have ANY clinical hours but have job shadowing lined up with an osteopathic physician.

Do you feel leaving chiropractic school after one year would significantly hinder my application?

What are your suggestions for making my application more competitive during this next year? Such as the amount of job shadowing, clinical experience, recommended jobs, and MCAT score to shoot for? Anything else?

I know I would like to go to an osteopathic school because it teaches OMM. My ultimate goal is to shoot for a PM&R residency, although I know it is a long shot and I'm not even close to touching medical school right now.

You have great stats GPA wise. With those GPAs you should shoot for MD. You should shoot for a 511+ MCAT for MD and 505+ for DO. Thats cool if you have your heart set on PMR but lets say you change your mind during school and want to do something competitive like a surgical subspecialty or derm and you went DO youll have an uphill battle now that Step 1 will be P/F as of 2022. So bottom line shoot for MD to keep all options open. Its not like you have a 3.3 GPA and MD is out of the cards. I always tell people with high GPA and no MCAT to shoot for a high MCAT and go MD. One yr of chiro school wont hurt your app just have a good story as to why you want to switch and run with it. Your priority rn should be crushing the MCAT. I would pick a non clinical volunteering activity that interests you and do it an hr or 2 per week (for me I picked working with disabled students since I enjoyed that). Aim to shadow 40-50 hrs prederrably one being primary care (general IM or FM) and the other being PMR or whatever else interests you for now. Just try to get as much clinical experience as possible (if you are close enough to talk to a patient its clinical experience). You need to show adcoms you know what youre getting into and not just in it for the money or other reasons bc trust me once youre studying for Step 1 twelve hrs per day or on the wards for 14 hrs you will quickly realize that you are in medicine for the right reasons. Try to shadow and get a DO letter of recommendation on the off chance that you dont do as wel on the MCAT and are forced to apply DO. A DO shadow with a letter from DO gives you a leg up Also lastly and certainly not least is APPLY EARLY! Lol i cant stress this enough this gives you a huge competitive advantage. Listen to @Faha And @Angus Avagadro they are very knowledgeable posters and know what theyre talking about

 

[Ell19]

I’d say it’s not a great look to drop out of a program after 1 year. Who says you won’t do that for DO school?

Are you running towards medicine or away from chiropractric school?

@Goro

I’m just kind of putting it what other ADCOMs have said, but chiropractic school is more similar to DO school (don’t tell the DOs) than say pharmacy school.

Your stats are incredible, and as long as you get a 502+, you are probably golden for most DO schools. Definitely try to get ~50 hours of shadowing a DO. also expect questions at interview regarding the switch from Chiropractry (Sorry I know that’s not spelled right).

 

[Deecee2DO]

I’d say it’s not a great look to drop out of a program after 1 year. Who says you won’t do that for DO school?

Are you running towards medicine or away from chiropractric school?

@Goro

I’m just kind of putting it what other ADCOMs have said, but chiropractic school is more similar to DO school (don’t tell the DOs) than say pharmacy school.

Your stats are incredible, and as long as you get a 502+, you are probably golden for most DO schools. Definitely try to get ~50 hours of shadowing a DO. also expect questions at interview regarding the switch from Chiropractry (Sorry I know that’s not spelled right).

I disagree its pointless to finish another 3 years and accrue hundreds of thousands of debt if he/she knows they dont want to do chiro. If he was more than half way done Id say finish (such as in my case). OP is fine dropping out and I dont think it will hurt him as long as he/she has a good story

 

[Angus Avagadro]

Agree with @Deecee2DO . Its fine to teach OMM and be a DO. DO is a solid way to do that. I ended up doing that, although Im not PM&R. No need to finish Chiropractic school and your DC won't hinder your app at an MD school. You have great stats, hit the MCAT hard and you should be fine. You can always do a PM&R Residency with Osteopathic recognition if you want to learn OMM. Good luck and best wishes!

 

[Goro]

I disagree its pointless to finish another 3 years and accrue hundreds of thousands of debt if he/she knows they dont want to do chiro. If he was more than half way done Id say finish (such as in my case). OP is fine dropping out and I dont think it will hurt him as long as he/she has a good story

While we do like to see people finish what they start due to the concern of the "grass is always greener" phenomenon and the candidate then bailing on Medicine, for some people, it is OK to realize that the road they started down isn't the one for them.

But, as nli points out, OP will need to show that they are indeed running TO Medicine and not merely away from DC.

 

[Ell19]

I disagree its pointless to finish another 3 years and accrue hundreds of thousands of debt if he/she knows they dont want to do chiro. If he was more than half way done Id say finish (such as in my case). OP is fine dropping out and I dont think it will hurt him as long as he/she has a good story

That makes sense! Just wanted to add what I’ve seen said in similar situations, but didn’t know how it applied to this situation.

 

[Deecee2DO]

That makes sense! Just wanted to add what I’ve seen said in similar situations, but didn’t know how it applied to this situation.

You arent wrong and I agree with what youre saying just in this instance I dont think hes far enough along for it to be considered a red flag if he didnt finish. The monetary hole he would be in sticking it out wouldnt make sense