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- Feb 19, 2001
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Are there any faculty reading these posts?
I have a concern. During a discussion I had with a residency director, he was advising me about steps to take to help my eventual match into a competitive program. Of course he mentioned the usual suspects: grades, test scores, and letters. However, he also stated that it is sometimes hard for him to separate out the great DO candidates from the good MD and DO candidates.
The reason was explained like this. If you have a handful of top students...all have top grades, scores, and interview well, then how do you pick the best? Letters of recommendation can help and should help in this. However, his complaint was that, while the dean of some Ivy league allopathic school might assemble five pages of comments made by preceptors and examples of the student's competence/caring/etc, deans of osteopathic schools tend to assemble much shorter letters with statements like "passed all clinicals" or "will be an excellent clinician". You can't cleave much from a letter like that.
In fact, I had to choose between a couple of great programs for my schooling. One thing that really helped me cement my decision was that, while at each school I interviewed there were students that told me how great everything is and how supportive the faculty is, the school I eventually chose had students that gave me very clear examples of the support that the faculty provides.
Vivid examples leave lasting impressions.
I have a concern. During a discussion I had with a residency director, he was advising me about steps to take to help my eventual match into a competitive program. Of course he mentioned the usual suspects: grades, test scores, and letters. However, he also stated that it is sometimes hard for him to separate out the great DO candidates from the good MD and DO candidates.
The reason was explained like this. If you have a handful of top students...all have top grades, scores, and interview well, then how do you pick the best? Letters of recommendation can help and should help in this. However, his complaint was that, while the dean of some Ivy league allopathic school might assemble five pages of comments made by preceptors and examples of the student's competence/caring/etc, deans of osteopathic schools tend to assemble much shorter letters with statements like "passed all clinicals" or "will be an excellent clinician". You can't cleave much from a letter like that.
In fact, I had to choose between a couple of great programs for my schooling. One thing that really helped me cement my decision was that, while at each school I interviewed there were students that told me how great everything is and how supportive the faculty is, the school I eventually chose had students that gave me very clear examples of the support that the faculty provides.
Vivid examples leave lasting impressions.
