Deciding on a program

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Hello all,

I was recently accepted to MSUCOM's class of 2017. I know they are a highly regarded program and place graduates into tough to obtain residencies. Also, at my campus visit, I was told that ~98% are placed into their top three specialties of choice.

However, I was also admitted to Central Michigan's inaugural class for their MD program. I was under the impression that residencies can be easier to obtain (especially tough to obtain residencies eg. derm, rad, etc.) if one graduates from a MD program. Since this is a new program specializing in family medicine, I am unsure if I this will give me any advantage when shooting for my residencies.

I have visited both campuses and CMU's facilities are far superior to those of MSU's. However, I know MSU is able to place students for their clerkship's nearly anywhere in Michigan. I can not say this for CMU.

I know there is no way in hell I have any idea of what I will like to specialize in, but I have set my sights in radiology. I have worked under radiologists in the past and it seems like a really good gig. I feel I may struggle to obtain this residency at either of these schools.

So, SDN, I need some advice on how you would proceed and how you think I should proceed from here. I think I will be happy learning at either institution, but I do not want my school of choice to put up any hurdles when I apply for residencies. Any and all advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[Charlie Hustle]

Medical schools don't "specialize" in family medicine, radiology, or anything else.

The decision is your's, my friend. Based on the tone of your post, it sounds like you're leaning towards Central Michigan. That's cool. Go there, work hard, and good things will happen. Don't let a bunch of anonymous people on an internet message board talk you out of going with your gut. You'll do great at either school.

 

[Jas1360]

Go with your gut.

I'd give you more advice but I am biased, considering you have a seat at one of the schools I would like to attend. 😀

 

[sylvanthus]

Hello all,

I was recently accepted to MSUCOM's class of 2017. I know they are a highly regarded program and place graduates into tough to obtain residencies. Also, at my campus visit, I was told that ~98% are placed into their top three specialties of choice.

However, I was also admitted to Central Michigan's inaugural class for their MD program. I was under the impression that residencies can be easier to obtain (especially tough to obtain residencies eg. derm, rad, etc.) if one graduates from a MD program. Since this is a new program specializing in family medicine, I am unsure if I this will give me any advantage when shooting for my residencies.

I have visited both campuses and CMU's facilities are far superior to those of MSU's. However, I know MSU is able to place students for their clerkship's nearly anywhere in Michigan. I can not say this for CMU.

I know there is no way in hell I have any idea of what I will like to specialize in, but I have set my sights in radiology. I have worked under radiologists in the past and it seems like a really good gig. I feel I may struggle to obtain this residency at either of these schools.

So, SDN, I need some advice on how you would proceed and how you think I should proceed from here. I think I will be happy learning at either institution, but I do not want my school of choice to put up any hurdles when I apply for residencies. Any and all advice is greatly appreciated.

Top three "specialties" or programs? Huge huge difference.

 

[pucciola]

Well on one side you have a school that's been around for 100 years. Then you have a school who literally just opened up. Choices...choices....

 

[sylvanthus]

Go MD your life will be far easier down the road when applying to residency.

 

[235009]

there's no such thing as a school specializing in family medicine. i see that they have a focus on rural medicine but that could be a worthwhile experience no matter what specialty you choose. you will still have the opportunity to pick whichever specialty you want and will match well if you have competitive grades and step 1 score.

bottom line: a new MD school is still > an established DO school because there is less BS (no COMLEX or OMM) and more choices when it comes time to apply to residency*. i think the choice is clear ....don't pay the (i'm assuming) absurdly high deposit for the DO school, graciously decline the acceptance, and withdraw the rest of your DO apps. congrats on your acceptance.


*by more choices i mean both in terms of specialty choice and program choice within a specialty. some people think that if they want to do a "non-competitive" specialty then MD and DO are equivalent. that's only true if we are talking about low-tier or less desirable programs. more desirable or competitive programs still have an extreme bias against DOs.

 

[DrWBD]

Why did you create a second thread asking the same question as the first? 😕

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=973906

 

[Textbookversion]

The answer is always go to the MD school.

 

[Smurfette]

Moving to PreOsteo as OP is still premed.

 

[MedPR]

Go MD your life will be far easier down the road when applying to residency.

there's no such thing as a school specializing in family medicine. i see that they have a focus on rural medicine but that could be a worthwhile experience no matter what specialty you choose. you will still have the opportunity to pick whichever specialty you want and will match well if you have competitive grades and step 1 score.

bottom line: a new MD school is still > an established DO school because there is less BS (no COMLEX or OMM) and more choices when it comes time to apply to residency*. i think the choice is clear ....don't pay the (i'm assuming) absurdly high deposit for the DO school, graciously decline the acceptance, and withdraw the rest of your DO apps. congrats on your acceptance.


*by more choices i mean both in terms of specialty choice and program choice within a specialty. some people think that if they want to do a "non-competitive" specialty then MD and DO are equivalent. that's only true if we are talking about low-tier or less desirable programs. more desirable or competitive programs still have an extreme bias against DOs.

The answer is always go to the MD school.

👍

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[Mr Kenobi]

 

[Jamie561]

MD


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[Mr Kenobi]

PhD

 

[WhovianDO]

What? No Carib supporters? Lol.

Personally, I would go to the more established school since they have a reputation. Yes, there is a DO bias.. But I think by the time we are applying for residencies, this will be largely a moot point. A lot can (and will) change in 4 years.

My noob $.02

 

[cliquesh]

What? No Carib supporters? Lol.

Personally, I would go to the more established school since they have a reputation. Yes, there is a DO bias.. But I think by the time we are applying for residencies, this will be largely a moot point. A lot can (and will) change in 4 years.

My noob $.02

It will still be an issue.

 

[GUH]

What? No Carib supporters? Lol.

Personally, I would go to the more established school since they have a reputation. Yes, there is a DO bias.. But I think by the time we are applying for residencies, this will be largely a moot point. A lot can (and will) change in 4 years.

My noob $.02

Yeah... I'm just a measly OMS-0 and like a lot about DO schools but realistically I don't see the DO discrimination altogether disappearing in a couple of years.

Another thing to consider is cost (if there is a major difference) but if you're going into radiology it might not matter all that much in the long run.

 

[WhovianDO]

It will still be an issue.

We will have to agree to disagree. I'm confident it will mostly disappear. There is no foundation for it anymore. And by that time, stats will not be much different. Maybe I'm just extremely optimistic, but that my opinion.

 

[Mehd School]

Go with the MD school and don't look back.

 

[235009]

What? No Carib supporters? Lol.

Personally, I would go to the more established school since they have a reputation. Yes, there is a DO bias.. But I think by the time we are applying for residencies, this will be largely a moot point. A lot can (and will) change in 4 years.

My noob $.02

We will have to agree to disagree. I'm confident it will mostly disappear. There is no foundation for it anymore. And by that time, stats will not be much different. Maybe I'm just extremely optimistic, but that my opinion.

this is definitely just wishful thinking. as more US MD schools open and the number of residency positions stay stable there will soon be enough US MD graduates to fill every ACGME residency spot meaning PDs will be less inclined to take DOs. the bias pendulum is swinging toward more bias not less.

 

[WhovianDO]

this is definitely just wishful thinking. as more US MD schools open and the number of residency positions stay stable there will soon be enough US MD graduates to fill every ACGME residency spot meaning PDs will be less inclined to take DOs. the bias pendulum is swinging toward more bias not less.

Just call me Jimeny Cricket. Lol. Like I said, I'm optimistic to a fault. I would also hope that residency positions would increase as well.

Of course this is based on pure fantasy since I haven't done any research for it, nor have I started OMS1 yet. 😉

 

[racerwad]

We will have to agree to disagree. I'm confident it will mostly disappear. There is no foundation for it anymore. And by that time, stats will not be much different. Maybe I'm just extremely optimistic, but that my opinion.

There hasn't been a foundation for it for decades. What makes you think that in four years things will have changed more dramatically than they have in the past 40 years?

You are "just extremely optimistic" on your but overall, you're right, things will only get better for DO students in the context of being accepted to the most competitive residencies.

 

[racerwad]

Just call me Jimeny Cricket. Lol. Like I said, I'm optimistic to a fault. I would also hope that residency positions would increase as well.

Of course this is based on pure fantasy since I haven't done any research for it, nor have I started OMS1 yet. 😉

The federal government pays for residency spots; they're a little short on cash if you haven't noticed. Most of the new DO schools opening are not creating any new residency spots and NONE of the new DO schools opening are creating enough residency spots for their own graduates.

New schools are opening and classes are expanding but residency programs are not keeping up, for both osteo and allopathic schools.

 

[MedPR]

There hasn't been a foundation for it for decades. What makes you think that in four years things will have changed more dramatically than they have in the past 40 years?

You are "just extremely optimistic" on your but overall, you're right, things will only get better for DO students in the context of being accepted to the most competitive residencies.

The federal government pays for residency spots; they're a little short on cash if you haven't noticed. Most of the new DO schools opening are not creating any new residency spots and NONE of the new DO schools opening are creating enough residency spots for their own graduates.

New schools are opening and classes are expanding but residency programs are not keeping up, for both osteo and allopathic schools.

👍

 

[cliquesh]

We will have to agree to disagree. I'm confident it will mostly disappear. There is no foundation for it anymore. And by that time, stats will not be much different. Maybe I'm just extremely optimistic, but that my opinion.

The foundation for the discrimination is that DO schools are not LCME accredited and that DO schools have lower admission stats. From my experience interviewing for residency, many academic physicians have a pretty big bias against DOs and, if you have good grades and board scores they may over look your degree, but they will consider you an anomaly of osteopathic training.

 

[DrBumblebee]

The foundation for the discrimination is that DO schools are not LCME accredited and that DO schools have lower admission stats. From my experience interviewing for residency, many academic physicians have a pretty big bias against DOs and, if you have good grades and board scores they may over look your degree, but they will consider you an anomaly of osteopathic training.

Then, I'd bosom such an applicant with some warm MD compassion, and then naturalize him/her, and then heal him/her.. One more in the pack instead of one less, right!

 

[WhovianDO]

The foundation for the discrimination is that DO schools are not LCME accredited and that DO schools have lower admission stats. From my experience interviewing for residency, many academic physicians have a pretty big bias against DOs and, if you have good grades and board scores they may over look your degree, but they will consider you an anomaly of osteopathic training.

I understand the bias against lower admission stats, although I don't think that every matriculant with low stats will be an incompetent physician.

Also, the competition is only getting worse, which means that DO schools will begin matriculating students with higher stats. Is that not right? Once that happens, the students, allopathic vs osteopathic, will be indistinguishable by premed metrics.

Honestly though, I'm not at all discouraged because I will be a DO. I am a first gen high school graduate and generations of my family never became more than sharecroppers. I'm quite proud of what I've accomplished, and I'm not finished. Thank God a DO school believed in me enough to give me a chance. ;-)

No one agrees that we will see big changes in the next few years regarding DO bias?

 

[Mr Kenobi]

I understand the bias against lower admission stats, although I don't think that every matriculant with low stats will be an incompetent physician.

Also, the competition is only getting worse, which means that DO schools will begin matriculating students with higher stats. Is that not right? Once that happens, the students, allopathic vs osteopathic, will be indistinguishable by premed metrics.

Honestly though, I'm not at all discouraged because I will be a DO. I am a first gen high school graduate and generations of my family never became more than sharecroppers. I'm quite proud of what I've accomplished, and I'm not finished. Thank God a DO school believed in me enough to give me a chance. ;-)

No one agrees that we will see big changes in the next few years regarding DO bias?

 

[WhovianDO]

Lol. Sometimes it just happens. Oh well. Ha

 

[racerwad]

I understand the bias against lower admission stats, although I don't think that every matriculant with low stats will be an incompetent physician.

Also, the competition is only getting worse, which means that DO schools will begin matriculating students with higher stats. Is that not right? Once that happens, the students, allopathic vs osteopathic, will be indistinguishable by premed metrics.

Honestly though, I'm not at all discouraged because I will be a DO. I am a first gen high school graduate and generations of my family never became more than sharecroppers. I'm quite proud of what I've accomplished, and I'm not finished. Thank God a DO school believed in me enough to give me a chance. ;-)

No one agrees that we will see big changes in the next few years regarding DO bias?

I agree that things will only continue to get better for DOs.

However, you pointed out that competition for DO schools is becoming more and more...competitive. This is true. But, this is also occurring at MD schools as well so the gap isn't narrowing as much as you think it is.

The theoretical ceiling is 4.0/45 academically, but what about those students that are able to get those grades and cure cancer or save an African village? Eventually, the more elite schools will only take students with perfect grades and cured two unrelated types of cancer in an African country/region. Less competitive schools will only get the leftovers who cured the common cold in their hometown.

 

[WhovianDO]

I agree that things will only continue to get better for DOs.

However, you pointed out that competition for DO schools is becoming more and more...competitive. This is true. But, this is also occurring at MD schools as well so the gap isn't narrowing as much as you think it is.

The theoretical ceiling is 4.0/45 academically, but what about those students that are able to get those grades and cure cancer or save an African village? Eventually, the more elite schools will only take students with perfect grades and cured two unrelated types of cancer in an African country/region. Less competitive schools will only get the leftovers who cured the common cold in their hometown.

Seriously?

I mean, I'm not naive, but this seems a little far fetched. I'm certainly glad I'm not competing for those spots...

In any case, I suggest they, same as I, do their very best.