DO A vs conditional MD A

[TiredOfThisGrandpa]

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I’d appreciate some advice on a decision I’m facing.

I’m a 26M first-time applicant. I received 3 DO acceptances and 2 MD interviews, but due to finances, I only placed a deposit at one DO school. Recently, my top-choice MD (T2) school referred me to a post-bacc program that offers conditional acceptance into their MD class if I maintain a 3.2 GPA and pass all courses. I’ve been told ~90%+ of students matriculate, so it’s often seen as a 5-year MD path.

I am currently interested in emergency medicine but would prefer to maintain flexibility for other specialties such as ortho.

DO Pros: start now, no uncertainty, solid match outcomes
DO Cons: Somewhat new school, stigma for competitive specialties, higher cost (~15k), weaker rotations, far from family

MD PB Pros: MD advantage, closer to home, more research, strong clinical training
MD PB Cons: 1-year delay, lost income, small risk of not progressing


Would you take the certainty of DO now or the delayed MD path?

 

[thumbz]

Any idea what you want to do with your life as a specialty?

I would take the DO assuming you aren't leaning to something competitive. The 1 year of attending income will entirely pay for the tuition and living expense differences. And moving away from family is a free-ing experience everyone should have once in their life.

I'm a DO graduate c/o 2015 and have had more career opportunities than I could have ever imagined. It's never once held me back (and in some ways has actually afforded me opportunities in medical education an MD would not have).

 

[wysdoc]

DO now, don't risk not making it through their postbac year
Not to mention that will be an extra year of tuition to pay

 

[TiredOfThisGrandpa]

Any idea what you want to do with your life as a specialty?

I would take the DO assuming you aren't leaning to something competitive. The 1 year of attending income will entirely pay for the tuition and living expense differences. And moving away from family is a free-ing experience everyone should have once in their life.

I'm a DO graduate c/o 2015 and have had more career opportunities than I could have ever imagined. It's never once held me back (and in some ways has actually afforded me opportunities in medical education an MD would not have).

Hi, thanks for responding! I forgot to mention that I am currently leaning towards EM because of my experience as an EMT, which would support the idea of going DO. However, most of my experiences have been in EMS, so I recognize the fact that exposure to a different specialty may change this. I also want to keep my options as open as possible and set myself up for any specialty.

 

[TiredOfThisGrandpa]

DO now, don't risk not making it through their postbac year
Not to mention that will be an extra year of tuition to pay

This is my biggest concern about the post bac program. Although I have spoken with previous cohorts and was assured that 8-9 out of 10 students in the cohort advance to the MD program. I should note however that the program only takes 8-11 students every year.

The entire program (5yr) tuition for the post bac plus med school would actually be cheaper than the 4 years for DO school.