DO and specialties

scholj · Jun 27, 2006

How common is it for a DO to be accepted into a specialty? I wanted to go into oncology or nuclear medicine, but my MCAT scores weren't that great. I was considering going the osteopathic route, but I'm not sure if I'd still be able to pursue the same goals. Any input?

Buckeye(OH) · Jun 27, 2006

DOs can only do family practice.

HemaOncoDoc · Jun 27, 2006

Buckeye(OH) said:
DOs can only do family practice.

lol. Are you kidding me? DOs have specialized in many areas of medicine. You will be able to pursue the same goals providing you get into a good program and do well on your board exams. My LOR from a DO was from a hematologist/oncologist.

HemaOncoDoc · Jun 27, 2006

scholj said:
How common is it for a DO to be accepted into a specialty? I wanted to go into oncology or nuclear medicine, but my MCAT scores weren't that great. I was considering going the osteopathic route, but I'm not sure if I'd still be able to pursue the same goals. Any input?

It is more difficult to specialize, but it is done. It is hard to determine your candidacy for MD/DO schools without knowing your MCAT scores. You mentioned they weren't so great.

VirusZapper · Jun 27, 2006

Buckeye(OH) said:
DOs can only do family practice.

Do I sense the sarcasm there? I don't know...its soooo hard. Not now Todd!! I'm soooooooo tired!!

Hardbody · Jun 27, 2006

HemaOncoDoc said:
lol. Are you kidding me? DOs have specialized in many areas of medicine. You will be able to pursue the same goals providing you get into a good program and do well on your board exams. My LOR from a DO was from a hematologist/oncologist.

\

Buckeye was obviously joking.

HemaOncoDoc · Jun 27, 2006

Hardbody said:
\

Buckeye was obviously joking.

For those who are new to SDN, it could be misleading. Don't want to scare the newbies.

Doc2007 · Jun 27, 2006

Can you match into dermantology as DO?

Hardbody · Jun 27, 2006

Doc2007 said:
Can you match into dermantology as DO?

Yes, although dermatology is very hard to match for even the most competitive applicants from any school (M.D. or D.O.).

USArmyDoc · Jun 27, 2006

From talking to many Docs and working in a hospital, it does not seem to be as hard to specialize as people think. Just be a good student.

DrMom · Jun 27, 2006

we can do any specialty we wish as long as we meet the requirements of the residency (ie: gpa and boards minimums). competitive specialties are hard for anyone to get into, not just DOs. we also have our own residencies and fellowships in many of those competitive fields...the notable one that is missing is rad onc.

Jack Daniel · Jun 27, 2006

DrMom said:
we can do any specialty we wish as long as we meet the requirements of the residency (ie: gpa and boards minimums). competitive specialties are hard for anyone to get into, not just DOs. we also have our own residencies and fellowships in many of those competitive fields...the notable one that is missing is rad onc.

And, currently, pathology--though I don't perceive this as being too competitive.

nvshelat · Jun 27, 2006

For rad onc and nuclear med, forget about it. Go MD.

http://www.nrmp.org/2006advdata.pdf

DrMom · Jun 27, 2006

BostonDO said:
And, currently, pathology--though I don't perceive this as being too competitive.

yes, I was only listing competitive fields. Pretty easy for a DO to get into path. You don't have to have stellar grades or boards.

xTinaBna · Jun 27, 2006

i'm interested in working in the neo-natal ICU, is that a specialty as well or is it just pediatrics?

Kuba · Jun 27, 2006

cbenedic said:
i'm interested in working in the neo-natal ICU, is that a specialty as well or is it just pediatrics?

things like that are fellowships after the pedi residency.

PlasticMan · Jun 27, 2006

VirusZapper said:
Do I sense the sarcasm there? I don't know...its soooo hard. Not now Todd!! I'm soooooooo tired!!

Todd! Are you not aware that I get farty and bloated with a foamy latte?

AmyO · Jun 28, 2006

nvshelat said:
For rad onc and nuclear med, forget about it. Go MD.

http://www.nrmp.org/2006advdata.pdf

Umm...yeah if you want to go rad onc or nuclear med, you better not just be an M.D. student, but be one of the best medical students applying in the entire match. It looks like there have been 3 nuclear med positions offered from 2000-2006 (only 1 offerred in 2006) and there were 17 rad-onc positions offerred in 2006. They all went to M.D. students, but then again there were 15,502 U.S. seniors applying (US M.D.) and 2,222 osteopathic students applying. If you're an M.D., I wouldn't plan on going rad-onc or nuclear med either without a good back-up plan.

Hardbody · Jun 28, 2006

AmyO said:
Umm...yeah if you want to go rad onc or nuclear med, you better not just be an M.D. student, but be one of the best medical students applying in the entire match. It looks like there have been 3 nuclear med positions offered from 2000-2006 (only 1 offerred in 2006) and there were 17 rad-onc positions offerred in 2006. They all went to M.D. students, but then again there were 15,502 U.S. seniors applying (US M.D.) and 2,222 osteopathic students applying. If you're an M.D., I wouldn't plan on going rad-onc or nuclear med either without a good back-up plan.

Very good point. To sum it up your chances as a top M.D. student are not great, and your chances as a top D.O. student may be slightly less than the top M.D. student applying. Either way it is super tough, so you better spend every second in medical school grinding your way to becoming the most competitive applicant that you can become.

USArmyDoc · Jun 28, 2006

Hardbody said:
Very good point. To sum it up your chances as a top M.D. student are not great, and your chances as a top D.O. student may be slightly less than the top M.D. student applying. Either way it is super tough, so you better spend every second in medical school grinding your way to becoming the most competitive applicant that you can become.

Damn......I swear competition in medicine is almost never over. Such a stressful situation to get into but I can't wait. I was talking to my father (a D.O.) and telling him how I can't wait to get a pager in third & fourth year. He looked at me and was like " Yea, just great...Its nice to hear you can't wait for people to be up your a$$ 24/7." 😀

DrBowtie · Jun 28, 2006

AmyO said:
Umm...yeah if you want to go rad onc or nuclear med, you better not just be an M.D. student, but be one of the best medical students applying in the entire match. It looks like there have been 3 nuclear med positions offered from 2000-2006 (only 1 offerred in 2006) and there were 17 rad-onc positions offerred in 2006. They all went to M.D. students, but then again there were 15,502 U.S. seniors applying (US M.D.) and 2,222 osteopathic students applying. If you're an M.D., I wouldn't plan on going rad-onc or nuclear med either without a good back-up plan.

You are confused about Rad-Onc stats. There are 17 linked programs (intern year built in).
Most positions are PGY-2. There are 111 spots for that.

Of those 100 out of 109 were US MDs.

njbmd · Jun 28, 2006

scholj said:
How common is it for a DO to be accepted into a specialty? I wanted to go into oncology or nuclear medicine, but my MCAT scores weren't that great. I was considering going the osteopathic route, but I'm not sure if I'd still be able to pursue the same goals. Any input?

Hi there,
You can get into radiation oncology or nuclear medicine as a DO but you need to do very well in medical school and on the boards. For these specialties, the type of degree is not going to keep you out but your performance in medical school and on your boards will. (Do realize that you might have to take both COMLEX and USMLE for these specialties if you want to do an allopathic residency).

The number of DO graduates is increasing rapidly in this country. If you are entering osteopathic medical school, you will be in good company by the time you graduate. Osteopathic graduates are going into every specialty in greater numbers as their overall numbers increase. There are many residency programs that previously had not had DO grads that have DO grads this year. The numbers of these programs will only increase as the numbers of DO graduates increase.

If you want to buy into the DO versus MD thing, you can continue with this outmoded thinking. If not, apply to medical schools across the board both allopathic and osteopathic and do well in medical school. In 2006, there is little difference between the training (osteopathic schools have OMM as a part of their curriculum).

Go to any medical school in this country that you can get into and DO well. The top grads of any U.S. medical school determine their own fate. Again, if you do very well in medical school and on the boards, no specialty is out of reach MD or DO.

njbmd 🙂

medhacker · Jun 28, 2006

njbmd said:
and DO well.

njbmd 🙂

A classic 🙂

AngryBaby · Jun 28, 2006

DrMom said:
we can do any specialty we wish as long as we meet the requirements of the residency (ie: gpa and boards minimums). competitive specialties are hard for anyone to get into, not just DOs. we also have our own residencies and fellowships in many of those competitive fields...the notable one that is missing is rad onc.

Just FYI, I've been shadowing some DO physicians recently and just today I saw 2 DO vascular surgeons at the UNTHSC in Ft Worth (aka TCOM)...kinda interesting. Now I'm betting those were AOA residencies, though I've got no other information and that would just be a guess.

Bluemirage · Jun 28, 2006

nvshelat said:
For rad onc and nuclear med, forget about it. Go MD.

http://www.nrmp.org/2006advdata.pdf

I agree that Radiation Oncology is outrageously competitive but it applies to both MD's and DO's. It is certainly not impossible for a DO to match as evidenced by a KCUMB student matching into Fox Chase Cancer Center in Rad Onc in 2005. He comes on these forums from time to time.

Psycho Doctor · Jun 28, 2006

DrMom said:
we can do any specialty we wish as long as we meet the requirements of the residency (ie: gpa and boards minimums). competitive specialties are hard for anyone to get into, not just DOs. we also have our own residencies and fellowships in many of those competitive fields...the notable one that is missing is rad onc.

I work with a DO in rad onc, or is it just recently that they can't get residencies????

DrMom · Jun 28, 2006

Psycho Doctor said:
I work with a DO in rad onc, or is it just recently that they can't get residencies????

Please re-read my post

DrMom said:
we can do any specialty we wish as long as we meet the requirements of the residency (ie: gpa and boards minimums). competitive specialties are hard for anyone to get into, not just DOs. we also have our own residencies and fellowships in many of those competitive fields...the notable one that is missing is rad onc.

I never said nor implied that DO can't get residencies in rad onc. I just said that we don't have our own rad onc residencies.

OSUdoc08 · Jun 30, 2006

scholj said:
How common is it for a DO to be accepted into a specialty? I wanted to go into oncology or nuclear medicine, but my MCAT scores weren't that great. I was considering going the osteopathic route, but I'm not sure if I'd still be able to pursue the same goals. Any input?

Um DO's and MD's do the same specialties. There's no difference.

DO and specialties

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