DO Application Question

  • Thread starter Thread starter zimmie256
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zimmie256

I just learned that every school you apply to can see all the other places you applied, and whether or not you've gotten in. A few people have told me that if you apply to DO schools, that they don't like to see that you've also applied to MD schools and will be sort of biased against you. I had planned to apply to a mix of both. I like the DO philosophy, but there simply aren't many DO schools in the geographic area I want to stay in... Any truth to this rumor?
 
zimmie256 said:
I just learned that every school you apply to can see all the other places you applied, and whether or not you've gotten in. A few people have told me that if you apply to DO schools, that they don't like to see that you've also applied to MD schools and will be sort of biased against you. I had planned to apply to a mix of both. I like the DO philosophy, but there simply aren't many DO schools in the geographic area I want to stay in... Any truth to this rumor?

I am not sure how the application currently works but when I applied 3 years ago, and I would assume it is the same today, I applied to DO schools through AACOMAS and to MD schools through AMCAS. AACOMAS and AMCAS are two different services and do not share your information.

I am not sure if DO schools are given the list of other DO schools you applied to. I would think not because in interview it is considered unethical for them to even ask you what schools you have applied to.
 
I don't think they can see what schools you applied to through AACOMAS. MD schools can only see what schools you are accepted to through AMCAs. NSUCOM asks what schools you applied to in their secondary. I have been asked at almost all of my interviews what other schools I applied to. I didn't know that was unethical. 🙄 I guess I just applied to unethical schools. Anyway, you don't have to tell them anything you don't want to.
 
zimmie256 said:
I just learned that every school you apply to can see all the other places you applied, and whether or not you've gotten in. A few people have told me that if you apply to DO schools, that they don't like to see that you've also applied to MD schools and will be sort of biased against you. I had planned to apply to a mix of both. I like the DO philosophy, but there simply aren't many DO schools in the geographic area I want to stay in... Any truth to this rumor?

They may ask you if you have applied to other schools (MD and DO). If you are asked about it, be honest with the reasons why you applied to each school, especially if it is purely georgraphic reason. Most DO schools understand that some of their applicants are applying to a mix of MD/DO schools. Just know why you are applying to each school, and be able to answer specific questions about it if asked.
 
I can tell you w/ 100% certainty that the other schools you have applied to (MD or DO) are NOT in your application file. As someone else said, AMCAS and AACOMAS are two separate services. Also, when reviewing files before interviewing students I have never found this as I have seen this rumor circulating on SDN for a long time.

All that being said...I have only seen the applicant files as they are given to me prior to interviews. I do not know if the final admissions committee or the Dean has access to this information, but would highly doubt that if this was one of the admissions criteria in any way, they would give us this info when we interview you. They don't so I assume that this does not matter as much as you might have been made to believe.
 
zimmie256 said:
I just learned that every school you apply to can see all the other places you applied, and whether or not you've gotten in. A few people have told me that if you apply to DO schools, that they don't like to see that you've also applied to MD schools and will be sort of biased against you. I had planned to apply to a mix of both. I like the DO philosophy, but there simply aren't many DO schools in the geographic area I want to stay in... Any truth to this rumor?

I believe this is a rumor.
 
The aacomas application they recieve shows the schools you've applied to on it. They have no access to AMCAS so they don't know about the allo schools.

If you know enough about osteopathy and especially if you have a shot at getting into md schools they won't 'hold it against you' - A lot of DO applicants, and especially matriculants, apply to both. I was only asked once at an interview this year.
 
Most schools (M.D. or D.O.) do know where you have applied and don't really care. They understand that people must apply to multiple schools if they want a chance to become a physician. Only one of my D.O. interviewers asked if I applied M.D. and I told him the truth. Even though I applied to more M.D. than D.O., I got into 3 of the Osteopathic schools to which I applied. Don't worry about it; do what you need to do to get an acceptance!

-DrL
 
On my aacomas I listed both MD and DO schools I applied to and the fact that I applied to MD schools was not brought up at any of my interviews. However at my LECOM-Fl interview they asked me about other DO schools I applied to.
 
When I interviewed at PCOM, they asked me if I had applied to other schools, M.D. and D.O. I told them the truth because I have applied to both. I guess it didn't really bother them becuase they let me in 7 days later. 😀 Just be honest if they ask.
 
zimmie256 said:
I just learned that every school you apply to can see all the other places you applied, and whether or not you've gotten in. A few people have told me that if you apply to DO schools, that they don't like to see that you've also applied to MD schools and will be sort of biased against you. I had planned to apply to a mix of both. I like the DO philosophy, but there simply aren't many DO schools in the geographic area I want to stay in... Any truth to this rumor?

This is a VERY false statement.
 
BklynWill said:
I am not sure if DO schools are given the list of other DO schools you applied to. I would think not because in interview it is considered unethical for them to even ask you what schools you have applied to.

During one of my interviews I was asked why I had applied to so many DO schools. I guess they don't consider it unethical to ask. I was able to see my application and it had at the top all the DO schools that I had applied to. So they do know all the DO schools that you have applied to but nothing about any of the MD school because I too applied to both. Good luck
 
I got asked where else I applied. I answered honestly and said I applied to both DO and MD schools, and my reasons for doing so. No problems and everyone seemed satisfied.
 
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