DO Disadvantages?

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Do you think it will get better in the future? Any advise to aspiring DO's.

Im sure itll get better over time. But the Combined match thing in 2015 isnt going to magically change the discrimination. As for advice, take the USMLE. Many DO schools seem to tell their students comlex is finr. Dont listen to them. Take the test if your practice tests are decent.
 
This is very true. Im applying EM, am a DO with excellent scores and application(comlex 1 732 comlex 2 688 usmle 1 250 usmle 2 258, class rank 3/75. EMT/ED tech for 7 years and several national leadership positions) and I had to apply to twice as many programs as MD students with worse stats just to get the same number of interviews. Dont fool yourselves, being a DO is a hindrance even with great stats. Ill most likely match, regardless, but it was definately harder.

Wow, that's crazy. Thanks for sharing.
 
Im sure itll get better over time. But the Combined match thing in 2015 isnt going to magically change the discrimination. As for advice, take the USMLE. Many DO schools seem to tell their students comlex is finr. Dont listen to them. Take the test if your practice tests are decent.

Thanks! Good luck to you.
 
This is very true. Im applying EM, am a DO with excellent scores and application(comlex 1 732 comlex 2 688 usmle 1 250 usmle 2 258, class rank 3/75. EMT/ED tech for 7 years and several national leadership positions) and I had to apply to twice as many programs as MD students with worse stats just to get the same number of interviews. Dont fool yourselves, being a DO is a hindrance even with great stats. Ill most likely match, regardless, but it was definately harder.

Sorry to hear that. Those PD's really miss out. 👎 But they still prefer you over Caribbean MD's, right?
 
For those with Tiger parents, go Carribean over DO and have only the choices that the USMD and DO students left behind in an attempt to please your parents and the spouse they have chosen for you.

:laugh:

I remember stopping by the hospital I worked at prior to medical school to say hello to a few people while driving home for Christmas vacation after my first semester as a DO student. This totally stereotypical "Tiger Mom" nurse who worked there used to talk about how great of a doctor I'd be and how smart I was, and I ran into her. Eventually she said something along the lines of, "When you're the chief over at the Cleveland Clinic, I want you to write my son a letter of recommendation" (I believe he was three years old at the time, by the way). In the same conversation, she told me about her friend who did really well at Columbia as an undergraduate but matriculated into an osteopathic school. She made it sound like it was such a shame and waste of potential. I debated whether I should drop the bomb that I, too, would only be a lowly DO, but opted not to use it as an opportunity to correct her perception about osteopathic medicine, since I'd been driving for about ten hours non-stop and was barely coherent. Still makes me laugh.

Not exactly a contribution to this thread, but it's a topic that's been beaten to death. Besides, I'd probably just be parroting what people like sylvanthus have already stated.
 
very refreshing to see a post like this. good luck on your journey :luck:

I have read many posts by you. You are one of the classiest guys on SDN.
Thanks guys!
Tuition is actually comparable. It's not a MD/DO thing, it's a private/public thing. Tuition at private MD schools are just as ridiculous as private DO schools. . . .

This is true, which is why I chose to use "generally more expensive," considering the cost of attendance rather than tuition and the fact that most DO schools are private. Either way, thanks for clarifying and citing data, much appreciated. 👍
 
I could score a 700+ on my COMLEX I and II and I bet I still wouldn't get an optho residency that is ACGME.

Because ACGME doesn't know anything about comlex.

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