DO for Canadians: 2011-2012
Started by UBCvan
Optoed: NSU is a pretty decent school im not surprised there is that many applicants. However that is the nature of the applying to US DO schools. Both schools I was accepted to had more than 4000 applications for 150-200 spots. Dont worry about numbers, EXCEPT when you reach the interview because it a huge boost of confidence when you realize most places accept 40-50% of the interviewees
HockeyKid: First off, lovin your username haha very Canadian. Are you from out east?
1) Well it all depends when you apply. Remember that its rolling admissions unlike Canadian med schools. So if you apply in the summer (which I highly recommend, as the chances of getting accepted decrease over the fall significantly since the classes start to fill up), they will take all available grades. If you are still taking courses you must list them too as "in progress" basically and than send them the new marks. Many schools will not interview you if you in the middle of taking an important course (ie if you are retaking a pre-req and you got a C- the first time)
2) Well if you are looking for a DO reference letter (which is pretty much a given necessity if you are trying to go US DO) than that all depends where you live. Where are you from in Canada? Im from Vancouver and I know a DO in Victoria who is great to shadow. I recommended this doctor to a few Canadians from Vancouver and they seemed to enjoy their experience with the doctor and get a good reference letter as well
3) I dont know anything about loans. I am fortunate enough to have my first year med school paid for. I will cross the loan bridge next year 🙁
Futureofyourtv: In Canada, we have "osteopathic school" but you arent trained and licensed as an Osteopathic Physician with a DO doctorate degree. Instead it is basically a masters program and as a result, you have little authority and you are not a doctor with it. Unfortunately as Canadians, not many people in Canada know anything about DO's. Luckily we can practice in Canada though with a US DO degree as physicians. I would bet a lot of money that in 10 years there will be more Canadians with US DO degrees practicing in Canada. Look how many Canadians are now considering the US D.O. route. The DO I shadowed in Canada said he was like one of 5 Canadians in the whole US. Now at my school alone, there is 4-5 of us JUST in my class (there is one or two more in the class above me)
Apparently the Dean of MSU tried to get an Osteopathic medical school opened in Ontario but the government shut it down for some ridiculous reason
HockeyKid: First off, lovin your username haha very Canadian. Are you from out east?
1) Well it all depends when you apply. Remember that its rolling admissions unlike Canadian med schools. So if you apply in the summer (which I highly recommend, as the chances of getting accepted decrease over the fall significantly since the classes start to fill up), they will take all available grades. If you are still taking courses you must list them too as "in progress" basically and than send them the new marks. Many schools will not interview you if you in the middle of taking an important course (ie if you are retaking a pre-req and you got a C- the first time)
2) Well if you are looking for a DO reference letter (which is pretty much a given necessity if you are trying to go US DO) than that all depends where you live. Where are you from in Canada? Im from Vancouver and I know a DO in Victoria who is great to shadow. I recommended this doctor to a few Canadians from Vancouver and they seemed to enjoy their experience with the doctor and get a good reference letter as well
3) I dont know anything about loans. I am fortunate enough to have my first year med school paid for. I will cross the loan bridge next year 🙁
Futureofyourtv: In Canada, we have "osteopathic school" but you arent trained and licensed as an Osteopathic Physician with a DO doctorate degree. Instead it is basically a masters program and as a result, you have little authority and you are not a doctor with it. Unfortunately as Canadians, not many people in Canada know anything about DO's. Luckily we can practice in Canada though with a US DO degree as physicians. I would bet a lot of money that in 10 years there will be more Canadians with US DO degrees practicing in Canada. Look how many Canadians are now considering the US D.O. route. The DO I shadowed in Canada said he was like one of 5 Canadians in the whole US. Now at my school alone, there is 4-5 of us JUST in my class (there is one or two more in the class above me)
Apparently the Dean of MSU tried to get an Osteopathic medical school opened in Ontario but the government shut it down for some ridiculous reason
So would Canadian D.O.'s face even more discrimination in Canada? I see that there are a few provinces where D.O.'s have unlimited rights to practice, Ontario being one of them. I would like to immigrate to Canada after med school so that is why I ask. I am afraid of job opportunities. Is it best to pm you or any of you Canadian about my other concerns?
P.S. Vancouver is a such a beautiful city! A shame about those riots =/
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Government: "We have no plans to open a new MD school in the next 100 years, and you speak of a DO school homeboy" that's the reason.
Hey Drctother, 40-50% acceptance rate at the interview stage does sound amazing. thanks for the heads up. Good luck with your studies!
Quick question guys, I am also Canadian too 🙂 and was wondering did you guys apply during the summer before your 4th year or the summer after you finished your bachelors cause I know alot of the schools want a degree first. So yea thanks for the help in advance!
Really? I thought almost all schools just require you to finish the degree before matriculation.
I just received my bachelor few weeks ago and I'm applying now.
Well there is two situations really
A) Apply during summer in between 3rd and 4th year for the fall following year (remember whole cycle takes a year)
B) Apply at end of 4th year with degree, have a year off from school, and matriculate the following fall
I took the year off, not by choice. I had to retake a course
A) Apply during summer in between 3rd and 4th year for the fall following year (remember whole cycle takes a year)
B) Apply at end of 4th year with degree, have a year off from school, and matriculate the following fall
I took the year off, not by choice. I had to retake a course
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It really depends on the time of the application cycle and how many application they have received. I would say on average it takes about 2-3 weeks.
What if we only have an MD letter of reference instead of DO?? Will this hurt the chances of getting an interview? There are literally 0.00000 DOs anywhere in a 3000km radius of me.
Also, I technically can use 2 letters of reference from MDs- one that I shadowed here in Canada and another that I shadowed in the UK (MBBS). Do you think it's risky to include an MBBS instead of an MD, despite the MBBS being an equivalent degree?
Thanks 🙂
Also, I technically can use 2 letters of reference from MDs- one that I shadowed here in Canada and another that I shadowed in the UK (MBBS). Do you think it's risky to include an MBBS instead of an MD, despite the MBBS being an equivalent degree?
Thanks 🙂
I had an MD LOR and I got 4 interviews out of 10 secondaries. Regarding the MBBS, you would have to ask the schools.
Are you positive there is no DO to shadow? I thought that too and than found one in my last attempt to find one. I think both references would be fine, however a DO letter is a lot better. Sure you can get in without a DO letter, but its one less check mark to worry about if you have one (plus in my opinion, how on earth do you know you want to study Osteopathic medicine without ever seeing it)
Where in Canada are you from?
Atlantic Canada. Pretty sure there are no DOs around these parts, lol. I'm actually considering going to ON for a few days just to shadow....
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I flew to Idaho twice to meet up with a DO! Also contacted the Michigan association of Osteopathic Medicine and will be attending some CME this summer.
Dang...talk about dedication.
I took the ferries to Victoria (from Vancouver) to shadow my DO. I'm dedicated too 😛
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some don't brake?
lol remember when the ferries crashed into the beach, taking out a ton of private boats
Good times in West Van
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4G47rjXTwE
Happpy Canada Day Everyone!! 😀
uuh, i live in toronto, any DOs here??? *-)
uuh, i live in toronto, any DOs here??? *-)
I'm from TO. No DO that I know of in TO. The closest one will be in Newmarket. I went to Buffalo to shadow mine.
Suffer? No. Will you be at a large disadvantage? Yes. Also we are Canadian and they favor their own people (fair enough, I would be upset if Americans were coming up here to take our med class spots)
Is there NO way you can make a road trip to get one? I personally think it will make the world of difference because:
A) Most schools "recommend" a DO LOR, thus im sure they favor them heavily
B) Adcoms might be confused where your exposure to Osteopathic medicine has been and why you want to pursue it. They know Osteopathic medicine is virtually invisible here in Canada
C) If you got a DO letter and shadowed one, it gives you a ton of stuff to talk about during the interview if you get one. I talked about my experiences shadowing a DO during both my interviews
Is it an absolute requirement to get a DO LOR? No. Will it increase your chances a lot? Yes. However if you are very well rounded in GPA, MCAT, and extracurricular.....im sure you are fine
I agree with this. Get a DO letter, so when during the interview, you're explaining why Osteopathic, you look authentic, and you have experienced it. However, the amount of osteopathic I had learned before and after my shadowing experience did not change. in other word, I was already familiar with all the techniques and I knew the history and all. how? youtube videos, articles, so on and so forth. But in your interview you can't say I watched youtube videos and that's why I like osteopathic. as much as it may be sufficient, it's not a convincing method to choose DO.
haha yeah I remember this. it was like a hollywood flick lol
Who's the DO in Buffalo? That may be my best bet...
I went through the list on AOA website. There are many DOs in buffalo, you just need to contact them.
I had 3 offers, 2 rejects, ~15 wrong listing/no answer
You need to be tenacious and patient
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hmm.. my job's starting in a week, full time 🙁 ..which is why it'll be hard for me to make such a long road trip...but, i will definitely contact COA and see who the nearest DOs are, if i can find any... how abt just shadowing some osteopaths, in one of these osteopathic clinics here..? has any1 tried that before? otherwise, i will definitely try and schedule some road trip.. how long do these shadowing sessions have to be anyway? are we talking a week here?? or one-two days? :S
hey quick q: so it seems PCOM hasn't shown much love for canadians this year..? any news on that front? and how abt william carey, how's that been towards canadians this year??
I don't think PCOM has shown any love to Canadians any year... It's just like LECOM, takes your money then says no. You should ask the schools you applied to if shadowing an Osteopath is ok. Some schools will take into consideration that you are in Canada, and USDO docs are rare, and allow an Osteopath letter instead.
I would take few days off from work just to shadow and get the letter. The closest one like I said will be in Newmarket. I believe her name is Dr. Wong. I only went to Buffalo since you need a letter from AOA member and she's part of COA (but I am sure she also has AOA membership since few people received LOR from her).
I would personally not use an osteopath from a clinic since they are not medical doctors and there has been some sort of red flag warning about their credentials on the COA website. If you decide to receive a letter from just an osteopath but not a DO, then it might look bad on your part with all those other Canadians getting the DO LOR even while they were busy.
For me, I explained my situation to my DO doc and he was very accomodating. He let me shadow him for 2days 4hrs each and told me that he'll write me a very strong LOR
Totally off topic -- but its HOT in TO today!!
quick question:
aacomas lists Fall 2011 as the last session for planned courses.. i don't intend to take a few courses until winter 2012.. shud i just list them under fall 2011 for now, and notify the universities later on how i intend to take them in winter 2012..?
aacomas lists Fall 2011 as the last session for planned courses.. i don't intend to take a few courses until winter 2012.. shud i just list them under fall 2011 for now, and notify the universities later on how i intend to take them in winter 2012..?
you should be able to list winter 2012 courses on AACOMAS. contact them directly about it- they will help you out with it.
hey guys..
just wondering, what's the cdn consensus abt Texas COM?
just wondering, what's the cdn consensus abt Texas COM?
It says they accept Canadians (http://www.hsc.unt.edu/education/tcom/admissions/Admissionsreqs.cfm)
But who knows if they "accept" Canadians (aka take our money for applications) or ACTUALLY accept them.
It would be awesome if they did accept Canadians as TCOM is arguably one of the top 3 DO schools in the US. I wish I had applied there. They HEAVILY favor texans though (90% accepted are from Texas, 10% out of state). I believe only 19 out of about 230 of the entire class was out of state😱
DO NOT apply to TCOM. As drc said, they heavily favor texans. why? because the tuition there is so so so so so cheap. it's 12K for texans and 27K for out of state. it's even cheaper than canadian MD shcools. So why should they accept out of state? let alone canadians. and also there is no history of canadians accepted there.
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Also, medical schools in Texas have their own medical school application (TMDSAS) service. They don't use AACOMAS or AMCAS. you have to do all the work you did for AACOMAS again for TMDSAS so I don't think anybody has applied their in past. They may accept Canadians.
I read it as 20K discount. Even with the discount it's still expensive. Also, apparently there's a rumour that Canadian students go to the detroit campus, and not their main campus
There are a lot more than 4-5 schools that accept canadians.
Just to name a few:
CCOM, AZCOM, Western, UNECOM, DMU, ATSU-KCOM, KCUMB, NSU, Touro NY, WVSOM are just a few. PCOM, and LECOM E claim to, but I wouldn't hold your breath.
Just to name a few:
CCOM, AZCOM, Western, UNECOM, DMU, ATSU-KCOM, KCUMB, NSU, Touro NY, WVSOM are just a few. PCOM, and LECOM E claim to, but I wouldn't hold your breath.
^^ooooooooops... umm.. any way to pull back my app from the schools before my app has been verified?????????????
i applied to WCarr, it said they accept in CIB 🙁 it was a totally last minute addition.. didn't even check it's website properly... ughh... 🙁anywayz, i came here to ask something else:
guys, there's a bit of a dilemma i'm facing, and i'd really appreciate any tips.. so i'd scheduled a shadowing of DO near end of july.. just got offered a job which started this week, full time, and first month intensive training...mon-fri , 8-4. the shadowing falls during this period. i'd first thought of accepting this job, going on first day to just see if i cud take the two days off during the training, but they have a strict policy - no days off during training.. 🙁 it's the kind of job i've been meaning to get hang of for months now, and i don't wanna give it up.. same hand, this shadowing means a lot..
now, the day training ends in mid Aug.. that's when my on-the-floor shifts would start, which are during evenings..so i can make it to shadowing anytime after aug 10th. I do believe, as the doc had mentioned, i can reschedule this shadowing, postpone it till mid aug. though, that wud then mean looking at getting that letter come sept. i do already have a physician (MD) letter though..
soooo.. if some of u, who've have the experience of juggling with apps and jobs (this is my first read full time job after uni 😳, infact, uuuhh..first EVER full time job....:$:$), could give me some tips on how to go abt with this.. if i were to just mention on my secondaries that i have a shadowing scheduled for mid aug, wud that be wise/make a diff? or no...?
:$
^^ooooooooops... umm.. any way to pull back my app from the schools before my app has been verified?????????????
anywayz, i came here to ask something else:
guys, there's a bit of a dilemma i'm facing, and i'd really appreciate any tips.. so i'd scheduled a shadowing of DO near end of july.. just got offered a job which started this week, full time, and first month intensive training...mon-fri , 8-4. the shadowing falls during this period. i'd first thought of accepting this job, going on first day to just see if i cud take the two days off during the training, but they have a strict policy - no days off during training.. 🙁 it's the kind of job i've been meaning to get hang of for months now, and i don't wanna give it up.. same hand, this shadowing means a lot..
now, the day training ends in mid Aug.. that's when my on-the-floor shifts would start, which are during evenings..so i can make it to shadowing anytime after aug 10th. I do believe, as the doc had mentioned, i can reschedule this shadowing, postpone it till mid aug. though, that wud then mean looking at getting that letter come sept. i do already have a physician (MD) letter though..
soooo.. if some of u, who've have the experience of juggling with apps and jobs (this is my first read full time job after uni 😳, infact, uuuhh..first EVER full time job....:$:$), could give me some tips on how to go abt with this.. if i were to just mention on my secondaries that i have a shadowing scheduled for mid aug, wud that be wise/make a diff? or no...?
:$
I'll do one of three things. 1) Call the DO and ask if you can move up the shadowing date while explaining your situation. 2) Find another DO to shadow ASAP. 3) Postpone shadowing but apply with your MD letter and give LOI stating that you will have a DO letter available by end of Aug.
There are pros and cons to all the above mentioned options. Wager them out and see which is the best for you.
well, i do think the DO would allow me to reschedule, she did say so, that i could postpone it if i have anything else (like mcat) going on... the LOI sounds good actually, i hadn't thought of that before.. i'll call her office tomorrow...thankx! was getting quite panicked here, i mean i finally found a DO and it all seemed fine, and then this whole conflict.. =(
UNECOM yes, LECOM no. Others are being interviewed already at LECOM.
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