DO grades and lack of AOA status?

[daelroy]

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We all know that competitive allopathic programs use AOA status as a cutoff or a positive attribute when judging applicants? DO's cannot participate in AOA. So how do allo programs judge DO students in regards to pre-clinical grades?

 

[Seaglass]

I don't know of anywhere AOA is used as a cutoff - there just aren't enough of them, not even for Derm. That said any specialty where AOA is a big deal is going to be hard enough for a DO to match in regardless of preclinical grades. I would say the equalizer here would be a great, no make that fantastic, Step 1 score.

 

[daelroy]

I don't know of anywhere AOA is used as a cutoff - there just aren't enough of them, not even for Derm. That said any specialty where AOA is a big deal is going to be hard enough for a DO to match in regardless of preclinical grades. I would say the equalizer here would be a great, no make that fantastic, Step 1 score.

There are enough AOA grads. Some are jr. AOA which is top 5-10% and then regular AOA which can be as high as the top 25% of a medical school class. It depends on the medical school. I don't think they make AOA and official cutoff but they "strongly encourage AOA" status which is basically the same thing.

But I agree with the rest of your post. When you say amazing Step I score, are we talking about 250+?

 

[Seaglass]

It's really a package deal but to get your stuff looked at I would say that's probably in the ballpark. Having not applied to these fields I really couldn't say any more.