Ive already looked up like 5 and then I was thinking about visiting the office to ask? Is that too confrontational?
You'll get mixed results, but I'd say approaching the office is too confrontational. Some DO's may love your initiative, but DO time is precious and interrupting a day with a DO (depending on specialty) could really irritate them. Some states have websites with lists of DO's who are interested in helping students shadow (virginia has
http://www.voma-net.org/). Some of the hospital staffed DO's won't be able to do it, but the private guys typically take you on. Get a list of a couple offices each day and call them early, your shadowing appointment could be weeks away from your phone call.
To get my letter, I called a DO, she said come in for an interview, said she couldn't have me shadow because of the hospital regulations, suggested another DO, called him, set up an appointment a week later, shadowed him for a day, at the end of the day asked for a letter, he said lets go over your application profile over dinner so I can get to know you better, did that, sent him my interfolio stuff, boom - done (about 4 weeks time). I'd been working in a doctor's office as an MA intern for 8 months at the time, so I had a really strong MD letter in my pocket and the DO was more of a checkbox. He was happy with my honesty and encouraged me to keep in touch throughout the process (which he was very helpful with advising me through interviews, etc.).
