Although I can't speak for the OP's intentions, I find some pre-meds like myself REALLY like the school(s) they've been accepted to, but are more concerned about being 'stuck' with the DO initials... simply due to misguided but still-existing stigma related to the initials, lack of public recognition, and/or international practice rights. Many of us would actually prefer to go to a school based on so-called 'osteopathic principles' that teach OMM and manipulation... but are concerned about limited future opportunities and the quality of rotations (in schools that don't have their own teaching hospitals). I think many of our concerns are valid, and if you go to the general residency section of SDN, you can see that the stigma even exists here.
I won't argue w/ you about it; there may in fact be legitimate concerns. However, I did not mean my comment in a negative light. What I meant was that if the OP's concerns (legitimate or not) were > than his or her desire to start medical school at this point in time, then probably it would be a good idea to not go the DO route, since the OP did not express a clear like of the school in which he or she received an acceptance. It is possible that the OP did not provide all of the relevant information for me to draw that conclusion, but based on my reading of his/her post, I did not get the sense that the OP was into things osteopathic. Indeed, his or her primary affinity seems toward attending an allopathic medical school. I simply did not want to encourage the OP to attend a school in which he or she would have to unhappily settle for, i.e., wasn't completely able to be 100% aligned with. I think that may be a recipe for unhappiness down the line, knowing you settled for something you really didn't want.
There are no half-ways here. You either get okay with what is, or make a different choice. Personally, if I were in the OP's shoes, I'd whole-heartedly embrace the acceptance to what is actually a rather good osteopathic medical school, indeed a good medical school, in general, and get on with it. Time's ticking and chances are, if the OP decided to reapply again, things may not turn out so peachy. Play the odds. The OP is looking for guarantees, when in fact, there is rarely, if ever any such guarantees in this process. Perhaps on his or her next reapplication, there will be NO acceptances; then what?
Furthermore, while I won't say that there isn't an element of truth to these so-called negative perceptions, a lot of the really popular negative hype, vast majority, is based on pre-med neuroses. There are a couple of other assorted issues associated with the profession that are not insignificant, of course. For example, the tendency for the organization to sometimes get in the way of it's own progress relative to certain things, the struggle for osteopathic medicine in (re)defining itself in modern times (identity crisis), and the minority status of the profession with it's associated issues. No, separate may not in fact be equal, but make no mistake that professionally, the two degrees are indeed equivalent and a person holding a DO degree isn't automatically in some kind of lower professional caste. Not by a long shot. I won't say that there isn't discrimination, because there is, some notable. It's part of being the minority player in the game. However, in the vast majority of cases, the determining factor holding you back, as long as you have realistic goals, is going to be you, not other people and certainly not your degree. You make it work. Having an MD or attending an MD school isn't going to give you some magic power to overcome your own shortcomings. Most of your success in this process is going to be dependent on you, not your degree.
Anyway, what do I know? I can only speak from my own experience and so far I haven't encountered any significant issues, poor perceptions, or discrimination from my choice to attend an osteopathic medical school. I am being treated as a completely equal colleague everywhere I've been. Nobody, including patients, have been having a problem with where I am currently attending medical school. Indeed, it seems the only issues are the ones I'm creating for myself or otherwise not related to degree being granted. I've also never seen any real stigma in the field toward osteopathic physicians, nor have any of my colleagues reported anything remotely resembling stigma. No negative comments that I take seriously, anyway, because there will be some people no matter what you do, who you are, or what degree you have, that like to create problems.
Whatever. If one doesn't feel comfortable attending the school in question or wants to extend that to all osteopathic medical schools, then so be it. I cannot argue against that. I'm sure everyone has their reasons. Do what makes the most sense to you. There's no right or wrong answer.
