DO residency question..

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3bamboo

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I'm a bit confused about DO residencies and I'm hoping someone will be able to help.

Do most of the people who enter DO school just assume that they will also have to take the USMLE and COMLEX? If I was interested in specialties like dermatology or urology would I take both tests or can my scores for USMLE be used for both programs??

And then when it comes time to apply, does everyone pursuing competitive specialties apply both MD and DO residencies if they want a strong chance of getting in?
 
As a DO student, you can't graduate without COMLEX. It's required. If you're looking at competitive specialties like the ones you mentioned, you should also take the USMLE and apply to both matches to double your chances. There's something funky with derm on the DO side, but since derm isn't my thing, someone else will have to explain it. Good luck!
 
I'm a bit confused about DO residencies and I'm hoping someone will be able to help.

Do most of the people who enter DO school just assume that they will also have to take the USMLE and COMLEX? If I was interested in specialties like dermatology or urology would I take both tests or can my scores for USMLE be used for both programs??

And then when it comes time to apply, does everyone pursuing competitive specialties apply both MD and DO residencies if they want a strong chance of getting in?

It is highly unlikely you will match ACGME derm or urology as a DO. If you want to match into those specialties, you should focus on AOA residencies.
 
...There's something funky with derm on the DO side, but since derm isn't my thing, someone else will have to explain it. Good luck!
Isn't it just that a lot of the AOA ones are combined, like FM/Derm, and require you to do both? I remember hearing they take like five-years too.
 
Thanks for the replies that cleared up a lot of confusion!
Is it a huge academic stress to have to take both sets of exams? or do they both cover the same things so studying for one will be like studying for both?
 
Thanks for the replies that cleared up a lot of confusion!
Is it a huge academic stress to have to take both sets of exams? or do they both cover the same things so studying for one will be like studying for both?

I studied for the USMLE, took it, one day off, one day reviewing OMM then took COMLEX. It is expensive and it does suck to have to take two all day tests back to back, but the studying was essentially one in the same for me.
 
If you want to do derm then you'll need to get some publications and know some program directors or dermatologists. IMO if you want to do derm then osteopathic medicine isn't right for you, or your training will be not used. At least in my experience, we can't get a derm consult to save someone's life(literally) ...those guys just don't seem to like medicine. And that was DURING normal hours.
 
I'm a bit confused about DO residencies and I'm hoping someone will be able to help.

Do most of the people who enter DO school just assume that they will also have to take the USMLE and COMLEX? If I was interested in specialties like dermatology or urology would I take both tests or can my scores for USMLE be used for both programs??

And then when it comes time to apply, does everyone pursuing competitive specialties apply both MD and DO residencies if they want a strong chance of getting in?

It depends on your career goals. If you to become a FM doc then taking COMLEX is all you need to do. If your shooting for ROAD residency then you gotta take the USMLE. IMHO its best to take both USMLE and COMLEX, work your butt off, then decide what residency to pursue. That way you will have options rather than matching at an undesirable residency.

I will be taking both exams.
 
It depends on your career goals. If you to become a FM doc then taking COMLEX is all you need to do. If your shooting for ROAD residency then you gotta take the USMLE. IMHO its best to take both USMLE and COMLEX, work your butt off, then decide what residency to pursue. That way you will have options rather than matching at an undesirable residency.

I will be taking both exams.

To expand on this, the decision to take the USMLE should be program specific. Don't take the shotgun approach if you don't have to-you'll be miserable. Figure out which programs will accept COMLEX scores, and which ones prefer USMLE scores, and plan your testing accordingly.

You may find you don't need to take it, or you may find that you do.
 
It depends on your career goals. If you to become a FM doc then taking COMLEX is all you need to do. If your shooting for ROAD residency then you gotta take the USMLE. IMHO its best to take both USMLE and COMLEX, work your butt off, then decide what residency to pursue. That way you will have options rather than matching at an undesirable residency.

I will be taking both exams.

I agree that it's better to work hard now so that you have a shot at getting that derm or ortho residency should you change your mind about doing FM, and to make sure you can do that FM residency where you want to do it if you don't change your mind. However, I disagree with you about the ROAD specialties. With the exception of anesthesia (which isn't really that difficult to match anyway, but the quality of AOA gas residencies is often questioned), I would be much more concerned about doing well on the COMLEX than the USMLE. It's so unlikely that you're going to be able to do a neurosurgical or integrated plastics residency on the ACGME side as a DO that I wouldn't even bother applying, so there would be no need to take the USMLE. This is also true to a slightly lesser extent for ortho, derm, and radiology.

I'd still hedge my bets by taking the USMLE regardless of what I was planning on doing in case it changes, but I don't think you're going to get much use out of it as an osteopathic grad gunning for ultra-competitive specialties.
 
Along with all of this, can someone clearly explain how the match works includeing ACGME and AOA?

I understand that AOA occurs earlier and if you apply AOA AND ACGME, then get matched into AOA, you're automatically pulled from the ACGME match. So what if you skip the AOA match completely and go only for ACGME, then do not match? Do you have to just do a traditional internship (AOA or ACGME?) and retry next year? Is it worth taking that risk? Or do people usually shoot for the less competitive ACGME residencies to make sure they don't run into that situation?

If what I described is how it works, why would you apply both AOA and ACGME? If you're going to be competitive in ACGME, it seems you'd be just as if not more competitive in AOA and you'll surely match? I really know very little about this process so I'm just looking to understand a little better.
 
Along with all of this, can someone clearly explain how the match works includeing ACGME and AOA?

I understand that AOA occurs earlier and if you apply AOA AND ACGME, then get matched into AOA, you're automatically pulled from the ACGME match. So what if you skip the AOA match completely and go only for ACGME, then do not match? Do you have to just do a traditional internship (AOA or ACGME?) and retry next year? Is it worth taking that risk? Or do people usually shoot for the less competitive ACGME residencies to make sure they don't run into that situation?

If what I described is how it works, why would you apply both AOA and ACGME? If you're going to be competitive in ACGME, it seems you'd be just as if not more competitive in AOA and you'll surely match? I really know very little about this process so I'm just looking to understand a little better.

You've been on SDN for too long...

1) To say that you are "competitive" for ACGME means very little because ACGME has Hopkins and also has xxxx (fill with some religious name) hospital that no one has ever heard of. So you can be competitive for a low tier ACGME program and not competitive for a popular AOA program.

2) You don't know how competitive you are for anything until you apply! but you can apply and not rank (see number 5).

3) People actually grow up and want to have lives. So, location becomes huge. They may want to stay in a region with so many AOA/ACGME programs so you have to apply to all and rank them all.

4) If you skip AOA and do not match ACGME then you can scramble into an open ACGME spot or scramble into an open AOA spot. They are mostly TRI(AOA)/TY(ACGME)/Prelims(ACGME)/FM/Psych/IM(mostly AOA and very, very few ACGME). Obviously, the left over spots are the "less desirable" places (location/prestige/etc.) although last year one of these ACGME IM programs that actively advertises on SDN as one of the "top 5 programs" had a few unfilled spots (I think 3) and this was their second time going unfilled in the past 5 years (but that's a whole other story) That's like 3 out of only 50some open spots :laugh::laugh::laugh:

5) As a premed this should be the least of your worries; Concentrate on getting accepted first and passing anatomy next year!:luck:
 
Instead of starting a new thread, I sort of want to build on this one.

What is the difference between AOA and ACGME residencies? Yes, this question is as stupid as it sounds.

I am asking because, why go through the trouble of just jumping to ACGME from a DO school? When hospitals hire you at the end of the day, does it depend on AOA versus ACGME? How do they affect the next step when you complete your residency?
 
Instead of starting a new thread, I sort of want to build on this one.

What is the difference between AOA and ACGME residencies? Yes, this question is as stupid as it sounds.

I am asking because, why go through the trouble of just jumping to ACGME from a DO school? When hospitals hire you at the end of the day, does it depend on AOA versus ACGME? How do they affect the next step when you complete your residency?

In a nutshell if I were to to give you the stereotyped AOA versus ACGME residency the AOA residency would be at a medium sized community hospital and the ACGME would be at a large tertiary care academic center. There are exceptions to this rule both ways.

Survivor DO
 
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