First, I want to say thanks in advanced to anyone who reads this and/or gives me their two cents on the issue. Here's my situation.
I'm a 4th year DO students who applied to both AOA and ACGME.
USMLE step 1: 232
COMLEX step 1: 595
USMLE step 2: 229
COMLEX step 2: 520
Research publication, leadership experience, and a lot of volunteering.
I had 1 SLOE from an audition rotation in by September and wouldn't get my other 2 SLOEs in till later. I know this already put me at a disadvantage. Unfortunately in late October I found out that the so called "SLOE" I got from the program was NOT a SLOE. At this point I had only a few DO invites and no MD invites other than at programs I auditioned at. Anyway, I FINALLY got a SLOE into my application by 11/20, after which I got a few more DO and MD interviews. Another SLOE came in around 12/10, but I had to have my school email it out to the programs because I used up my 4 letter maximum on ERAS. Subsequently, I got more interviews. I know this is all a mess!
Ok, so this is where I stand. I have 6 DO programs I can rank and 5 MD programs I can rank. More MD invites may come in. I like all my MD programs way more than the DO programs and was thinking about just going through the MD match. However 2 of the MD programs are at highly competitive places where I did audition rotations. I'm decent at interviewing and not socially awkward. Also, the MD programs have a decent amount of DO students (20% and up). But the things that are holding me back include the fact that I only have 5 to rank, I'm a DO, I did below average on both step 2s, and the fact that my second SLOE was sent in a nontraditional manner via email. Am I crazy for even considering this?!
Part of me feels like I should stop being so picky and just rank at least a few DO programs so I can give myself the best chance of matching and just get on with my career. But then the other part of me feels like I should go for MD because even if I fail, at least I will know for the rest of my life that it was not meant to be.
So here are my questions:
1. Should I go for MD only or both? What would you do?
2. If I go for MD and don't match, is this pretty much career suicide (I know I'm being dramatic, haha)? But really, how tough is it to bounce back from not matching with my numbers? It just seems really really hard to scramble into an ACGME program, get time for auditions, getting new SLOEs, etc. I feel like if I don't match this year, I might have to do the whole FM --> EM route. Also, what if I can't find anything and end up working at Starbucks for a year? This scenario just sounds awful!
Any comments, suggestions, or berating/tough love is more than welcome. Thanks again guys.
I'm a 4th year DO students who applied to both AOA and ACGME.
USMLE step 1: 232
COMLEX step 1: 595
USMLE step 2: 229
COMLEX step 2: 520
Research publication, leadership experience, and a lot of volunteering.
I had 1 SLOE from an audition rotation in by September and wouldn't get my other 2 SLOEs in till later. I know this already put me at a disadvantage. Unfortunately in late October I found out that the so called "SLOE" I got from the program was NOT a SLOE. At this point I had only a few DO invites and no MD invites other than at programs I auditioned at. Anyway, I FINALLY got a SLOE into my application by 11/20, after which I got a few more DO and MD interviews. Another SLOE came in around 12/10, but I had to have my school email it out to the programs because I used up my 4 letter maximum on ERAS. Subsequently, I got more interviews. I know this is all a mess!
Ok, so this is where I stand. I have 6 DO programs I can rank and 5 MD programs I can rank. More MD invites may come in. I like all my MD programs way more than the DO programs and was thinking about just going through the MD match. However 2 of the MD programs are at highly competitive places where I did audition rotations. I'm decent at interviewing and not socially awkward. Also, the MD programs have a decent amount of DO students (20% and up). But the things that are holding me back include the fact that I only have 5 to rank, I'm a DO, I did below average on both step 2s, and the fact that my second SLOE was sent in a nontraditional manner via email. Am I crazy for even considering this?!
Part of me feels like I should stop being so picky and just rank at least a few DO programs so I can give myself the best chance of matching and just get on with my career. But then the other part of me feels like I should go for MD because even if I fail, at least I will know for the rest of my life that it was not meant to be.
So here are my questions:
1. Should I go for MD only or both? What would you do?
2. If I go for MD and don't match, is this pretty much career suicide (I know I'm being dramatic, haha)? But really, how tough is it to bounce back from not matching with my numbers? It just seems really really hard to scramble into an ACGME program, get time for auditions, getting new SLOEs, etc. I feel like if I don't match this year, I might have to do the whole FM --> EM route. Also, what if I can't find anything and end up working at Starbucks for a year? This scenario just sounds awful!
Any comments, suggestions, or berating/tough love is more than welcome. Thanks again guys.