DO student going for EM. Please, I need some advice!

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If you were me would you go for the MD match alone?

  • Yes

    Votes: 5 45.5%
  • No

    Votes: 6 54.5%

  • Total voters
    11

SurferDO

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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.

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why do you feel the need to go into an ACGME EM program?

its January..why do you think you will get anymore MD interviews?

if you want to go into EM, you need to decide what is more important...and are you willing to not match and have to sit out a year to aim for an ACGME spot...and risk being less competitive the next year.
 
why do you feel the need to go into an ACGME EM program?

its January..why do you think you will get anymore MD interviews?

if you want to go into EM, you need to decide what is more important...and are you willing to not match and have to sit out a year to aim for an ACGME spot...and risk being less competitive the next year.

Thanks for the reply. I don't want to get into too many specifics, but I feel that I would be happier at the ACGME EM programs. I know its a huge risk. But I know what I want and feel that I should go for it. I just came here hoping someone could maybe give me more clarity on the issue. Perhaps other DOs can chime in about their experiences juggling both matches? Success stories? Epic failures?

Isn't life too short to be timid?! Haha
 
With 5 MD interviews, whether you are a DO or MD student - that's super scary. You are fortunate enough to be a DO student and thus the opportunity to still go into the specialty you love through the DO match. If I was in your position, I would 100% do the DO match, hands down. For me, only 5 MD interviews is too much of a risk and the interview season is pretty much over now. I really wish you the best of luck.
 
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With 5 MD interviews, whether you are a DO or MD student - that's super scary. You are fortunate enough to be a DO student and thus the opportunity to still go into the specialty you love through the DO match. If I was in your position, I would 100% do the DO match, hands down. For me, only 5 MD interviews is too much of a risk and the interview season is pretty much over now. I really wish you the best of luck.

Thank you for the good wishes! I'm going to mull over this for a couple weeks...
 
Do the DO match. 5 MD interviews as a DO applicant (not a US MD) is terrifying.

Charting the Outcomes 2014 states that with 5 interviews, you have a 70% chance of matching as an Independent Applicant (in reality will likely be slightly more as you are a DO rather than an IMG)
 
Realistically you'll match. You're competitive for MD EM especially to places with other DOs. Those guys didn't all blow the usmle out, and it can't be overstated how far personality and social skills go especially in EM. Look at the other applicants who you were competing against and judge from there. You all likely have similar stats, now think.... would those programs wat you more than them?
 
Your stats sound good enough to match but its getting more and more competitive. Are any places you like dual accredited? If it were me I'd probably rank DO but good luck with your decision. I only had a handful of MD interviews so ranked DO and was glad I did
 
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I'd rank the DO programs you liked enough to be willing to attend, drop the rest, and rank all of the MD programs. The safest bet would be to rank all DO programs and all MD programs though (it's what I'd do, personally, but I also would not have applied to any DO programs that I didn't feel good about to begin with). If you don't match, you're screwed pretty badly- you will probably be unable to scramble into EM, and will be stuck with either a TRI, TY, or prelim year (or nothing if you don't bother scrambling for fear of losing funding). From what DocE has told me, doing a TRI then EM is a bitch and really hurts your competitiveness. So do your best to match this time around so it doesn't come to that, I guess. Good luck.
 
You will never be more competitive than you are this year. So maximize your chances to match this year. It sucks for you that the DO match is first, but that's life.

Ask yourself if you'd rather match one of the DO programs or not get to do EM at all. That's the decision you need to consider.
 
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You guys are really killing my confidence here! Haha.

Seems like the most of you think I should rank all the DO programs to maximize my chances and live with it. :/

I'll let you guys know what I decide.
 
If you're willing to live with a 30% chance of not getting to be an EP, then skip the DO match. If you're not OK with that, then don't. That's your call. Nobody here is trying to "kill your confidence", we're trying to help you be practical.
 
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Do the DO match. Would you rather become a EM physician, or end up doing family medicine, in the middle of nowhere.
 
You guys are really killing my confidence here! Haha.

Seems like the most of you think I should rank all the DO programs to maximize my chances and live with it. :/

I'll let you guys know what I decide.
well, i'm not sure why you are all that confident...you have below average Step Scores for EM (and that's as an MD senior, not a DO), you only got 5 MD interviews (which should have told you something unless all you applied to were 5 MD programs and got interviews at all 5 of them), and you think that there is a chance that you will get more interviews when the interview season has, for the most part, finished.

You have 6 DO interviews in your hand...and as a DO student you would competing with only other DOs...not sure what the avg COMLEX scores are for EM, but you have a better shot at matching at one of the 6 DO spots as a DO than you do the 5 MD spots as an independent applicant...even if those programs take in DOs...I would imagine they are not average DO students and probably have better applications that their MD counterparts for those spots.

Only you can decide if not participating in the DO match and hoping you match in the MD match is a gamble that is worth taking....knowing that you may very well have to sit out a year to participate in the DO match the following year (doubt the MD match the next year would be that fruitful for you after not matching the 1st time)...you are at your most competitive as a 4th year student, be it MD or DO.
 
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well, i'm not sure why you are all that confident...you have below average Step Scores for EM (and that's as an MD senior, not a DO), you only got 5 MD interviews (which should have told you something unless all you applied to were 5 MD programs and got interviews at all 5 of them), and you think that there is a chance that you will get more interviews when the interview season has, for the most part, finished.

You have 6 DO interviews in your hand...and as a DO student you would competing with only other DOs...not sure what the avg COMLEX scores are for EM, but you have a better shot at matching at one of the 6 DO spots as a DO than you do the 5 MD spots as an independent applicant...even if those programs take in DOs...I would imagine they are not average DO students and probably have better applications that their MD counterparts for those spots.

Only you can decide if not participating in the DO match and hoping you match in the MD match is a gamble that is worth taking....knowing that you may very well have to sit out a year to participate in the DO match the following year (doubt the MD match the next year would be that fruitful for you after not matching the 1st time)...you are at your most competitive as a 4th year student, be it MD or DO.

Yeah I think I need to be more practical and just suck it up.

Thanks for the input everyone!
 
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Isn't life too short to be timid?! Haha

Sounds like you (hopefully) have come to the conclusion that it is in your best interest to do the DO match. However, just to add another voice, I'd say that life is too short to be stuck in a field you are not interested in. Realistically, you could gamble, and you'd wind up fine 7/10 times. But 3/10 times you wind up scrambling into family--not that there's anything wrong with family, but that's obviously not what you have decided you're passionate about. Or worse--you scramble into some dead end prelim surgery year and wind up never matching in a field you're interested in. Take a look at these forums, they're littered with stories of people who took a gamble in the match and lost and now all they can do is complain about how the match is "unfair."

Every year there is someone at every med school who doesn't match, and people wonder "How on earth did they not match??" You do not want to wind up as that person for your class. I'm sure the MD programs may be more high-profile and "sexier," but the risk is just not worth the reward.
 
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The match rate for non-MDs in EM is 59%. Your stats look competitive. LOR's are one of the main criteria used by programs to issue interviews...so I would believe that is your ding. Being a DO with 5 invites, that puts you at around a 76% chance of matching.

I wouldn't be incredibly confident with those numbers to be honest. I would apply DO which would put your match rate over 90% in all likelihood.
 
What is the minimum number of ranks you guys would consider pulling out of the DO match to just go straight MD?
 
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