DO to MD transfer
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It's scary that some people think this will happen if you go DO... 😀
Hello. This is for all you DO students out there. Has anyone successfully or attempted to transfer from a DO program to a MD one? What do the details and complications entail? And what about the allusive MD/DO programs? Any serious response appreciated.
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Tammy
Believe it or not, you are not the first person to ask this question. Do a quick search and see what you come up with.
From what I know, it is possible to transfer (anything is theoretically possible), but not all schools with accept such a transfer.
As far as the complications, you probably need a letter from the Dean or a higher up at the DO school. That, in itself, could be complicated.
DO/MD programs? Never heard of them.
I happened upon a similar question once while talking to an admissions director of an MD school. He said "it's tough to give up a medical school acceptance to hope to get into another medical school...notice I didn't differentiate between the two degrees...maybe you shouldn't either."
The person who asked the question kinda sat there dumbfounded.
If you want an "MD" behind your name that badly, go to the Carribbean. Just be careful not to drink the water...or is that only Mexico...???
Believe it or not, you are not the first person to ask this question. Do a quick search and see what you come up with.
From what I know, it is possible to transfer (anything is theoretically possible), but not all schools with accept such a transfer.
As far as the complications, you probably need a letter from the Dean or a higher up at the DO school. That, in itself, could be complicated.
DO/MD programs? Never heard of them.
I happened upon a similar question once while talking to an admissions director of an MD school. He said "it's tough to give up a medical school acceptance to hope to get into another medical school...notice I didn't differentiate between the two degrees...maybe you shouldn't either."
The person who asked the question kinda sat there dumbfounded.
If you want an "MD" behind your name that badly, go to the Carribbean. Just be careful not to drink the water...or is that only Mexico...???
Dear JPH
Indeed. I could care less what acronym ends up behind my name but I'm just more ambitious than DO can provide. I just wanted to be the best doctor no matter what and took whatever school accepted me bar none. But the more DO's I speak to the more I hear of discouragement from applying to competative residencies such a neurosurgery or thoracic surgery in awesome teaching hospitals as Mayo or J. Hopkins. I'm not eliciting a debate or berating DO's (as I will proudly be one myself) but just like to know if anyone out there has succeeded in transferring.
Thank you for the response though!😀
Indeed. I could care less what acronym ends up behind my name but I'm just more ambitious than DO can provide. I just wanted to be the best doctor no matter what and took whatever school accepted me bar none. But the more DO's I speak to the more I hear of discouragement from applying to competative residencies such a neurosurgery or thoracic surgery in awesome teaching hospitals as Mayo or J. Hopkins. I'm not eliciting a debate or berating DO's (as I will proudly be one myself) but just like to know if anyone out there has succeeded in transferring.
Thank you for the response though!😀
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Unfortunately, you will get the same discouraging words from 95% of MDs out there regarding these best of the best programs.
I understand your concern and wish you good luck in your future, whether it be DO or MD. As long as your heart is in the right place you will be successful. (see my quote)
🙂
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I stumbled across this....hope it helps
http://www.studentdoctor.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=25158&pagenumber=1
OK, my last post for the evening...goodnight. 😴
(OK, OK...a lame excuse to use the new smiley)
http://www.studentdoctor.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=25158&pagenumber=1
OK, my last post for the evening...goodnight. 😴
(OK, OK...a lame excuse to use the new smiley)
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You need to think about what exactly you are asking to understand why it simply will not happen. You are asking to not only transfer from a less competitive school to a more competitive one, but you are also asking to transfer between differing curriculums. Horizontal transfers between similiar MD schools are EXTREMELY rare! It just isn't going to happen. Sorry.
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Although this is a very unpopular thing to do, it has been done. Believe it or not there are a few schools who accepts DO transfers (more than 2....more than 3). Many of the state schools do accepts transfers (atleast they do in NY......Stony Brook for example). However, this is an extremely difficult thing to do. Not only do you have to get accepted into the MD program you want to switch to, you also have to get the endorsement of the dean of your DO school. Do you really think the dean of an Osteopathic medical school will want to sign a letter stating that they support the transferring of one of their students to an allopathic institution?
However, like I said it has been done. I know a girl who went to KCOM and was from Syracuse, NY. Sadly, her mother and one of her sister were killed in a car accident. She wanted to move back home to be closer to her father. She successfully transfered to SUNY upstate. This iis the only person I personally know of, and this was an extreme situation.
please forgive me for putting your personal info out. I tried to mention as little as possible.
I hope this helps the original poster. I would not apply to Osteopathic medical schools if you plan to switch. Also disregard the poster above me who implied that a DO to MD switch was a vertical jump. That's just stupid. take care.
However, like I said it has been done. I know a girl who went to KCOM and was from Syracuse, NY. Sadly, her mother and one of her sister were killed in a car accident. She wanted to move back home to be closer to her father. She successfully transfered to SUNY upstate. This iis the only person I personally know of, and this was an extreme situation.
please forgive me for putting your personal info out. I tried to mention as little as possible.
I hope this helps the original poster. I would not apply to Osteopathic medical schools if you plan to switch. Also disregard the poster above me who implied that a DO to MD switch was a vertical jump. That's just stupid. take care.
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I will echo DOnut's comments for a second.
I think the only reason an MD school would accept a DO student would be in the sort of extreme situation similar to that DOnut mentioned, such as a death in the family or some other life-altering event. I think any transfer from MD to DO is kind of suspicious if there is no such reason behind it. It seems to me people who transfer without any reason behind it just want the MD initials.
You mention you might not be able to go to Mayo or Hopkins if you were a DO. But do you know how many MD's will never get to go there either? Those are two of the best schools and teaching hospitals in the country. Only the best of the best get to go there. It's not just the DO's who don't get to go there.
By the way, your comment about not being able to go into neurosurgery or the like - we have heard through the grapevine at LECOM that our neuro professor (a DO neurologist) had the second-best score in the history of the neurology boards. Don't know if it's true or not, but sounds pretty damn good, huh? 😀
Good luck to you. I hope you become a DO, but if you have any reservations about it, please become an MD!
I think the only reason an MD school would accept a DO student would be in the sort of extreme situation similar to that DOnut mentioned, such as a death in the family or some other life-altering event. I think any transfer from MD to DO is kind of suspicious if there is no such reason behind it. It seems to me people who transfer without any reason behind it just want the MD initials.
You mention you might not be able to go to Mayo or Hopkins if you were a DO. But do you know how many MD's will never get to go there either? Those are two of the best schools and teaching hospitals in the country. Only the best of the best get to go there. It's not just the DO's who don't get to go there.
By the way, your comment about not being able to go into neurosurgery or the like - we have heard through the grapevine at LECOM that our neuro professor (a DO neurologist) had the second-best score in the history of the neurology boards. Don't know if it's true or not, but sounds pretty damn good, huh? 😀
Good luck to you. I hope you become a DO, but if you have any reservations about it, please become an MD!
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I personally know a DO who initially started at an MD school in Florida - wanted to transfer to a DO school in order to be closer to his fiance (now wife). His first year at the MD school was not accepted, and he was required to start from the very beginning of the DO education.
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Molybdenum,
Explain to me why you think that DO is somewhat equivalent to PhD, DDS, DPM, OD, PharmD.
Do you really know what a DO is?...I'm not trying to be funny...I'm serious...what is your definition of a D.O. (Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine)?
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I'm guessing they'd be even less likely! DO students learn a little something called osteopathic manipulation, which MD students do not learn. No DO school would let an MD student transfer, because they'd be so far behind in the OMM part of their education.
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Molybdenum: your comparison, unfortunately, is not shared by many allopathic medical institutions which, indeed, do permit the transfer of students from osteopathic programs into their own. I am aware of several schools which do allow such transfers; to name a few: Brown, Wayne State, University of Vermont (must repeat year 2, which is only a 1/2 year, after finishing 2nd year at your home D.O. school), Temple, and Creighton. Of course, the transfers are contingent upon available space, which may not be known until February or March of the year one wishes to transfer.
Institutions which do not permit transfer do not all do so because they necessarily feel that students from osteopathic schools are inferior or uncapable; on the contrary, there are some admission chairpersons whose colleagues are D.O.'s. What makes one institution allow transfer and another not is, I'm afraid, unknown to most of us. Speculation about this can and will run about, in large part fueled by uninformed statements such as yours in comparing osteopathic medical students to PhD students or podiatry students. Students attempting, for whatever reason, to transfer from an allopathic institution to an osteopathic program almost certainly will face the obstacle of not having been instructed in osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) and osteopathic principles and practice (OPP). In some ways, frankly, this is a more difficult transfer to propose.
I myself transferred from one osteopathic institution to another that would allow me to be closer to my spouse, and found little to no hassle in the process from either my enrolling institution or the one to which I transferred. This is, unfortunately, not the universal case, and one of my former colleagues faced considerable challenges in transferring to be near his/her spouse. Several members (approximately 6) did attempt to transfer to an allopathic institution, and one was admitted to one of the institutions mentioned above. As my former institution did not have letter grades (in favor of a pass-fail system) and did not tabulate class rank, this person's absolute rank in class was not known; however, it was widely perceived and understood that this person was within the top 5 individuals in the class and was clearly in the top 15% based on membership in the Osteopathic version of AOA (Psi Sigma Alpha).
Regarding concern over "competitive residencies" posted earlier, I echo a previous comment: your chances for getting a neurosurgery residency or cardiothoracic surgical fellowship are by no means enhanced by transferring to an allopathic institution. The odds of obtaining these types of programs are, quite frankly, slim to none for the majority of students regardless of whether one attends an allopathic vs. an osteopathic institution. Furthermore, for those who feel that they have fewer options, consider that at both osteopathic and allopathic institutions that the *majority* of graduates enter post-graduate programs which are considered 'primary care': this includes Family Medicine, Internal, Peds, and, possibly OB. Procurement of a subspecialty fellowship following completion of a residency is, likewise, a competitive process regardless of the letters after your name.
Institutions which do not permit transfer do not all do so because they necessarily feel that students from osteopathic schools are inferior or uncapable; on the contrary, there are some admission chairpersons whose colleagues are D.O.'s. What makes one institution allow transfer and another not is, I'm afraid, unknown to most of us. Speculation about this can and will run about, in large part fueled by uninformed statements such as yours in comparing osteopathic medical students to PhD students or podiatry students. Students attempting, for whatever reason, to transfer from an allopathic institution to an osteopathic program almost certainly will face the obstacle of not having been instructed in osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) and osteopathic principles and practice (OPP). In some ways, frankly, this is a more difficult transfer to propose.
I myself transferred from one osteopathic institution to another that would allow me to be closer to my spouse, and found little to no hassle in the process from either my enrolling institution or the one to which I transferred. This is, unfortunately, not the universal case, and one of my former colleagues faced considerable challenges in transferring to be near his/her spouse. Several members (approximately 6) did attempt to transfer to an allopathic institution, and one was admitted to one of the institutions mentioned above. As my former institution did not have letter grades (in favor of a pass-fail system) and did not tabulate class rank, this person's absolute rank in class was not known; however, it was widely perceived and understood that this person was within the top 5 individuals in the class and was clearly in the top 15% based on membership in the Osteopathic version of AOA (Psi Sigma Alpha).
Regarding concern over "competitive residencies" posted earlier, I echo a previous comment: your chances for getting a neurosurgery residency or cardiothoracic surgical fellowship are by no means enhanced by transferring to an allopathic institution. The odds of obtaining these types of programs are, quite frankly, slim to none for the majority of students regardless of whether one attends an allopathic vs. an osteopathic institution. Furthermore, for those who feel that they have fewer options, consider that at both osteopathic and allopathic institutions that the *majority* of graduates enter post-graduate programs which are considered 'primary care': this includes Family Medicine, Internal, Peds, and, possibly OB. Procurement of a subspecialty fellowship following completion of a residency is, likewise, a competitive process regardless of the letters after your name.
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I'd like to know how your career is going now and how your concerns factored into your ambitions now that it has been so many years. Especially for a current OMSII going into the merger field in a couple of years.
P.S. I do realize this is such an old post, but I sincerely hope he/she still gets and checks his/her email notifications for sdn
D
deleted859689
“Last seen Dec 8, 2009”
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You get email notifications for SND? Turned that off a long time ago I guess.
but yeah 10/10 solid necrobump of someone who hates themself for not being “good enough”
D
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Why the hell are you bumping a TWENTY year old thread???
I didn't even know we had the internet in 1999...
Also unrelated but I've always liked how everyone signed off at the bottom of their posts in these old threads. We should get back to that
- kuzy from...well...right here
Also unrelated but I've always liked how everyone signed off at the bottom of their posts in these old threads. We should get back to that
- kuzy from...well...right here
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Don’t want to dox JPH but he was a legend here at one point. He’s a trauma surgeon at a large allopathic academic center with academic appointment. He’s doing well.
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