DO VS DPM

[Hereweare]

Hello,
I recently was admitted to a few DPMs and now narrowed down to one school. But I am wondering if I can get my MCAT up, should I try again for DO schools. If I get to MD level, I know I will go to MD. What about DOs....
I have looked at the old forums... saw this statement. "DO schools have even higher tuition and with more than 60% getting jobs in FM, PEDs, IM and other lowest paying specialties, I do not get why people advocate for DO to be a better financial decision than podiatry. Easier to find a job, I agree. Would these easy-to-find low-paying PCP jobs be necessarily better, Idk. DOs come out with significantly higher debts and only a small percentage will earn more than 300k. I would agree that MD is better choice since tuition is lower, better residency options and so on."
What do you all think? Is POD field different now?
DO VS DPM

Thank you

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[Weirdy]

Going the MD/DO route will have a few advantages:

1) Fair compensation based on current market. You will not have to struggle as much or have to deal with as many predatory old farts to gain fair compensation compared to being a DPM. Even with your paltry 300k as a DO, how hard do you think you have to work to reach that same number as a DPM? If you don't know, then you havn't done your research.

2) More available jobs in the location/city you and your SO want. Good luck trying to find that on the DPM side of things. Just ask current 3rd year residents. Even if you match FM/IM/Peds, those jobs are more abundant and easier to find in the location you want to live in compared to foot & ankle only jobs.

If you do not mind being locked into foot and ankle from day 1, grinding hard just to meet that 300k salary, and moving literally anywhere in the country 4 years from now- then by all means go for it.

But if you want to do anything at all besides foot and ankle, strongly consider DO.

STOP looking at monetary compensation and making your decision based off of that.
Premeds/prepods will do that but not think of the OPPORTUNITIES or DOORS you are limiting yourself to AFTER school.
All they see are $$$ signs. They are not thinking ahead.

 

[deleted1066189]

"DO schools have even higher tuition and with more than 60% getting jobs in FM, PEDs, IM and other lowest paying specialties, I do not get why people advocate for DO to be a better financial decision than podiatry.

PCP jobs on average pay more than Pod. This isn't a knock against podiatry, it's just how the job market is.

DOs come out with significantly higher debts

pod school is still expensive. I'm a bit nervous about attending my DO school (will be $370k COA), but even DMU, the cheapest pod school, is still about $265k COA (I couldn't imagine what the cost of attending NY or California would be in comparison)

 

[DexterMorganSK]

Hello,
I recently was admitted to a few DPMs and now narrowed down to one school. But I am wondering if I can get my MCAT up, should I try again for DO schools. If I get to MD level, I know I will go to MD. What about DOs....
I have looked at the old forums... saw this statement. "DO schools have even higher tuition and with more than 60% getting jobs in FM, PEDs, IM and other lowest paying specialties, I do not get why people advocate for DO to be a better financial decision than podiatry. Easier to find a job, I agree. Would these easy-to-find low-paying PCP jobs be necessarily better, Idk. DOs come out with significantly higher debts and only a small percentage will earn more than 300k. I would agree that MD is better choice since tuition is lower, better residency options and so on."
What do you all think? Is POD field different now?
DO VS DPM

Thank you

If you want to be a DO, then do whatever you can to get into a DO school. Period.
Don't choose a career based on the competition, the tuition, or how much you will make once you graduate.

Having an interest and passion goes a long way; otherwise, we'd be miserable.

 

[El-Rami]

I don't think you'll necessarily be limiting yourself to "lowest paying specialties" if you go to DO school. Look at the 2020 Match results. 91% of DO students matched compared to 94% for US MD. In the previous match (and prior years) the match rate for DOs was about 88%. There probably is not a significant difference between US MD and DO in terms of match rates, and I expect the trend to continue towards MD and DO being fairly equal in terms of outcome. People are realizing that there isn't any real difference between the two degree tracks.

All of this talk of the MD-DO match merger negatively impacting DO students is BS. What actually happened in this year's Match was that international medical graduates ended up with a lower match rate than in previous years. There are enough residency positions for AMGs.

Just go to DO med school, study FA, Pathoma, Sketchy, and Uworld during your classes. Score 85%+ in everything, and you should be fine for boards. Get honors in whatever you can. No one will care that you went to a DO program instead of MD.

If you are worried about the higher tuition, get scholarships. The military pays for everything. There are scholarships for primary care, too.

Also, podiatry pays less than most physician specialties. FM and IM typically out-earn DPMs. If I am not mistaken, typical DPM salary is closer to what pediatricians earn. Unless you really want to work on the foot and ankle, you will be happier in either MD or DO.

 

[heybrother]

The whole thing is silly. All medical degrees MD, DO, DPM etc are overpriced if you consider the insanity that nurse practitioners have been allowed to get away with. However, the core medical disciplines - family medicine, pediatrics, internal medicine are highly marketable, highly desireable, well compensated, portable, receive better benefits etc. You are far more likely to get tuition reimbursement as a DO in a core medicine discipline than you are a podiatrist. Only on the internet can we write off a huge cadre of doctors that literally all of us have seen at one point or another. All 3 of these fields have diversity and roles beyond just plain old "PCP" which is not something to be scoffed at. If you become a podiatrist there will regularly (daily) be a patient where you think "God, I wish a FM/IM doctor could see this patient today/tomorrow". Where you try to get an uncontrolled diabetic in and find out its a 6 week wait to see anyone in FM/IM. Additional job aspects/diversity could include - fellowships, inpatient, outpatient, hospitalist, direct primary care, business consultation, hospital administration/leadership, teaching, sports, public health etc.

Here's one for you. Go to usajobs.gov and search podiatry verse FM/IM. That's just a tip of the iceberg comparison.

 

[PTPuser]

As much as I am grateful for the opportunity in podiatry, I still recommend MD / DO over DPM. Your options are better with MD / DO world, as mentioned above.