DO vs MD

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scruggs92

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Is there a huge difference that I just can't find between DOs and MDs? I have looked into it and they seem to be nearly the same thing. I know that it is harder to get into MD schools. Any input would be appreciated! Below are how they are similar.

D.O. vs. M.D.

Both D.O.s and M.D.s typically have a four year undergraduate degree prior to medical training.

Both D.O.s and M.D.s have spent four-years in medical education. Both take the MCAT and are subject to a rigorous application process. Historically, D.O. schools are more open to the non-traditional candidate.

D.O.s, like M.D.s, choose to practice in a specialty area of medicine and complete a residency program ranging from 3-7 years. Some D.O.s complete the same residency programs as their M.D. counterparts.

M.D. students take the USMLE exam and D.O. students take the COMLEX exam. Both must pass a state licensing examination to practice medicine.

D.O.s perform surgery, deliver babies, treat patients, prescribe medications, and work in the same settings as M.D.s. D.O.s use the same tools, treatments, and technologies of medicine as M.D.s.

D.O.s receive extra training in the musculoskeletal system, which make up the muscles and bones of a person.
 
scruggs92 said:
Is there a huge difference that I just can't find between DOs and MDs? I have looked into it and they seem to be nearly the same thing. I know that it is harder to get into MD schools. Any input would be appreciated! Below are how they are similar.

D.O. vs. M.D.

Both D.O.s and M.D.s typically have a four year undergraduate degree prior to medical training.

Both D.O.s and M.D.s have spent four-years in medical education. Both take the MCAT and are subject to a rigorous application process. Historically, D.O. schools are more open to the non-traditional candidate.

D.O.s, like M.D.s, choose to practice in a specialty area of medicine and complete a residency program ranging from 3-7 years. Some D.O.s complete the same residency programs as their M.D. counterparts.

M.D. students take the USMLE exam and D.O. students take the COMLEX exam. Both must pass a state licensing examination to practice medicine.

D.O.s perform surgery, deliver babies, treat patients, prescribe medications, and work in the same settings as M.D.s. D.O.s use the same tools, treatments, and technologies of medicine as M.D.s.

D.O.s receive extra training in the musculoskeletal system, which make up the muscles and bones of a person.
Click to expand...


If you go to pre-osteo they will tell you it's harder to get into DO because the applicant to matriculant ratio is higher.

However, I'm so glad another MD vs DO thread popped up!.
 
scruggs92 said:
Is there a huge difference that I just can't find between DOs and MDs? I have looked into it and they seem to be nearly the same thing. I know that it is harder to get into MD schools. Any input would be appreciated! Below are how they are similar.

D.O. vs. M.D.

Both D.O.s and M.D.s typically have a four year undergraduate degree prior to medical training.

Both D.O.s and M.D.s have spent four-years in medical education. Both take the MCAT and are subject to a rigorous application process. Historically, D.O. schools are more open to the non-traditional candidate.

D.O.s, like M.D.s, choose to practice in a specialty area of medicine and complete a residency program ranging from 3-7 years. Some D.O.s complete the same residency programs as their M.D. counterparts.

M.D. students take the USMLE exam and D.O. students take the COMLEX exam. Both must pass a state licensing examination to practice medicine.

D.O.s perform surgery, deliver babies, treat patients, prescribe medications, and work in the same settings as M.D.s. D.O.s use the same tools, treatments, and technologies of medicine as M.D.s.

D.O.s receive extra training in the musculoskeletal system, which make up the muscles and bones of a person.
Click to expand...

Correction: DO's can take USMLE too.

I've heard:

-DO schools usually cost more than MD schools.

-Some areas have more MD's than DO's or vice versa.

-DO has a different meaning in some parts of the world.

-DO schools absolutely require you to shadow a DO. DO colleges will provide recommendations to you regarding who to shadow.

-The DO equivalent of the MSAR is free!

-(I wish I knew if MD schools overall or DO schools overall offered better and/or more scholarships and financial aid.)

-(I wish that I could find a website or publication that adequately explained the DO philosophy. I don't get the idea that MD's are less concerned with the "whole person." There has to be a better, more specific, explanation somewhere.)
 
Gauss44 said:
Correction: DO's can take USMLE too.

I've heard:

-DO schools usually cost more than MD schools. Not really. There are just very few public DO schools

-Some areas have more MD's than DO's or vice versa.

-DO has a different meaning in some parts of the world. DO means the same thing everywhere. However they do have less autonomy in some countries

-DO schools absolutely require you to shadow a DO. DO colleges will provide recommendations to you regarding who to shadow. Not all DO schools require you to shadow a DO. DO schools do not provide recommendations to you regarding who to shadow

-The DO equivalent of the MSAR is free! The CIB also doesn't have all the same info as the MSAR. GPA/MCAT, for example. Also the price of the MSAR is negligible. .

-(I wish I knew if MD schools overall or DO schools overall offered better and/or more scholarships and financial aid.) This varies so much from school to school there is no way to compare DO vs MD

-(I wish that I could find a website or publication that adequately explained the DO philosophy. I don't get the idea that MD's are less concerned with the "whole person." There has to be a better, more specific, explanation somewhere.)The "holistic" philosophy is a gimmick. Most, if not all, medical schools train their students to look beyond symptoms when treating patients.
Click to expand...

gettheleadout said:
I've never found a source for this, but I BELIEVE that both MD's AND DO's can use the search function...
Click to expand...

Haven't seen you post in a while! Been busy?
 
scruggs92 said:
Is there a huge difference that I just can't find between DOs and MDs? I have looked into it and they seem to be nearly the same thing. I know that it is harder to get into MD schools. Any input would be appreciated! Below are how they are similar.

D.O. vs. M.D.

Both D.O.s and M.D.s typically have a four year undergraduate degree prior to medical training.

Both D.O.s and M.D.s have spent four-years in medical education. Both take the MCAT and are subject to a rigorous application process. Historically, D.O. schools are more open to the non-traditional candidate.

D.O.s, like M.D.s, choose to practice in a specialty area of medicine and complete a residency program ranging from 3-7 years. Some D.O.s complete the same residency programs as their M.D. counterparts.

M.D. students take the USMLE exam and D.O. students take the COMLEX exam. Both must pass a state licensing examination to practice medicine.

D.O.s perform surgery, deliver babies, treat patients, prescribe medications, and work in the same settings as M.D.s. D.O.s use the same tools, treatments, and technologies of medicine as M.D.s.

D.O.s receive extra training in the musculoskeletal system, which make up the muscles and bones of a person.
Click to expand...

Such a boring thread, but regardless, sounds like DOs are just glorified PTs (physical therapists), kind of like chiros, who are just glorified MTs (massage therapists). Cool. Guess going DO is probably a poor decision, huh?

I jest. But regardless, MD ≥ DO. Period. But DO >>> Caribbean et al. The topic is pretty much worn-out you really should just let it go....
 
La Presse said:
MD > Int'l MD >>> DO > Carib.
Click to expand...

Right because being 300k in debt, doing family medicine (if you're lucky) and living in another country is worth a difference in 2 letters after your name. Int'l MD is just as bad as Carib.
 
Last edited:
You got your ranking wrong.

- Going to a med school in the US makes it easier to match.
- IMO, carib is better than an FMG because carib students have US clinical rotations and recommendation letters from doctors in the US.
- The only US clinical experience an FMG will have is some externship that s/he paid for.


La Presse said:
MD > Int'l MD >>> DO > Carib.
Click to expand...
 
Theres not a huge difference in their training, both in the end are doctors.

Maybe a couple times in your career someone will ask you what DO stands for but thats about the only difference once you're practicing.
 
Lol. I'm wondering how many times this question can be asked.
 
Some one needs to make a sticky out of DO vs MD. This is getting out of hand.
 
If I was a mod everytime one of these threads came up it would be a

Please search

and a

:lock::lock::lock::lock:


Probably why I'm not a mod :laugh:
 
DO is more holistic, focusing on not just the disease but the whole patient. So for a broken wrist, for instance, the MD radiologist will X-ray just the end of the arm but the DO radiologist would do a full body scan.
 
sazerac said:
do is more holistic, focusing on not just the disease but the whole patient. So for a broken wrist, for instance, the md radiologist will x-ray just the end of the arm but the do radiologist would do a full body scan.
Click to expand...

ImageUploadedBySDN Mobile1355420752.496507.jpg
 
sazerac said:
DO is more holistic, focusing on not just the disease but the whole patient. So for a broken wrist, for instance, the MD radiologist will X-ray just the end of the arm but the DO radiologist would do a full body scan.
Click to expand...

The DO would also do a cranial manipulation since the body is one unit rather than separate systems.
 
If the body is a singular unit, so is everything and everyone. So I think the DO radiologist would do a full body scan and OMM on him/herself as well.
 
personally, I think DO is more prestigious. How many DOs do you see practicing? Thats right, not many. Its because it is definitively a more rigorous and more comprehensive (read: harder and more challenging) education.

MD vs DO? DO all day everyday. MDs are just glorified chiropractors.
 
A DO I shadow says the difference between MD's and DO's is that DO's actually DO work. He also says his school, LECOM-E, is a fake doctor school.
 
appleman123 said:
personally, I think DO is more prestigious. How many DOs do you see practicing? Thats right, not many. Its because it is definitively a more rigorous and more comprehensive (read: harder and more challenging) education.

MD vs DO? DO all day everyday. MDs are just glorified chiropractors.
Click to expand...


Are you out of your **** mind?
 
La Presse said:
MD > Int'l MD >>> DO > Carib.
Click to expand...

Hemorrage said:
Right because being 300k in debt, doing family medicine (if you're lucky) and living in another country is worth a difference in 2 letters after your name. Int'l MD is just as bad as Carib.
Click to expand...

MedPR said:
Nooooo

Sent from my SGH-T999 using SDN Mobile
Click to expand...

tima said:
You got your ranking wrong.

- Going to a med school in the US makes it easier to match.
- IMO, carib is better than an FMG because carib students have US clinical rotations and recommendation letters from doctors in the US.
- The only US clinical experience an FMG will have is some externship that s/he paid for.
Click to expand...


Besides spouting general groupthink, what is your guys source for disputing La Presse's statement. At one of the hospitals I work at there are far more FMG's in competitive residencies like surgery, radiology, and orthopedics, than there are DOs. In fact there are 0 DOs in any of those 3....
 
appleman123 said:
personally, I think DO is more prestigious. How many DOs do you see practicing? Thats right, not many. Its because it is definitively a more rigorous and more comprehensive (read: harder and more challenging) education.

MD vs DO? DO all day everyday. MDs are just glorified chiropractors.
Click to expand...

This man speaks the truth.
 
MiracleforMD said:
Besides spouting general groupthink, what is your guys source for disputing La Presse's statement. At one of the hospitals I work at there are far more FMG's in competitive residencies like surgery, radiology, and orthopedics, than there are DOs. In fact there are 0 DOs in any of those 3....
Click to expand...

I don't have any hard data for this, but I would predict that said FMG's were the best of the best in their respective countries, possibly that already had experience, that were able to come do competitive specialties here in the US, while many many more would not be granted such an opportunity.
 
DO vs MD...who cares. In the end both are doctors...If you are planning to move and exclusively practice in a country like Chile and taking their licensing exams then sure..DO might be a problem. If international medicine or humanitarian work is what you want to do I highly doubt you are going to be turned away because of your credentials. Doctors without borders and several other international organizations recognize DO as physicians. To the person that said DO's dont have prestigious residencies tell that to my cousin who is a 2nd year anesthesiologists resident at Johns Hopkins.

If a person is that caught up with the letters at the end of their name then they are becoming a doc for all the wrong reasons! In the end its about the patients not the size of your intellectual ego!
 
MiracleforMD said:
Besides spouting general groupthink, what is your guys source for disputing La Presse's statement. At one of the hospitals I work at there are far more FMG's in competitive residencies like surgery, radiology, and orthopedics, than there are DOs. In fact there are 0 DOs in any of those 3....
Click to expand...

Thanks you sir...😀
 
MiracleforMD said:
Besides spouting general groupthink, what is your guys source for disputing La Presse's statement. At one of the hospitals I work at there are far more FMG's in competitive residencies like surgery, radiology, and orthopedics, than there are DOs. In fact there are 0 DOs in any of those 3....
Click to expand...

Are there a lot of American Grads? Places that have a lot of FMGs but not AMG often "suck" to the point no one, MD or DO, wants to go there.
 
MiracleforMD said:
Besides spouting general groupthink, what is your guys source for disputing La Presse's statement. At one of the hospitals I work at there are far more FMG's in competitive residencies like surgery, radiology, and orthopedics, than there are DOs. In fact there are 0 DOs in any of those 3....
Click to expand...

You miss the key fact that there are more IMG applicants than DO applicants and therefore the fact that you might see more IMGs around doesn't mean going abroad is better than US DO.

Kobe scores a lot of points, but he also takes a hell of a lot more shots than a lot of players. Get it?
 
MedPR said:
You miss the key fact that there are more IMG applicants than DO applicants and therefore the fact that you might see more IMGs around doesn't mean going abroad is better than US DO.

Kobe scores a lot of points, but he also takes a hell of a lot more shots than a lot of players. Get it?
Click to expand...

Maybe 'cause there are less DO programs, you know? Hmm?
 
La Presse said:
Maybe 'cause there are less DO programs, you know? Hmm?
Click to expand...

Perhaps, but probably because classes at some carib schools are upwards of 700 students. However, you are still missing the point. More IMG residents does not mean IMGs are more competitive than DO. The only statistic that would support your argument is if IMGs matched at a greater rate than DOs. And as cliquesh posted in another thread just a day or two ago, that is not the case.
 
MedPR said:
Perhaps, but probably because classes at some carib schools are upwards of 700 students. However, you are still missing the point. More IMG residents does not mean IMGs are more competitive than DO. The only statistic that would support your argument is if IMGs matched at a greater rate than DOs. And as cliquesh posted in another thread just a day or two ago, that is not the case.
Click to expand...

Maybe I should mention that when I talk about IMGs or FMGs or whatever you guys call it, I am not referring to Caribbean medical schools. In fact , one can say that I find Caribs and other medical programs (Europe, Asia, et. al.) to be mutually exclusive. One of the reasons for this is because of the varying attrition rates in the Caribbean versus many European schools. Should we bust out the charts? I also notice that a lot of IMGs have more "quality" matches than DO graduates. Not all but the majority...
 
Last edited:
Bacchus said:
Are there a lot of American Grads? Places that have a lot of FMGs but not AMG often "suck" to the point no one, MD or DO, wants to go there.
Click to expand...

Many, many American grads with many notable top schools. I wouldn't say the hospital is great or "sucks." Pretty middle of the road.

MedPR said:
You miss the key fact that there are more IMG applicants than DO applicants and therefore the fact that you might see more IMGs around doesn't mean going abroad is better than US DO.

Kobe scores a lot of points, but he also takes a hell of a lot more shots than a lot of players. Get it?
Click to expand...

Yes, but the family medicine and internal medicine residencies are littered with DOs and FMGs while the more competitive programs have mainly AMGs with a few IMGs sprinkled in.
 
MiracleforMD said:
Many, many American grads with many notable top schools. I wouldn't say the hospital is great or "sucks." Pretty middle of the road.



Yes, but the family medicine and internal medicine residencies are littered with DOs and FMGs while the more competitive programs have mainly AMGs with a few IMGs sprinkled in.
Click to expand...

This is umm....true.

http://goo.gl/HABFe
 
Let be clear here. I know that MD is the obviously the right choice and Caribbean is obviously the wrong choice. However, I am unsure which is a better choice between DO and IMG, if any difference at all. I say this as someone who easily may up attending a DO school and has no interest in attending an IMG school.

And MedPR, what makes you think that there are that many more IMGs than DOs? I am not even sure if this is true and if you made me guess, I'd think the opposite is true.
 
MiracleforMD said:
Many, many American grads with many notable top schools. I wouldn't say the hospital is great or "sucks." Pretty middle of the road.



Yes, but the family medicine and internal medicine residencies are littered with DOs and FMGs while the more competitive programs have mainly AMGs with a few IMGs sprinkled in.
Click to expand...

I don't know how else I can explain to you that volume isn't representative of competitiveness.
 
appleman123 said:
personally, I think DO is more prestigious. How many DOs do you see practicing? Thats right, not many. Its because it is definitively a more rigorous and more comprehensive (read: harder and more challenging) education.

MD vs DO? DO all day everyday. MDs are just glorified chiropractors.
Click to expand...

circulus vitios said:
A DO I shadow says the difference between MD's and DO's is that DO's actually DO work. He also says his school, LECOM-E, is a fake doctor school.
Click to expand...

Two funniest things I have heard my whole pre med career :laugh:
Thanks for the laughs guys!
 
And you ALL know that as much as DOs>MDs that NDs (naturopathic doctors) are >>>>>>> MDs/DOs!
MDs and DOs are nothing but pill pushers 😉
 
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