General question about Podiatry school

[dentistin2011]

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Hello fellas,

I've just started to consider applying to podiatry school for the class of 2009 but I have no idea about it.
Here is my situation. I graduated with a BA in Biology and am supposed to study MA in Biomedical science which is 1-year program starting this fall.
My GPA is 3.2ish, 20s of DAT and supposed to get a master's degree in May of 2009. Unfortunately, I don't have any podiatry-related experience.
Could you refer me any schools I might start looking up?
I look forward to hearing back from you guys.
Thank you in advance.

 

[PJAG]

Hello fellas,

I've just started to consider applying to podiatry school for the class of 2009 but I have no idea about it.
Here is my situation. I graduated with a BA in Biology and am supposed to study MA in Biomedical science which is 1-year program starting this fall.
My GPA is 3.2ish, 20s of DAT and supposed to get a master's degree in May of 2009. Unfortunately, I don't have any podiatry-related experience.
Could you refer me any schools I might start looking up?
I look forward to hearing back from you guys.
Thank you in advance.

You might want to look at all of the schools and analyze them for yourself. Also do a search on SDN about the podiatry schools. If any1 here tells you that a particular school is better, it is merely a perspective of theirs. I think you need to research for yourself to get a good understanding of what school might be a good fit for u.

 

[j0ez0r]

Hello fellas,

I've just started to consider applying to podiatry school for the class of 2009 but I have no idea about it.
Here is my situation. I graduated with a BA in Biology and am supposed to study MA in Biomedical science which is 1-year program starting this fall.
My GPA is 3.2ish, 20s of DAT and supposed to get a master's degree in May of 2009. Unfortunately, I don't have any podiatry-related experience.
Could you refer me any schools I might start looking up?
I look forward to hearing back from you guys.
Thank you in advance.

without any podiatry-related experience how do you know you want to do podiatry??? seems like you wanna be a dentist with a fall back of podiatry.. you may wanna think this real hard before you spend well over 100K and the rest of your working life on a profession that you "easily" got into.

 

[dentistin2011]

without any podiatry-related experience how do you know you want to do podiatry??? seems like you wanna be a dentist with a fall back of podiatry.. you may wanna think this real hard before you spend well over 100K and the rest of your working life on a profession that you "easily" got into.

I can't help considering applying to podiatric medicine school as a fall back of dental school because I've applied to dental school for 3 years and I don't want to pursue my career in a laboratory.
Medical schools don't accept international students and pharm schools require PCAT which I can afford now etc. Then what should I do with my biology background. I am so darn old and must find an alternative way even though I am more than willing to be a dentist.
I apologize if I offend you in any ways.

 

[j0ez0r]

i wasnt trying to offend you at all....if anything, trying to help you out. There are quite a few people who use podiatry as a backup then end up hating it because its not what they're interested in. Your best bet is to shadow a podiatrist to see if you are as interested in it as dentistry. Who knows, you may love it. Just dont go to pod school because its the only way you see yourself being successful monetarily. Best of luck and any questions, feel free to fire em off on here. Thats what this forum is all about! 👍

 

[uberconfuzzled]

Yup, I agree. Shadow a pod first to see if it interests you (it's easier to find out what you don't like than what you do). But you have to remember, and this goes out to everyone, that every stage in this process is different. Pre-health (whatever field that may be) is different than pod/med/dental/pharm school which is different than your residency which is different than a private practice and so on and so on. I know plenty of M.Ds who decided to switch into dental practice and vice versa. If you look around, many professionals have multiple degrees. So, if you suddenly change your mind down the line, for whatever reason, it's not the end of the world. You never REALLY know until you get there, anyways. But for now, do what you like and just make sure you do it for the right reasons. You'll be a better podiatrist/doctor/dentist because of it. 🙂

 

[MaseratiGT]

Yup, I agree. Shadow a pod first to see if it interests you (it's easier to find out what you don't like than what you do). But you have to remember, and this goes out to everyone, that every stage in this process is different. Pre-health (whatever field that may be) is different than pod/med/dental/pharm school which is different than your residency which is different than a private practice and so on and so on. I know plenty of M.Ds who decided to switch into dental practice and vice versa. If you look around, many professionals have multiple degrees. So, if you suddenly change your mind down the line, for whatever reason, it's not the end of the world. You never REALLY know until you get there, anyways. But for now, do what you like and just make sure you do it for the right reasons. You'll be a better podiatrist/doctor/dentist because of it. 🙂

Anyone can change paths, but the time and money cost will probably impede most people. Who wants to start another 7 year/$100+ journey, and living like a medical student for a second round? Not many. Most would probably stay disgruntled or switch to something non-medical.

 

[dentistin2011]

Thank you for your response.
I gotta stop by my school's podiatric clinic ASAP and observe them.
I checked that this profession is very diverse in terms of its career.

1. What are the main career paths of podiatric graduates?

2. I discovered that there is a pretty big difference between entering class size and graduates' one. Why is that?

3. Is there any disadvantage for DAT takers when applying to schools that accept DAT in lieu of MCAT?

 

[Feli]

i wasnt trying to offend you at all....if anything, trying to help you out. There are quite a few people who use podiatry as a background then end up hating it because its not what they're interested in. Your best bet is to shadow a podiatrist to see if you are as interested in it as dentistry. Who knows, you may love it. Just dont go to pod school because its the only way you see yourself being successful monetarily. Best of luck and any questions, feel free to fire em off on here. Thats what this forum is all about! 👍

He's a teller of the truth^

Pod sucks if you go into it for the $ or "to be a doctor" and aren't genuinely interested or aware of what F&A specialists do on a daily basis. You need to shadow and figure out what you want out of a career.

Thank you for your response.
I gotta stop by my school's podiatric clinic ASAP and observe them.
I checked that this profession is very diverse in terms of its career....

I'm 98% sure you go to Barry based on the BMS program and "podiatric clinic at my school," so get yourself to one (or more) of the 4 Barry Univ pod clinics and do some shadowing. There's Bay Harbor clinic, Hialeah (across from Hialeah Hospital), Mercy Hospital, and North Shores Hospital.
http://www.barry.edu/podiatryclinics/locations/default.htm


I just got back to Mia and am rotating at the Hialeah clinic this month of Sept... if you wanted to stop by and observe for a few days, PM me.

 

[dentistin2011]

He's a teller of the truth^

Pod sucks if you go into it for the $ or "to be a doctor" and aren't genuinely interested or aware of what F&A specialists do on a daily basis. You need to shadow and figure out what you want out of a career.



I'm 98% sure you go to Barry based on the BMS program and "podiatric clinic at my school," so get yourself to one (or more) of the 4 Barry Univ pod clinics and do some shadowing. There's Bay Harbor clinic, Hialeah (across from Hialeah Hospital), Mercy Hospital, and North Shores Hospital.
http://www.barry.edu/podiatryclinics/locations/default.htm


I just got back to Mia and am rotating at the Hialeah clinic this month of Sept... if you wanted to stop by and observe for a few days, PM me.

Thank you for your information.
But I study MA in Biomed at Midwestern University now.
Can you answer my 3 questions above?

 

[Feli]

Sorry, I didn't realize Midwestern had a 1yr MS in Biomedical also.

Thank you for your response.
I gotta stop by my school's podiatric clinic ASAP and observe them.
I checked that this profession is very diverse in terms of its career.

1. What are the main career paths of podiatric graduates?

2. I discovered that there is a pretty big difference between entering class size and graduates' one. Why is that?

3. Is there any disadvantage for DAT takers when applying to schools that accept DAT in lieu of MCAT?

1) Same pathes as any medical specialty: most to private practice, some to academic settings (residency attending, director, etc)... and a small percentage go to research, legal, admin, etc types of jobs.
2) Tough curriculum + long hours in the programs... combo that with some mediocre apps that get accepted, and you have high attrition
3) Yes, DAT's a disadvantage and potential red flag... DAT is for dental schools. As pod schools become more competitive, why would they want ppl who aren't even serious enough about pod to take the required entrance test? It's not as if you can't currently get in with a DAT (most pod schools are under-applied to), but as a DAT app, you will probably be less likely to get in as a borderline applicant and probably less likely to get any offered scholarships when compared with another comparable GPA pre-pod who took the MCAT.

 

[dentistin2011]

Thank you so much for your response.
As for DAT, it's pretty bad news for me.
I gotta impress them with good master's grades if I apply to Podiatric school.

Sorry, I didn't realize Midwestern had a 1yr MS in Biomedical also.

1) Same pathes as any medical specialty: most to private practice, some to academic settings (residency attending, director, etc)... and a small percentage go to research, legal, admin, etc types of jobs.
2) Tough curriculum + long hours in the programs... combo that with some mediocre apps that get accepted, and you have high attrition
3) Yes, DAT's a disadvantage and potential red flag... DAT is for dental schools. As pod schools become more competitive, why would they want ppl who aren't even serious enough about pod to take the required entrance test? It's not as if you can't currently get in with a DAT (most pod schools are under-applied to), but as a DAT app, you will probably be less likely to get in as a borderline applicant and probably less likely to get any offered scholarships when compared with another comparable GPA pre-pod who took the MCAT.

 

[DRCM]

If I were you, I wouldn't worry so much about the DAT score. Of the pod schools that do accept the DAT, your 20 is more than good enough. I spoke with some admission counselors at a few of the schools, and they said on the DAT you only need to score a 16 on the TS and AA (and a 21 on the MCAT). There's chance you can get scholarship money, too. So look into the schools that accept the DAT (unless you want to take the MCAT) and go from there. I honestly don't think you have much to worry about.