i know its hard for you to believe that anyone would be more knowledgable than a premed 🙄 but the DO residents and students I've taked to are pretty unanimous about OMM being a joke and COMLEX being a mess. There are "studies" on everything, but have you actually analyzed whether those studies are of good quality? Would you even know how? If there's evidence to support the use of OMM why then are DOs not using it? As for the bit about top residencies, it's not hard to look online and see that DOs are underrepresented or non-existant at top residency programs (i'm not talking about competitive specialties i'm talking about top residencies in any specialty ...look at MGH and JHU IM for instance).
If my post was seemingly so ridiculous would you like to actually make a coherent rebuttal?
Also I know that at this point in the process you are using the MD=DO business as a defense mechanism so that you don't feel bad when you get rejected from MD programs. It's totally understandable. But don't pretend like you know some truth that others who are much further along are oblivious to.
My attempt at a 'coherent rebuttal'
I'll try my best to address all of your points and questions in turn.
First of all, I
know there are countless more knowledgeable people out there; I actually take part in these kinds of discussions because I want to hear their opinions. I simply said posts like yours make me
feel smarter because it seems like you really are just going off what you have heard from other people on these boards and current DO residents and students rather than finding answers on your own.
My argument for OMM is just one of several for DO's. It should go without saying that I do not have formal training/education in OMM, so my arguments probably do have flaws. However, the articles/studies and books that I have read seem to show that it does have legitimate medicinal value. Your argument about whether I would know the value/legitimacy of such studies is just a juvenile insult at my intelligence. It's okay though because I would probably act the same way if someone called out my opinions and called me a close-minded cynic. That was uncalled for because I do not know you personally, and I am sorry for saying that to you directly. But honestly, anyone with a solid education and research background can tell a legitimate research experiment from a flawed one. You said there is "practically no evidence to support it". You obviously haven't done your research, and that is really all I am going to say about that. My opinion as to why many DO's do not use OMM is because they probably never wanted to learn it in the first place. They, most likely, are the ones who applied DO because they couldn't get into MD programs to begin with. Plus, even Harvard at some point offered an OMM course for MD's. Why would they do that if it was simply a 'historical relic'?
As for the COMLEX being poorly written, I have no direct experience with it, so I have no idea.
Your argument about DO's in top residency programs is a bit off base. The reason they are underrepresented is because most residencies require USMLE scores (or at the very least prefer them; it is much easier to compare USMLE to USMLE than USMLE to COMLEX), and logic dictates that most graduates would rather take only one test instead of two. Also, it is pretty obvious that when it comes to LORs for residencies a LOR from HMS's dean would look way better, and thus be more influential on placements, than an LOR from NSU's dean. That is just politics. It should also be considered that they are underrepresented because US MD graduates to US DO graduates is something like 60% and 10%, respectively (the rest being international). It has very little to do with the actual name of the degree. It ultimately translates into the fact that the general public (including the majority of pre-meds, especially those who know they will be accepted to multiple MD programs) is/are ignorant of what a DO really is. Can you give just one example of a hospital that explicitly says anything around the lines of, "DO applicants will not be considered."??
Also, I am not quite sure why you insult me further by saying 'my MD=DO business is a defense mechanism' to justify any potential future rejections. I really can only shake my head at that and hope that when you graduate you are a little more level-headed. I could have just as easily poked fun at your arguments and said that you have your views because you are at the bottom of your class and want to feel better when you get rejected from your top residency choices. I never pretend to know something that someone who is much further along is oblivious to. I simply give my opinion and hope that someone will consider it enough to do their own research on it to come up with their own conclusions. I sincerely hope people don't read something on SDN and immediately assume it is factual. I would love some criticism on points where I am wrong or off base because I would be that much more knowledgeable afterwards.
I'm tired of writing now, but hopefully that was a coherent enough rebuttal for you. Most of this discussion is opinion-based, so I am not anticipating any agreement.
