Help with deciding DO please

[captaincbr]

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Hey all,

I'll be applying to both MD and DO schools starting this summer, but I wanted to ask the people who are very familiar with the DO programs.

I've discovered the DO program recently, so I have no experience shadowing a osteopathic physician. I've read intensely about the philosophy, and I believe it matches very well with mine.

My question is, how will this fact that I don't have experience with a osteopathic physician affect my chances for interviews and hopefully acceptances to DO schools? (Assuming gpa, mcat, extracurricular, etc are in the range of other qualified students)

Thank you.

 

[supergumbo]

It will definitely have some impact regarding a lot of osteopathic schools. In fact, some schools even require a D.O. letter. However, you have plenty of time in finding a D.O. doctor to shadow. It doesn't have to be an extensive experience either.

Heck, I "shadowed" mine for 5 hrs during Christmas(with most of the time in his office with him just conversing with me about stuff). All you need to do is build a good rapport with him so he can write you a letter.

 

[binko]

NFT

(posted in the wrong thread!)

 

[captaincbr]

NFT

(posted in the wrong thread!)

I'm not quite sure what NFT stands for, but did I post in the wrong thread?

I'm applying to only few schools, particularly ones that does not require a DO letter. The list of schools include:
NYCOM
Touro-NY
Western
UMDNJ

I know that a letter from DO is "strongly recommended," but I don't want to get a hold of an osteopathic physician with the sole purpose of getting a letter. I will have a very strong LOR from an MD practicing in primary care.

 

[Bleurberry]

I'm not quite sure what NFT stands for, but did I post in the wrong thread?

I'm applying to only few schools, particularly ones that does not require a DO letter. The list of schools include:
NYCOM
Touro-NY
Western
UMDNJ

I know that a letter from DO is "strongly recommended," but I don't want to get a hold of an osteopathic physician with the sole purpose of getting a letter. I will have a very strong LOR from an MD practicing in primary care.

Why not seek out a primary care DO who does OMM? Like an FP/OMM residency graduate- I get what you're saying, you don't want to "use" the physician for a letter, but if you are planning on DO school, shouldn't you investigate how OMM impacts primary care? That's one of the reasons why they want you to get a letter from a DO, after all.

 

[MossPoh]

I'm not quite sure what NFT stands for, but did I post in the wrong thread?

I'm applying to only few schools, particularly ones that does not require a DO letter. The list of schools include:
NYCOM
Touro-NY
Western
UMDNJ

I know that a letter from DO is "strongly recommended," but I don't want to get a hold of an osteopathic physician with the sole purpose of getting a letter. I will have a very strong LOR from an MD practicing in primary care.

Just shut up and do it. 😉 More shadowing never hurts. Not so much about the letters, but just how they practice. I had 3 "very strong" letters and could've had more. Many places I sent off 2 physician letters if they let me. Doctors know you might ask them for a letter and many of them expect it if you are shadowing. Many DOs get excited when they hear you want to apply to DO schools. One of my writers even made me promise I'd apply to his school if I applied to no others. Don't view it as doing it to get the letter. View it as a chance to learn more and gain some new perspectives. One M.D. is not the alpha and omega of medicine.

 

[engineeredout]

Don't be afraid to try and get the DO letter. It will definitely help you.

 

[Bacchus]

Getting the letter will open up a broader range of schools to apply to. UMDNJ, I believe has an instate bias so that's not a good one to apply to if you are an OOSer.

 

[time2go]

I never shadowed a DO, I just asked one i knew and knew would right highly about me and I got into my top DO choice

 

[binko]

I'm not quite sure what NFT stands for, but did I post in the wrong thread?

NFT means No Further Text. You didn't post in the wrong thread, I did.

 

[DrRoast]

I went through this same situation. I didn't want to bother a D.O. just for a letter. But I did it anyway and turns out, my D.O. was stoked I was interested and he brought up providing a letter before I could even mention it. I think he wanted to raise awareness of osteopathic medicine in my area. But the D.O. letter definitely helped. Take home message: Get the letter, it can only greatly improve your chances.

 

[captaincbr]

Thanks for all of your advice. If anybody else is reading this thread, I would also like your opinion about it too.

So now that I'm on my search to shadow a DO, my next step is how do I find one. Any particular way to find them? I don't see many around when I search on google, but I am currently in the SF bay area on the east bay. I got 2 more months of school, so I want to find one quick, but so far had no success😡

 

[supergumbo]

Thanks for all of your advice. If anybody else is reading this thread, I would also like your opinion about it too.

So now that I'm on my search to shadow a DO, my next step is how do I find one. Any particular way to find them? I don't see many around when I search on google, but I am currently in the SF bay area on the east bay. I got 2 more months of school, so I want to find one quick, but so far had no success😡

You could contact a nearby hospital for a list of DOs. Basically, just be ballsy in finding one.

 

[scotchtapetest]

Hey all,

I'll be applying to both MD and DO schools starting this summer, but I wanted to ask the people who are very familiar with the DO programs.

I've discovered the DO program recently, so I have no experience shadowing a osteopathic physician. I've read intensely about the philosophy, and I believe it matches very well with mine.

My question is, how will this fact that I don't have experience with a osteopathic physician affect my chances for interviews and hopefully acceptances to DO schools? (Assuming gpa, mcat, extracurricular, etc are in the range of other qualified students)

Thank you.

I didn't have a DO letter or a MD letter for that matter and I got accepted the first time I applied. Having said that, my Primary Care Physician (PCP) was a DO, I don't know if that had any effect on their decision or not….


Although having a DO letter allows you to apply to the schools that require such letters, keep in mind that the admissions committee, contrary to popular belief, is composed of intelligent (at least above average) individuals and not computers. They MAY ask you about your shadowing experience or learning outcomes and if you have only showed him/her for few hours/days I don't think it will look good on you or the DO who wrote you the letter. Having said that, you have all summer to find a DO to shadow if you choose to do so.


Good Luck!

 

[p30doc]

I'm not quite sure what NFT stands for, but did I post in the wrong thread?

I'm applying to only few schools, particularly ones that does not require a DO letter. The list of schools include:
NYCOM
Touro-NY
Western
UMDNJ

I know that a letter from DO is "strongly recommended," but I don't want to get a hold of an osteopathic physician with the sole purpose of getting a letter. I will have a very strong LOR from an MD practicing in primary care.

I didn't shadow a DO or have a DO letter. I shadowed a MD radiologist and had a letter from him. I was fine. If the rest of your app is up to par you will be fine too. Just avoid applying to schools where a DO letter is absolutely required.

 

[Deepa100]

I had a very positive experience with DOs. I am an Indian Engineer who knew no doctors and I still found a young Orthopedic surgeon and an older Family practice physician. The surgeon pretty much gave me the freedom to go whenever I wanted. I stopped after 20 hrs. I got 5 hrs. from the other. In addition, a DO researcher at a top Minnesotan hospital agreed to write a letter after meeting with me. I also shadowed an anesthesiologist (MD) for a day. He also told me to come back any time. Only in America!!👍

 

[Melicopter]

I was in a very similar boat. I had a good letter from an MD, felt DO was a good match, but didn't have a good way to track one down and see what the difference really was. If you google "AOA mentor" you should get be able to find the iLearn site, and request a mentor. I did this, and three people responded.

Shadowing a DO was a great experience. I liked the attitude of the doctor and the practice better, and I got to actually see what OMM was. Honestly, I was starting to think (due to difficulty of finding a DO to shadow, and lack of schools anywhere near me) that I would just do MD and send people to physical therapy or a chiropractor if they had a sore back. But OMM is really not what I expected. I learned a lot within 5 minutes... and more as time went on.

Finally, I was not going to ask the DO for a letter (already had a good one from the MD), but he offered! After one day! So, shoot, I'm not stupid... now I have two letter! 🙂

 

[Melicopter]

Oh, one more thing - a lot of schools recommend a DO letter, but few require it.

 

[brodum]

I had a letter from an MD, and I got an interview and was accepted. It didn't seem to be an issue, more of a formality.

 

[captaincbr]

I know that the people's responses here are a very narrow range of applicants, but it doesn't seem like having no DO exposure hinders one from getting interviews/acceptances. Did anyone have similar experience? Does anyone have the opposite experience, where not having a DO experience hindered your application?

 

[Styria]

You can also contact the schools you're interested in. Some of them have a list of graduates who are 'ambassadors' for the school. It will increase your exposure to osteopathic medicine in a school-specific way.

 

[nevinleiby]

Get a DO letter. Try to get a second one if you get a chance.

It may open doors that may not be as easy to open without one.

One of the things that you have to realize when you are applying is that it's a pipeline - once you are in it, you can't go forward or backward. If you get one acceptance, you probably will be going to at least one of the schools and not applying the following year. If you said "yeah, I don't need one", perhaps you might realize "wow that's a good school, but I hear that X is really good - maybe even better. But a DO letter is recommended/required. Arg. I wish I had that letter now..." If you don't have the keys to get in to check out some other places that maybe a better fit, it may be a little too late to do easily.

Besides, when you do figure out which program is your top choice then realize that you may have even the slightest chink in your application, it can be very frustrating when you are waiting for an interview or waiting for an acceptance. I could almost see some of the interviewers mentally check their list when I discussed OMM 👍

Personally, I had 2 MD (1 was the director of the department and my supervisor, another one was an urgent care doctor) letters and 2 DO letters. My 2 MD letters went off to all allo schools and all 4 letters when to all osteo schools. I was *very* happy that I did that - the urgent care influence, for one, helped...that is something that I think can be a little influential considering the whole underserved population, etc.

Think of it this way...if you are going into osteopathy for the rest of your working career, dropping a good $250k on it and many hours of blood/sweat/tears, etc, wouldn't you want to talk to somewhat who is doing it? You would read a car review and go on a test drive, but you wouldn't do the same with your education??

Besides, unless you *really* dig physics and organic, shadowing is the most enjoyable part of the whole process. If you shadow and realize that it's not right for you, you just saved yourself a heck of a lot of money and frustration

 

[nlax30]

I also recommend going ahead and shadowing a local DO and get a letter from him/her. Don't feel bad about doing it as if they probably already realize that a lot of students need a DO letter for school and are more then willing to do. As others mentioned it doesn't need to be any extensive experience.

If you don't know any you can look up and contact your state's Osteopathic medical society if it has one. Or if there's a DO school near you contact them they can put you in touch with a local physician.

 

[nevinleiby]

You could contact a nearby hospital for a list of DOs. Basically, just be ballsy in finding one.

Yeah - you don't have to be an ahole about it, but don't get all up tight about it. Seriously - it's not that big of a deal to say, "Hello Dr ____, I am going to be applying to osteopathic schools next year and I'd like to learn more about osteopathy. Do you mind if I follow you around when you are practicing or talk with you a little bit and ask you a few basic questions?" Obviously it should probably be a little more formal if it's an email, but that's the basic gist. 👍

Thanks for all of your advice. If anybody else is reading this thread, I would also like your opinion about it too.

So now that I'm on my search to shadow a DO, my next step is how do I find one. Any particular way to find them?

Arg...Check out the FAQ. You'll find Chocolate Bear's sig referred to "Find a DO". Use google, check with local schools, use your regional hospital website's "Find a doctor", etc ...whatever it takes. (heh...I wrote a program for the local ones in our area - I stripped out all of the docs, the med schools, and their residencies they were applying to and dumped it until Access...it comes in handy =))

 

[rkaz]

Personally, I had 2 MD (1 was the director of the department and my supervisor, another one was an urgent care doctor) letters and 2 DO letters. My 2 MD letters went off to all allo schools and all 4 letters when to all osteo schools. I was *very* happy that I did that - the urgent care influence, for one, helped...that is something that I think can be a little influential considering the whole underserved population, etc.

I had 2 physician letters in my file- one from an MD professor (who I also did clinical research with), and one from the DO I shadowed in her private office. I requested my pre-med office to submit BOTH physicians' letters to MD and DO schools I applied to. (I just made sure to let the DO I shadowed know that I was applying to both MD and DO schools, so that she could focus on writing a letter about my strengths as a future physician, not specifically an 'osteopathic' physician). I found out later at one of my med school interviews, that the DO had written a wonderful letter for me... as my interviewer told me she was really impressed with what was written about me! 😳 Unless the DO letter is specific to a student's career in 'osteopathic' medicine, I think it's perfectly fine to use the DO letter when applying to MD schools as well.

 

[captaincbr]

Get a DO letter. Try to get a second one if you get a chance.

It may open doors that may not be as easy to open without one.

One of the things that you have to realize when you are applying is that it's a pipeline - once you are in it, you can't go forward or backward. If you get one acceptance, you probably will be going to at least one of the schools and not applying the following year. If you said "yeah, I don't need one", perhaps you might realize "wow that's a good school, but I hear that X is really good - maybe even better. But a DO letter is recommended/required. Arg. I wish I had that letter now..." If you don't have the keys to get in to check out some other places that maybe a better fit, it may be a little too late to do easily.

Besides, when you do figure out which program is your top choice then realize that you may have even the slightest chink in your application, it can be very frustrating when you are waiting for an interview or waiting for an acceptance. I could almost see some of the interviewers mentally check their list when I discussed OMM 👍

Personally, I had 2 MD (1 was the director of the department and my supervisor, another one was an urgent care doctor) letters and 2 DO letters. My 2 MD letters went off to all allo schools and all 4 letters when to all osteo schools. I was *very* happy that I did that - the urgent care influence, for one, helped...that is something that I think can be a little influential considering the whole underserved population, etc.

Think of it this way...if you are going into osteopathy for the rest of your working career, dropping a good $250k on it and many hours of blood/sweat/tears, etc, wouldn't you want to talk to somewhat who is doing it? You would read a car review and go on a test drive, but you wouldn't do the same with your education??

Besides, unless you *really* dig physics and organic, shadowing is the most enjoyable part of the whole process. If you shadow and realize that it's not right for you, you just saved yourself a heck of a lot of money and frustration

So I understand all the benefits of shadowing and getting a DO letter, but from the information that I looked up on the Internet, can't they do everything what a MD does, only a different acronym after their names? In that case, I thought getting a letter from any physician was acceptable, granted that I truly understand what the physician does. Don't get me wrong, I will look for one and shadow him or her, but I don't plan on getting a letter unless I don't get acceptances from ANY schools this application cycle. (*knock on wood*).

Also, very few DO's use OMM, but I would definitely like to shadow a DO that uses OMM frequently. Usually in a musculoskeletal clinic?

 

[nlax30]

Also, very few DO's use OMM, but I would definitely like to shadow a DO that uses OMM frequently. Usually in a musculoskeletal clinic?

Probably either a family practice or PM&R doc. When you call you can ask them (or their office manger) if they do manipulative therapy.