Here is my dilemma.

[CloudBoi]

Alright. Hello everyone. I know I'm going to get smoke for asking this but if I can get one good feedback comment Ill be grateful. And if I'm supposed to write this in a particular thread and not create one, whoever is admin, please just correct me and point me to the right one if that's ok.

I originally wanted to go the DO route. I wanted to be a physician ever since I was a kid. And I will be honest, I would rather be a DO and be a hospitalist or something than be a podiatrist. I say this because even after shadowing a podiatrist, it seems like the case variety is very repetitive or stagnant (Though if this assessment is wrong even after my shadowing, please feel free to give your opinion and excuse me if I'm coming off as arrogant). And I cant shadow the one podiatrist who was super kind enough to let me shadow due to covid. I shadowed before the pandemic.



But here's my dilemma. I have decent GPAs. No MCAT yet. I don't think I have a chance of getting into DO school because my ECs arent that great. I have done about 250 hours of community volunteering, 50 hours of that being a hospital patient transporter. I have had a club officer position in a premed club and I was a class TA for a semester. I have done 150 hours of shadowing total, 20 of them being in podiatry.

These ****ty EC hours are my fault and responsibility. I'm not in a position (for various reasons) to improve them by gaining clinical experience hours and more volunteering. In addition, I'm 23 years old. I can't keep pushing the time ill apply for med school (I have had to do this due to family health issues).

I know they're people on here who were between DPM and MD/DO. Is podiatry a good compromise? I have already looked at others such as (Optometry, Pharm, dental, PT/OT, Nursing, PA, etc) and would much rather do podiatry since it is still medicine.


I know that there are people on here who were in a similar situation. Im not going to ask you to make a decision for me. I just want to know, if you've been in a simar situation as mine where you couldn't go the DO route, how has the podiatric experience been? I would appreciate anyone's story, whether you're a current student, a podiatrist, or even a recent matriculant into a podiatry school.

if this post is rubbing off the wrong way or just flat out not appropriate to be asked here, my apologies. Thank you all for your time.

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[deleted1066189]

These ****ty EC hours are my fault and responsibility.

There's worse out there.
What exactly is your GPA? Don't sell yourself short yet and study hard for the MCAT.

I can't speak to those other professions, but as a retail pharmacy tech, who has worked with several recent PharmD graduates (floaters), I can confirm their industry is a sinking ship.

 

[DexterMorganSK]

Fixing ECs shouldn't be an issue; get a medical scribe job where you make some money/get direct-patient care experiences, along with shadowing.
Without an MCAT score, there isn't much we can tell you about your chances, so take the exam and post the stats here.
Go into this career if you feel interested in it (by shadowing) and see yourself being happy for the rest of your life.
Don't do it because you think it is a compromise between the Md/Do field.

If you really want to be a DO, then do whatever it takes to be one...period.

 

[Weirdy]

ECs aren't an excuse. Get them done.

Buck up your CV and apply DO. You won't be happy applying to DPM. You're going to look back and know deep down inside you settled for something you didn't want in the first place.

Go balls deep and go DO. When you've tried everything possible and failed, come back and give DPM a second look.

And don't give me the "Woe is me crap I'm 23 and old". If that and ECs are what's keeping you from going DO, you don't want it bad enough.

We aren't offended that you want something else besides DPM. If anything more premeds should be more honest with themselves like you are doing right now.

Point being- don't settle for something you didn't want in the first place. Don't think about backup plans when you havn't even tried your hardest to shoot for what you wanted in the first place.

 

[heybrother]

Teasingly, I didn't know that people grow up dreaming to be hospitalists. (I am yes, jokingly, misinterpreting your words). My parents wanted me to be a doctor. They gave me scrubs and a stethoscope as a child. I'd say - "I'll be a cardiologist" (my how far I have fallen). They'd say YES. "I'll be an oncologist." They'd say YES. Neither they nor I really understood what that entailed. Imagine me asking them - what does that mean and them actually understanding or knowing enough to tell me.

Mommmy, what does a hospitalist do.

Well, a hospitalist is a brilliant internal medicine specialist who takes care of sick patients at the hospital. They order tests and medications and work with their surgical and medical team mates. They help take care of the patient's social problems like that they are an alcoholic or homeless and then they discharge them to skilled nursing facilities.

Do the patients get better after they treat them?

Sometimes. Many of the patients are critically ill from bad life choices, like smoking, drug use, alcoholism, morbid obesity, Covid-denial syndrome, or already living in a nursing home - bed-bound and with a permanent in dwelling catheter. You'll get to understand and know these patients really well because they'll be back in the hospital so often.

I'll never smoke a cigarette mommy.

You are such a good boy.

What's life like for a hospitalist?

Well, you'll be the employee of a hospital and work 7 days straight for 12 hours so that you can have a week off to recuperate. You'll have a team of nurse practitioners to work with who completed an online degree and are now providers, just like you.

Long story short. Be a banker. A banker is a job from Oregon Trail that starts out with the most money...
(This is all in jest, in general I love hospitalists. See my description.)

 

[DexterMorganSK]

I deleted my previous comment after realizing my answer wasn't aligned with your question. If you are curious about my internal debate between MD, DO, or DPM, pm me and I can send you my original comment.

Anyways, I echo the thoughts of others on here. Do DO if that's what you want to do. At 23, you are really young. Heck, I think that people should wait until 25 to finalize a career choice; I've seen many immature young adults make horrific career choices, mainly in the name of prestige and status.

You're doing a great disservice to the school, patients, and other podiatric physicians by grudgingly entering a field which you don't enjoy or are not passionate about. Medicine isn't supposed to be about you.

Your GPAs are good for MD schools. Make a post in the premed forum or the confidential forum and ask for your chances.
If you score around 511+ on the MCAT, you have a great shot at your state MD schools.

 

[de Ribas]

If you have decent GPA, the only major thing that holds you back is lack of MCAT not ECs. With decent MCAT. I am pretty sure u will get interviews even what ECs you already have. For now, you have to worry about studying and getting best MCAT score u can. Podiatry will not be a replacement for hospitalits type of work if this is what you really want.
Podiatry is more clinic (outpatient) based type of practice. Yes, it gets redundant to some extent because you are a specialist and have narrowed your scope of practice. Similarly, those orthos who do hips and knee replacements have redundant practices. When you specialize or even subspecialize your practice will get redundant to some degree.

And I think its totally fine to look at your options, discuss and pick the one that best matches your preferences. In your case, since you prefer DO, I would do everything you can to become one. Also, I don't see a problem if you have to settle with DPM if you don't get into DO for some reason granted you familiarized yourself with scope of podiatry work and can see yourself doing that and liking it to some extent. At the end it is a job where you will have things that you like and hate.

 

[Podstar]

Study hard for and take the MCAT. Your ECs as they are now are not going to keep you out of places if your stats are great. Plus you still have time to volunteer/work while you study, take the exam, and apply.

 

[DexterMorganSK]

Thanks! I'm choosing the DPM route though!

Great! Take the MCAT still and increase your scholarship amount.

 

[CloudBoi]

There's worse out there.
What exactly is your GPA? Don't sell yourself short yet and study hard for the MCAT.

I can't speak to those other professions, but as a retail pharmacy tech, who has worked with several recent PharmD graduates (floaters), I can confirm their industry is a sinking ship.

I know pharmacy is a lost cause I discovered that my sophomore year thanks to guys like Kevin Yee and Paul Tran.

 

[El-Rami]

If you have good stats, those ECs shouldn't sink your chances. Still, you can volunteer and do other stuff in the meantime. I got accepted to an MD program with only 100 hours of volunteer work (high GPA/average MCAT). No clinical experience except shadowing.

I think it is generally recommended to have between 100-150 hours of non-clinical volunteer work and 100-150 hours of clinical volunteer work. Your 250 hours of volunteering should be "enough," although ideally you will need some clinical experience. Consider becoming a CNA or getting a scribe job. In one year, you can get 2000 clinical/direct patient care hours. CNA certification only takes about a month, and you are tested over basic information. More importantly, you can work a late shift so you can still do classes, granted that you can balance a job with your studies.

Alternatively, you could consider doing research.

Remember, GPA=MCAT>EC.

 

[CloudBoi]

I deleted my previous comment after realizing my answer wasn't aligned with your question. If you are curious about my internal debate between MD, DO, or DPM, pm me and I can send you my original comment.

Anyways, I echo the thoughts of others on here. Do DO if that's what you want to do. At 23, you are really young. Heck, I think that people should wait until 25 to finalize a career choice; I've seen many immature young adults make horrific career choices, mainly in the name of prestige and status.

You're doing a great disservice to the school, patients, and other podiatric physicians by grudgingly entering a field which you don't enjoy or are not passionate about. Medicine isn't supposed to be about you.

I saw your initial post. No, it was the answer I was looking for. I wanted to hear about how people ended up picking podiatry, which is what you did, no one else seems to have done that.

 

[staphpodcrofti]

I'd apply MD/DO first since that is your first choice. You won't be happy if you've never tried. Your stats are fine and ECs are easy to "make up" for. If you're not in a rush, take your time and do what you need to do. Don't go into podiatry if you know that you want to be a hospitalist. Mad props to you that you want to be a hospitalist.. I don't hear that often. Anyways, 23 is young.... average age is 25 and honestly, industry experience or ANY job experience after college is better than none. I've met way too many straight out of college students that go right into professional schools and they're selfish/immature. Not ALL of them, but a lot of them. Good luck!

side note - if you have the time/money, it doesn't hurt to apply MD/DO/DPM altogether and decide after interviews/acceptance

 

[PTPuser]

There's nothing to suggest without an MCAT.

Just be honest with yourself. This road is painful enough already and it's not something you can financially jump off of and do something else midway through without accumulating ridiculous debt.

I'm not going to repeat what is said above cause everyone nailed it.

What I will say though as a current pod student is that I'm proud to be here. I was complete opposite of you, couldn't see myself in PCP if that was the last thing I was only able to get in. Not gonna lie though I do get jealous about their job prospect though, lol.

My stat wasn't the hottest either so it made complete sense to me. I also worked in healthcare for close to decade in my previous life so I knew that my interest was broad and I was lucky enough to work with a pod even though he mainly did non-surgical work. But that was enough for me to pick podiatry.

With all the dooms and gloom, I am still hopeful cause I need that energy to get me through the schooling. I'm taking it one day at a time and rolling with the punches.

 

[El-Rami]

Doesn't AACPMAS ask if you've applied to other professional programs? Wouldn't DPM programs take a dim view to someone applying to MD and DO as well?

"Podiatry isn't a second choice, etc."

 

[Weirdy]

Doesn't AACPMAS ask if you've applied to other professional programs? Wouldn't DPM programs take a dim view to someone applying to MD and DO as well?

"Podiatry isn't a second choice, etc."

Why the hell would they?

They're accepting students left and right. Some of them don't care as long as they know you can pass class + boards.

They literally don't give a ****.

 

[PTPuser]

Doesn't AACPMAS ask if you've applied to other professional programs? Wouldn't DPM programs take a dim view to someone applying to MD and DO as well?

"Podiatry isn't a second choice, etc."

Admin staff knows. Some have been in the game for so long.

Just like Weirdy said, as long as you can pass class + boards.

 

[heybrother]

You have no idea how desperate the school administrators are to fill their classes. There are people being accepted up till the week before school starts.

 

[deleted1066189]

There are people being accepted up till the week before school starts.

Do all pod schools do this, or only the larger ones like NY, Kent and Barry?

 

[heybrother]

Do all pod schools do this, or only the larger ones like NY, Kent and Barry?

I think that is probably a more complicated question to answer than I can give you the time for. Big class size - more spaces to fill. Higher standards - the people you reject in the beginning ... are you willing to relook through them by the end. Do you actually interview people (looking at you Ohio). What are the total number of applications that year (its apparently been variable/bad for a few years).

I did interviews back in the day and I recall having a day where I said reject on every single student I interviewed with agreement from the faculty member I was with. *Note - I am entirely open to the idea that my school could have tossed my evaluation in the trash though I wrote very detailed notes about why I said what I said. Consider then that when I interviewed at Ohio before Thanksgiving the nice lady pulled me into her office, told me the committee already had decided I was great, told me I was accepted and said I could have $10,000 in a scholarship. No interview. What if I was a weirdo?

 

[Weirdy]

Consider then that when I interviewed at Ohio before Thanksgiving the nice lady pulled me into her office, told me the committee already had decided I was great, told me I was accepted and said I could have $10,000 in a scholarship. No interview. What if I was a weirdo?

And this is how you have students with great stats who come into clerkships with their heads up their a**

Not that you are one of them.

 

[Treaty of Dorsi]

You have no idea how desperate the school administrators are to fill their classes. There are people being accepted up till the week before school starts.

THIS is the reason we've already lost 10 people (failed/withdrew) after only just one semester. It's sad how administrators are taking advantage of students who they know won't make it through but still accept them just to fill seats.

 

[heybrother]

And this is how you have students with great stats who come into clerkships with their heads up their a**

Not that you are one of them.

Haha. So DMU let this poor guy in who was the ultimate weirdo. Later, at interview/tour guide/etc orientation training the school was like - we are aware that a strange person may have been admitted in the past. Please - if you are on an interview/tour/whatever and someone is VERY STRANGE, please let us know.

 

[El-Rami]

Consider then that when I interviewed at Ohio before Thanksgiving the nice lady pulled me into her office, told me the committee already had decided I was great, told me I was accepted and said I could have $10,000 in a scholarship. No interview. What if I was a weirdo?

Interesting. I have had a similar experience (not going to name the school).

 

[El-Rami]

THIS is the reason we've already lost 10 people (failed/withdrew) after only just one semester. It's sad how administrators are taking advantage of students who they know won't make it through but still accept them just to fill seats.

That's one way of looking at it, but it could also be argued that it's up to students to properly research what they are getting themselves into. You could always turn down an acceptance or not apply in the first place if you determine that you don't have the capability of passing upon further reflection.

A lot of the people applying with low MCAT scores (~490) and sub-3.0 GPA honestly should know that there is a significant chance of failing out of the program, given their academic difficulties in college. For people in this group, DPM can present a "last chance" at becoming a physician because MD and DO are unlikely to consider them for admission.

Someone having a low GPA because they partied too much in their freshman year of college and took a while to mature is very different from someone who put an honest effort into studying and still barely survived college. One person would know whether or not they have the intellectual capability of going to medical school but just need a second chance. Otherwise, common sense would dictate that if they couldn't quite cut it in college that they would have a worse time in medical school.

 

[heybrother]

If the schools had to refund 1st year drop-out tuition back to the feds and then try and collect the debt from the students this whole house of cards would come down really fast. The schools have no idea who will succeed. The powers that be literally allow the schools to matriculate a %-based surplus to fill the class after attrition. Like they are approved for a certain class size + 5-10%, something like that. They took that away from the schools back when the residency shortage was going on and the schools were teary eyed and desperate to get back to business as usual.

 

[xoxo111]

I would rather be a DO and be a hospitalist or something than be a podiatrist.

That alone should tell you that you don't wanna be a podiatrist, so why do you wanna force yourself to learn to love it? Slay the MCAT and the MD/DO schools won't care about your ECs. MCAT is the most important thing to MD/DO schools then comes GPA, then comes the ECs (of course if you were applying to a top-tier MD school then it may differ). If you are really set on becoming a healthcare provider then consider looking into PA or nursing schools, hell even dental schools. If you don't wanna be a podiatrist, then please don't go to pod school just because you wanna be a healthcare provider, and you think being a podiatrist will be the closest thing to becoming a DO. You will regret it.

 

[El-Rami]

That's not true. They will still care about your ECs even if you have high GPA (3.9-4.0) and high MCAT (515+). There's a ton of well-qualified applicants, and the only real way to distinguish yourself in that competitive environment is to have good ECs.

Bad LOR, bad PS, bad interview, not enough volunteering, etc., can all sink an application. Easily.

Also, MCAT is NOT more important than GPA for MD/DO. Lots of "low GPA/high MCAT" people don't get in. They get interviews, but not necessarily get in. The fact is, you need high GPA and good/high MCAT along with good ECs, personal statement, etc., to be in a comfortable position for MD/DO admissions.

 

[xoxo111]

That's not true. They will still care about your ECs even if you have high GPA (3.9-4.0) and high MCAT (515+). There's a ton of well-qualified applicants, and the only real way to distinguish yourself in that competitive environment is to have good ECs.

Bad LOR, bad PS, bad interview, not enough volunteering, etc., can all sink an application. Easily.

Idk OP's stats but say if they have a 3.5+ GPA and a 512+ MCAT, do you think that mid/low tier med school will take the applicant with great ECs but lower stats over OP?

 

[El-Rami]

They might, yes. In-state preferences would play a major factor as well. I would say that your previous comment about having high MCAT and GPA and lackluster ECs would basically be true IF he was applying to a school with in-state preferences. Otherwise, in the vast majority of cases, not so much.

3.5 GPA is pretty bad for MD, but pretty okay for DO. 512 will be good for MD and good for DO.