Honest Advice

[Sai111394]

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So I recently came upon a thread that a DO student had created regarding the crappiness of their rotations and I read other DO students chiming in to agree and it got me thinking..... Should I be applying to DO schools right now? My GPA is great (3.8) but my MCAT especially from a CA resident is not as great. Im thinking to withdraw and apply MD next cycle while retaking my MCAT between now and then and then spend the year I have as a research assistant in Palo Alto (already have it lined up in case I change plans) because at the end I do want to have good clinical exposure during my med school years. i am geared towards primary care but all these posts about DO schools not caring about clinical rotation is very disheartening. Advice?

 

[Dr. Death]

Seems like the more established DO schools don't have many (or any) issues with rotations. I am only applying to the older DO schools that have been around forever and have their $h!t together. I am in a similar predicament with a slightly lower (3.7) GPA. But I really don't want to wait another year and I would rather saw off my leg than take the MCAT again. If you are OK with those two and are really worried, then take a year off, come back with a stronger app next year. Best of luck to you whatever you choose.

 

[Sai111394]

Seems like the more established DO schools don't have many (or any) issues with rotations. I am only applying to the older DO schools that have been around forever and have their $h!t together. I am in a similar predicament with a slightly lower (3.7) GPA. But I really don't want to wait another year and I would rather saw off my leg than take the MCAT again. If you are OK with those two and are really worried, then take a year off, come back with a stronger app next year. Best of luck to you whatever you choose.

Thanks a lot for the reply!! Yeah the MCAT was hell but if I have to I will retake it..... Which ones do you think are the best? The thread that I am talking of was roasting AZCOM till no end and I hear that is more established..... What I'm saying is that if I end up wanting to do a fellowship after lets say a peds residency, then I don't want the fact that I got a low to mid tier peds residency because I'm a DO affect my chances of getting a fellowship

 

[Dr. Death]

Yeah AZCOM gets butchered for their rotations. I am applying to DMU PCOM CCOM Western, Touro, KCUMB, KCOM and a couple others that are slipping my mind right now. Yeah that could be an issue but I think that even if you end up at a school where the rotations are less than ideal, if you score well on boards and schedule your own electives 4th year you should be able to make things work.

 

[cliquesh]

I would retake the mcat before committing to the osteopathic route.

 

[OrdinaryDO]

I would retake the mcat before committing to the osteopathic route.

Ouch, haha, I am purposefully only applying to the osteopathic program. It has a lot to do with geographical constraints and the fact that their are no real good MD schools around where I live, but it also has a lot to do with how I have been affected by my encounters with osteopathic physicians. I grew up with a heavy presence of osteopaths surrounding me (DO school only a few miles from my home), and honestly I am not trying to generalize this idea here, but almost all of the MD residents at the hospital I worked at were stuck-up and treated the nurses like a pile of crap. Like I said, this was just my experience a constant flow of new and old residents coming in and out of our hospital.

 

[tennerd]

Thanks a lot for the reply!! Yeah the MCAT was hell but if I have to I will retake it..... Which ones do you think are the best? The thread that I am talking of was roasting AZCOM till no end and I hear that is more established..... What I'm saying is that if I end up wanting to do a fellowship after lets say a peds residency, then I don't want the fact that I got a low to mid tier peds residency because I'm a DO affect my chances of getting a fellowship

i actually have an interview coming up for AZCOM and was worried about the rotations of AZCOM. i asked some students about it but no one had anything bad to say. however, apparently they offer rotations in socal and near their sister campus in chicago (bnot the same sitess as CCOM), but it is better to stay in the phoenix area because those rotation sites are more supervised by the administration and can be maintained for rotation quality. they also have a rotation rating system for students so i'm sure administration is well aware. anyways, i doubt AZCOM would be able to maintain its upper tier DO status with bad quality rotations.

if you really are worried, you can compare match lists for peds at the DO schools you want to apply to.

also, as a non-urm CA resident, unless you are sure you can score a 31+ equivalent mcat (even then it's not that great) i'd still also apply to DO schools. non-URM CA resident is a really bad demographic to be in.

 

[Sai111394]

I would retake the mcat before committing to the osteopathic route.

why do you say that?

 

[tennerd]

why do you say that?

he is saying that because he doesn't want you attending a DO school and regret being a DO

 

[Sai111394]

he is saying that because he doesn't want you attending a DO school and regret being a DO

well yeah i got that hahaha but i'm saying why? Like if I'm planning on matching into relatively non competitive residencies (peds)

 

[deleted610572]

So I recently came upon a thread that a DO student had created regarding the crappiness of their rotations and I read other DO students chiming in to agree and it got me thinking..... Should I be applying to DO schools right now? My GPA is great (3.8) but my MCAT especially from a CA resident is not as great. Im thinking to withdraw and apply MD next cycle while retaking my MCAT between now and then and then spend the year I have as a research assistant in Palo Alto (already have it lined up in case I change plans) because at the end I do want to have good clinical exposure during my med school years. i am geared towards primary care but all these posts about DO schools not caring about clinical rotation is very disheartening. Advice?

Just apply to schools that have good rotations. Of course the older schools, but even some newer schools have good rotation reputations. MUCOM and ACOM are both new with excellent rotations. ACOM for instance, their rotations are owned by AMEC (Alabama medical education consortium) which was created by Alabama state leaders to bring more physicians to Alabama. Students would go to the older schools for the first 2 years and then do their rotations in Alabama. That has been happening for 10 years and has been bringing other DO students to rotate at these sites since 2005.

 

[cliquesh]

well yeah i got that hahaha but i'm saying why? Like if I'm planning on matching into relatively non competitive residencies (peds)

I wanted to do family medicine when I first started at an osteopathic medical school. However, by the end of 3rd year I only really considered radiology, pathology or anesthesia. Your plans may change too, and it's good to have options. Going to an MD school will provide you with more options for residency.

I think the education at the better osteopathic medical schools is fine, by the way.

 

[Sai111394]

Which DO schools would you say are better?

 

[Sai111394]

I wanted to do family medicine when I first started at an osteopathic medical school. However, by the end of 3rd year I only really considered radiology, pathology or anesthesia. Your plans may change too, and it's good to have options. Going to an MD school will provide you with more options for residency.

I think the education at the better osteopathic medical schools is fine, by the way.

Which ones would you say are better?

 

[Goro]

Ask five DOs that question and you'll six different answers.

Which DO schools would you say are better?

 

[cliquesh]

Which ones would you say are better?

In my opinion, ccom, dmu, pcom, Rowan, and kcu seem pretty good. I'm sure there are other good DO schools, but it haven't had experience with them. Medical education, believe it or not, is very disorganized and it is really up to you to succeed. This is true for both MDs and DOs.

 

[ConfusedChemist]

How bad exactly is your MCAT? You might not get into a cali MD school but there's always others that don't care much about OOS

 

[j4pac]

Established MD programs typically have stronger rotations than DO programs. Ultimately it is going to come down to whether or not you can realistically make yourself competitive for MD programs. If you can't get your MCAT on par...I believe that the DO is an excellent fall back plan.