honest thoughts on DO "challenges"

[FrkyBgStok]

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sorry to hijack the thread, but what if MD school is 1. far (very far) from home, with high tuition vs. DO school that is in your community.
i mean the debt i will come out after residency could be $100,000 difference, would it still be worth it?

I assume you mean $100,000 less going DO? How bad do you want to stay in the community? That one is up to you. I would personally go DO because my home is way important, but I would also recommend the MD for the number of residencies.

If it is $100k less to go MD and you can handle the move, make like a tree and get the eff out of there.

 

[GraceEuphoria]

Depends on what you want to go into... if it's something very DO friendly like family practice/IM, go DO. If it's a very competitive specialty, you may want to consider the MD school, simply because you'll have more programs to match into more easily (DOs can match in them too, but as you'll read about a lot on SDN, it's more of an uphill battle).

Perhaps someone else can give their opinion on this as well.

👍

 

[SoulinNeed]

What about for someone who wants to go into PM&R/Neurology/Psychiatry/EM?

 

[DrMediterranean]

What about for someone who wants to go into PM&R/Neurology/Psychiatry/EM?

All very D.O. friendly. You'll have no problem, although EM is generally getting a bit more competitive.

 

[Iliketoytles]

What about for someone who wants to go into PM&R/Neurology/Psychiatry/EM?

I don't think those are very competitive specialties for DO's to match into. Not sure about PM&R though.

 

[donkeykong1]

What about for someone who wants to go into PM&R/Neurology/Psychiatry/EM?

you're good.

even if you wanted ortho/derm/rads/gen surg/uro/ent down the road a solid comlex/usmle would suffice. keep in mind if you don't have a good usmle score you are dead in the water for these types of specialties at most MD schools.

 

[donkeykong1]

I don't think those are very competitive specialties for DO's to match into. Not sure about PM&R though.

PM&R is dominated by DOs. The PD at Harvard's spaulding center for Rehab is a DO from Nova .

 

[DoctorLacrosse]

I assume you mean $100,000 less going DO? How bad do you want to stay in the community? That one is up to you. I would personally go DO because my home is way important, but I would also recommend the MD for the number of residencies.

If it is $100k less to go MD and you can handle the move, make like a tree and get the eff out of there.

haha Boondock Saints reference by any chance?

 

[FrkyBgStok]

haha Boondock Saints reference by any chance?

Haha. People in glass houses sink ships.

 

[ManBroDude]

I don't think those are very competitive specialties for DO's to match into. Not sure about PM&R though.

I don't understand the trendiness of PM&R right now. You deal with a bunch of fibromyalgia and/or narc-seeking crazies while you wear a dress shirt and tie to work. I hope that it stays "popular" in 4 years so that it opens up spots for me in real residencies 😉

 

[FrkyBgStok]

I don't understand the trendiness of PM&R right now. You deal with a bunch of fibromyalgia and/or narc-seeking crazies while you wear a dress shirt and tie to work. I hope that it stays "popular" in 4 years so that it opens up spots for me in real residencies 😉

Lol. "Johnson here is a dermatologist, which is greek for 'fake doctor.'"

 

[aSagacious]

...what if MD school is 1. far (very far) from home, with high tuition vs. DO school that is in your community.
i mean the debt i will come out after residency could be $100,000 difference, would it still be worth it?

For what it's worth I am in the same situation and I chose to go with the MD school.

Edit: I should add my reasons for doing so (it was not simply an MD vs DO decision).

In this particular case:
- The MD school sent 40% of their graduates into a primary care residency (vs 80% at the DO school)
- 30% of the graduates from the MD school stayed in-state for residency (vs 75% at the DO school)
- The MD school has an enormous teaching hospital on campus (the DO school has 2 small community hospitals on campus)
- The class size at the MD school is ~100 (vs 300 at the DO school)
- The MD school had $90 million in NIH funding in 2010 (vs $7 million at the DO school)

...all of these features made the extra $100k worth it in my opinion

 

[Iliketoytles]

For what it's worth I am in the same situation and I chose to go with the MD school.

Edit: I should add my reasons for doing so (it was not simply an MD vs DO decision).

In this particular case:
- The MD school sent 40% of their graduates into a primary care residency (vs 80% at the DO school)
- 30% of the graduates from the MD school stayed in-state for residency (vs 75% at the DO school)
- The MD school has an enormous teaching hospital on campus (the DO school has 2 small community hospitals on campus)
- The class size at the MD school is ~100 (vs 300 at the DO school)
- The MD school had $90 million in NIH funding in 2010 (vs $7 million at the DO school)

...all of these features made the extra $100k worth it in my opinion

These all seem like good reasons to me! Good job looking into these things.

 

[n3xa]

For what it's worth I am in the same situation and I chose to go with the MD school.

Edit: I should add my reasons for doing so (it was not simply an MD vs DO decision).

In this particular case:
- The MD school sent 40% of their graduates into a primary care residency (vs 80% at the DO school)
- 30% of the graduates from the MD school stayed in-state for residency (vs 75% at the DO school)
- The MD school has an enormous teaching hospital on campus (the DO school has 2 small community hospitals on campus)
- The class size at the MD school is ~100 (vs 300 at the DO school)
- The MD school had $90 million in NIH funding in 2010 (vs $7 million at the DO school)

...all of these features made the extra $100k worth it in my opinion

Yeah if the MD school I interviewed at had a teaching hospital, it might have motivated me to wait it out and cross my fingers for an acceptance. My gut feeling worked well with graduate school and I had that same feeling overall after my DO interviews.

Being a CA native and living out in the midwest has taken its toll on me. It's time to go home. You know it's time when you're actually happy and excited to be in LA traffic. I'm sure I will regret posting this in a year or two.

I'm cool with the "limitations."

 

[Khirurg]

While I agree that not all MD schools are created equal, your opportunities from pretty much any MD school will be better than pretty much any DO school. You should realize this since you are applying to IM, bala. For instance, look at IM at Hopkins, penn, MGH, The Brigham, UCSF, Duke, Columbia, and a whole host of other programs. No DO residents in medicine. Hell, Penn even has PCOM right down the street (and PCOM is considered one of the best DO schools) yet there are no PCOM or DO IM residents at Penn.

I went to a non-top 60 school and in my class alone we had a handfull of matches to Hopkins, matches to penn, multiple to Duke and UNC, MGH (urology even), Pitt, Michigan, Cornell, Columbia, UCLA, Emory, UVA, Stanford and the list goes on to the mediocre matches which most DO schools would consider to be excellent matches.

The major difference (and most impt thing), though is in the middle of the class. DO schools send their average students to medicre community programs while MD schools send their mediocre graduates to strong university programs. Very few are actually going to be at the top of their class, let's be honest. What a run of the mill MD school can do for the middle-of-the-road med students is much larger than what almost any DO school can do. This is not to insult the top DO schools but to highlight the reality- with the rare exception, MD schools are going to offer you more opportunites.

Unfortunately, this is exactly right. There are no exceptions. I will tell you a story of a gentleman from a year ahead of me who was an unbelievable student, 99th percentile on ACGME Steps and was considered a big success of his class, as he was accepted to State University General Surgery program. If he were a med student in the same State University Med school, he would be a surgical resident in Columbia or Mass General.

 

[SoulinNeed]

I should ask, but what does going to a "prestigious" program actually do for you? Like, let's say I want to be an Orthopedic Surgeon, and I go to an OK DO residency program, and someone else goes to a prestigious MD program, instead. What advantages will he have? Don't they both get paid the same for the most part? I'm sure the MD one will have better job prospects, but I don't think the DO one will have trouble finding a job, either, so I ask what the differences practically speaking really are?

 

[aSagacious]

I should ask, but what does going to a "prestigious" program actually do for you? Like, let's say I want to be an Orthopedic Surgeon, and I go to an OK DO residency program, and someone else goes to a prestigious MD program, instead. What advantages will he have? Don't they both get paid the same for the most part? I'm sure the MD one will have better job prospects, but I don't think the DO one will have trouble finding a job, either, so I ask what the differences practically speaking really are?

- Size of the hospital/program (manifesting itself in the variety and depth of cases)
- Resources available (trained on the latest and greatest equipment)
- Some programs simply have flat-out better mentors/instructors (this is more word-of-mouth than quantitative, hence the occasional seemingly prestigious programs that are notoriously malignant)
- I'm sure there are many others but I'm just a lowly pre-med

 

[retro]

I guess the general consensus is that any MD schools are favored over any DO schools in terms of landing on competitive residencies. This discrimination would be understandable if a student 1 from MD school and a student 2 from DO school had same stats (board, class rank, recommendation letter, etc)...but what happens if a student going to a DO school has better board scores, ranking, letters, etc? Do those competitive allopathic residencies still shun DO students just because they are from DO schools?
I'm just asking because I'll be attending a DO school mainly because of my weak mcat verbal scores, and without verbal on board exams..I think I can outperform many MD students in that aspect. Honestly, I'd be pissed off if a guy from a MD school with lower stats than me end up getting a residency spot and I don't. Can someone verify with me if this is the case?

 

[GraceEuphoria]

I should ask, but what does going to a "prestigious" program actually do for you? Like, let's say I want to be an Orthopedic Surgeon, and I go to an OK DO residency program, and someone else goes to a prestigious MD program, instead. What advantages will he have? Don't they both get paid the same for the most part? I'm sure the MD one will have better job prospects, but I don't think the DO one will have trouble finding a job, either, so I ask what the differences practically speaking really are?

I personally don't see any lol. There are places that may take it into account, but for the most part you'll hear that job offers rarely have anything to do with where you went to school or residency. I guess if you're tied up neck and neck with another applicant that went to Harvard, you might get the shaft, but honestly...I wouldn't want to go to a program or job like that. That's just my personal take though. In the end, you're practicing medicine and you have more "status" than a large majority of people, so who gives a crap where you went? You still get a fat paycheck and loads of respect, simply because of the letters that follow your name.

 

[jinobi]

I guess the general consensus is that any MD schools are favored over any DO schools in terms of landing on competitive residencies. This discrimination would be understandable if a student 1 from MD school and a student 2 from DO school had same stats (board, class rank, recommendation letter, etc)...but what happens if a student going to a DO school has better board scores, ranking, letters, etc? Do those competitive allopathic residencies still shun DO students just because they are from DO schools?
I'm just asking because I'll be attending a DO school mainly because of my weak mcat verbal scores, and without verbal on board exams..I think I can outperform many MD students in that aspect. Honestly, I'd be pissed off if a guy from a MD school with lower stats than me end up getting a residency spot and I don't. Can someone verify with me if this is the case?

Well, yes for competitive ACGME (aka MD) residencies. Way ACGME figures, DO students have their own AOA residencies too. A MD student with average board scores would likely be favored over a DO student with above-average board scores. Some ACGME residencies will be DO-unfriendly, others will hold DO students to a higher standard, others are DO-friendly. All in all, as a DO applying to an MD residency, you will need to be slightly better than the other MD applicants.

You don't have many AOA residencies in specialty fields when compared to ACGME programs who can offer over 10x as many spots.

 

[DoctorLacrosse]

Haha. People in glass houses sink ships.

hahaha I love it. feel like I need to tip toe through the tulips with a lot of people on this forum

 

[Dharma]

I don't understand the trendiness of PM&R right now. You deal with a bunch of fibromyalgia and/or narc-seeking crazies while you wear a dress shirt and tie to work. I hope that it stays "popular" in 4 years so that it opens up spots for me in real residencies 😉

You seem pretty informed about the profession for a pre-med. 🙄

 

[ManBroDude]

You seem pretty informed about the profession for a pre-med. 🙄

Spoken with tongue firmly in cheek (and my readers on, to try and look smart)

 

[GraceEuphoria]

Well, yes for competitive ACGME (aka MD) residencies. Way ACGME figures, DO students have their own AOA residencies too. A MD student with average board scores would likely be favored over a DO student with above-average board scores. Some ACGME residencies will be DO-unfriendly, others will hold DO students to a higher standard, others are DO-friendly. All in all, as a DO applying to an MD residency, you will need to be slightly better than the other MD applicants.

You don't have many AOA residencies in specialty fields when compared to ACGME programs who can offer over 10x as many spots.[/QUOTE]

On the flip side of this, though, there are waaaaay fewer people vying for those spots since there are only osteopathic students applying for them. It's actually a big of advantage in some areas....I hear surgery applicants should def apply AOA. Also, ortho applicants seem to go AOA, but this all just from my narrow experience of seeing match lists and whatnot.

Being more competitive than MD applicants when applying ACGME....do we think this is probably only a major issue when applying outside of primary care? I keep hearing that if I want to do allopathic peds, that I should be fine as long as I don't bomb USMLE....

 

[HotandCold]

Well, yes for competitive ACGME (aka MD) residencies. Way ACGME figures, DO students have their own AOA residencies too. A MD student with average board scores would likely be favored over a DO student with above-average board scores. Some ACGME residencies will be DO-unfriendly, others will hold DO students to a higher standard, others are DO-friendly. All in all, as a DO applying to an MD residency, you will need to be slightly better than the other MD applicants.

You don't have many AOA residencies in specialty fields when compared to ACGME programs who can offer over 10x as many spots.[/QUOTE]

On the flip side of this, though, there are waaaaay fewer people vying for those spots since there are only osteopathic students applying for them. It's actually a big of advantage in some areas....I hear surgery applicants should def apply AOA. Also, ortho applicants seem to go AOA, but this all just from my narrow experience of seeing match lists and whatnot.

Being more competitive than MD applicants when applying ACGME....do we think this is probably only a major issue when applying outside of primary care? I keep hearing that if I want to do allopathic peds, that I should be fine as long as I don't bomb USMLE....

I know a DO who got a derma residency through AOA, and he says that that is the main reason why he got it. A lot of folks seem to forget the fact that the vast majority of DO's do indeed, want to go into primary care. Yeah, some SDN posters here and there say they want this and that, but it's all in the numbers. Fewer spots exist, true, but also fewer competitors. Not that you can do a half-baked job and get into a Dermatology program, but I'm just sayin'...

 

[AlbertVOligh]

On the flip side of this, though, there are waaaaay fewer people vying for those spots since there are only osteopathic students applying for them. It's actually a big of advantage in some areas....I hear surgery applicants should def apply AOA. Also, ortho applicants seem to go AOA, but this all just from my narrow experience of seeing match lists and whatnot.

I know a DO who got a derma residency through AOA, and he says that that is the main reason why he got it. A lot of folks seem to forget the fact that the vast majority of DO's do indeed, want to go into primary care. Yeah, some SDN posters here and there say they want this and that, but it's all in the numbers. Fewer spots exist, true, but also fewer competitors. Not that you can do a half-baked job and get into a Dermatology program, but I'm just sayin'...

However accurate this may be, what does this mean in several years when more new DO schools have opened up and current school class sizes have expanded? Any advantage that the average DO applicant has from having their own AOA programs will basically be gone. Also, in some other thread didn't they say like some ortho residencies rank 5 people for 2 spots?

 

[drizzt3117]

The DO residencies in the competitive specialties are generally community programs in undesirable locations.

 

[DrWily]

So a question in my mind that's been bothering me for a while:

When considering competitive specialties in AOA like Derm, Rads, Optho, Surg etc.. is there any negative effect in going to AOA vs ACGME for these fields?

I know in the Anesthesia forum, many talk about poor education in AOA spots and advise D.O. students interested in Gas to go ACGME, especially for board certification as an Anesthesiologist. Can the same be said for other competitive specialties?

I guess what I'm asking is, [EXAMPLE] I know ACGME Derm is highly competitive. AOA Derm is still competitive, but only D.O. students have access to these spots which lessens the field. If I chose to do AOA Derm, would I be at any disadvantage vs someone who did ACGME Derm? We would still both be Dermatologists, amirite?

 

[jinobi]

So a question in my mind that's been bothering me for a while:

When considering competitive specialties in AOA like Derm, Rads, Optho, Surg etc.. is there any negative effect in going to AOA vs ACGME for these fields?

I know in the Anesthesia forum, many talk about poor education in AOA spots and advise D.O. students interested in Gas to go ACGME, especially for board certification as an Anesthesiologist. Can the same be said for other competitive specialties?

I guess what I'm asking is, [EXAMPLE] I know ACGME Derm is highly competitive. AOA Derm is still competitive, but only D.O. students have access to these spots which lessens the field. If I chose to do AOA Derm, would I be at any disadvantage vs someone who did ACGME Derm? We would still both be Dermatologists, amirite?

We'll need some attendings to chime on on this, but my hunch is that AOA/ACGME residency choice and subsequent board certification is only important if you're looking to gain staff privileges at certain hospitals who require a specific ACGME board certification (e.g. Kaiser Permanente only recognizes anesthesiology ABA MD-board certification, not AOBA DO-board certification) or if you're joining a specialty group practice which requires its members to have a certain board certification.

If you're private practice, it doesn't matter which board certification you get. For example, look at these this DO dermatologist and DO plastic surgeon who got board certified in AOA residencies:
http://www.drtattoff.com/bio
http://www.beverlyhillsplasticsurgeryinc.com/surgeon.html

 

[drizzt3117]

It certainly matters for academic medicine.

So a question in my mind that's been bothering me for a while:

When considering competitive specialties in AOA like Derm, Rads, Optho, Surg etc.. is there any negative effect in going to AOA vs ACGME for these fields?

I know in the Anesthesia forum, many talk about poor education in AOA spots and advise D.O. students interested in Gas to go ACGME, especially for board certification as an Anesthesiologist. Can the same be said for other competitive specialties?

I guess what I'm asking is, [EXAMPLE] I know ACGME Derm is highly competitive. AOA Derm is still competitive, but only D.O. students have access to these spots which lessens the field. If I chose to do AOA Derm, would I be at any disadvantage vs someone who did ACGME Derm? We would still both be Dermatologists, amirite?

 

[DrWily]

It certainly matters for academic medicine.

Can you elaborate

 

[donkeykong1]

Can you elaborate

You can't be a PD at an ACGME accredited residency if you're not board certified under the allopathic umbrella.

otherwise, being BC either through oste or allo is enough (gas is the exception).

 

[DrWily]

You can't be a PD at an ACGME accredited residency if you're not board certified under the allopathic umbrella.

otherwise, being BC either through oste or allo is enough (gas is the exception).

👍 thanks

 

[Instatewaiter]

Unfortunately, this is exactly right. There are no exceptions. I will tell you a story of a gentleman from a year ahead of me who was an unbelievable student, 99th percentile on ACGME Steps and was considered a big success of his class, as he was accepted to State University General Surgery program. If he were a med student in the same State University Med school, he would be a surgical resident in Columbia or Mass General.

Are you sure it was not a 99 two digit score (which could be as low as a 235... a good but not exceptional score). 99th percentile is approximately a 270. I think that would get him into some pretty strong programs.

I should ask, but what does going to a "prestigious" program actually do for you? Like, let's say I want to be an Orthopedic Surgeon, and I go to an OK DO residency program, and someone else goes to a prestigious MD program, instead. What advantages will he have? Don't they both get paid the same for the most part? I'm sure the MD one will have better job prospects, but I don't think the DO one will have trouble finding a job, either, so I ask what the differences practically speaking really are?

The issue is less with earnings and more with the training you receive. At a small community hospital, they are not equipped to take care of a lot of things. These cases get sent to large hospitals. You do see the common things, but don't get the training on the rarer things, the more difficult procedures, and more cutting edge treatment. The eyes cannot see what the brain does not know. You learn what you need to know in residency and fellowship.

This is especially important for surgical and medical interventions and rare conditions. For instance, let's take whipple procedures- a relatively rare procedure. The more "prestigious programs" are usually the one's that do a lot of these procedures and this is how you get trained. Small hospitals do none of these procedures and given the recent data that mortality is vastly higher at low volume centers, these numbers are likely to get smaller.

This is the same thing for other procedures and rarer medical conditions. Even if the rare stuff happens to show up at a smaller hospital, it usually gets shipped to a large "prestigious" place for true diagnosis and treatment. Your training will be much better at a tertiary or quarternary care center because you are exposed to this kind of stuff.

I guess the general consensus is that any MD schools are favored over any DO schools in terms of landing on competitive residencies. This discrimination would be understandable if a student 1 from MD school and a student 2 from DO school had same stats (board, class rank, recommendation letter, etc)...but what happens if a student going to a DO school has better board scores, ranking, letters, etc? Do those competitive allopathic residencies still shun DO students just because they are from DO schools?
I'm just asking because I'll be attending a DO school mainly because of my weak mcat verbal scores, and without verbal on board exams..I think I can outperform many MD students in that aspect. Honestly, I'd be pissed off if a guy from a MD school with lower stats than me end up getting a residency spot and I don't. Can someone verify with me if this is the case?

I don't think that anyone has any idea and has no data to back up their statements but makes inferences from the available evidence. At most of the top places there are few DOs and from the board scores posted, there seem to be a good amt of DOs doing well on the boards. That said, we have no idea of how much self selection goes on, where people are applying etc.

We aren't privy to the inner workings of selection committees so see what kind of detriment a DO degree is. From match lists etc, it does seem that you need to have stronger stats on paper but who knows.

 

[drizzt3117]

You can't be a PD at an ACGME accredited residency if you're not board certified under the allopathic umbrella.

otherwise, being BC either through oste or allo is enough (gas is the exception).

You'll also be uncompetitive for most academic positions. There are DO PDs that I know of but they did ACGME fellowships.

 

[Khirurg]

Are you sure it was not a 99 two digit score (which could be as low as a 235... a good but not exceptional score). 99th percentile is approximately a 270. I think that would get him into some pretty strong programs.

I am sure I can distinguish between the two! 99th PERCENTILE! Stony Brook is not a shabby program by any means, but US Allo grad with that score would be at the top program of his choice.

Coming out from prestigious program can make things a lot easier for you in the future. You are assumed to get a better training (that might or might not be the case) and your jobs opportunities are better. What ultimately happens, has more to do with your abilities and in case of private practice, your business aptitude. As far as academic medicine is concerned, graduating prestigious program makes a HUGE difference.

 

[scotchtapetest]

Unfortunately, this is exactly right. There are no exceptions. I will tell you a story of a gentleman from a year ahead of me who was an unbelievable student, 99th percentile on ACGME Steps and was considered a big success of his class, as he was accepted to State University General Surgery program. If he were a med student in the same State University Med school, he would be a surgical resident in Columbia or Mass General.

ACGME steps???? I didn't know they had steps... Are you talking about the USMLE steps? Are you sure you are a medical student/resident/attending?

I am sure I can distinguish between the two! 99th PERCENTILE! Stony Brook is not a shabby program by any means, but US Allo grad with that score would be at the top program of his choice.

Coming out from prestigious program can make things a lot easier for you in the future. You are assumed to get a better training (that might or might not be the case) and your jobs opportunities are better. What ultimately happens, has more to do with your abilities and in case of private practice, your business aptitude. As far as academic medicine is concerned, graduating prestigious program makes a HUGE difference.

There is no way this a true story or there is something else you are not telling us (or you don't know)... Was he an ex-con? did he fail something?

I personally know multiple people with sub-99th percentile (i.e. sub 270s) who got into much, much better programs than Stony Brook in much much more competitive specialties than gen. surg.

Next time you knew a guy who knew a guy who got 99th PERCENTILE (i.e. over 270) have him PM me and I will personally get him in better programs than Stony Brook...

 

[ManBroDude]

DocEspana got a 99.

 

[Khirurg]

ACGME steps???? I didn't know they had steps... Are you talking about the USMLE steps? Are you sure you are a medical student/resident/attending?

You are right, I appologize, USMLE steps. Of course, the fact that I made this slip disqualifies everything I had to say😎

There is no way this a true story or there is something else you are not telling us (or you don't know)... Was he an ex-con? did he fail something?

None such things.

I personally know multiple people with sub-99th percentile (i.e. sub 270s) who got into much, much better programs than Stony Brook in much much more competitive specialties than gen. surg.

I am sure people like that exist. Certain general surgery programs can be quite biased re: DO's. Thank god, not all of them. When you want to be a surgeon, other specialties, no matter how "much more competitive" they can be, don't matter to you.
Next time you knew a guy who knew a guy who got 99th PERCENTILE (i.e. over 270) have him PM me and I will personally get him in better programs than Stony Brook...[/QUOTE
😕 You could do that? Too bad, I didn't know you when I needed some help with getting into a good program.

I appreciate your sarcasm, but this is a real example of a real person I knew, and just because you make smartass comments, it doesn't change the reality. I hope things changed in the last few years, but as far as I can tell, they didn't. Good luck in your future endeavors!

 

[235788]

Depends on the MD school and the DO school! Unlike what you hear on SDN, not all MD schools are created equal.

To make it simple with regards to opportunities: If you are accepted to a top 30-50 MD school, then you will have more opportunities. Otherwise a more established DO school will provide you with the same opportunities (if not more) as any run of the mill MD school! (I know this might be big news on SDN)! For instance, my DO school certainly provided me with advantages/opportunities over my state MD school (very average school) that I would've never dreamed about if I'd gone there.

But having said all of that, it sounds like you prefer the MD school; So please go there and let people who really want to be DOs take your spot!

you never elaborated, if you don't mind.

 

[thepoopologist]

I did not put much thought into the application process and applied to DO programs in the late fall. I was originally going to apply MD and DO the following year but was impatient because I was 25 at the time.Three years later, I think the better move would have been to try for MD schools and walk away had I not been successful. I would've preferred to struggle on the front-end of the process than the tail-end. It's a lot cheaper that way.

 

[235788]

I did not put much thought into the application process and applied to DO programs in the late fall. I was originally going to apply MD and DO the following year but was impatient because I was 25 at the time.Three years later, I think the better move would have been to try for MD schools and walk away had I not been successful. I would've preferred to struggle on the front-end of the process than the tail-end. It's a lot cheaper that way.

sooo, what are you experiencing?

 

[thepoopologist]

sooo, what are you experiencing?

B4rnout

 

[scotchtapetest]

you never elaborated, if you don't mind.

I'm not sure how I can elaborate on that without loosing anonymity on SDN. Based on my post history you can make a decision whether you believe what I say or not. Either way I could care less.

What matters is that as a graduating student I can tell you that I am very satisfied with my education and I think I got my "money's worth"... In my mind anything after that doesn't matter...

 

[235788]

B4rnout

/virtual hug

 

[Scorcher31]

Actually, in most specialties I would argue there is an advantage going the DO route. As a DO, you commonly would apply to both DO and MD residencies. In short, you have more residencies to apply as a DO overall. So if you want a spot in ER, anesthesiology, surgery, etc. you probably have a better shot at finding some spot somewhere as a DO. If you want a specific spot at a specific location, usually top tier, an MD is advantageous, which tends to only make a difference for research jobs and admin/academic jobs. Also, an MD will have more pull getting you into ultra competitive residencies like derm or optho as there are few DO versions of those residencies thus limiting your pool to the same as the MD applicants.

 

[donkeykong1]

Actually, in most specialties I would argue there is an advantage going the DO route. As a DO, you commonly would apply to both DO and MD residencies. In short, you have more residencies to apply as a DO overall. So if you want a spot in ER, anesthesiology, surgery, etc. you probably have a better shot at finding some spot somewhere as a DO. If you want a specific spot at a specific location, usually top tier, an MD is advantageous, which tends to only make a difference for research jobs and admin/academic jobs. Also, an MD will have more pull getting you into ultra competitive residencies like derm or optho as there are few DO versions of those residencies thus limiting your pool to the same as the MD applicants.

shhh man don't let the cat out of the bag like that ha ha. keep it on the down low lol.

 

[coffeeeandtea]

DocEspana got a 99.

his two digit score. not 99th percentile

 

[DrWily]

his two digit score. not 99th percentile

Please explain the difference between two digit score and three digit score. I'm confused as sh~t. lol

 

[DrBowtie]

Please explain the difference between two digit score and three digit score. I'm confused as sh~t. lol

The two digit score is meaningless. A 99 on the USMLE is 229-230+. The mean for my exam was 221 with a standard dev of 24.

A 75 on the 2 digit score is = to 188. It is mainly used by state medical boards to declare a pass across administrations. It is not a percentile.