How important is the percentage of DO vs MD residencies matched at a given school?

[juca67]

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I've been accepted to a few DO schools and am comparing them in order to make a decision. One thing I've noticed is the percentage of students that match allopathic and osteopathic at each school. Some schools send a larger percentage of its students to MD residencies, while others send a larger percentage to DO residencies. If I would ultimately like to match MD, should a school with a consistently higher percentage (over many years) of students going to MD residences be a deciding factor for me?

I know most people on sdn say that matching is mostly due to the efforts of the individual and I tend to agree. But I also feel that if individual merit was the only factor, the percentages of students matching MD or DO at any given school should fluctuate significantly every year. This is not the case at the schools I am comparing.

 

[bionerd89]

I've been accepted to a few DO schools and am comparing them in order to make a decision. One thing I've noticed is the percentage of students that match allopathic and osteopathic at each school. Some schools send a larger percentage of its students to MD residencies, while others send a larger percentage to DO residencies. If I would ultimately like to match MD, should a school with a consistently higher percentage (over many years) of students going to MD residences be a deciding factor for me?

I know most people on sdn say that matching is mostly due to the efforts of the individual and I tend to agree. But I also feel that if individual merit was the only factor, the percentages of students matching MD or DO at any given school should fluctuate significantly every year. This is not the case at the schools I am comparing.

The reason why MSU has so many of their students going to DO residencies is because they have the most residency spots. Plus, I don't think the number really means that much. Even if the majority of the students opt out of the AOA match for certain schools, it doesn't mean that 100% of those student will actually get a ACGME residency. If you had to choose, I would recommend that you attend the school that is most well-established and has the best rotations.

 

[juca67]

The reason why MSU has so many of their students going to DO residencies is because they have the most residency spots. Plus, I don't think the number really means that much. Even if the majority of the students opt out of the AOA match for certain schools, it doesn't mean that 100% of those student will actually get a ACGME residency. If you had to choose, I would recommend that you attend the school that is most well-established and has the best rotations.

Thanks for your input. But just to clarify, I meant students who had matched according to the schools' match lists, not those who had opted out of AOA for ACGME. So in your opinion, a school that consistently sends 50% of its class to MD residencies isn't necessarily better than one that sends 30% to MD?

 

[bionerd89]

Thanks for your input. But just to clarify, I meant students who had matched according to the schools' match lists, not those who had opted out of AOA for ACGME. So in your opinion, a school that consistently sends 50% of its class to MD residencies isn't necessarily better than one that sends 30% to MD?

No, I don't really think that is true. The general consensus on SDN is that match results don't really mean that much. Is there a specific state you want to do your residency at? I think choosing which school will depend on where you want to do residency. For example, DMU is more well-known among MD residencies in the midwest while Touro-NY and NYIT is more well known in NY. If you are still deciding between schools I would suggest looking at these factors:

1) Which school will you be the most happy at =)?
2) How established is the school?
3) Where do they do clinical rotations?
4) Cost

Hopefully someone who is a fourth year or a resident can chime in with their opinions

 

[NontradCA]

Thanks for your input. But just to clarify, I meant students who had matched according to the schools' match lists, not those who had opted out of AOA for ACGME. So in your opinion, a school that consistently sends 50% of its class to MD residencies isn't necessarily better than one that sends 30% to MD?

It depends. See UNT has a 100% match rate and they have 70% of their students forgoing the AOA match. On the other hand PCOM matches over 80% to AOA residencies. Both are good depending how you look at it.

 

[cliquesh]

No.

Not many people outside of SDN care about AOA versus Acgme.

 

[Elevencents]

Any given year these percentages can change considerably based on the desires of the class.

 

[NontradCA]

Also account that some states have the AOA internship requirement so that could be an incentive for students to go that route.

 

[pattr]

I've been accepted to a few DO schools and am comparing them in order to make a decision. One thing I've noticed is the percentage of students that match allopathic and osteopathic at each school. Some schools send a larger percentage of its students to MD residencies, while others send a larger percentage to DO residencies. If I would ultimately like to match MD, should a school with a consistently higher percentage (over many years) of students going to MD residences be a deciding factor for me?

I know most people on sdn say that matching is mostly due to the efforts of the individual and I tend to agree. But I also feel that if individual merit was the only factor, the percentages of students matching MD or DO at any given school should fluctuate significantly every year. This is not the case at the schools I am comparing.

No, it all depends on affiliations and geographic location. DO programs with affiliations to a greater number of and stronger AOA residency programs will have more AOA matches. On that same note, DO schools in states with few AOA programs in general (California, Texas) will have more ACGME matches by default. However, suffices to say that more ACGME matches may indicate a certain level of comfort on the part of ACGME PD's with that particular DO school - but it also depends on which specific ACGME specialties/programs ppl are matching at too.

 

[organdonor]

No, it all depends on affiliations and geographic location. DO programs with affiliations to a greater number of and stronger AOA residency programs will have more AOA matches. On that same note, DO schools in states with few AOA programs in general (California, Texas) will have more ACGME matches by default. However, suffices to say that more ACGME matches may indicate a certain level of comfort on the part of ACGME PD's with that particular DO school - but it also depends on which specific ACGME specialties/programs ppl are matching at too.

This.