Huntsville IM program and Savannah Memorial IM program for DO

[aterry]

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Hello! I am currently a 3rd year med student (yes I know its a little early) and I was wondering if anyone knew if the Hunstville IM residency program and the Savannah Memorial Internal Med program took a DO with competitive COMLEX scores but did NOT take the USMLE? I have had a very difficult time contacting the Huntsville program and have not called the Savannah program yet....

Thanks for your help!!

Also, here is a list of programs I am currently interested in and would love your opinions on any of them!

Doctor's Hospital Columbus
Carolinas Medical Center Charlotte, NC
University of Tennessee Chattanooga and Knoxville
Baptist in Birmingham

Ashley

 

[scotchtapetest]

Hello! I am currently a 3rd year med student (yes I know its a little early) and I was wondering if anyone knew if the Hunstville IM residency program and the Savannah Memorial Internal Med program took a DO with competitive COMLEX scores but did NOT take the USMLE? I have had a very difficult time contacting the Huntsville program and have not called the Savannah program yet....

Thanks for your help!!

Also, here is a list of programs I am currently interested in and would love your opinions on any of them!

Doctor's Hospital Columbus
Carolinas Medical Center Charlotte, NC
University of Tennessee Chattanooga and Knoxville
Baptist in Birmingham

Ashley

I would classify all of your mentioned options/programs as very to extremely noncompetitive for IM (or any other program for that matter). Although I did not apply to any of those programs, given the way the application season went for me, I would be very surprised if you don't get interviews from all or most of those programs with a passing COMLEX score let alone with a "competitive" COMLEX score. This is assuming you don't have any red flags (e.g. failures/criminal record/etc.).

I don't know what your COMLEX scores are, but if they are really competitive for IM (i.e. >500, especially if >550) I would definitely consider applying to more competitive places.

Also, IMO it is not even worth contacting programs; It costs max. $25 to apply (depending on total number of places you are applying to); so apply to all of the programs that you are interested in and the worst thing that happens is that they reject you.

 

[aterry]

Thank you for your input and opinions! I got a 481 on step 1 COMLEX and have decent grades as well as a concurrent MPH program with an excellent GPA in that part. I don't have any failures or criminal record. My main goal is to find an IM program close to Nashville (the ones in Nashville do not take DOs who did not take the USMLE). I have not decided on a speciality or if I will specialize at all. I would like to keep my options open but will more than likely practice before specializing.

As far as "just applying" goes -- my questions are more for the purpose of narrowing down where I should do elective audition rotations in Aug, Sep and Oct.

Any other thoughts are welcome! Thanks!

 

[abbycornish]

I'm pretty sure Carolinas requires USMLE.

 

[aterry]

This is directly from their Application FAQ:

I am a student from an osteopathic (D.O.) medical school. Do I need to take the USMLE or is the COMLEX alone acceptable?
We will accept applications from students who have only taken COMLEX exams, but do find it additionally helpful if you have taken at least one of the USMLE exams.

Thanks for the heads up though on this one!

 

[scotchtapetest]

Thank you for your input and opinions! I got a 481 on step 1 COMLEX and have decent grades as well as a concurrent MPH program with an excellent GPA in that part. I don't have any failures or criminal record. My main goal is to find an IM program close to Nashville (the ones in Nashville do not take DOs who did not take the USMLE). I have not decided on a speciality or if I will specialize at all. I would like to keep my options open but will more than likely practice before specializing.

As far as "just applying" goes -- my questions are more for the purpose of narrowing down where I should do elective audition rotations in Aug, Sep and Oct.

Any other thoughts are welcome! Thanks!

As I mentioned, the programs you are considering are not that competitive and therefore, may not even require an "audition rotation." Most IM programs, especially community programs, take COMLEX alone. Very rarely a community program will require USMLE so if they don't get back to you, you should assume that they take COMLEX.

Some people will disagree with this next sentence but it is the truth and I'm going to say it anyways. Unless you are going AOA, audition rotations are overrated for IM and if you are going to do them, you should definitely do them at your "reach" programs (i.e. more competitive places). None of your stated programs are necessarily "reach" programs given your stats.

I would focus on "honoring" your medicine clerkship, getting excellent LORs and scoring >500 on Level 2. These three things will enhance your chances more than anything else.

Last but not least, you have Doctor's hospital on your list which is an AOA program in Columbus. There is at least a handful of university programs between Columbus and Nashville that take COMLEX alone so unless you are anti-university, you should include them on your list.

Here are some suggestions (given your geographical bias):
OSU (good place for rotation)
WSU
Univ of Cinci (good place for rotation)
U o L
UKY (good place for rotation)
UT-Memphis (not really btw those two cities, but a decent option)

 

[aterry]

Wow thank you for all the time you put into a response. I looked into UofL and they said they preferred usmle. Cincinnati did not look like they ever had a DO according to their current resident list. I have heard before what you said about not having to rotate at some non-AOA programs but then what is your suggestion for really figuring out the culture and general atmosphere of the residency? My goal is certainly a higher score on step 2 and I will hopefully come out of my IM rotations with fantastic LORs! (fingers crossed). I stayed more on the southern side of Nashville since I am in Florida currently and have missed the south (odd to say). Thanks again and I look forward to any other thoughts you have to share!

 

[scotchtapetest]

Wow thank you for all the time you put into a response. I looked into UofL and they said they preferred usmle. Cincinnati did not look like they ever had a DO according to their current resident list. I have heard before what you said about not having to rotate at some non-AOA programs but then what is your suggestion for really figuring out the culture and general atmosphere of the residency? My goal is certainly a higher score on step 2 and I will hopefully come out of my IM rotations with fantastic LORs! (fingers crossed). I stayed more on the southern side of Nashville since I am in Florida currently and have missed the south (odd to say). Thanks again and I look forward to any other thoughts you have to share!

Every program says that they "prefer" USMLE; And I prefer to be an astronaut; but that's not gonna happen neither is the USMLE. UofL and most other places will be more than happy with just COMLEX. Considering the people I've met this year who have interviewed at UofL, they should be happy to get applications from English speaking applicants.

Also are we looking at the same Cincinnati? b/c the one I'm looking at has multiple DOs in their PGY2-3 years and the rest of the roster is not that impressive.

With regards to "culture of residency", you only have 3-4 away rotations you can do before ranking but hopefully you get to apply/interview/rank at least 10 if not more. So how are you going to get a feel for other programs? Once you go on interviews, you will realize that all residencies within a given tier are pretty much the same. So you should only do away rotations at places that YOU are really interested in OR provide an exceptional learning opportunity. NOT based on where you have a higher chance of matching. Of course, as always, the opposite applies to AOA programs.

I hope my rants were helpful and I wish you the best of luck!