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important to address "why DO" in PS?

Started by thegame11
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Is it important to discuss "Why D.O." in PS?

  • Yes

    Votes: 15 26.3%
  • No

    Votes: 42 73.7%

  • Total voters
    57

thegame11

Full Member
15+ Year Member
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I am confused whether or not to address the question "Why DO" in the personal statement. Most of the secondary statements ask the question why osteopathic medicine.

I think its a bad idea to repeat the same info for secondary apps...
 
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A lot of secondaries ask this question, sooo there is no need to be redundant since you only have little space. I answered the question "Why Physician?" on my PS, and then "Why DO?" on the secondaries.
 
I am confused whether or not to address the question "Why DO" in the personal statement. Most of the secondary statements ask the question why osteopathic medicine.

I think its a bad idea to repeat the same info for secondary apps...

I didn't mention osteopathic medicine in my PS, just mentioned primary care. I used my secondaries to address "why do?" and why I choose a specific program.

It worked out for me.

Good luck!
 
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Thanks for bringing this up. I wasn't sure whether or not to alter my PS from when i applied to my local MD school last year. I dont think I will change it then, you guys prove a good point about the Secondaries. Why repeat something twice
 
well i guess public opinion has spoken
i did add it, because i wasn't positive of what the secondary questions would be, and also because i wanted those schools to know i didn't merely apply to osteopathic schools without a thought as to what it is. it is obviously convenient to copy and paste the same essay, but i figured i should add a paragraph on why osteopathic medicine specifically suits or interests me. in my opinion, the argument of why duplicate it is similar to asking why have a cover letter, a resume, and an interview, i believe reinforcement of specific, relevant details is important.

furthermore, now that i think of it, the secondaries i got asked "why ___ ___ College of Osteopathic Medicine as opposed to other schools" and thus I focused more on the school itself.

anyway, its the op's call, but obviously its not mandatory or even signifcantly different in outcome potential.
 
Nope, I didn't. I used the same PS for MD and DO schools and had no problems getting interviews at both.
 
There's a list of secondary prompts around here somewhere. Last year, I looked at the prompts for all the schools I was applying to and saw that most had some form of the why DO question, so I left it out of my AACOMAS personal statement.

Edit: Here's the link to the secondary prompts from a few years back, many are the same, but it could use some updates and additions.
 
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