I've heard tons of people saying the profession is dying, now more than ever. There are tons of grads that haven't been able to get residency, along with that many services are being cut from insurance coverage, so is it a bad idea to be going into pod school? It takes 4 years and able 200K of loans, but in the future will there be enough income to even pay those back, or even an income if you don't get into a residency?
Is applying to pod school a bad idea?
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You're asking this question in the pod section of the forum...everybody here who can give you an actual answer (not pre-meds/pre-pods) is still in the process of finding out this answer. There are only a couple of practicing podiatrists active on the forum, and their success leads me to believe that they will support the decision to apply to pod school. Although you may find some answers here, I think the answers you're really looking for/need can only come from a pod you're shadowing or know.
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At some schools as much as 20% will drop out! Right now 10-15% will not get a residency. It is not as simple as not being in the bottom 15% to avoid not getting a residency. Some top students get unlucky and are left with a useless DPM degree!
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It is a bad idea if you don't want to be a podiatrist. If you want to be a podiatrist you will be part of that 70% that "makes it".
Residency crisis is an issue facing DPM, MD, DO. PharmD has a saturation issue, Dentists have a saturation and residency crisis, OD saturation and market issues, .... All of them are worth wild fields if you WANT to do them.
None of the above are "easy" degrees. The 3.5 gpa undergrad attitude of "I am smart it will be easy" attitude will cause you to flunk out of any of the above mentioned programs. If you want it you have to be willing to work your butt off for the rest of your life.
Residency crisis is an issue facing DPM, MD, DO. PharmD has a saturation issue, Dentists have a saturation and residency crisis, OD saturation and market issues, .... All of them are worth wild fields if you WANT to do them.
None of the above are "easy" degrees. The 3.5 gpa undergrad attitude of "I am smart it will be easy" attitude will cause you to flunk out of any of the above mentioned programs. If you want it you have to be willing to work your butt off for the rest of your life.
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MDs and DDS/DMDs have a residency problem? Definitely not true for dentistry, seeing that you don't need a residency to practice (except in New York). And I have yet to talk to an MD student worried about getting a residency. They are the top of the residency food chain. FMGs and some DOs may have an issue, but I don't think MDs will in the foreseeable future. Saturation is very geographical, some places are saturated in just about every medical profession... Also I think you mean "worth your while".
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Not true at all.
With all due respect, MD and DOs have their own set of problems. The AMA is lobbying hard to get more funding for residency slots and have come up with a number of creative solutions including adding "prison medicine" as a discipline. Several US trained MDs are in a waiting pattern of sorts trying to get a residency, others are in residencies they did not want.
It is true that 10% of new podiatry grads last year failed to get a residency slot even after the scramble. I believe a total of 80-77 people (1+ years) are in a waiting pool. It is embarrassing that we do not have enough active programs to cover all the eligible grads. If this is enough to dissuade you from even trying to become a podiatrist than please I beg you chose a different profession.
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Okay, first of all, you are confusing the reason as to why the AMA wants more residency spots. It's to address the impending shortage in primary care physicians that has been projected, not because US MDs are being held out of finding residency spots. Currently, it is very rare for a US MD (or DO) to not match or scramble into ANY residency spot. There are still unfilled residency positions every year (even after those taken by FMGs), for the time being. Those that are left out typically either have major red flags or were delusional about how competitive they were for certain specialties. Second, students not getting the residency that they want is not a symptom of a major crisis in residency spots. It's been happening for years, as students gun for specialties like derm and then realize that their 215 step 1 score isn't going to cut it or students aren't able to get the exact residency location that they would like. Both of these scenarios still lead to a career as a physician.
