Is D.O. a cop-out?

[EctopicFetus]

Dont know the date of this one.. but I think it might be a little clearer to see the avg GPAs of MD and DO schools..

http://www.eckerd.edu/academics/nas/premed/MCAT_GPA_List.htm

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[EctopicFetus]

Final... one from Ithaca

http://www.ithaca.edu/biology/premed_faq.html#osteoscore

Highlights.. Matriculated student averages for MD in 2003

MCAT 29.6
GPA 3.62

For DO Matriculated (old data) 2001
MCAT 24.7
GPA 3.43

just to compare apples to apples.. 2001 MD
MCAT 29.6
GPA 3.6

 

[GoodDog]

Originally Posted by abceasyas123
Is M.D. a cop-out?
Some of my friends have decided to go to M.D. schools...only b/c they did not make it in hollywood.
would you consider this as a cop-out....a way to just make lots of money?
rather than audition for a big blockbuster film again?
they never had any interest in M.D. until they got rejected by steven spielberg.
what are the chances of getting in anywhere (M.D.) with a MCAT score of 45 and a GPA of 4.0?



^This doesn't make any sense coach!!!!

 

[EctopicFetus]

Well I guess to answer the OP based on the info I found from the web an 18 wont get you into DO or MD school. Time for a retake..

 

[GoodDog]

Well I guess to answer the OP based on the info I found from the web an 18 wont get you into DO or MD school. Time for a retake..

thanks, just wondering


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This post got maddddd people to reply!
some people got pissed for some reason
they gotta relax

 

[shminger]

Here's the deal. Most PreMeders starting their freshman year of college envision themselves two years down the road happily applying for Medical School with a 3.9 Science GPA, and a 37 on the MCAT. Everybody knows this is a pretty competitive process we're all going through, and so people just want to have confidence that they're going to get accepted where they want to go. When reality erodes away fantasy, and that 3.9 and 37 are actually a 3.1 and a 23, people start to question how much confidence they have going through the AAMCAS process, and they start to look for options that match their numbers a little better. Osteopathic schools might be the first route they turn to, but there's also options like Dentistry, Pharmacy, Podiatry, etc etc etc. I would encourage those who truly want that MD to take a step back and realize that not every path has to be a straight shot. There are Post-Bac. programs, master's degrees, volunteering, etc that can strengthen their application tremendously. Also, number's aren't everything. Below is a link from my University that lists the Sci GPA's and MCAT's of people accepted to schools in state. You'll notice there are a handful who have well below a 25 going and/or a low GPA accepted to ALLOPATHIC schools.

http://honors.tamu.edu/opsa/pdf_files/medchart04.pdf

Keep it at, and you'll get where you want to go eventually.

Merry Christmas,
JMPeffer

I'm curious if the Texas JAMP comes in to play here? Does anybody know much about that?

 

[Plinko]

A lot of info on this thread is quite dated. To correct a couple of earlier posts, I'd add that many DO schools have left behind their relationships with community hospitals and have forged relationships with their respective county (500 plus bed) hospitals. Also, in contrast to the post that quoted an apparently deeply out of touch Radiologist, there is an accrediting body for DO schools: the American Osteopathic Association. I'm shocked that a physician that is part of a graduate medical education program (undobutedly ACGME) would not know this. Finally, the admssions numbers that have been quoted are rather old. For example, in 2001, Univ of North Texas had a MCAT of 25. It has gone up substantially since then....

http://www.hsc.unt.edu/education/tcom/frequentlyaskedquestions.cfm

You'll find the same changes at many other schools. I agree though that these numbers may go back down with the opening of so many new schools. I think the AOA is making a major mistake with this new strategy.

 

[Non-TradTulsa]

Oh, what the heck, this hasn't gotten as nasty as I expected - I'll post.

The thing I disagreed with in the original post was - do some people just decide to go to D.O. school because they want to be doctors and make a lot of money?

That's a huge leap. Yes, I know people who switched their career plans from allopathy to osteopathy because they had less-than-stellar MCAT scores. However, these people had an almost religious dedication to medicine - they wanted to be working with patients, and couldn't care less if they had M.D. or D.O. after their names. Some of those folks fall in love with the osteopathic philosophy once they're in. I have tremendous respect for those folks, and I'm sure they'll be great doctors because they have such terrific attitudes.

Making a lot of money doesn't necessarily have anything to do with it.

 

[Fermata]

At the end of the day it's pretty much the same thing.

There are certainly negatives about going DO versus MD but DO being a "copout" is not one of them.

 

[dr.z]

At the end of the day it's pretty much the same thing.

There are certainly negatives about going DO versus MD but DO being a "copout" is not one of them.

Exactly.

 

[TexPre-Med]

I don't understand the D.O. degree at all. Hasn't its original purpose died? From personal experience with 3 FP's and 2 ER docs, I have never seen manipulative medicine used. Has anyone actually seen it in practice or better, had it used on them? D.O.'s claim they use less pills to treat problems (claiming holistic stuff). From my experience (and costly experiment I pulled), they do the exact opposite. By costly experiment, I went to an M.D. and D.O. for the same problem in 1 day. The D.O. gave me an extra couple prescriptions. His words, "You have 1 of 2 things. I'm not sure which, so here are an extra 2 prescriptions to rule out all possibilities." NO JOKE!

The only benefit I see from D.O.'s is that they fill the PCP nitch. Anybody feel differently?

 

[TSisk23]

At the end of the day it's pretty much the same thing.

There are certainly negatives about going DO versus MD but DO being a "copout" is not one of them.

Well Said.

 

[snobored18]

wow....alright so I'm from Iowa and a lot of our primary care physicians are DMU grads...they are all terrific doctors...this is something MCAT scores and GPA can't completely measure...That said I completely agree with some of the people who talked about all the new DO schools popping up, they are going to destroy what schools like DMU have worked hard to establish...and that is that the DO degree is an equal alternative to the allopathic route for the training of primary care physicians...I don't think you can argue the fact that if someone deeply interested in the research and experimental side of medicine would be better suited to pursue an osteopathic training though...the DO schools don't recieve and don't pursue a lot of extramural funding for these pursuits and thus if you want to watch a cutting edge peripheral stem cell transplant for treating non-hodgkins lymphoma you will likely see this procedure done at Iowa well before it occurs at DMU (if it ever occurs at DMU)...and I think that is the big difference and may be why some residency programs seem to heavily favor MD candidates...its based on exposure and having done research and other activities that show you have exposure to the specialty you want to pursue...thus simply on finances is where most US MD programs have an edge over DO...I think if they continue to open up new DO schools that really for all practical purposes are significantly less selective than their established counterparts there will be a net effect on the value and respect of the DO degree hence why they need a (or a better) governing body. But I suppose Mayo was only founded in 1972...look how far they've gone...then again you can't argue with me that Edward Via and some of the upstart osteopathics have the same resources...cause honestly no school in the US has the resources (in every sense of the word) of the Mayo Clinic...

 

[QuantumMechanic]

wow....alright so I'm from Iowa and a lot of our primary care physicians are DMU grads...they are all terrific doctors...this is something MCAT scores and GPA can't completely measure...That said I completely agree with some of the people who talked about all the new DO schools popping up, they are going to destroy what schools like DMU have worked hard to establish...and that is that the DO degree is an equal alternative to the allopathic route for the training of primary care physicians...I don't think you can argue the fact that if someone deeply interested in the research and experimental side of medicine would be better suited to pursue an osteopathic training though...the DO schools don't recieve and don't pursue a lot of extramural funding for these pursuits and thus if you want to watch a cutting edge peripheral stem cell transplant for treating non-hodgkins lymphoma you will likely see this procedure done at Iowa well before it occurs at DMU (if it ever occurs at DMU)...and I think that is the big difference and may be why some residency programs seem to heavily favor MD candidates...its based on exposure and having done research and other activities that show you have exposure to the specialty you want to pursue...thus simply on finances is where most US MD programs have an edge over DO...I think if they continue to open up new DO schools that really for all practical purposes are significantly less selective than their established counterparts there will be a net effect on the value and respect of the DO degree hence why they need a (or a better) governing body. But I suppose Mayo was only founded in 1972...look how far they've gone...then again you can't argue with me that Edward Via and some of the upstart osteopathics have the same resources...cause honestly no school in the US has the resources (in every sense of the word) of the Mayo Clinic...

you hit the nail on the head. the current trend though shows that more "branch" DO campuses are going to keep popping up which will make some of these schools seem laughable (philadelphia in atlanta?? Lake Erie in Florida??) and will show that some of these institutions are there for the money rather than to produce quality physicians. I hope the AOA will get its act together and stop this mockery of medical education.

 

[jbone]

At the end of the day it's pretty much the same thing.

There are certainly negatives about going DO versus MD but DO being a "copout" is not one of them.

word.

 

[Phil Anthropist]

Please remember that threads discussing the differences between the two degrees are fine, but MD vs. DO flame wars are not allowed.

I'll acknowledge that this thread is pretty tame. Some posts had some pretty specious, outdated, or inaccurate info, but the posts were still pretty civil. However, the original post is flame bait (deliberate or not) and this discussion isn't particularly useful. Many of the issues brought up in this thread have been discussed at length in the past. I recommend running some searches. And again, threads discussing the differences between the two degrees are fine as long as the discussions are civil.