Is it bad that i do not care, MD or DO?

[Creightonite]

I just want to become a surgeon in one of the competetive fields. I might not have grades good enough for an MD school so that's basically the only reason why I am applying for DO. I just want to pick up the nessasary training to get into a residency, but I do not think i care much about non-traditional kind of medicine. I might have grades good enough to get into one of the top DO schools.

I just need to know if I am going to DO for the wrong reasons and whether I can get required education to be competetive in whatever field I want. I think people still look down at MD and I want to avoid having that kind of sour feeling when applying for residencies.

I mean i think it is important to be honest about youself so that's pretty much it.

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[ForcTe]

DOs are good to be family doctors.
If you want to be a real surgeon, go to an MD school!

 

[MossPoh]

While both degrees are held to be exactly equal with the same rights and whatnot it is generally much less common to see a DO surgeon than any of the primary care positions. I know some very good DO surgeons but it is generally seen as an uphill battle especially depending on what area of surgery you want to go into...General surgery followed by a fellowship would probably be a little bit easier than say getting an allopathic residency in plastics or ortho.. If you have good enough scores on the USMLE for allopathic, or get into a good DO residency (which I don't know truly what that entails) then you will be equal in knowledge or skill to an MD....It's not like osteopathic schools are dumbed down medschools, they just focus a bit heavier on primary care (but then some allopathic schools do too...like FSU) Work hard enough and you'll be able to get ALMOST anything..it'll be an uphill battle in some situations but still possible.

 

[ForcTe]

 

[Millcreek]

I agree with the previous posts.
If you really want to become a surgeon, I won't advise you to go to a DO school, that will only lower your chance.

 

[Megalofyia]

Its not impossible to be a DO and go into surgery.

Pediatric neurosurgeon DO

Another pediatric neurosurgeon DO

There is a neurosurgeon DO and neurologist DO working this this group.

DO or MD to get into a competative field you have to have good scores and do well in school.

 

[CatsandCradles]

This is going to sound a little bit simple, but perhaps you should consult your phone book and look up "physicians."

I'm from a fairly small town and there are phone listings with DOs in almost every field with the exception of dermatology. But who the hell cares about dermatology anyway.

But perhaps you ought to apply to specific DO schools if you want to enter surgery. Schools like PCOM or Michigan are mostly specialty schools, so you might want to look into that in further detail. Whereas other schools centers around primary care. The US News listings really help a great deal if you can get a hold of them.

Either way, getting into a competitive field is going to be a tough road reguardless of whether you enter an MD or DO program. You're going to have to get some really high board scores. As a DO that might mean taking the USMLE as well as your COMLEX. That's going to be a lot of work.

You could aim for an osteopathic residency in surgery - but there are a few and those are super compeitive to get in. So that kind of rules that pathway out for us people of "regular" intelligence. You may have to consider going the ACMGE route.

I'm sure there are others on this forum who can advise you better. Creightonite, I'm going to assume you're at Creighton University? They have an MD program there and I would apply there as well as your state MD schools as well. Don't just rule out MD schools.

Best of wishes and God speed,

C&C

 

[cee]

i'm thinking about going into surgery too, i dont see what the big deal is that DO students are talking about. I see many OSTEOPATHIC general surgery residency spots that go unfilled every year. i'm not looking into plastics or ortho, what's so difficult about going into general surgery as a DO?

 

[Krazykritter]

cee,

You obviously have not seen match statistics this year as general surgery was among the most competitive spots this year. To my knowledge, there may have been ONE categorical position that went unfilled. There are always prelim spots in both allo & osteopathic spots left b/c who wants to have a one year spot unless it is required to enter another residency as PGY-2.

There are plenty of DO g-surg programs. However, if a person is interested in competitive surgery subspecialties such as peds surg...you should go MD. You CANNOT be boarded as a DO if you do an osteopathic residency & then an MD fellowship. If you can't be boarded, why would any fellowship accept you?? The reality is that they won't.

 

[Creightonite]

Yeah, it's creighton. I want to leave as many options as possible for the future. It seems like going DO will cut those options significantly, at least it is the impression i got so far... BTW, Univ of Ne Med center is the ranked #11 in the US news and world report, too bad i cant apply there.

 

[MJB]

It won't matter if you don't make the most of the opportunity once you get to Med School...be that DO or MD. It takes high marks in either one to get where you want to go.

 

[Shinken]

Wow. This forum never ceases to amaze me.

 

[USArmyDoc]

DOs are good to be family doctors.
If you want to be a real surgeon, go to an MD school!

Troll

 

[PlasticMan]

It is an uphill battle, but it is definitely possible. I'm entering DO school in the fall and am planning on working very hard to get into plastics as the end result. I know a plastic surgeon DO who graduated from the same school I will be entering, so it's definitely possible. And btw, he has no problem getting enough patients; last time I was in his office to speak to him, he had 9 surgeries planned that week!

 

[EastCoaster78]

DOs are good to be family doctors.
If you want to be a real surgeon, go to an MD school!

btw PCOM only graduated 37% of its students into primary care residencies bwtween 2002-2004.

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/grad/webextras/brief/sb_med_primarycare_brief.php

 

[Raven Feather]

Since you seem sure you won't get into MD school and will DO school...looks like you don't have any other option. You will either then a) go to DO school and make it possible to be surgeon or b) If you don't chose the DO path, you won't get into MD school and never become a physician or surgeon period.

I didn't care whether I went MD or DO and still don't. I'm going to be a physician.

 

[CatsandCradles]

Yeah, it's creighton. I want to leave as many options as possible for the future. It seems like going DO will cut those options significantly, at least it is the impression i got so far... BTW, Univ of Ne Med center is the ranked #11 in the US news and world report, too bad i cant apply there.

Well, if you really really want to go on and do a fellowship for a sub-speacialty, perhaps you should take sometime to improve yourself a bit.

Maybe take an additional year to raise your GPA and score higher on the MCATs. And try for an MD school. Not saying that it cannot be done as a DO, but as a DO you will be doing a lot more work to get where you want. There are DO radiologist, ENTs, and opthomalogist - I have shadowed them - but all these individuals were very brilliant people and talented people.

A lot of people don't enter medical school right after they finnish their undergrad institution you know. And there's nothing wrong with doing a post-bac program. They are costly, but if you are really bent on getting into a surgical sub speacialty, perhaps you should look into that route.

Creighton is a big school. They might have a fairly good research oportunity there for you to do. Med schools like that - and it might help somehow when applying for those fellowships afterwards. Remember you got to do what's right for you. Don't just go to a DO school all the while wishing you were at an MD program - otherwise you might be unhappy. If you can't get into that MD program your heart was aching to do for so long, I say wait a little and try again.

Again, Godspeed and best of luck

C&C

 

[beachbunny]

Either way, getting into a competitive field is going to be a tough road reguardless of whether you enter an MD or DO program. You're going to have to get some really high board scores. As a DO that might mean taking the USMLE as well as your COMLEX. That's going to be a lot of work.


C&C

Just a question...if you do take the USMLE as well as the COMLEX is it really a lot of extra work? I understand you didn't say "extra" but it seems like that's what you might have meant. Correct me if I'm wrong! I can see that just the fact that you have to take another whole exam would be a little more work, but do you have to do separate studying for the two? I'm just freaking out a little, because from what I've heard, it's no big deal to take both; (even though they are written a bit differently) studying for the COMLEX prepares you pretty well for the USLME. Would you agree with that?

 

[HemaOncoDoc]

This is going to sound a little bit simple, but perhaps you should consult your phone book and look up "physicians."

I'm from a fairly small town and there are phone listings with DOs in almost every field with the exception of dermatology. But who the hell cares about dermatology anyway.

But perhaps you ought to apply to specific DO schools if you want to enter surgery. Schools like PCOM or Michigan are mostly specialty schools, so you might want to look into that in further detail. Whereas other schools centers around primary care. The US News listings really help a great deal if you can get a hold of them.

Either way, getting into a competitive field is going to be a tough road reguardless of whether you enter an MD or DO program. You're going to have to get some really high board scores. As a DO that might mean taking the USMLE as well as your COMLEX. That's going to be a lot of work.

You could aim for an osteopathic residency in surgery - but there are a few and those are super compeitive to get in. So that kind of rules that pathway out for us people of "regular" intelligence. You may have to consider going the ACMGE route.

I'm sure there are others on this forum who can advise you better. Creightonite, I'm going to assume you're at Creighton University? They have an MD program there and I would apply there as well as your state MD schools as well. Don't just rule out MD schools.

Best of wishes and God speed,

C&C

Sound advice

 

[CatsandCradles]

Just a question...if you do take the USMLE as well as the COMLEX is it really a lot of extra work? I understand you didn't say "extra" but it seems like that's what you might have meant. Correct me if I'm wrong! I can see that just the fact that you have to take another whole exam would be a little more work, but do you have to do separate studying for the two? I'm just freaking out a little, because from what I've heard, it's no big deal to take both; (even though they are written a bit differently) studying for the COMLEX prepares you pretty well for the USLME. Would you agree with that?

I'm relatively new here. Maybe someone who has taken both of them can answer that better than I. You might want to go into the USMLE and COMLEX forum we have on SDN. There was a fairly good discussion sometime ago if you can find it.

 

[Taus]

I'm relatively new here. Maybe someone who has taken both of them can answer that better than I. You might want to go into the USMLE and COMLEX forum we have on SDN. There was a fairly good discussion sometime ago if you can find it.

its not a big deal and is commonly done.....studying adequately for the usmle will get you everything you need for the comlex except OMM....most people take around a week in between the exams and just brush up on the slight differences between the 2 ( btw I'm only a first year but I have read A LOT about this and talked to many students who have taken both recently)

 

[heyimnick]

To those that have applied to both MD and DO, does it look disfavorable for MD schools if I have two letters of rec from DO's. I'm interested in both, but I'm wondering if allopathic schools would be turned off by that. Anyone familiar with this, please let me know. Thanks.

 

[Taus]

To those that have applied to both MD and DO, does it look disfavorable for MD schools if I have two letters of rec from DO's. I'm interested in both, but I'm wondering if allopathic schools would be turned off by that. Anyone familiar with this, please let me know. Thanks.

it may not be favorable to do that or it may not really matter....either way....it is usually a good idea to not go against the grain in any way in this crazy process....just as you should probably get a DO letter for DO school...you should probably get an MD letter for an MD school

 

[shttthttle]

Two things:

1) If you have read my post titled: Frustrated.... it is because of this whole thread

2) I would not consider Osteopathy non-traditional or in other words, I would consider it traditional because it has become mainstream. Many Osteopathic adcoms might get upset if you refer to osteopathy as an alternative health care system.

Good luck!

 

[jbone]

It doesn't matter to me at all. But I'm older so maybe that is why. I was accepted into 2 MD programs and a number of DO programs. I will however, be attending DMU this fall because I absolutely loved it. Simple as that. No regrets. And I feel that DMU has just as much to offer as the others. Like I said, no regrets.