Just COMLEX or take both???

[mandolin]

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I am a DO student and want to do my residency in NY (in one of the boroughs). I don't know if I should take both USMLE and COMLEX or just stick with the COMLEX. Some say USMLE makes you more competitive, others say if the program doesnt take COMLEX they wont take a DO anyway.

 

[bkpa2med]

I'm a DO student as well. I will take the USMLE as well because I plan to go back to NYC for residency. But, what type of residency are you looking for? In all honesty, if you take the USMLE the Prog Directors can compare you accordingly to your Allopathic colleagues.

 

[Terpskins99]

I am a DO student and want to do my residency in NY (in one of the boroughs). I don't know if I should take both USMLE and COMLEX or just stick with the COMLEX. Some say USMLE makes you more competitive, others say if the program doesnt take COMLEX they wont take a DO anyway.

Not true. Virtually every allopathic categorical residency requires the USMLE and plenty of them have accepted DO's into their program. Yes, there are some programs that are still biased against DO's, but they are shrinking in number. Curiously, I know of two such hospitals that have historically taken few-to-zero DO's as residents (UAB and Johns Hopkins), but I know for a fact that they both have recently taken in DO's as fellows. Go figure. 🙄

Bottom line, if you want to have the widest selection of hospitals available to apply to, you need to take the USMLE. Now this is assuming, of course, that you know you can PASS the USMLE. If you're certain you'll do abysmally on it, then you should consider taking just the COMLEX. Because of that reason, you should really talk to your dean and/or academic adviser.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[peppy]

The COMLEX is just the USMLE plus a little extra OMM, so I think it's worthwhile to prepare as if you're going to take both...which means studying harder than you ever have in your life. ;-) Then, as the test date comes close, take one of the official USMLE practice tests to gauge how well-prepared you are and if you can do well on the USMLE. If not, just cancel your appointment for the USMLE.

Personally, I took both and actually did BETTER on the USMLE than on the COMLEX (mostly because I dislike OMM and didn't study it very hard). Even though on the day of the USMLE I was extremely nervous and tempted to back out because I felt like I wasn't ready and never would be - in the end, I am definitely glad that I took both. 🙂

 

[osli]

I may be completely off here, but I was told by an OMS-IV student that DO's have the luxury of simply not reporting the USMLE score on their application... that it is "simply a box you either check or not" to include that score.

It sure sounded like this was in reference to both allo and osteo residencies, but perhaps this was for AOA only?

If there is truth to what I was told, it would seem the only downside to taking the USMLE is the extra cost.

Personally, I'll be applying to allopathic programs for geographical reasons. And I want to make it as easy for them to say "yes" to me as possible... so I'll take the USMLE and hopefully nail it.

 

[annh31]

I'm pretty sure you HAVE to report it - it's no longer an option. So if you take the USMLE, you better do well. It's a bigger deal than people think - those tests are NOT the same, and COMLEX is not USMLE+OMM.

 

[osli]

I plan on doing well... but I'm sure most everyone does. 😉

I'll follow what seems to be conventional wisdom here on SDN... prepare for the USMLE exclusively and with the intent of knocking it out of the park, and then spend a couple of days refreshing OMM before taking the COMLEX.