Leaning towards D.O.

[NontradCA]

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https://www.aamc.org/download/152968/data/debtfactcard.pdf
https://www.aamc.org/download/161128/data/table1.pdf

That 61 percent you used is instate status not tuition so you can't use it as those paying average of in state tuition. You would need to find percentage of students going to state schools etc.. or take a look at total debt incurred. I'm not doing it. I think it's a good investment still; but realistically why not go to the cheapest school if choosing primary care? The thing that gets me is that some DO schools have primary care emphasis while charging 40+k ? Makes no sense. LECOM does this but their tutuion is cheap as hell. Again, what are you paying for?

 

[Didierdrogba]

meh, I think my points have come across well enough

realistically why not go to the cheapest school if choosing primary care? The thing that gets me is that some DO schools have primary care emphasis while charging 40+k ? Makes no sense. LECOM does this but their tutuion is cheap as hell. Again, what are you paying for?

👍

 

[NontradCA]

meh, I think my points have come across well enough



👍

Ya you did actually. Either way it's a crapload of debt. Mine was there's more instate MDs than all DO schools. If the person can be competitive for both price can be an issue no matter what..but I don't want to argue over this any longer.

 

[poopyhead]

Why will no one accept that someone might just be legitimately interested in DO?

We had a 3.8, 41Q applicant two years back who legitimately wanted to become a DO. These things do happen.

rare, rare exception

AND did that 3.8 include any grade replacement and/or inflated graduate level courses?

very few DO matriculants actually turned down an MD acceptance (not just "I could've gotten into MD with my stats")

Metrics aren't the only reasons people shoot for osteopathic medical schools.

Based on personal experience, the only other reasons would be 1) tuition (i.e. public DO school vs private MD school) 2) scholarships 3) location

While stats may not be the sole reason, given a hypothetical situation in which an applicant was accepted to both a MD and DO school at the same location with the same tuition, I have my doubts the person will choose DO over MD.

 

[hallowmann]

To be honest, excluding the UCs and Texas med schools most medical schools cost about the same. MSUCOM OOS tuition and CCOM/AZCOM are kind of high, but all the rest are in the $35-$45k range. The cheapest medical school in my state happens to be a private DO school.

very few DO matriculants actually turned down an MD acceptance (not just "I could've gotten into MD with my stats")


Based on personal experience, the only other reasons would be 1) tuition (i.e. public DO school vs private MD school) 2) scholarships 3) location

While stats may not be the sole reason, given a hypothetical situation in which an applicant was accepted to both a MD and DO school at the same location with the same tuition, I have my doubts the person will choose DO over MD.

First you say very few DO matriculants have turned down an MD acceptance for a DO one, then you list three MAJOR reasons why they would do that. Those are themselves some pretty big reasons for people to do just what you are claiming is very rare, and it certainly does happen. Plus, you aren't disproving Lysilegluleu with your statements, because he didn't specify a reason, he just said that metrics weren't the only reasons to go DO. There are also people that choose DO, because their mentors are DOs, their childhood PCPs were DOs, their parents are DOs, they *gasp* actually find value in OMM, etc. It happens. Its maybe not super common, but I wouldn't be surprised if it were more common in DO heavy states like Ohio, Michigan, etc..

You are from the west coast, and given the general lack of DOs and schools there, most of the people you probably interacted with went DO only because they couldn't get into MD. Those of us from places with huge well-known DO schools know people that go that route because it actually interests them more than MD schools.

 

[lase42]

rare, rare exception

AND did that 3.8 include any grade replacement and/or inflated graduate level courses?

very few DO matriculants actually turned down an MD acceptance (not just "I could've gotten into MD with my stats")




Based on personal experience, the only other reasons would be 1) tuition (i.e. public DO school vs private MD school) 2) scholarships 3) location

While stats may not be the sole reason, given a hypothetical situation in which an applicant was accepted to both a MD and DO school at the same location with the same tuition, I have my doubts the person will choose DO over MD.

how rare would you say this exception is? it is a very important stat that i am sure is readily available once matriculating into a DO school.

 

[Jamie561]

I am generally interested in the osteopathic way of thinking.

If by "osteopathic way of thinking" you mean holistic medicine, caring for the individual, non-evidence based medicine, etc, all of that nonsense is BS.

On the other hand, if you mean lower admissions standards, I wholly agree with your reasons for applying DO. Still, you are on the cusp of being competitive with MD.

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[hallowmann]

If by "osteopathic way of thinking" you mean holistic medicine, caring for the individual, non-evidence based medicine, etc, all of that nonsense is BS.

On the other hand, if you mean lower admissions standards, I wholly agree with your reasons for applying DO. Still, you are on the cusp of being competitive with MD.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

They might mean the significance placed on primary care and the use of OMM. While a lot of MD schools push for primary care in underserved areas (especially the new schools), DO schools tend to push even more for that route. In addition, some people really like the ability to perform OMM to relieve basic musculoskeletal pain. A lot of DOs end up going into sports or pain for this reason, because of the efficacy of OMM in some situations. Rather than referring the patient to a PT or them wanting to go to a chiropractor, you can end up doing the treatment yourself.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

If by "osteopathic way of thinking" you mean holistic medicine, caring for the individual, non-evidence based medicine, etc, all of that nonsense is BS.

On the other hand, if you mean lower admissions standards, I wholly agree with your reasons for applying DO. Still, you are on the cusp of being competitive with MD.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Well this not to disagree with the notion that many DO schools have a medical mission to satisfy and provide care for certain groups or etc. This is not unlike schools like Gtown or Eastern Virginia.

 

[lase42]

If by "osteopathic way of thinking" you mean holistic medicine, caring for the individual, non-evidence based medicine, etc, all of that nonsense is BS.

On the other hand, if you mean lower admissions standards, I wholly agree with your reasons for applying DO. Still, you are on the cusp of being competitive with MD.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

i got into a DO school that has higher academic standards than a US MD school. does that mean the DO school is better?

 

[poopyhead]

First you say very few DO matriculants have turned down an MD acceptance for a DO one, then you list three MAJOR reasons why they would do that. Those are themselves some pretty big reasons for people to do just what you are claiming is very rare, and it certainly does happen. Plus, you aren't disproving Lysilegluleu with your statements, because he didn't specify a reason, he just said that metrics weren't the only reasons to go DO. There are also people that choose DO, because their mentors are DOs, their childhood PCPs were DOs, their parents are DOs, they *gasp* actually find value in OMM, etc. It happens. Its maybe not super common, but I wouldn't be surprised if it were more common in DO heavy states like Ohio, Michigan, etc..

Those statements are not mutually exclusive. These are simply significant reasons for a rare occurrence.

how rare would you say this exception is? it is a very important stat that i am sure is readily available once matriculating into a DO school.

Not sure they even keep track of this. I honestly have no idea the exact percentage, but I know very few classmates who turned down an actual MD acceptance (not waitlist, not "I have the stats for MD"). Those that did was because of tuition, since I do attend one of the few public DO schools.

 

[lase42]

Those statements are not mutually exclusive. These are simply significant reasons for a rare occurrence.




Not sure they even keep track of this. I honestly have no idea the exact percentage, but I know very few classmates who turned down an actual MD acceptance (not waitlist, not "I have the stats for MD"). Those that did was because of tuition, since I do attend one of the few public DO schools.

how would you recommend bringing this up in conversation? i, too, attend a public DO school and am a turner of down to allopathy, but no one has ever asked/congratulated me on my decision. 🙁

i wonder if there are other day-walkers amongst me?

 

[SLC]

rare, rare exception

AND did that 3.8 include any grade replacement and/or inflated graduate level courses?

very few DO matriculants actually turned down an MD acceptance (not just "I could've gotten into MD with my stats")

Nope no grade replacement, just a genuine preference for Osteopathic Medicine, this girl was just flat out brilliant. And if I remember correctly, her u-grad degree was in engineering of some sort. She also had an acceptance at the State-MD at the time of choosing our school (our school cost a lot more in tuition by the way).

Another classmate of mine was exactly the same. Turned down the same State-MD to attend our school because he just liked our program better.

And another classmate who turned down 3 separate MD acceptances to come to our program. A lot of people (more than SDN would lead you to believe) are less concerned with "prestige" And more concerned with going to the school that impressed them the most, or that they felt the most comfortable at.

That's only a few people, but we also have a lot of Michiganders/Midwesterners who probably don't have nearly the same hangups about MD vs. DO that most on here do.

I swear the differences/percieved advantages are way overblown on SDN.

 

[hallowmann]

I swear the differences/percieved advantages are way overblown on SDN.

The differences are highly dependent on where you want to practice and what type of residency you want. If you are going into primary care and working in the midwest its non-existent, or even better to go DO so you can practice and bill for OMT. If you want rad onc or plastics and want to live in L.A., then its probably a bit bigger. Its funny that people who can't imagine "lowering themselves" to DO are so shocked that others might actually want it. Not everyone going into medicine has the same goals, other than maybe helping people, which can be fulfilled with almost any degree.

 

[as1212559]

The differences are highly dependent on one's grasp of reality.

 

[poopyhead]

That's only a few people, but we also have a lot of Michiganders/Midwesterners who probably don't have nearly the same hangups about MD vs. DO that most on here do.

I swear the differences/percieved advantages are way overblown on SDN.

That is still a small percentage though. Like I said, a few of my classmates turned down MD as well. However, it certainly is not enough to bring overall DO stats (especially given grade replacement) on par with MD stats.

 

[SLC]

That is still a small percentage though. Like I said, a few of my classmates turned down MD as well. However, it certainly is not enough to bring overall DO stats (especially given grade replacement) on par with MD stats.

That much is obvious. But tell me again, why does this even matter? I mean, even with the difference in average matriculant stats we all become physicians with the exact same rights and scope of practice. So apart from being able to beat your chest and have a slightly better than zero chance of matching RadOnc (if you even want that), what is the point of even having this conversation?

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

That much is obvious. But tell me again, why does this even matter? I mean, even with the difference in average matriculant stats we all become physicians with the exact same rights and scope of practice. So apart from being able to beat your chest and have a slightly better than zero chance of matching RadOnc (if you even want that), what is the point of even having this conversation?

There is a high concentration of jackassary in this thread. Sure, the OP might be rationalizing going DO, but that's his choice and in the end he'll be a doctor and have his shot at most residencies.

 

[Jamie561]

i got into a DO school that has higher academic standards than a US MD school. does that mean the DO school is better?

Depends on what you mean by better.

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[poopyhead]

That much is obvious. But tell me again, why does this even matter?

Because that's what we're discussing in this thread?

Be honest, it's your 26 7PS10V9BS MCAT score that is leaning you towards DO. Retake your MCAT and you'll be fine for MD with your GPA.

Why will no one accept that someone might just be legitimately interested in DO?

We had a 3.8, 41Q applicant two years back who legitimately wanted to become a DO. These things do happen.

 

[SLC]

Because that's what we're discussing in this thread?