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I'm a senior in college and attended a premed orientation a few weeks ago that was offered by my school's pre-medical advising office. There were a few speakers at the meeting, one of whom got up and asked the room how many students planned to apply to an allopathic medical school the next year. Most people didn't know what allopathic was, but I'd say 99% of the hands went up. He then asked who could explain the difference between allopathic and osteopathic and why they weren't considering the latter. Nobody raised a hand.
I've spent some time reading up on the differences and I'm frankly embarrassed that I still couldn't answer the speaker's question. The real answer why I'm applying to allopathic schools - I think it's most peoples' answer - is that that's just what people generally do. Going with the flow, so to speak.
Quantitatively, there seems to be a difference between GPAs and MCATs of those who matriculate to osteopathic and allopathic schools. I've also read the threads about the possibility of more tests later on, a handful of states with weird licensing rules, possible bias against (though not limited to) DOs in certain residencies and fields, etc. None of these things, however, seems like a great reason to go DO vs. MD, or vice versa.
Before reading the threads in this forum, had I had to answer the speaker at my meeting, I would have BSed something about different philosophies between MD and DO programs. I would have hoped that he wouldn't press the issue, because I can't really explain the difference between the philosophies. I thought that after reading up on it in this forum I would be able to, but I've come across more pre-DOs who say that the philosophy stuff is either archaic or BS than those who say they're applying because of that.
I'm guessing that when you interview at a DO school, it's possible that the interviewer could ask why you're applying DO instead of MD. What do people say? Given how many DOs do allopathic residencies, it seems that it would be hard for any answer to really be that meaningful. Conversely, I can't think of how someone could honestly answer why they're applying MD instead of DO.
I've spent some time reading up on the differences and I'm frankly embarrassed that I still couldn't answer the speaker's question. The real answer why I'm applying to allopathic schools - I think it's most peoples' answer - is that that's just what people generally do. Going with the flow, so to speak.
Quantitatively, there seems to be a difference between GPAs and MCATs of those who matriculate to osteopathic and allopathic schools. I've also read the threads about the possibility of more tests later on, a handful of states with weird licensing rules, possible bias against (though not limited to) DOs in certain residencies and fields, etc. None of these things, however, seems like a great reason to go DO vs. MD, or vice versa.
Before reading the threads in this forum, had I had to answer the speaker at my meeting, I would have BSed something about different philosophies between MD and DO programs. I would have hoped that he wouldn't press the issue, because I can't really explain the difference between the philosophies. I thought that after reading up on it in this forum I would be able to, but I've come across more pre-DOs who say that the philosophy stuff is either archaic or BS than those who say they're applying because of that.
I'm guessing that when you interview at a DO school, it's possible that the interviewer could ask why you're applying DO instead of MD. What do people say? Given how many DOs do allopathic residencies, it seems that it would be hard for any answer to really be that meaningful. Conversely, I can't think of how someone could honestly answer why they're applying MD instead of DO.