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- Sep 19, 2011
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You werent responding to me but I will reply since I saw it. I am a bit of a weird situation because I never applied to any MD schools because although I had a 3.78 in grad school my undergrad GPA was still HORRIBLE. My grad school GPA wouldnt have moved my undergrad GPA on amcas...but AACOMAS has a spot for cumulative undergrad+grad GPA. I knew I would have been prescreened at most MD schools so I just didnt bother wasting the money.
Knowing what I know now I would have DEF applied to some MD schools. It has nothing to do with perceived stigma, because i really dont buy into that crap, and its not a huge problem where I live/plan on practicing. It has nothing to do with my competitiveness at allo programs, since I am most likely doing EM and EM is a pretty DO friendly specialty currently. It has nothing to do with the education, since I found the instruction at my school to be VERY good and I personally dont see how the instruction at most allo school could be any better.
But it has everything to do with the attitude of the AOA, old school DOs, and the "OMM folk." They just fail to recognize what 90% of modern DO students want. They fail to recognize the fact that 90 or more percent of DO med students, upon graduation will never use OMM again. Yet they still push this like its some awesome thing that we have had bestowed upon us by the gods of osteopathy. No. Its not. And i just dont see how it would even be applicable to anyone outside of family medicine. Especially nowadays where there is a push to see more pts (and especially in family med) I just dont see most docs having the time to fit this into an exam session.
They fail to recognize that modern day DO grads arent interested in just being primary care docs...yet (the aoa especially) keeps pushing this idea. The chip these hardline DOs and OMM docs have on their shoulder is extremely offputting. Of all the grades I got in med school, my OMM grades were the lowest. And despite the instruction only taking maybe an hour a week if not less, it was a disproportionate pain in the ass....in terms of having to deal with ridiculous requirements the OMM dept put out (which again are driven by the fact that they have a chip on their shoulder). So to CHANGE what law2doc said....I dont think it impacts the DELIVERY of instruction of all the other disciplines...but I surely think it IMPACTS you studying for the other disciplines. For example: our OMM dept LOVED putting our written exams the monday of our finals weeks for blocks. So wed be forced to study for these which would divert my attention away from studying for a more important class....which is unacceptable. But then again, they likely believe their subject is just as important as the others.
I could literally go on and on about this for days, but I will spare you all that. I think DO schools have a lot of great attributes, and the DO philosophy (while mostly bull bc almost all DO grads practice in the same manner of our allo counterparts) is a good way to be looking at practicing medicine. I think the admissions focus on other things than just numbers is also a good way to be doing things. With my undergrad numbers I likely never would have gotten in to an MD program due to that AMCAS issue I spoke about. Yet I have been very successful grade wise in my DO school...and judging by my NBME practice test scores I should be very successful on my usmle next week as well. It just goes to show that grades really arent everything, and if DO schools werent around I may have been passed up on. So for that I am really thankful.
But at the end of the day there is really no compelling reason to go to a DO school unless you absolutely cannot get into an MD school/dont think you can get in or for some god aweful reason want to spend your life as an OMM specialist. I likely wouldnt reapply and wait another year for an MD acceptance tho...unless you have really great numbers and your app profile was too top heavy/something weird happened. Just not worth the time/chance of not getting an acceptance and getting blacklisted at DO programs for dropping your acceptance.
Hope that wasnt too scathing, just an honest portrayal of the situation from someone who is on the inside. I think a lot of DO students are embarrassed to give the full story on this board, because they dont want to give the pre allo DO haters any more ammo. But this has nothing to do with the BS crap most of those kids argue about (prestige, matching ROADS, weird prejudices I have never personally seen)...and everything to do with the pathway...and the extra BS you have to deal with.
First of all, good luck next week!! Second of all, thank you so much for your post, it is very insightful, and not something you normally read here.
Sorry for my naive questions but isnt there very little evidence to support that OMM works? And when it does, it only works for a few situations (lower back pain?) So...why does DO push it? What about the 100 year old philosophy about treating "the whole" and the "persons spirit"? Isn't it obvious that it is a load of crap? Why do they hang on to it...just to make sure that there is a distinction between MD and DO? Then what is the reason for THAT...political reasons? You know, I always wondered this but never had the balls to ask this on SDN...how does someone interview at DO schools when it is obvious that whatever you say is bullsht: "oh yeaaaah Mr. Dean. I really want to go to your school because it emphasises an ancient/defunct philosophy, and a pointless class . But lets cut the bs, im here cause my grades suck, my mcat is on the low side, but I know that I can still be a competent physician. Hence im willing to deal with your shananagans and put up with this false facade " ?????? I mean, aren't DO's realllly intelligent people, so don't they understand the nonsense that they accentuate and that the MD med school model is the right one? If they know it...and I know it...then it would make me feel really stupid to lie with my fake smiles and memorized/prepaed speeches. How do people go about this problem? What do they say? Or do most DO's actually believe everything that the philosophy preaches? (btw, i hope this is not offensive to you. If its any consolation coming from a lowly premed like myself, you seem like a really nice guy, and like someone I would trust my life with in an emergency department. My apologies for being so misinformed about the politics pertaining to MD/DO)
I typed this on my phone, so dont hate on the spelling.