Meharry vs. D.O.

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pdiddy04

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I know this is a contreversial topic but I am a white male and I am holding acceptances at both Meharry College of medicine in TN (historically african american) and Nova Southeastern college of osteopathic medicine.

My intentions are not to start a war but to see what school would give me the most oppertunities at gaining a competetive residency. (orthopedics)

I like NSU facilities, and it is in sunny Florida, but Meharry is an allopathic school and I think that will increase my chances for residency.

I guess I am asking what would you do. 🙄
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Looks like you can approach the decision from a couple of angles.

1. Location: TN vs. FL, couldn't get more opposite than that.

2. Cost: always a factor

3. Obviously being an MD or DO: That's certainly a topic that's been discussed ad nauseum on these boards. Since you've already been accepted to Nova you probably know about the DO profession and some of its differences. I would say ask yourelf whether you identify with the DO philosophy & idea of OMM, or if it's something you would just have to live with. It would be a long four years if the latter were true.

4. Getting into Orthopedics: Everyone agrees that it's trough to get into ortho regardless of your degree. If I recall correctly the 2005 match list had an ortho fill rate of 99.8% w/589 spots. Pretty competitive. As a DO you have access to a second match but the number of, competitiveness, and quality of those residiencies is beyond my knowledge.

Looks like you have a lot to "mull" over. Best of luck with your decision.
 
pdiddy04 said:
I know this is a contreversial topic but I am a white male and I am holding acceptances at both Meharry College of medicine in TN (historically african american) and Nova Southeastern college of osteopathic medicine.

My intentions are not to start a war but to see what school would give me the most oppertunities at gaining a competetive residency. (orthopedics)

I like NSU facilities, and it is in sunny Florida, but Meharry is an allopathic school and I think that will increase my chances for residency.

I guess I am asking what would you do. 🙄
Click to expand...

may i ferst suggest attending high school, seeing as you might ferst want to be up to par on you're English skills.
 
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I concur, you definitely need to learn how to spell before considering medical school.
 
I did a summer research internship at Meharry (I am not AA) and loved it! the training is great, the professors are really committed to the students, and the food at the cafeteria is great! if you want to maximize your chances of getting a slot to an allopathic residency and ortho being one of the very competitive ones...then an allopathic school *will* give you an edge for this scenario. OTOH if you *identify* with DO philosophy more than allopathic then go to the DO school.
 
You could see if you can get a hold of some PDs at some ortho programs and asking them what they think. I know I did this for neurosurgery and really there was quite a difference in the responces. It seems to me that it can be more specific than DO vs MD. Some PDs may like students better from Nova than Meharry and visa versa.
 
pdiddy04 said:
I know this is a contreversial topic but I am a white male and I am holding acceptances at both Meharry College of medicine in TN (historically african american) and Nova Southeastern college of osteopathic medicine.

My intentions are not to start a war but to see what school would give me the most oppertunities at gaining a competetive residency. (orthopedics)

I like NSU facilities, and it is in sunny Florida, but Meharry is an allopathic school and I think that will increase my chances for residency.

I guess I am asking what would you do. 🙄
Click to expand...

Hi there,
Meharry is a great school and has a fairly diverse student body. I have two colleagues who are not African-American who are graduates of Meharry. NOVA is an excellent school also. Rather than the school itself, you need to figure out where you can do your best. Orthopedic surgery is a very, very competitive residency. It doesn't make much difference where you go to school as how well you perform at that school. The "perceived prestige" of the school is not going to keep you out of an orthopedic surgery residency but poor performance will. You make your own opportunities and your school has very little to do with it. Again, a poor student at Stanford has less opportunity than an excellent student at a lesser ranked school.

Allopathic versus osteopathic isn't much of a deal either as long as you do well. Again, if you find that NOVA is more suited to your style and comfort and you bust COMLEX, you will have a good shot at getting into orthopedic surgery both osteopathic residency or allopathic. In 2005, having MD or DO is just not that big a difference. Go where you are most comfortable and where you feel that you can excell. USMLE/COMLEX is the great equalizer of medical schools and excellent performance on either combined with excellent grades will get your further than the name of your school or your final degree. The information to be mastered doesn't care about your color or ethnicity either. All of the tests are graded by computer.

njbmd 🙂
 
Hey pdiddy04, maybe this will help you. I am a non-AA 2nd year student at Meharry. I have nothing but good things to say about the school, but keep in mind no school is perfect. What I initially loved about Meharry was that the administration does whatever they can to help the students succeed; they won't let you trickle out of the system if/when you struggle. Believe it or not, they really do prepare you well for the boards and the clinics. During our sophomore year, we began our rotations and as a third year you'll have more hands on surgical experience than other places. The reason for that is there is no surgery residency here at Meharry, but both Meharry and Vanderbilt students come here for the Surgery rotations. With no residents performing the surgeries, it allows students to actually partake in the surgery with the attendings. At Vandy, all we do is stand with our hands to our sides for 8 hours.

As far as competitive orthopedics residencies go, I go to the Match Day ceremony every year and am amazed at what I see: Columbia, Mass General (Orthopedic surgery), Johns Hopkins (General Surgery, Neurosurgery), Military matches- Portsmouth Naval Medical Center (Orthopedic Surgery) Walter Reed Army Hospital (Orthopedic Surgery) Army Medical Center (Orthopedic Surgery), Vanderbilt (General Surgery), Mayo Clinic-Cleveland (Neurosurgery), I could go on and on. The point is, don't let the fact that it is a "black" school fool you. The stories people say on this board about schools that they don't attend are meaningless. I truly feel that this place is a diamond in the rough. Coming from Meharry you can go anywhere you want to go, it's all up to how much you put into it.
 
No body form Meharry went to NS at JHU. They took thier own this year. I think that this was the same for last year as well.
 
Prelim general surgery year, then Neurosurgery. That is of course unless I misunderstood what they said when I was present at Meharry's match day..... I didn't misunderstand.

Also, another student matched at Johns Hopkins for Internal Medicine this year.
 
Nope, I'm pretty sure you did misunderstand.

They take 3 a year. The 3 from last year are listed as GS prelim interns.

JHU NS Residency

And the three that matched into JHU this year for NS can be seen here

But someone from your school did get St. Louis U for NS.
 
Yep, your right Docgeorge I did misunderstand--. All I heard when I walked in was "Maryland" and when I sat down someone said Johns Hopkins I assume because that is obviously in Maryland too. "Obviously" I sat next to the wrong person (D#MN freshman). In any case, she did match in general surgery at the University of Maryland.

What I meant by listing some of the residencies is that Meharry students do get competitive placements. Actually now that I think of it, last year along with the Harvard surgery match there was also an anesthesiology match at Cornell (this I am positive of and you can check). Also, the internal medicine match at Johns Hopkins can be checked too. So it is possible coming from Meharry to get great placements contrary to popular belief.

And again, thank you for correcting me. I in no way meant to mislead this forum by listing "fake" matches, it was just an unfortunate honest mistake and now I know never to listen to the Freshman class at my school. :laugh:
 
I dont know how Nova is , but I would never go to Meharry. I would never even apply to meharry. I would at least consider Nova if its one of the better DO schools over meharry definitely.
 
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No Worries. People from your school do get great residencies. This is true no matter where you go. I believe that the residency you get is more a function of you and the effort you put in rather then what ever school you go to.


To the OP, one thing that you prob shoud know about NOVA is that they have a mandatory attendence policy, you have to clock in and clock out, if you are a class goer this prob wont be an issiue. But if you are like me and dont go to class this could make the 1st two years pretty unbearable.
 
thank you for all of your responses!

I am sorry about the spelling in the OP, but i was more concerned about getting my point across then correct spelling.

Anyway, all of your reponses are very valuble to me and are greatly appreciated.

I have always said that I would be it would be my dream just to get a shot a becoming a physician, regardless of where I went. Now that I have some decisions to make, everything is not so clear anymore.

👍
 
Meharry is an excellent school. If I'm not mistaken, one year, the top scorer on step 1 went to Meharry. It gets negative press, but if your goal is to be an MD, and your only shot is Meharry, go for it. Getting a posh residency has more to do with YOU (your scores, letters, etc) than the NAME of the school you went to. HTH!
 
pdiddy04 said:
I know this is a contreversial topic but I am a white male and I am holding acceptances at both Meharry College of medicine in TN (historically african american) and Nova Southeastern college of osteopathic medicine.

My intentions are not to start a war but to see what school would give me the most oppertunities at gaining a competetive residency. (orthopedics)

I like NSU facilities, and it is in sunny Florida, but Meharry is an allopathic school and I think that will increase my chances for residency.

I guess I am asking what would you do. 🙄
Click to expand...
Troll, you don't get to be the token white guy in meharry without being extremely serious about your reasons for wanting to go there. This post is truly pathetic :meanie:
 
Megalofyia said:
You could see if you can get a hold of some PDs at some ortho programs and asking them what they think. I know I did this for neurosurgery and really there was quite a difference in the responces. It seems to me that it can be more specific than DO vs MD. Some PDs may like students better from Nova than Meharry and visa versa.
Click to expand...
That's a very sexy avatar. I like it. 😀
 
Didn't want to start a new thread so I bump this thread.

Meharry vs NSU.

I do not know want field of medicine I want to go into. I wanted to do primary care but, now that I have been working and shadowing various physicians I am undecided.

The only thing that I like about NSU is that I would be able to stay home and save money, my parents are telling me not to worry about cost but I just hate the thought of having to take out and live off of loans.If Meharry was the same distance from my house, it would def. be my first choice.
 
maybemed2013 said:
Didn't want to start a new thread so I bump this thread.

Meharry vs NSU.

I do not know want field of medicine I want to go into. I wanted to do primary care but, now that I have been working and shadowing various physicians I am undecided.

The only thing that I like about NSU is that I would be able to stay home and save money, my parents are telling me not to worry about cost but I just hate the thought of having to take out and live off of loans.If Meharry was the same distance from my house, it would def. be my first choice.
Click to expand...

Thread is 8 years old. I think internet law says it's okay to make a new thread in this case.
 
pdiddy04 said:
I know this is a contreversial topic but I am a white male and I am holding acceptances at both Meharry College of medicine in TN (historically african american) and Nova Southeastern college of osteopathic medicine.

My intentions are not to start a war but to see what school would give me the most oppertunities at gaining a competetive residency. (orthopedics)

I like NSU facilities, and it is in sunny Florida, but Meharry is an allopathic school and I think that will increase my chances for residency.

I guess I am asking what would you do. 🙄
Click to expand...

Meharry hands down....osteo Grad here
 
pdiddy04 said:
thank you for all of your responses!

I am sorry about the spelling in the OP, but i was more concerned about getting my point across then correct spelling.

Anyway, all of your reponses are very valuble to me and are greatly appreciated.

I have always said that I would be it would be my dream just to get a shot a becoming a physician, regardless of where I went. Now that I have some decisions to make, everything is not so clear anymore.

👍
Click to expand...

I'm a white dude who got into Meharry a couple of years ago. I didn't end up matriculating, but that's not because I didn't like the school; I simply got into another MD school I preferred.

Meharry is a good school, but the cost of attendance is high. I would, however, take it over any DO school. The support system there is great, and I think it's wise to consider it seriously as a contender.
 
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