I'm going to try to answer some of the questions that pop up in this thread. Mostly it will be my feelings and interpretations as there have been no official decisions made (and when they are made it will most likely be Lee sharing them). No, it wasn't my idea, but it should have been. It was the idea of somone attending an MD school though.
Hasn't history shown that separate is never equal?
I personally don't have a preference, but if they are kept separate, it would be nice if some threads could be accessed via both pre allo and pre osteo for discussions pertaining to both. Now the only way to do that is to make separate threads in each, which isn't allowed anyways. So maybe when someone wants to make a thread they can click pre-allo and pre-osteo and the same thread can be accessed by both forums.
In terms of 'what are my chances' threads, let's be honest, there are different standards. allo stats tend to be higher. Some osteo schools require a DO letter, no allo school does (to my knowledge anyway). So the advice people give will depend on the type of degree.
The access thing is an issue that I am not sure we can really have control over. I haven't seen any vbulletin mods that would work for that. Also I imagine it would further stress our already stressed servers.
In terms of WAMC it is feasible that the WAMC subforum would remain (I'd bet on it) and that tags could be added to it.
We already have FAQ's threads that exist in the forums. They answer most of those questions, and the ones that are School Specific can be found in the SSD subforum.
separate. i have no interest in DO and would just make the threads cycle that much quicker.. harder to catch up.
also, imagine the MD vs DO sh**storm that would descend upon this place. merge the two when they start giving out the same degrees.
MD v. DO threads aren't allowed in the first place. That isn't going to change with a merger. It will never change. Also, you may NOT have an interest but a large percentage of students apply to both schools.
Probably a Pre-DO student.
MD student, as mentioned above.
This should be a poll, shouldn't it? I vote we keep it separate, it's more organized this way.
There really isn't a way to accurately poll the audience. Some people will miss the poll, some will make multiple accounts (and I don't think anyone on staff feels like hunting down every voter). Organization is something we are taking into consideration, but if you visit both forums you will see that there is a HUGE overlap of threads.
Until the day amcas and aacomas are merged I think these threads should stay separate. What is up with them having different applications anyway?
Both of these already have specific threads. Official AMCAS and AACOMAS threads will still exist for application specific questions.
Keep it separate, the majority of posters on the Pre-Allo and Pre-Osteo forums are there when they are right about to apply or in the process of applying. The application processes between MD and DO schools are distinct enough that it would create a lot of confusion if we merged the threads.
Again, the applications have their own specific threads. Furthermore, the secondaries have their own threads. I could argue that 90% of confusion could be eliminated if people just used the search function, but we haven't made that compulsory. We can't eliminate all confusion.
I didn't see any reasoning listed as to what sparked the consideration to merge these forums. In fact, the OP already contains a reason why these should not be merged. As far as tags go: the classified section looks too "busy." There are already long thread names in this forum. Now imagine adding a tag to many threads. It would look messy.
We will also have double the number of threads like "Class of XXX" or "USDO1 vs USDO2," etc, etc. Most of the advice given here is not applicable to DO and vice versa. Students are already confused enough about BCPM. Now add to that the DO "BCPM," which is completely different.
All you have to do is just go down the list of threads in each forum ask "Would the advice here be different for an MD path than a DO path?" Most of the advice would be different, except for those inane threads like "Can wearing braces make me more dumber?"
I hope that the forums will be kept separate. Just a few months ago Preallo was already overflowing and an entirely separate school-specific subforum had to be created to keep things organized. Now this seems to be a move in the opposite direction.
The real OP of this thread is Lee. He posted it first in PO. What sparked this is that the similarities between the two forums significantly out number the differences. From a logistical standpoint it makes more since to have them together with a larger pool of users to get advice from.
Official "Class of" threads are in the Allo forum, not PA and ALLO/OSTEO mergers are not what we are duscussing at this time. The social "Class of xxxx" thread is for PA and PO students, and anyone else really.
The labeling of threads would indicate which advice you should give so I am not sure how you are confused by that in terms of which advice to give. The answer is "the appropriate advice".
This is more organized in my opinion because all of the pre-med "stuff" is together instead of in two places.
yea. didn't want to say anything, but it's kind of pointless. this whole section is under the "premedical" forums. so now it's premedical premedical allopathic 👎
If it were pointless it wouldn't have been done.
