Naive about ENT

[gouda]

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So after finishing an ENT rotation at a big name school, I was flat out told by my attending that I would never be accepted there for residency because I was a DO. I was also told that I would have a difficult time in other allopathic residencies.

I chose DO school for a number of reasons and had no regrets until I had this 'brutal reality awakening'? I began med school not even knowing what ENT was, but when I did I really felt like this is where I was meant to be...I guess I was naive...

I am now considering transfering to even be considered by allopathic programs - for both personal reasons and logistics (so few spots and so many applicants).

Any disadvanatges/advantages I am just not seeing? Has anyone else had a similar or better yet opposite experience????

 

[resxn]

It's very possible, but difficult for DO's to get into competitive surgical residencies including ENT. It is also difficult after residency as well. In my area, I've seen patients who simply won't see the DO ENT down the road (even though he's a great ENT) simply because of those intitials. However, I bet I don't see those who won't see me because I'm not a DO. However, I have seen 2 ENT's that really wanted to move to the area who were DO and no one would bring them into their practice. I think it's tough, but I'm not in those shoes so can't comment much more.

I don't know enough about the risk/benefit of transferring from DO to MD school to comment on that part of it.

 

[PeepshowJohnny]

I think it's going to be very difficult for you to transfer from an osteopathic medical school to an allopathic one. Even inter-allopathic transfers are difficult and usually only arranged for outside medical school factors (familiy illness, relocation etc.) That said, I have heart scattered reports of people transferring from a Carib school to a US allopathic school so it may be possible (but extremely unlikely).

That said, it does appear your chances for matching as a DO in ENT are difficult, at best. According to "Charting Outcomes in the Match" only 17 of the 270 ENT positions were filled by non-US Allopathic seniors. That said, I don't know how many Osteopathic residency positions there are, but I imagine they'd be competitive as well.

To put it bluntly, I'm sure the attending was not lying to you that you'd have no chance at big time school. They're going to be turning down lists of 250+ Step 1 multiple publication allopathic students long before they'd probably look to a DO just due to bias. But that doesn't mean you'd be turned away at every ENT institution.

The thing to do now is kick your butt into high gear for application. That means networking with attending ENTs (the more known and the more sensitive to your plight, the better), doing research, doing away rotations, getting absolutely ecellent LORs...the whole shebang. This is pretty much what you have to do to have a hope of matching

 

[gouda]

Thanks for the replies...I guess I have come to the conclusion it is what it is ... I always hate having regrets, and unfortunately I had no way of knowing that I would like ENT or would have created such a difficult path for myself by becoming a DO.

That being said, I will still be shooting for the field and keep up with my hardwork.