Not taking a DO acceptance

[hopefuldoc87]

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Exactly, don't apply for a school if you have no intention of attending.

don't listen to these guys. you reject the DO acceptance if you want.

(leave's a seat open for me 😀)

in all seriousness though, i keep forgetting this is all hypothetical. maybe you should get the acceptance to DO school first, then worry about rejecting it.

 

[hopefuldoc87]

oh and if you haven't already, i dare you to post this in the pre-osteo forum.

i dare you.

 

[LovelyBRass]

oh and if you haven't already, i dare you to post this in the pre-osteo forum.

i dare you.

I was just thinking that.

 

[bcat85]

So you applied to DO schools last year, got accepted and turned it down? Being a DO wouldn't keep you from going into academic medicine or any other specialty for that matter. There are DOs who are in academia at several allopathic schools. There are DOs who practice medicine in every specialty of medicine.

I don't blame you really OP. I mean, if it were me, I would have taken the D.O. acceptance, but if you are really set on M.D., I understand, as it is much easier to match well as an M.D.

 

[hopefuldoc87]

I don't blame you really OP. I mean, if it were me, I would have taken the D.O. acceptance, but if you are really set on M.D., I understand, as it is much easier to match well as an M.D.

then the OP should only apply MD as that is the only way to truly be content and happy.

 

[Yoyomama88]

hmm.

 

[Gut Shot]

I have looked at few top residencies, and there are NO D.O.'s in their residency and they dont accept applications from osteopathic schools...what other type of conclusion am I supposed to make from this.

Out of curiosity, what makes you think you'll be vying for a so-called top residency position when you can't get into an allopathic medical school to begin with?

 

[Gut Shot]

Exactly, don't apply for a school if you have no intention of attending.

In a perfect world, sure, but to be fair (and realistic) people may have their reasons for changing horse in mid-stream.

 

[Dienekes]

Out of curiosity, what makes you think you'll be vying for a so-called top residency position when you can't get into an allopathic medical school to begin with?

 

[stixx]

oh and if you haven't already, i dare you to post this in the pre-osteo forum.

i dare you.

OMG, please do! I'll bring the popcorn.

 

[Bacchus]

Spare pre-osteo the bs.

 

[Lokhtar]

In a perfect world, sure, but to be fair (and realistic) people may have their reasons for changing horse in mid-stream.

Haha, it really is funny how many people in pre-med forums go crazy over what will make them the most competitive for ortho, ns, dermatology, etc without realizing exactly how hard it is to go into those fields, even from an allopathic school.

From an osteo school, your chances of getting an allopathic derm, ortho or ns is almost nil, but thats why there are ortho, derm and ns osteo residencies. However, they will be community based and many of them are on par with the best community allopathic programs but its harder to find academic programs in the DO world.

 

[bcat85]

oh and if you haven't already, i dare you to post this in the pre-osteo forum.

i dare you.

PLEASE do this OP... if not but for the rigorous beating you will receive in the first hour.

then the OP should only apply MD as that is the only way to truly be content and happy.

I certainly wouldn't dispute this. Sort of urinated away a bunch of money applying to schools he/she didn't want to go to in the first place.

 

[bluemonkey]

yes im talking about being a reapplicant. i don't care about the initials next to my name, I'm mainly worried about if being DO will prevent me from getting into top residencies, because I may want to go into academic medicine. If DO will not hold me back in this goal, then I would love to go DO. And the MCAT is my problem, so basically I would apply to both DO and MD this year. By sometime next year, if I only have a DO offer in hand, I will retake the MCAT. If it improves significantly, Ill reapply the following year for MD.

1) Open mouth
2) Insert foot

 

[spicedmanna]

Why are we even discussing this? It's all hypothetical, since the OP has 0 acceptances; it's a complete non-issue. First, get into any medical school. If you happen to have a choice between DO and MD school, then we'll talk. Before then, just bust your butt and get into any school.

However, I agree with others on this hypothetical issue. If you are planning on rejecting a possible DO acceptance (this is assuming you indeed receive a DO acceptance, which is assuming A LOT, in my opinion), then don't bother applying to DO schools. It'll save you time and money.

Good grief. This is proof that too many individuals live in their own world. Hypotheticals, indeed. Assuming that you can be competitive for a "top" residency, when you have not even gained admission to any US medical school. Good grief. What happened to being real? Instead of day dreaming, come back to this planet and get to work. Learn to live in the here and now; it can only help you attain your goals.

 

[plauto]

Why not just take the mcat again NOW and see how you do? This way you can update the schools right away and not waste time.
I doubt you'll do too much better though...the MCAT is more about knowing how to beat the test than knowledge itself. If you haven't figured that out yet, your score is not going to be significantly different.
Also, you could do worse on the MCAT and you could be turned down by an MD school later or a DO school might toss your reapplication down the drain this year. Never assume anything.... there are plenty of good applicants for both MD and DO schools, they're not waiting for a reapplicant.

 

[Gut Shot]

Why not just take the mcat again NOW and see how you do?

The OP has taken the MCAT three times in four months. Probably needs to see the dust settle.

 

[spicedmanna]

The OP has taken the MCAT three times in four months. Probably needs to see the dust settle.

Yeesh... I wasn't aware of that. I'm truly sorry about your situation, OP, but, yeah, taking the MCAT that many times in such a short period and then shooting yourself in the foot by score 5 points lower is insane... 🙁 Also, your trend makes it look like the 31 is a fluke, since you have two scores that are significantly lower.

Keep your Dad out of your decisions in the future. You don't have to live with him for the rest of your life, like you have to live with each decision you make forever. Take a few breaths, assess your situation and move more deliberately in the future.

 

[gasapple]

Yeesh... I wasn't aware of that. I'm truly sorry about your situation, OP, but, yeah, taking the MCAT that many times in such a short period and then shooting yourself in the foot by score 5 points lower is insane... 🙁 Also, your trend makes it look like the 31 is a fluke, since you have two scores that are significantly lower.

Keep your Dad out of your decisions in the future. You don't have to live with him for the rest of your life, like you have to live with each decision you make forever. Take a few breaths, assess your situation and move more deliberately in the future.

Good advice Spiced and GutShot. I fully agree that OP needs to cut the cord already (from daddy) and be his own, independent-thinking man - and prep/plan better. With that drop, it'll be an uphill battle at this point.

 

[Pedsbro]

The OP has taken the MCAT three times in four months. Probably needs to see the dust settle.

Yikes...31 to 26? Anyway, kiss top residencies (even top med schools) goodbye OP...sorry, that's just the way it is these days.

 

[doomknight]

Exactly, don't apply for a school if you have no intention of attending.

i feel ya man. People on my mdapps keep telling me i'm shooting for the stars and need more safeties, but I got my 2 safeties, and I should get into one of them. Whats the point of adding safeties if I get in and won't even bother going there and would instead rather apply again

 

[doomknight]

Yikes...31 to 26? Anyway, kiss top residencies (even top med schools) goodbye OP...sorry, that's just the way it is these days.

wtf, residencies consider your MCAT score? If I knew this I might of considered retaking, although I would probably end up pussying out half way through due not not wanting to do those dreadful fulllengths.


Also, OP, I believe some school secondaries ask for the 2 most recent mcats, actually most schools only have slots for the 2 recent ones on their secondary. so if you rock the retake, say a 36+ with 12 on each section, and with good LOR and good essays and EC's and some luck, you should still be able to get into state schools and schools like Michigan state or ohio state (no offense, but I strongly dislike them).

 

[Pedsbro]

wtf, residencies consider your MCAT score? If I knew this I might of considered retaking, although I would probably end up pussying out half way through due not not wanting to do those dreadful fulllengths.


Also, OP, I believe some school secondaries ask for the 2 most recent mcats, actually most schools only have slots for the 2 recent ones on their secondary. so if you rock the retake, say a 36+ with 12 on each section, and with good LOR and good essays and EC's and some luck, you should still be able to get into state schools and schools like Michigan state or ohio state (no offense, but I strongly dislike them).

No my bad, I should've phrased it differently. I was stating two points.. Although, a bad MCAT generally translates to bad USMLE scores, which are directly related to residencies.

 

[Gut Shot]

wtf, residencies consider your MCAT score?

Nah, that wasn't what pedsbro was saying (at least I hope not). Once you get into med school your MCAT score will fade into oblivion... forever.

 

[bcat85]

Nah, that wasn't what pedsbro was saying (at least I hope not). Once you get into med school your MCAT score will fade into oblivion... forever.

That's a great feeling.

 

[Gut Shot]

That's a great feeling.

It's great until you see Step 1 on the horizon.

 

[silas2642]

So the general consensus on this board is that if you're not going to attend a school once/if you've been accepted, you don't apply there in the first place. If you don't think think you would take a DO acceptance, than I would strong advise you against applying to osteopathic schools at all, at least for this application cycle. It seems like the best idea for you is to apply allopathic only for your first cycle, see how it goes, and if you don't get in this round, apply both allopathic and osteopathic to increase your chances for the next cycle.

 

[requeim]

it is my understanding that a DO could get into many of the residency positions that a MD can get. when it comes down to it, it is your board scores that matter the most over anything. i have confirmed this with a family friend doctor who is in charge of hiring residents at Beth Isreal in NYC. He told me that he has 3 DOs and 3 MDs in the same position and they got there based on their scores on the boards.

so, if you're worried about getting a into a good residency program, do good on your boards.

 

[hopefuldoc87]

it is my understanding that a DO could get into many of the residency positions that a MD can get. when it comes down to it, it is your board scores that matter the most over anything. i have confirmed this with a family friend doctor who is in charge of hiring residents at Beth Isreal in NYC. He told me that he has 3 DOs and 3 MDs in the same position and they got there based on their scores on the boards.

so, if you're worried about getting a into a good residency program, do good on your boards.

anyone ever see "what about bob?"

baby steps: fix your mcat score first --> then get into ANY medical school --> reject the DO acceptance (that you OBVIOUSLY will get since its so easy to get in 👍) and reapply the next cycle --> score well on your boards --> GET THE RESIDENCY YOU WANT.

 

[gasapple]

it is my understanding that a DO could get into many of the residency positions that a MD can get. when it comes down to it, it is your board scores that matter the most over anything. i have confirmed this with a family friend doctor who is in charge of hiring residents at Beth Isreal in NYC. He told me that he has 3 DOs and 3 MDs in the same position and they got there based on their scores on the boards.

so, if you're worried about getting a into a good residency program, do good on your boards.

Good point.

To turn down an acceptance at a med school to which you paid, interviewed, and chose to apply is foolish based on the pre-med conjecture laid out in this thread. Pay heed to the veterans that have posted here.

Also, there's another user in the pre-DO forum who is turning down an east coast MD acceptance - so it goes both ways.

EDIT: I just read that the OP doesn't have an acceptance ANYWHERE. NEVER-****ING-MIND.
What a waste-of-a-thread.

 

[Depakote]

yes im talking about being a reapplicant. i don't care about the initials next to my name, I'm mainly worried about if being DO will prevent me from getting into top residencies, because I may want to go into academic medicine. If DO will not hold me back in this goal, then I would love to go DO. And the MCAT is my problem, so basically I would apply to both DO and MD this year. By sometime next year, if I only have a DO offer in hand, I will retake the MCAT. If it improves significantly, Ill reapply the following year for MD.

Soooo. Why would you apply DO this year if you would turn down the acceptance?

This isn't that difficult of a problem to solve, if you don't care about DO v. MD but want to be a doctor. Apply both... If the title really does matter to you (which it apparently does despite what you say) then take your chances and apply MD only.

 

[hopefuldoc87]

Soooo. Why would you apply DO this year if you would turn down the acceptance?

This isn't that difficult of a problem to solve, if you don't care about DO v. MD but want to be a doctor. Apply both... If the title really does matter to you (which it apparently does despite what you say) then take your chances and apply MD only.

i love it when people say it doesn't matter, yet in the instance of the OP, would TURN DOWN the DO acceptance to reapply for MD.

nonetheless, best of luck gopens this app cycle ...for whatever degree you seek.

 

[TehDoc]

Looking down on DO when you haven't even gotten accepted. What a shame..

 

[Yoyomama88]

Im sorry but im not bashing DO by any means, I just wanted to know if it will hinder me from getting into academic medicine. If it will then it wouldn't be in line with my goals to go DO. I want to become a doctor which I realize I can do as DO, but Im just worried it might close some doors for me. I apologize to the many people that seem to be offended by my question.

 

[Pedsbro]

Im sorry but im not bashing DO by any means, I just wanted to know if it will hinder me from getting into academic medicine. If it will then it wouldn't be in line with my goals to go DO. I want to become a doctor which I realize I can do as DO, but Im just worried it might close some doors for me. I apologize to the many people that seem to be offended by my question.

I think it's because you keep "adjusting" your question. Here's the bottomline as I see it. No, going DO does not hinder you from going into academic medicine. It has been made clear that there are DOs in every aspect of medicine. I just finished shadowing a pediatric neurosurgeon (a DO) who is a professor at a ranked allopathic medical school. So simply being a DO is not a disadvantage.

The "offense" was taken when you stated that you may turn down a DO acceptance to just re-apply and go for the MD, all the while saying that you don't care what initials are after your name. Basically, your words didn't appear to match with your intentions. (The other thing people were upset about is that you're talking about all this without even having any kind of acceptance in hand).
Getting into top residencies is based on your grades, board scores, and evaluations, not on what initials are after your name. There are MD residencies and DO residencies, and as a DO, you can take COMLEX or USMLE to get into DO or MD residencies respectively. MD's don't have the luxury of taking COMLEX, but DO's can take USMLE...some people may even call that an advantage. But do well on whatever test you take, and you'll have a shot at good residencies and entering academic medicine.

 

[CCLCMer]

Im sorry but im not bashing DO by any means, I just wanted to know if it will hinder me from getting into academic medicine. If it will then it wouldn't be in line with my goals to go DO. I want to become a doctor which I realize I can do as DO, but Im just worried it might close some doors for me. I apologize to the many people that seem to be offended by my question.

I think people are actually more offended because you don't have an acceptance anywhere and your stats are kind of low for allo schools. Getting a DO won't keep you out of academic medicine. There are plenty of DOs in residency and on staff at the Cleveland Clinic. We've had several of them teaching us and precepting us and there's no difference between them and the MDs. The only reason I even found out some of them were DOs is because I would look up the faculty bios of the seminar leaders or preceptors that I liked to find people I might want to shadow. Like some of the other people said, right now concentrate on getting in somewhere first, and then do well in school. Your new MCAT score is pretty painful. You should go anywhere that accepts you and do your best to kick butt in med school and on the boards. Good luck, man.

 

[spicedmanna]

Im sorry but im not bashing DO by any means, I just wanted to know if it will hinder me from getting into academic medicine. If it will then it wouldn't be in line with my goals to go DO. I want to become a doctor which I realize I can do as DO, but Im just worried it might close some doors for me. I apologize to the many people that seem to be offended by my question.

I do not think being a DO will close the door on your desire to pursue academic medicine. After all, there are most certainly DO attendings who serve as faculty in academic institutions, most noteably at, of course, osteopathic medical schools, although there are definitely DO faulty members in allopathic ones, too, and probably at other types of academic institutions as well. Some DO's are even the program directors for residencies that are ACGME, or dual, accredited. It's largely true that the traditional focus of osteopathic medical schools hasn't been on research and academia, but this has been changing for some time now and increasingly, DO schools are shifting to include a greater emphasis on biomedical/clinical research and whatnot.

I think more relevantly, how will you open up a pathway to what you want given where you are and how have you closed (or are still closing) the doors on yourself? While it's true that having an idea of what you want is beneficial, if being a physician is fundamental to all of your career goals, such as being an academic physician, don't you think that your focus should be more on that front? Nothing can happen if you don't become a physician first. I think you are assuming too much here. Simply get into any US medical school first. I really think that the doors on potential fields are not going to be automically closed to you if you were to choose to attend an osteopathic medical school; it's more that your performance in medical school will do that for you, as with most students with grand ideas of what field they want to pursue. Again, it's not that useful to discuss this, without acceptances in hand, and it's not that useful to discuss options if you don't first of all have any.

 

[ChairmanMao]

I think people are actually more offended because you don't have an acceptance anywhere and your stats are kind of low for allo schools. Getting a DO won't keep you out of academic medicine. There are plenty of DOs in residency and on staff at the Cleveland Clinic. We've had several of them teaching us and precepting us and there's no difference between them and the MDs. The only reason I even found out some of them were DOs is because I would look up the faculty bios of the seminar leaders or preceptors that I liked to find people I might want to shadow. Like some of the other people said, right now concentrate on getting in somewhere first, and then do well in school. Your new MCAT score is pretty painful. You should go anywhere that accepts you and do your best to kick butt in med school and on the boards. Good luck, man.

Agreed. I think the Cleveland Clinic has quite a few famous physicians that are DO (I think the department chair of pediatrics is also a DO). Going back to what everyone else said, I looked at your previous post and it's very doubtful that you will be accepted by an MD school when you have a 3.4 GPA and a 26 MCAT. As for DO, I think you're making a mistake by turning down an offer from ANY medical right now. Given how competitive things are and how more and more people are finding out that DO offers a similar education as an MD, I wouldn't be surprised if their averages GPA and MCAT scores exceed your scores within a few years. As for the competitiveness, I know that DO schools are actually more selective than MD schools percentage-wise since there are only 20 or so DO schools while there are hundreds of MD schools (in fact only 20-25% of applicants who apply DO are accepted whereas for MD, it's closer to 40%).

 

[bcat85]

It's great until you see Step 1 on the horizon.

Don't ruin this for me yet gut shot.

 

[deleted158872]

And here I believe Schools don't know where you're accepted UNTIL they accept you themselves.

 

[Karen12345]

i love how everyone thinks im screwed.. there are some schools that will take my best scores. we'll see what happens and I'll let you guys know if you were right.

Not everyone. You are not screwed. Things happen.

 

[soccerpunk60]

of course you're not screwed. stop worrying what ppl here think. if you don't want to do DO, then don't do it. you'll probably land an MD acceptance upon reapplication. good luck.

 

[Yoyomama88]

Thank you 🙂 I appreciate some positive responses. Don't worry I'm not too worried about what the people here think, but more about what the adcoms do 🙂 This thread has generated alot of attention, and I appreciate everyone's input.

 

[wado2]

Im sorry but im not bashing DO by any means, I just wanted to know if it will hinder me from getting into academic medicine. If it will then it wouldn't be in line with my goals to go DO. I want to become a doctor which I realize I can do as DO, but Im just worried it might close some doors for me. I apologize to the many people that seem to be offended by my question.

Dude, the osteopathic will not hinder you. at all! Seriously. You can become a doctor which you can realize as a DO.

 

[cbrons]

lol, what a fire this one lit up

 

[wado2]

lol, what a fire this one lit up

yea good one. I thought it was a fire too. But the DO is the way to go if you want to practice. I would definitelyh take the DO and not look back. Here's the way I think about it is that a C in a class in medi school = DO or MD either way fore sure!! Rock!

 

[wado2]

yea good one. I thought it was a fire too. But the DO is the way to go if you want to practice. I would definitelyh take the DO and not look back. Here's the way I think about it is that a C in a class in medi school = DO or MD either way fore sure!! Rock!

And I'm a firefighter now too. 7 yhears. I've seen things that would make most of you with your fancy bs degrees puke. Thats true i Promist.

 

[135892]

lol, what a fire this one lit up

Just mention "D.O." and any thread is guaranteed to get a lot of attention

 

[bcat85]

Just mention "D.O." and any thread is guaranteed to get a lot of attention

Yeah, in pre-allo, D.O., affirmative action, atheist (and/or God), and naturopathic medicine (or some derivative thereof) makes all SDN members simultaneously

 

[JaggerPlate]

Just mention "D.O." and any thread is guaranteed to get a lot of attention

Yup. This one has actually remained civil for quite some time though. I feel a storm just over the next hill though .... better be prepared/hope it doesn't hit us.