One application for both MD and DO school?

[ParaMed]

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I received an e-mail today from TCOM in response to a question I had asked them. In it, the admissions coordinator stated that TCOM was considering joining the TMDSAS! (For those of you who may not know, TMDSAS is the application you fill out for all of Texas? allopathic schools.) I am flabbergasted! Why would they want to do this? How are they going to choose whom to interview? How will they separate the applicants that have a true interest in the philosophy of Osteopathic medicine from those who do not? How would you go about writing your personal statement explaining your interest in osteopathic medicine? I am at a loss! Why would a D.O. school want to mix their applicant pool like that? Is this a good thing or a bad thing? If anyone has any ideas or general opinions on this, post them. I am very interested in hearing what others have to say.

 

[carmstrong]

TCOM's situation is a little different than the other DO schools. They are a state school, so their tuition for Texas residents is about 9,000/year along with all of the other state schools. This causes the demographics of the admissions pool to be slightly different than for other DO schools. If you live in Missouri and want to be an osteopath you pay +20,000/year to go to KCOM, and you will pay about the same wherever you go. Since tuition is going to be the same in state or out of state, applicants may apply to only DO schools b/c location is the only factor(as compared to finances). I would guess that KCOM has a higher percent of applicants who are DO only. I read from another post that TCOM has a very small percent of applicants who only applied to DO schools. Most of this would be attributed to in-state applications to the MD schools. I was in the admissions office earlier this year talking to probably the same lady you emailed, and she said that they where going to join the TMDSAS. She said that they understood that most Texas residents would apply to more than just TCOM, they would probably apply to all of the other schools in the state. She said that this would prevent applicants from having to fill out another application along with the TMDSAS. To me this really does not seem to be a problem. First of all, if you want to write in your essay what you think of osteopathic medicine, and what it means to you then go ahead! This, more than saying two different things on two different applications, would show that you are serious about osteopathic medicine. If you are a qualified candidate to begin with, then you could have a leg up on the competition. The students who would prefer to go into an MD program, and are using DO as a backup are not going to extol the virtues of osteopathic medicine in their essay the way they might if they could write two different essays. If you are really serious about the DO only approach then say so. It will make you stand apart. If that edge is not enough to put you/or me/or anyone else in the running for a spot then maybe we were not qualified enough to begin with.

 

[DoctorK]

I am a Texas resident, and have completed applications for both TCOM through AACOMAS and the Texas application service. I believe that I was able to convey more information on the allopathic application than I was on either the AACOMAS or TCOM secondary. I think it would help TCOM to see who is truly interested in osteopathic medicine by looking at the rankings that Texas applicants must submit indicating their preference for medical school. We go through a "matching" process, much like the match for residency. Once the allopathic service receives acceptance lists and applicant preferences, they coordinate the acceptance offers. I think TCOM would get more applicants, but those that are truly interested in osteopathic medicine (like me) would rank TCOM first. Does this make sense?


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We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of the dreams.

--Willy Wonka

 

[DO2003]

TCOM, from what I have gathered, is not an altogether great Osteopathic school. They try to be like the allopathic schools, and even go so far as to model themselves after Southwestern in Dallas, complete with the research and so on. They want to be mainstream medicine instead of Osteopathic medicine. I cam away from my interview with that impression, and I still get that impression now that I am at Kirksville. Here at K-ville, we just this year, got the OTM department head from TCOM to come here and teach OTM here. To do so he had to lose his Department Head status, but he was happy to do so because he is one of the "true believers" in OTM and was obviously not satisfied with TCOM's attitude toward OTM. It has always seemed to me that OTM was a thing to be hidden in the closet at TCOM. In fact, I hear that they do not even begin to train you in OTM until the second year, which is a disservice to those students like yourself who want to learn to be Osteopaths, rather than mini-MD's.

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Douglas - KCOM class of 2003

 

[DoctorK]

Not so, DO2003...I shadowed a student for a day at TCOM, and they have manip class from day one. I was made to feel that it is something they believe is valuable to patients and is taught well. There may not be as many "hard core" OMM fans at TCOM as there are at K-ville.

The DO who interviewed me believes it is important as well, and knew that as soon as she was taught OMM that it would make a big difference to her patients. I think TCOM is interested in the big picture of medicine and how they fit into it, not necessarily trying to emulate Southwestern or any other allopathic institution. TCOM is now a health science center with a school of public health and a PA school.

I'm eagerly awaiting to hear from them after my interview, and I can't wait to attend there.

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We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of the dreams.

--Willy Wonka

 

[turtleboard]

Douglas of KCOM,

So the only good osteopathic school is one that stays within the fold and renounces all things allopathic? A good osteopathic and allopathic school should be committed to advancing medical science, preparing students for the scientific practice of medicine, preparing great clinicians, and incorporating anything that is scientifically proven to help patients into its curriculum.

Research is an important aspect of any medical school, and as you well know, research is virtually nonexistent at most osteopathic med schools. The fact that TCOM and other DO schools have taken to research represents an important step for osteopathic medicine to becoming a highly-recognized profession.

What's the point of being anti-MD?


Tim of New York City.

[This message has been edited by turtleboard (edited 12-18-1999).]