Yea, its really a shame I grew up most of my life in a 3rd world country where I saw my brother pass away from lack of a proper health care system. Where the public education system leaves you clueless and pretty much apt to read/write.. (not in English) .. besides that , we had to struggle with my combined family income of about $40 dollars a month ( we were 7) .. not a pretty site... then I was able to come here and besides all of the difficulties I have managed to still graduate from college and possibly represent the few that have made it so far.... You are right, it is amazing.. and I LOVE this country 🙂
Try to keep your head clear and do some serious research behind osteopathic medicine. I think you're off to a good start by asking questions.
My two cents... I couldn't ask for more than PCOM, but I recognize I'm a minority in feeling musculoskeletal medicine is more than a parlour trick.
I was told by an academic ER director that it was better to go to Grenada than an osteopathic institution. After about 15 minutes into the conversation, I recognized fully that she hadn't addressed the scenario in her own mind in about 40 years. I can't say that even 40 years ago I would have agreed with her, either, but I won't argue the point, particularly since I'm only 30 myself.
But had she known that PCOM surgeons were operating on her governor at the time of the conversation, would she have changed her mind? Probably not, because by her own admission, her parent's family doctor is a DO and one of the best doctor's she's ever known. Bias isn't always rational, even when argued by "rational" people. Get USED to it. There's a TON of political and cultural medical persuasions, and it's best to learn to be a critical thinker and develop the skills to make your own mind up now rather than later.
The basic premise for the bias in this pre-med forum is "DO schools have lesser academic admissions standards, so that says something", but we don't agree on why that is so. For my part, I think I've found the answer; DO schools crave diversity and innovative backgrounds, and that doesn't always parallel the 30 MCAT or 3.5 GPA. Maybe that's controversial for some. If after you've done your homework, if you come to the conclusion that osteopathic medicine in the 21st century doesn't have much of a future, then consider foreign programs. I tell you, the DO future is stronger than you may first suspect. There's a change of guard coming, and new idea's for getting the "brand name" out are going to inevitably surface. After all, medicine is just like high school, a big popularity contest; hadn't you noticed yet?
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