PD's say Step 1 P/F will increase importance of prestige

[BioPsychotic]

Link to article: The Change of USMLE Step 1 to Pass/Fail: Perspectives of the Surgery Program Director

63.5% of surgery PDs surveyed agree that "the importance of which medical school an applicant attends will become more important during the screening process" (Table 1 ).

What are the implications of this information for current and incoming DO students, who now constitute more than 1 in 4 US medical students?

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[MDMechEngr]

Hopefully, you will get off of one of the 2 MD WL you are on and this will be OBE.

 

[BioPsychotic]

Hopefully, you will get off of one of the 2 MD WL you are on and this will be OBE.

Unfortunately, I was rejected post-interview at one MD school. The other usually has plenty of waitlist movement, so I'm hopeful.

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

Link to article: The Change of USMLE Step 1 to Pass/Fail: Perspectives of the Surgery Program Director

63.5% of surgery PDs surveyed agree that "the importance of which medical school an applicant attends will become more important during the screening process" (Table 1 ).

What are the implications of this information for current and incoming DO students, who now constitute more than 1 in 4 US medical students?

The implication is simple and straightforward. Your status as a second-class doctor will continue to be so and worsen. The only way this gets solved is if the DOs on the ACGME get to have the balls to push so that applications are blind to what medical school you come from and they force it so that MD/DO match first vs alongside international graduates. The fact is that many of us will get hurt by FMGs too because now they'll start taking step 3 before applying so they can have 2 scores, while we will be applying with our one score

 

[BioPsychotic]

The implication is simple and straightforward. Your status as a second-class doctor will continue to be so and worsen. The only way this gets solved is if the DOs on the ACGME get to have the balls to push so that applications are blind to what medical school you come from and they force it so that MD/DO match first vs alongside international graduates. The fact is that many of us will get hurt by FMGs too because now they'll start taking step 3 before applying so they can have 2 scores, while we will be applying with our one score

The fact that there is now DO representation on the ACGME is a start. Hopefully they can advocate for DOs and strive to eliminate the disparities between MD & DO schools.

 

[Goro]

Link to article: The Change of USMLE Step 1 to Pass/Fail: Perspectives of the Surgery Program Director

63.5% of surgery PDs surveyed agree that "the importance of which medical school an applicant attends will become more important during the screening process" (Table 1 ).

What are the implications of this information for current and incoming DO students, who now constitute more than 1 in 4 US medical students?

The word prestige was not used in the survey.

Reread the question. It's not as dire as you think

 

[DOVinciRobot]

Perform very well on Step 2, publish some research, and recognize you will likely never have the same doors afforded to you as an MD would with whatever your residency application ends up being. It's ok and not the end of the world.

 

[FutureDoctor5000]

here once again we see a thread where everyone thinks the sky is falling. Look at the match list of DO schools, you think those acgme programs in everything from surgery to derm that took DO's will just stop taking them because of step 1 p/f? Nah I don't think so. It's much more nuanced than that. You still have step 2/level2. You still have the option to have a well rounded app. You can still do away rotations and do well on your core rotations and get solid letters. The programs at places that were gung-ho about prestige will continue to be so or maybe hopefully they will change in the future. But I doubt places that currently routinely take DO's/interview DO students will just shut DO students down lol. I think that the merger has opened many more doors for DO's that put forth a decent app than before. I think the pass/fail decision affects everyone and everyone from USMD to DO to IMG's will have to adjust. Undoubtedly though the IMG's are screwed the most since they don't really have the ability to do research, present at conferences as routinely or do sub-I's at places like USMD and DO..

 

[FutureDoctor5000]

Perform very well on Step 2, publish some research, and recognize you will likely never have the same doors afforded to you as an MD would with whatever your residency application ends up being. It's ok and not the end of the world.

The last part has nothing do with pass fail tho.. that has always been the case. We are talking about the top tier programs in surgery and surgical subs(although occasionally DO's break their way in- i.e Penn ENT match, Cornell Optho etc) your talking about competing with the tippy top of USMD candidates.... but I think overall the merger has been a good thing for most DO students who are well rounded- has opened more doors overall.

 

[FutureDoctor5000]

The fact that there is now DO representation on the ACGME is a start. Hopefully they can advocate for DOs and strive to eliminate the disparities between MD & DO schools.

The future DO's need to advocate for this. We need to add structure to our clinical years. COCA needs to up the standards. We need to keep school expansion in check. We need a single licensing exam as well. If we fix these things I think we can seriously eliminate any "DO bias" from top tier institutions.

 

[Ho0v-man]

Yep. This hurts future DOs.

here once again we see a thread where everyone thinks the sky is falling. Look at the match list of DO schools, you think those acgme programs in everything from surgery to derm that took DO's will just stop taking them because of step 1 p/f? Nah I don't think so. It's much more nuanced than that. You still have step 2/level2. You still have the option to have a well rounded app. You can still do away rotations and do well on your core rotations and get solid letters. The programs at places that were gung-ho about prestige will continue to be so or maybe hopefully they will change in the future. But I doubt places that currently routinely take DO's/interview DO students will just shut DO students down lol. I think that the merger has opened many more doors for DO's that put forth a decent app than before. I think the pass/fail decision affects everyone and everyone from USMD to DO to IMG's will have to adjust. Undoubtedly though the IMG's are screwed the most since they don't really have the ability to do research, present at conferences as routinely or do sub-I's at places like USMD and DO..

Yes. We only got those spots because we found a way to compete with / outperform MDs.

This was the plan all along. Leaders of top-tier basically didn’t like the idea that their students options could be limited. Now they aren’t. The sky isn’t falling abruptly. But it’s a huge blow. The vast majority of DOs have nothing but scores on their apps.

 

[FutureDoctor5000]

Yep. This hurts future DOs.

Yes. We only got those spots because we found a way to compete with / outperform MDs.

This was the plan all along. Leaders of top-tier basically didn’t like the idea that their students options could be limited. Now they aren’t. The sky isn’t falling abruptly. But it’s a huge blow. The vast majority of DOs have nothing but scores on their apps.

Matching anything competitive especially at a top tier institution, has to do a LOT more than just a step 1 score, your missing the point here. Those places didn't just match those DO's because of thier 250 or 260 step 1, there is more to it then that. Yes 1 aspect of the app is now pass fail but it's like that for everyone, step 2 is still scored. Your research and extra curriculars still matter, your networking by going to conferences still matter, your away rotations and letters of recommendations still matter. It's harder to have a great app as a DO but motivated people figure it out. We will see what happens in a few years.

As far as the non top tier institutions /places and former aoa places that have always taken DO's (like average nothing special DO's) I doubt it would change much. They will put more emphasis on step 2 and overall application to narrow down which DO's to interview (which was done by step 1 before)...