Podiatry Top choice

[Shino’s Beetles]

This is for some of my fellow prepods to think of. The podiatrist I’ve been shadowing for a while asked me an honest but interesting question. “You have been accepted into a school you love but since you aren’t yet as invested in podiatry like podiatry students, residents and doctors are what would you do right now if a medical school said they accepted you?”
I told him it would have to be a my top school with scholarships for me to consider. Podiatry wasn’t my first choice but neither were many medical schools or the Caribbean’s, or osteopathic or dentistry or pharmacy or optometry, or PT for that matter. But it beats those in my honest opinion and is my top choice now. If I fell for those maybe they would be. What about you guys?

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[de Ribas]

“ You have been accepted into a school you love but since you aren’t yet as invested in podiatry like podiatry students, residents and doctors are what would you do right now if a medical school said they accepted you?”

Sorry, maybe it is just me, but I am confused by the whole post. What are you trying to say?

Plus bolded above is even more confusing

 

[Shino’s Beetles]

Sorry for the confusion, I just wanted to understand the thinking of fellow incoming 2023 class. And that bolded part simply means I got an acceptance to a school. You can be accepted to multiple schools whether it be podiatry or medicine. So since I got accepted to Scholl and I also received an acceptance to a medical school I applied to say; South Dakota school of medicine, I wouldn’t choose it because I’m satisfied with my other choice.

 

[Weirdy]

Went through this when I applied 2 years ago.

I had a ton of podiatrists tell me "You should cut your losses and seriously consider dental or PA school. You should also shoot for DO school if your grades are not good enough for MCAT."

Being a young whipper snapper who just moved out on their own, I was hurt, offended, whatever. But the fact that I heard it from practicing podiatrists themselves made me really think about why they were asking that question.

The biggest factors referenced were return on investment, level of debt, and increasing red-tape/documentation that made it harder to make money quicker.

All of my relatives are MD. You were either an MD or too stupid to get in and had to do something else as a backup. There was no such thing as "Well I chose optometry because I genuinely liked it. I chose to be an engineer because I really like it." No. You were just too stupid to get in, or too lazy to get the necessary grades to get in, or taking the easy way out.

F*** that type of reasoning. I went into podiatry knowing full well I would take on a boat load of debt. I went in knowing itd'd kick my ass. I went in knowing I'd potentially be paying 3-5k a month on a 10 year IBR.

I fully respect every podiatrist who told me "No, we don't take shadows, no you should not consider this career, here's why, no you should really consider another career you have no idea what level of debt and how crippling it is". I understand in their own minds, they probably really were trying to help me out and push me in the right direction.

I have only enjoyed podiatric medicine more and more while in school. Sure, when I get out after residency it might change. Do we do as much trauma? No. Will they send us anything else besides a calc fracture? Maybe. Will I still be debriding callouses and nails? Yes.

But I found a profession that fits my stats. I found a career that is still in the healthcare field. I found a profession that would still push me to my limits. I found a profession that would pay me more than parents would have ever made. And all of those things: pushing me to the limits, being a doctor, helping people, getting compensated somewhat well- were all things I personally wanted.

Looking back, if an MD/DO school gave me an acceptance, would I go? I'm not entirely sure. I like not having to take care of every single little thing the patient has problems with. I like being able to just take care of the foot and ankle, and not sit there for 30 minutes brainstorming why the patient has elevated potassium levels. I like doing procedures and have patients go out smiling. I didn't learn to like any of this until AFTER I started school.

Does this mean everything is sunshine and rainbows? No. You will still have non-compliant patients, ****ty coworkers, long long days, and people ****ting on your profession. But for all intents and purposes- it fit all the boxes I was looking for. Honestly I didn't even consider podiatry until 1 year before I applied.

People will tell you all kinds of **** that they wished they could have done differently thinking it is the correct and only choice. Then they will **** on you when you do not take their advice.

This does not mean you are wrong. I just means you prioritize different things in life.

 

[Shino’s Beetles]

Exactly you can be the happiest, make even more money and be well known and that still won’t be enough for some people. You’ll hear it from the very same people that should be uplifting the profession even with all it’s flaws. At some point you gotta do you.

 

[de Ribas]

Exactly you can be the happiest, make even more money and be well known and that still won’t be enough for some people. You’ll hear it from the very same people that should be uplifting the profession even with all it’s flaws. At some point you gotta do you.

If I had an MD acceptance, I would go without thinking for a second. That's what majority of DOs and DPMs would do.

I had to think long about DPM vs DO and I chose DPM. For various obvious reasons I stated in other posts. Won't go into that again. But MD is better in many ways, in my very subjective opinion.

 

[DrLove888]

Went through this when I applied 2 years ago.

I had a ton of podiatrists tell me "You should cut your losses and seriously consider dental or PA school. You should also shoot for DO school if your grades are not good enough for MCAT."

Being a young whipper snapper who just moved out on their own, I was hurt, offended, whatever. But the fact that I heard it from practicing podiatrists themselves made me really think about why they were asking that question.

The biggest factors referenced were return on investment, level of debt, and increasing red-tape/documentation that made it harder to make money quicker.

All of my relatives are MD. You were either an MD or too stupid to get in and had to do something else as a backup. There was no such thing as "Well I chose optometry because I genuinely liked it. I chose to be an engineer because I really like it." No. You were just too stupid to get in, or too lazy to get the necessary grades to get in, or taking the easy way out.

F*** that type of reasoning. I went into podiatry knowing full well I would take on a boat load of debt. I went in knowing itd'd kick my ass. I went in knowing I'd potentially be paying 3-5k a month on a 10 year IBR.

I fully respect every podiatrist who told me "No, we don't take shadows, no you should not consider this career, here's why, no you should really consider another career you have no idea what level of debt and how crippling it is". I understand in their own minds, they probably really were trying to help me out and push me in the right direction.

I have only enjoyed podiatric medicine more and more while in school. Sure, when I get out after residency it might change. Do we do as much trauma? No. Will they send us anything else besides a calc fracture? Maybe. Will I still be debriding callouses and nails? Yes.

But I found a profession that fits my stats. I found a career that is still in the healthcare field. I found a profession that would still push me to my limits. I found a profession that would pay me more than parents would have ever made. And all of those things: pushing me to the limits, being a doctor, helping people, getting compensated somewhat well- were all things I personally wanted.

Looking back, if an MD/DO school gave me an acceptance, would I go? I'm not entirely sure. I like not having to take care of every single little thing the patient has problems with. I like being able to just take care of the foot and ankle, and not sit there for 30 minutes brainstorming why the patient has elevated potassium levels. I like doing procedures and have patients go out smiling. I didn't learn to like any of this until AFTER I started school.

Does this mean everything is sunshine and rainbows? No. You will still have non-compliant patients, ****ty coworkers, long long days, and people ****ting on your profession. But for all intents and purposes- it fit all the boxes I was looking for. Honestly I didn't even consider podiatry until 1 year before I applied.

People will tell you all kinds of **** that they wished they could have done differently thinking it is the correct and only choice. Then they will **** on you when you do not take their advice.

This does not mean you are wrong. I just means you prioritize different things in life.

Thank you for describing exactly what i feel.

 

[FootRad5]

I know I am too late of a response to weigh in on your specific situation but maybe my reply can help some others on here. As I learned about podiatry in undergrad I came to like the profession more and more and now I am a second year podiatry student at WesternU and I find myself continuing to like the profession more and more. I know I am not a practicing podiatrist and until I am one maybe my opinion is invalid but I know I pay less tuition than the DOs (for the same education) and my school has a 100% match rate for residency (not a shortage like MD/DO) so I would pick DPM 1,000x over again as of right now. I personally have never had a podiatrist tell me not to go into this field and even recently had an MD tell me how in demand podiatrist are that he has to send patients out of network (Kaiser - Fontana, CA).