Possible Gap Year vs. Attending OOS DO school

[YoungD]

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I applied last year to about 26 schools, 20 MD and 6 DO. I received an interview to 2 MD programs, one OOS, one IS. I received 5 DO interviews, and got accepted into one that is OOS. My MCAT is 510, (126,125,126,130) and my undergraduate GPA is 3.61 while my science is 3.45. I graduated from a top 50 school with a degree in Philosophy. I was told by a state school that my GPA was on the lower end, but it was fine, but the trouble was that I did not have a upward trajectory of my GPA. I worked as an emergency medical scribe for a year and received good recommendations from that. I am struggling to decide on whether I should go to the OOS DO school that is a top 20 DO school. I really want to go to a state school so that my tuition would be less. I studied for the MCAT for about 1.5 months by myself and raised my score from a 502 to 510 in that period. I know if I joined a tutoring program, such as Atilus, I could at least raise my score to 515. I made many mistakes in my application cycle such as applying later, finished all my secondaries around August, not having strong secondary essays, and not practicing for interviews. I am nervous about the USMLE step 1 being pass/fail, because I want to have the opportunity to match with a specialty that I want, and do not want to be limited to family medicine or internal medicine. If I do decide on doing a gap year, I do not want to do a masters program because of the tuition. I was hoping to do clinical research, but I know it is very hard to obtain without any prior experience. I was hoping to get a job so that I could make some money which I could spend on the next application cycle, such as teaching in an underserved area. I applied during my junior year of college, and so I did not have much experience besides working as a scribe. I was hoping to get some advice on how to proceed, and if there are any recommendations on how I could improve my application and what I could do during the gap year.

 

[Nugester]

I'll play devil's advocate:
-Why did you apply DO if you had no intention of attending?
-Why did you apply this cycle when you weren't ready?
-There is no guarantee you'll get into MD next cycle
-You are wasting time and potential physician salary by delaying
-When you become a physician, MD & DO titles don't matter

Advice: take the acceptance and run. Yes, I know the COAs for DOs are criminal, but you can keep costs low by being frugal during medical school, during residency/after keep your options open by paying off loans aggressively or pslf, and live like a resident during the first few years as an attending.

Whatever you choose do to, good luck!

 

[deleted859689]

You can scribe for the gap year. If you had 5 DO interviews and were only accepted into one, you need to focus on interview prep. Research is not mandatory for applying to schools and I think scribing as a job will be better than clinical research. What the heck is a top 20 DO school? lol. Any specialty is attainable by a DO if you try hard enough, but yes the more competitive specialties are easier as an MD, but still not a guarantee.

With the current pandemic you’re willing to risk applying again? 🙄

 

[djiboutiman]

OP, please do not try to reapply. Take the DO acceptance. I have a higher GPA then yours, >95% MCAT, years of clinical work and clinical research work, and still have only been accepted to a DO school, no MD schools yet. If you decline a DO acceptance and retake the MCAT and do worse you risk not even getting into DO school. Even going the MD route there’s still a chance you won’t match your dream specialty (if it’s one of the competitive ones). Take a look at your schools match list to see if anybody has matched into your preferred specialty. Simply, it’s not worth the risk to turn down the DO acceptance.

 

[YoungD]

You can scribe for the gap year. If you had 5 DO interviews and were only accepted into one, you need to focus on interview prep. Research is not mandatory for applying to schools and I think scribing as a job will be better than clinical research. What the heck is a top 20 DO school? lol. Any specialty is attainable by a DO if you try hard enough, but yes the more competitive specialties are easier as an MD, but still not a guarantee.

With the current pandemic you’re willing to risk applying again? 🙄

Haha, I did not want to say the specific school, but they were one of the top USMLE scores in 2017 and 18, but they are left off of lists of the top 10 DO schools whenever I look it up

 

[YoungD]

OP, please do not try to reapply. Take the DO acceptance. I have a higher GPA then yours, >95% MCAT, years of clinical work and clinical research work, and still have only been accepted to a DO school, no MD schools yet. If you decline a DO acceptance and retake the MCAT and do worse you risk not even getting into DO school. Even going the MD route there’s still a chance you won’t match your dream specialty (if it’s one of the competitive ones). Take a look at your schools match list to see if anybody has matched into your preferred specialty. Simply, it’s not worth the risk to turn down the DO acceptance.

I do not think I would want to do a super competitive speciality, mostly I would want to do a fast-paced specialty like EM or surgery

 

[YoungD]

I'll play devil's advocate:
-Why did you apply DO if you had no intention of attending?
-Why did you apply this cycle when you weren't ready?
-There is no guarantee you'll get into MD next cycle
-You are wasting time and potential physician salary by delaying
-When you become a physician, MD & DO titles don't matter

Advice: take the acceptance and run. Yes, I know the COAs for DOs are criminal, but you can keep costs low by being frugal during medical school, during residency/after keep your options open by paying off loans aggressively or pslf, and live like a resident during the first few years as an attending.

Whatever you choose do to, good luck!

Thank you for your honest reply. I applied this past year because of one of your points, I did not want to waste time and potential salary by delaying, but with my deposit being due soon, I have been getting more hesitant

 

[Eilat87]

Please take the gap year and apply again.

 

[Goro]

I applied last year to about 26 schools, 20 MD and 6 DO. I received an interview to 2 MD programs, one OOS, one IS. I received 5 DO interviews, and got accepted into one that is OOS. My MCAT is 510, (126,125,126,130) and my undergraduate GPA is 3.61 while my science is 3.45. I graduated from a top 50 school with a degree in Philosophy. I was told by a state school that my GPA was on the lower end, but it was fine, but the trouble was that I did not have a upward trajectory of my GPA. I worked as an emergency medical scribe for a year and received good recommendations from that. I am struggling to decide on whether I should go to the OOS DO school that is a top 20 DO school. I really want to go to a state school so that my tuition would be less. I studied for the MCAT for about 1.5 months by myself and raised my score from a 502 to 510 in that period. I know if I joined a tutoring program, such as Atilus, I could at least raise my score to 515. I made many mistakes in my application cycle such as applying later, finished all my secondaries around August, not having strong secondary essays, and not practicing for interviews. I am nervous about the USMLE step 1 being pass/fail, because I want to have the opportunity to match with a specialty that I want, and do not want to be limited to family medicine or internal medicine. If I do decide on doing a gap year, I do not want to do a masters program because of the tuition. I was hoping to do clinical research, but I know it is very hard to obtain without any prior experience. I was hoping to get a job so that I could make some money which I could spend on the next application cycle, such as teaching in an underserved area. I applied during my junior year of college, and so I did not have much experience besides working as a scribe. I was hoping to get some advice on how to proceed, and if there are any recommendations on how I could improve my application and what I could do during the gap year.

Dump the accept so someone who wants to be a doctor right now will get your seat.

Keep in mind that by taking a gap year, you're giving up at least $200K in clinician salary. BTW, DOs are not limited to FM or IM or Primary Care, and you don't exactly have the academic bonafides for someone who will be getting into the uber-residencies. EM is very DO friendly, and even Gen Surg is doable.

With stats like yours, read my post on reinvention for premeds. So you're a 2x MCAT taker? Quoting the wise Homeskool: Taking the MCAT is like getting married: ideally you only do it once, and the more times you do it the worse you start looking to suitors with good judgment.

 

[Blueprint Med School]

Bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. Take the acceptance and crush Step 2 and maybe Step 1 lmao.

David D MD - USMLE and MCAT Tutor
Med School Tutors

I applied last year to about 26 schools, 20 MD and 6 DO. I received an interview to 2 MD programs, one OOS, one IS. I received 5 DO interviews, and got accepted into one that is OOS. My MCAT is 510, (126,125,126,130) and my undergraduate GPA is 3.61 while my science is 3.45. I graduated from a top 50 school with a degree in Philosophy. I was told by a state school that my GPA was on the lower end, but it was fine, but the trouble was that I did not have a upward trajectory of my GPA. I worked as an emergency medical scribe for a year and received good recommendations from that. I am struggling to decide on whether I should go to the OOS DO school that is a top 20 DO school. I really want to go to a state school so that my tuition would be less. I studied for the MCAT for about 1.5 months by myself and raised my score from a 502 to 510 in that period. I know if I joined a tutoring program, such as Atilus, I could at least raise my score to 515. I made many mistakes in my application cycle such as applying later, finished all my secondaries around August, not having strong secondary essays, and not practicing for interviews. I am nervous about the USMLE step 1 being pass/fail, because I want to have the opportunity to match with a specialty that I want, and do not want to be limited to family medicine or internal medicine. If I do decide on doing a gap year, I do not want to do a masters program because of the tuition. I was hoping to do clinical research, but I know it is very hard to obtain without any prior experience. I was hoping to get a job so that I could make some money which I could spend on the next application cycle, such as teaching in an underserved area. I applied during my junior year of college, and so I did not have much experience besides working as a scribe. I was hoping to get some advice on how to proceed, and if there are any recommendations on how I could improve my application and what I could do during the gap year.

 

[deleted994889]

If you choose to reapply, know that you have a below average cGPA, well below average sGPA, and below average MCAT (506 average), not to mention your 510 score is somewhat suspect (very PSBB skewed). Even if you score that 515 you think you can (everyone thinks that), you average would be 509 and just below average. You're going to need to make some drastic changes, and drastic changes take sacrifice (effort, time, and money). If you're willing to do what it takes, I believe you (and anyone) can do it.

That said, if you do not want to be a DO, then don't. Reapply or do something else (nothing wrong with that). To add to the marriage analogy, don't marry someone you don't like; you're going to make yourself and everyone around you very unhappy.

 

[deleted947265]

I'm gunning for the AACOMAS Dawin award and I don't want competition. So I'm going to level with you, you're being stupid about this. You're telling adcoms you really, really want to be a doctor. You spent all that time and money to apply. You've been handed your ticket to be a doctor, and you're seriously considering throwing it away?

Yes, there is a lot of dumb stuff in OMM that you will have to learn. You know who else hates OMM? Most DO students. Yes, DO students seem to have a harder time matching into competitive specialties than MD students. Nobody has a clue how Step 1 P/F is going to affect the match. You don't seem to express any interest in these competitive specialties, and you'll still have the opportunity to match into those specialties. Odds are if you work hard, and play your cards right you will.

I hope you'll make the right decision.

 

[Chad12]

I had the same dilemma as you last year and near identical stats, similar amount of interviews too. I ended up getting off an MD waitlist out of sheer luck but I always wonder what I would have done if I didn't. The issue is not as black and white as some of the posters above make it seem. Being an osteopath does come with a stigma, and for some this stigma has social repercussions that make life less enjoyable and can even come with consequences on your mental health. At the same time while going DO doesn't limit you for certain residencies, it can't be denied that pursuing a surgical subspecialty as a DO requires extraordinary feats in medical school, especially with the upcoming change to P/F Step scores, the previous equalizer. That being said I understand what the above posters are saying, being a doctor beats not being one and if you decline your osteopath acceptance, that could very well be one of the outcomes. As with all tough decisions in life you have to ask yourself whether you are willing to take the risk? For some inspiration one of my friends last cycle was not as fortunate as me and got no MD acceptances, declined his DO acceptances, attended a post-bacc and is now matriculating into MD school this fall. This is anecdotal and might be the exception rather than the rule but it is possible. Make sure you are okay with choosing an alternate career path before taking the risk though.

 

[Isoval]

Why the hell did you apply somewhere you had no intention of attending? (TM)

 

[blueberry4104]

I have always been under the impression that declining a DO acceptance just to reapply in hopes of MD would be a red flag to any school (MD or DO) that sees your application the following cycle? Or am I mistaken?


OP, I say take the acceptance. What's worse, attending this OOS school and becoming a doctor or declining, reapplying, and ending up with 0 acceptances the second time around? Not worth the risk in my opinion

 

[Med.School.Hopeful]

Emergency medicine is THE MOST DO friendly specialty there is. General surgery is very doable for DO as well. If you aren't gunning for derm, ortho, etc then you should be fine.