reapply MD for 4th time or matriculate to DO?

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[deleted1005514]

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. Take the DO acceptance.

 

[happydo1]

What significant changes would you make to your new application compared to the other 3 cycles ? ... Sorry to be blunt, but I personally think that giving up the DO acceptance after 3 failed MD cycles would be foolish.

 

[LizzyM]

What are the chances of someone who had to apply to MD programs 4 times before (maybe) getting admitted to one would go on to land a neurosurgery residency? Does anyone know?

 

[Goro]

What are the chances of someone who had to apply to MD programs 4 times before (maybe) getting admitted to one would go on to land a neurosurgery residency? Does anyone know?

I don't OP has the app of someone who will eventually go into neurosurgery.

OP, worry about getting into med school first. Your have tried MD three times, even after reinvention. Hence, unless you're now willing to give up a 4th year of a clinicians' salary, run with the DO accepts. BTW, DO schools, including mine, do send grads into neurosurg.

EDIT: or let's put it another way: you get into an MD school, but fail to match into neurosurg. What then?????

 

[EdgeTrimmer]

I don't OP has the app of someone who will eventually go into neurosurgery.

OP, worry about getting into med school first. Your have tried MD three times, even after reinvention. Hence, unless you're now willing to give up a 4th year of a clinicians' salary, run with the DO accepts. BTW, DO schools, including mine, do send grads into neurosurg.

Take DO. My excellent orthopedic surgeon is a DO.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Not worth reapplying again. Take the offer.

 

[Rogue42]

The definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over again, while expecting different results. Don't be insane. Take the guaranteed A. There is a chance you don't get any acceptances next year, then what would you do?

Go to a DO school, work your tail off, and match neurosurg if that is still where your heart is at in 4 years.

 

[erdoc111]

This post is almost absurd. Someone that has had 3 application cycles would even entertain the notion of turning down a DO admit to try a fourth cycle? How can this person even be a physician? I just don't get it....

 

[War of Arts]

What are the chances of someone who had to apply to MD programs 4 times before (maybe) getting admitted to one would go on to land a neurosurgery residency? Does anyone know?

Dr. Webb

 

[MedSchoolAdvice20]

To me, it seems the important introspective question you need to ask yourself is do you need to be a neurosurgeon or do you want to be a doctor. As alluded to by the VERY much more qualified individuals above, it's certainly possible to make it into neurosurgery through the DO route, but undoubtedly more difficult. If you think you cannot live without life as a neurosurgeon, than perhaps reapplying is best. If I were in your shoes, I would take the acceptance and see what else I fall in love with on rotations (I felt there were 5-6 specialties I could have happily spent my career working in!).

As an aside, check out the NRMP match data that just dropped from this year's match. Does a good job of illustrating the numbers of folks applying and matching into various specialties, stratified by MD and DO! Main Residency Match Data and Reports - The Match, National Resident Matching Program

 

[solitarius]

Sorry, but the effort is not worth it to prepare for / apply to MD school 2x.

 

[Icebird]

Take the DO acceptance before I smack you upside the head with it!

 

[Dave1980]

Neurosurgery will be much much harder. You should still take the DO acceptance.

 

[LizzyM]

Dr. Webb

There is a Neurosurgeon named Webb with a DO and several with MDs. Are you saying that one of the MDs applied to medical school four times before being admitted? Can you be more specific?

 

[Seihai]

What are the chances of someone who had to apply to MD programs 4 times before (maybe) getting admitted to one would go on to land a neurosurgery residency? Does anyone know?

I don't think the sample size of any kind of analysis in this regard would be very high. That being said, I'm assuming there are people who managed to substantially improve performance in medical school, though I'm suspect of how likely that even is (though I do recall the correlations between certain metrics being quite weak).

 

[War of Arts]

There is a Neurosurgeon named Webb with a DO and several with MDs. Are you saying that one of the MDs applied to medical school four times before being admitted? Can you be more specific?

there is a youtube celebrity spine surgeon named Dr. Webb who applied to MD three or four times (I don't remember exactly) I think he got into Georgetown eventually and ended up being an orthopedic resident in a top Taxes hospital and is finishing up his spine fellowship this year. So it is possible for someone who failed several times and managed to get into competitive residency (I guess spine is as competitive as neuro or at least doing some similar stuff according to what Dr. Webb says in his videos)

 

[akuko2]

'Magic 8 ball, is 4th time's the charm?'

 

[OchemOficionado]

there is a youtube celebrity spine surgeon named Dr. Webb who applied to MD three or four times (I don't remember exactly) I think he got into Georgetown eventually and ended up being an orthopedic resident in a top Taxes hospital and is finishing up his spine fellowship this year. So it is possible for someone who failed several times and managed to get into competitive residency (I guess spine is as competitive as neuro or at least doing some similar stuff according to what Dr. Webb says in his videos)

Anything is possible, but what’s more likely is what’s most important to think about when making huge decisions.

 

[KnightDoc]

Hi all, thanks in advance for all your help. I am a 3rd time MD applicant, and I have been waitlisted to 5 MD schools. I also applied DO for the first time this cycle, and I currently have 3 DO acceptances. I am strongly interested in going into a neurosurgery residency. Assuming that I do not get off any of the MD waitlists this cycle, I was wondering if it is worth reapplying again for MD or if I should matriculate into a DO program. I heard that it is much harder for DO students to match into competitive residencies, including neurosurgery. However, if I apply for MD again, it will be my 4th time applying.

Here is some background of myself:

I graduated from a public university of California in 2015 (cumulative GPA: 3.47, science GPA: 3.35), with an upper trend in GPA. After graduating, I started the Boston University special masters program (BU MAMS), where I received a GPA of 4.0.

The first time I applied to ~30 mid-tier MD programs and did not get any interviews. This was also before I completed my master’s program and when I had a 511 MCAT score. Here is a breakdown of my extracurriculars:

Basic science research (~1000 hours)
Medical scribe (~700 hours)
Hospital volunteer (~200 hours)
Drum instructor and performer (~3000 hours)
International mobile clinic volunteer (~100 hours)
Director and officer of several student run organizations (~200 hours)

During the second time I applied, I had a 514 MCAT and a 4.0 GPA in the MAMS program. I also had more more volunteer experience with underserved populations along with more research experience. I again applied to ~30 mid-tier MD schools, and this time I received one interview and was later wailisted, but ultimately did not get in.

During the third time that I applied, I had the same MCAT and GPA, but I have more extracurricular experience and I was also working as a clinical research coordinator. I applied more broadly (~50 MD schools and 3 DO schools), and ultimately got waitlisted to 5 MD schools and got into all 3 DO schools.

Do you think it is worth to reapplying to MD programs again for the 4th time? Or should I just go with the DO programs that I got into? If I reapply for MD programs, would being a 4th time reapplicant look bad? If I retake the MCAT and get a better score, would that help my application if I do decide to reapply? What are the chances of me going into a neurosurgery residency if I matriculate into a DO school? Thanks for all your help. Any advice is appreciated.

Here's what might be a stupid question for you -- why on earth would you apply DO on your third cycle, actually get 3 As, get no As out of 50, count 'em 50 MD applications, and then come here saying you are considering not taking a DO A and giving MD a 4th try? Why would you bother applying DO if this was even a possibility?

 

[OchemOficionado]

Good question. So when I was applying for the 3rd time, my parents and couple of friends recommended trying DO. So I took their advice and applied to DO schools in addition to MD schools. I probably should've looked more into DO schools before applying, but basically I have been told that it would be harder to get into competitive specialties like neurosurgery if end up going to a DO school. If I had known this sooner, I probably would have put more though into it before applying DO.

More thought into DO or not, MD isn’t working out. Do you want to practice medicine or not? If you’d only be happy or if this journey would only be worth it to you if you become a neurosurgeon then stop and rethink your career choices as the odds aren’t in your favor whether it’s DO or MD at this point.

 

[Goro]

Good question. So when I was applying for the 3rd time, my parents and couple of friends recommended trying DO. So I took their advice and applied to DO schools in addition to MD schools. I probably should've looked more into DO schools before applying, but basically I have been told that it would be harder to get into competitive specialties like neurosurgery if end up going to a DO school. If I had known this sooner, I probably would have put more though into it before applying DO.

Sorry to be blunt, but just give up the DO accepts and let people who want to be doctors right now achieve thier dreams. I'm tried of seeing my DO colleagues have to deal with self-hating DOs who thought they were too good for DO giving them grief in labs.

 

[chaim123]

Hi all, thanks in advance for all your help. I am a 3rd time MD applicant, and I have been waitlisted to 5 MD schools. I also applied DO for the first time this cycle, and I currently have 3 DO acceptances. I am strongly interested in going into a neurosurgery residency. Assuming that I do not get off any of the MD waitlists this cycle, I was wondering if it is worth reapplying again for MD or if I should matriculate into a DO program. I heard that it is much harder for DO students to match into competitive residencies, including neurosurgery. However, if I apply for MD again, it will be my 4th time applying.

Here is some background of myself:

I graduated from a public university of California in 2015 (cumulative GPA: 3.47, science GPA: 3.35), with an upper trend in GPA. After graduating, I started the Boston University special masters program (BU MAMS), where I received a GPA of 4.0.

The first time I applied to ~30 mid-tier MD programs and did not get any interviews. This was also before I completed my master’s program and when I had a 511 MCAT score. Here is a breakdown of my extracurriculars:

Basic science research (~1000 hours)
Medical scribe (~700 hours)
Hospital volunteer (~200 hours)
Drum instructor and performer (~3000 hours)
International mobile clinic volunteer (~100 hours)
Director and officer of several student run organizations (~200 hours)

During the second time I applied, I had a 514 MCAT and a 4.0 GPA in the MAMS program. I also had more more volunteer experience with underserved populations along with more research experience. I again applied to ~30 mid-tier MD schools, and this time I received one interview and was later wailisted, but ultimately did not get in.

During the third time that I applied, I had the same MCAT and GPA, but I have more extracurricular experience and I was also working as a clinical research coordinator. I applied more broadly (~50 MD schools and 3 DO schools), and ultimately got waitlisted to 5 MD schools and got into all 3 DO schools.

Do you think it is worth to reapplying to MD programs again for the 4th time? Or should I just go with the DO programs that I got into? If I reapply for MD programs, would being a 4th time reapplicant look bad? If I retake the MCAT and get a better score, would that help my application if I do decide to reapply? What are the chances of me going into a neurosurgery residency if I matriculate into a DO school? Thanks for all your help. Any advice is appreciated.

This must be a joke, yes? You applied not 1, not 2, but 3 times. You FINALLY get into medical school. And instead of being excited, you want to give it all up for more uncertainty?

I have no words. As Goro said, reapply. It seems like being a physician isn't that important to you.

 

[Seihai]

Good question. So when I was applying for the 3rd time, my parents and couple of friends recommended trying DO. So I took their advice and applied to DO schools in addition to MD schools. I probably should've looked more into DO schools before applying, but basically I have been told that it would be harder to get into competitive specialties like neurosurgery if end up going to a DO school. If I had known this sooner, I probably would have put more though into it before applying DO.

It sounds like you don't want to be a doctor if you can't get into a competitive specialty. What would you have done if you had gotten into an MD school and then barely passed step 1?

I suspect one of the reasons you may not have done well in your past cycles is not just due to red flags or some other issue, but also the inflexibility of wanting to match into a hypercompetitive specialty where, frankly, not many people even make it to applying into the specialty.

 

[snaredrummer]

Sorry to be blunt, but just give up the DO accepts and let people who want to be doctors right now achieve thier dreams. I'm tried of seeing my DO colleagues have to deal with self-hating DOs who thought they were too good for DO giving them grief in labs.

Hi, I just want to first say thank you for your feedback and that I do not have any disrespect for the DO profession in any way. I was hoping that this discussion would not become emotionally charged. It is not my intention to put anyone or anything down. I am trying to approach my question as logically as I could, and from what I gather it is difficult to match into neurosurgery. Because I am strongly interested in this field, I simply want to know what is the best way for me to reach my goal. Of course, I am very happy to get acceptances to multiple DO schools, and I do not take these acceptances for granted. Ultimately, I want to be a physician. It has been a passion of mine for a long time, and I feel it is a privilege and honor to be able to practice medicine. I just wanted feedback as to what would be the most optimal path for me if I were to consider neurosurgery as a specialty. And if I don't get to practice neurosurgery, I know that I will be able to find some other field that I would happy to practice in. It's not all-or-nothing for me. I want to keep my options open as I go through medical school, including the possibility of going into neurosurgery. I want to say I am sorry if I offended anyone in and way. It is not my intention. I simply was seeking for advice.

 

[deleted889094]

Hi, I just want to first say thank you for your feedback and that I do not have any disrespect for the DO profession in any way. I was hoping that this discussion would not become emotionally charged. It is not my intention to put anyone or anything down. I am trying to approach my question as logically as I could, and from what I gather it is difficult to match into neurosurgery. Because I am strongly interested in this field, I simply want to know what is the best way for me to reach my goal. Of course, I am very happy to get acceptances to multiple DO schools, and I do not take these acceptances for granted. Ultimately, I want to be a physician. It has been a passion of mine for a long time, and I feel it is a privilege and honor to be able to practice medicine. I just wanted feedback as to what would be the most optimal path for me if I were to consider neurosurgery as a specialty. And if I don't get to practice neurosurgery, I know that I will be able to find some other field that I would happy to practice in. It's not all-or-nothing for me. I want to keep my options open as I go through medical school, including the possibility of going into neurosurgery. I want to say I am sorry if I offended anyone in and way. It is not my intention. I simply was seeking for advice.

Nobody is offended. They are put off by how you are continuing to make yourself appear unreasonable with each comment. I don't say this to be mean. You are definitely misunderstanding what everyone is telling you, though, and making yourself appear very naive.

You will likely not get into an MD school at this rate. The fact that you would consider reapplying and not taking an acceptance is ridiculous. You should take the DO. You will still have options for careers.

 

[KnightDoc]

Good question. So when I was applying for the 3rd time, my parents and couple of friends recommended trying DO. So I took their advice and applied to DO schools in addition to MD schools. I probably should've looked more into DO schools before applying, but basically I have been told that it would be harder to get into competitive specialties like neurosurgery if end up going to a DO school. If I had known this sooner, I probably would have put more though into it before applying DO.

Fair enough, and you should definitely do whatever feels right for you. You don't need anyone's permission here. But the adcoms here are giving you extremely knowledgeable and wise advice.

Maybe @LizzyM was a little too subtle for you with her what seemed to me to be rhetorical question. It might be time for you to have your "come to Jesus" moment here. You are hellbent on neurosurgery and seem to be ignoring the fact you are batting 0-for-50+ over three MD cycles. You only get one shot at a residency, not 3 or 4. You seem to think if ONLY you can snag that one MD acceptance that you will be set.

Your experience over 3 MD cycles suggests otherwise. In other words, while it might be impossible for you to accept right now, the odds are extremely high that you are not going to be a neurosurgeon. Not if you go DO this year, not if you get in off one of the MD WLs this year, and not if you turn down the DOs and get accepted to an MD next year. Most people cannot be neurosurgeons, even those who get multiple MD acceptances in their first cycle. Now, do you still want to be a doctor, or not, because there are literally hundreds of people at each of the schools where you hold an A who would love to have the spot you are dreading maybe having to take?

 

[Rogue42]

Fair enough, and you should definitely do whatever feels right for you. You don't need anyone's permission here. But the adcoms here are giving you extremely knowledgeable and wise advice.

Maybe @LizzyM was a little too subtle for you with her what seemed to me to be rhetorical question. It might be time for you to have your "come to Jesus" moment here. You are hellbent on neurosurgery and seem to be ignoring the fact you are batting 0-for-50+ over three MD cycles. You only get one shot at a residency, not 3 or 4. You seem to think if ONLY you can snag that one MD acceptance that you will be set.

Your experience over 3 MD cycles suggests otherwise. In other words, while it might be impossible for you to accept right now, the odds are extremely high that you are not going to be a neurosurgeon, not if you go DO this year, not if you get in off one of the MD WLs this year, and not if you turn down the DOs and get accepted to an MD next year. Most people cannot be neurosurgeons, even those who get multiple MD acceptances in their first cycle. Now, do you still want to be a doctor, or not, because there are literally thousands of people who would love to have the spot you are dreading maybe having to take.

Yeah, just to put this whole "neurosurgery" thing into perspective for you.

Imagine an individual that got into Harvard? Or closer to home, say Stanford? What are you imagining? Probably someone with a 4.0 and a 520+ on the MCAT with loads of extra-curriculars to go with it, right? I mean, that is what I imagine. That is probably what most people imagine. And for the most part, that is exactly who gets in.

Lets say Stanford or Harvard accepts 100 students a piece just for fun. Those 200 students are the top 1% of the top 1%.

In four years, only about 10 students of those 200 have the OPPORTUNITY to match neurosurg. They have to be at the top of their classes, have the research, have the ECs, have the honors, the recognitions, the entire application, and then to top it off, a top 90% board score. They have to be in the top 1% of the brightest collective group of individuals that the entire US population has to offer. Ultimately, each medical school in the country MIGHT have 1 or 2 people even qualified to try to match neurosurg. There are only 232 positions offered each year. Only 0.8% of ALL residency applicants get accepted into Neurosurg.

Matching neurosurg is no small feat. It is not a feat that simply having "MD" behind your name is going to be enough. Matching Neurosurg is hard even as an MD. BUT good news my friend, IF you are that guy, IF you are that person that is quality enough to match neurosurg, then they will find you. I can promise you that going to a DO school will not stop you from matching Neurosurg. 18 DO students did it just last year.

 

[deleted1005514]

Hi, I just want to first say thank you for your feedback and that I do not have any disrespect for the DO profession in any way. I was hoping that this discussion would not become emotionally charged. It is not my intention to put anyone or anything down. I am trying to approach my question as logically as I could, and from what I gather it is difficult to match into neurosurgery. Because I am strongly interested in this field, I simply want to know what is the best way for me to reach my goal. Of course, I am very happy to get acceptances to multiple DO schools, and I do not take these acceptances for granted. Ultimately, I want to be a physician. It has been a passion of mine for a long time, and I feel it is a privilege and honor to be able to practice medicine. I just wanted feedback as to what would be the most optimal path for me if I were to consider neurosurgery as a specialty. And if I don't get to practice neurosurgery, I know that I will be able to find some other field that I would happy to practice in. It's not all-or-nothing for me. I want to keep my options open as I go through medical school, including the possibility of going into neurosurgery. I want to say I am sorry if I offended anyone in and way. It is not my intention. I simply was seeking for advice.

Are you willing to give up a multimillion dollar career on the chance that you'll get an MD acceptance next year, and be able to go into neurosurgery? Because if you try again and don't get in, that's what you'll be giving up...even FM docs make millions (with an S, not just 1 million) over a 30 year career, and every year you hopefully wait and apply you're missing out on hundreds of thousands of dollars of income.

Also, it's not like getting the MD guarantees you a neurosurgery spot...lots of MD grads go into primary care too.

 

[LizzyM]

I've been thinking this over and OP should, for sure, turn down the DO offers and reapply. If not, he'll always wonder what might have been. Meanwhile, someone who wants to go to DO school will get a shot.

 

[deleted393595]

Dr. Webb

He got accepted the 3rd time around by dramatically fixing deficits in his application.

OP has already maxed out his/hers

 

[Talldoctor96]

@LizzyM you are in peak form tonight

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Truth time, you will not be a neurosurgeon if you go to a DO school. There are absolutely exceptions but there are only 0-3 DO's that match neurosurgery, and they are the studliest of studs. Could be you, but most likely not. The numbers make ortho look like an easy match. You will also never be a doctor if you turn down the acceptance. A 4 time re-applicant is not going to be looked at favorably. You applied to 50 MD schools this cycle, got 5 interviews, and still couldn't seal the deal. That should tell you something. Who knows, maybe you'll get off the waitlist and go on to be the top of your class and become a neurosurgeon, but at this point it is not looking good.

The question you need to ask yourself is if you want to be a doctor or not, because that's what it comes down to. Most fields are pretty open for well achieving DO's, even some of the surgical subs if you have a good application.

 

[Nugester]

I knew of someone that applied 5 times before they got in. Sure, it could be worth it, but do you want to take the risk (especially since I don't see a way to improve your app)? If I was you, I'd move on and prepare for your wonderful journey as an om1 this fall.

 

[Captain_Falcon]

But why neurosurg??

 

[PorkChopsOG]

But why neurosurg??

They have had a pa$$ion for it their entire life!!!

 

[bananafish94]

First of all, there's still a strong chance you will get into one of the 5 MD schools. That said, you should take the DO acceptance. You will still be a physician and have tons of wonderful opportunities. Also, as much as you think you want to do neurosurgery right now there's an extremely good chance you will change your mind later as medical students are prone to do.

 

[deleted555445]

I was also hell-bent on neurosurgery, thinking it was the peak form of medicine. After shadowing a neurosurgeon in college (who’s first words to me were “pick literally any other specialty”), I’ve come to learn it’s not all it’s cracked up to be, minus the money. I kept shadowing the nsurgeon because I liked him and he was a good mentor, but I decided that the field was not for me, even though I spent most of high school and the early years of college dreaming of it.

It seems like you want to pick the path that will give you the highest probability of getting neurosurgery. We can map this out pretty easily with statistics. PNS = probability of matching neurosurgery.

Option 1: go to DO school): PNS = probability of DO student matching neurosurg (low)

Option 2 (reapply to MD): PNS = probability of getting accepted to MD (low) * probability of MD student matching neurosurg (low)

Do you have an objective reason to believe you will likely get into an MD next year? Otherwise, even without knowing all the statistics I think it’s obvious that option 1 will have a higher PNS than option 2. Option 1 also doesn’t have the risk of not becoming a doctor at all, as I’m not sure how DOs feel about you turning down an acceptance.

Also, this may all be moot. If I understand correctly, I believe 5 MD WLs yields a good chance of getting accepted. But for now, I would suggest DO as the statistically most likely option to get you into neurosurg.

 

[Isoval]

Let’s be honest:
If you can’t match neurosurgery from a DO school, the odds are that you wouldn’t have made it at an MD school either. It’s not magically easier because you went to a MD school - the people on both sides are the best of the best.

Take the DO acceptance.

 

[mmchick]

Lol I can’t believe people like this end up becoming physicians. I may be wrong, but you’re showing yourself on here to be severely lacking in good judgement. I’ll second LizzyM’s updated advice: reapply so you don’t have regrets and give your spots up to people who are dying to be physicians.

 

[Tabiyou]

Hi all, thanks in advance for all your help. I am a 3rd time MD applicant, and I have been waitlisted to 5 MD schools. I also applied DO for the first time this cycle, and I currently have 3 DO acceptances. I am strongly interested in going into a neurosurgery residency. Assuming that I do not get off any of the MD waitlists this cycle, I was wondering if it is worth reapplying again for MD or if I should matriculate into a DO program. I heard that it is much harder for DO students to match into competitive residencies, including neurosurgery. However, if I apply for MD again, it will be my 4th time applying.

Here is some background of myself:

I graduated from a public university of California in 2015 (cumulative GPA: 3.47, science GPA: 3.35), with an upper trend in GPA. After graduating, I started the Boston University special masters program (BU MAMS), where I received a GPA of 4.0.

The first time I applied to ~30 mid-tier MD programs and did not get any interviews. This was also before I completed my master’s program and when I had a 511 MCAT score. Here is a breakdown of my extracurriculars:

Basic science research (~1000 hours)
Medical scribe (~700 hours)
Hospital volunteer (~200 hours)
Drum instructor and performer (~3000 hours)
International mobile clinic volunteer (~100 hours)
Director and officer of several student run organizations (~200 hours)

During the second time I applied, I had a 514 MCAT and a 4.0 GPA in the MAMS program. I also had more more volunteer experience with underserved populations along with more research experience. I again applied to ~30 mid-tier MD schools, and this time I received one interview and was later wailisted, but ultimately did not get in.

During the third time that I applied, I had the same MCAT and GPA, but I have more extracurricular experience and I was also working as a clinical research coordinator. I applied more broadly (~50 MD schools and 3 DO schools), and ultimately got waitlisted to 5 MD schools and got into all 3 DO schools.

Do you think it is worth to reapplying to MD programs again for the 4th time? Or should I just go with the DO programs that I got into? If I reapply for MD programs, would being a 4th time reapplicant look bad? If I retake the MCAT and get a better score, would that help my application if I do decide to reapply? What are the chances of me going into a neurosurgery residency if I matriculate into a DO school? Thanks for all your help. Any advice is appreciated.

I would take the DO acceptance.

 

[Pagan FutureDoc]

If you want to be a doctor take the DO acceptance
If it’s neurosurgery or nothing...take the nothing

 

[Dr. Vinnie Boombatz]

But why neurosurg??

Because McDreamy makes it look so fun

 

[bioarchaeologist]

Ask yourself: do you wanna be a neurosurgeon or a doctor? If it's the former, what happens if you go MD and fail to match neurosurg? what are you gonna do then, quit?

 

[Small Cell Carcinoma]

Believe me, there is likely only a 1/10 chance that by the time you get to your 4th year of medical school you actually want to be a neurosurgeon. Still can't figure out why pre meds like defaulting to this. Maybe it gets good reactions from others?

Not even going to touch the general MD vs DO issue, but if it takes you 3 attempts to even get one DO acceptance, I don't think the odds are in your favor that you will suddenly become a rockstar student who crushes all the boards and manages to get an into an ultra-competitive field like neurosurgery. Sorry just being realistic.

But to answer your questions, yes you should take the DO acceptance. Yes it would look bad to reapply for a 4th time (or any number of times). No, retaking the MCAT is unlikely to improve your chances for MD schools (your GPA is too low). Chances are extremely low of matching neurosurgery at a DO school (compared to just being low at a MD school)

Take what you have and stop being greedy.

 

[getdown]

If you cant even make it into an MD school after 3 tries, what makes you so sure you'll be able to beat out everyone else for a neurosurgery spot? You're going to be competing with the best of the best at that point. People who can just glance at a page and spew it out verbatim. Take the DO and try your best for neurosurgery. At the end of the day if you cant see yourself doing anything else except neurosurgery cut your losses now and do something else and not be drowning in debt working in a field you hate.