shadowing a DO

[kodyfied]

Hi,

I plan to apply to DO schools for Fall 2008 admissions. I plan to apply as early as possible as well in June/July. I still have to shadow a DO, though. It's not too late right? How long do they usually expect you to shadow them before they write you the letter? When do I need the letter of recommendation by? Will I be sending the letter separately to the schools with secondaries?

Also, this is probably a stupid question, but I work full time. So I'm wondering how I'll get the shadowing done. I'm hoping I can find a doctor that I will be able to shadow over the weekends? That's probably feasible right? If anyone have advice on this please let me know. Thanks!

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[PlayMeSomeMusic]

Somebody can correct me if I'm wrong.. Maybe I was reading on the FAQ sticky thread at the top who knows. But it sounded like you may only need to shadow once or twice to have the DO write your letter of rec (if they want to that is) and so if you absolutely had to take one or two days off of work I don't think that should be a problem, although having no knowledge about your job or anything it's just a guess from my previous jobs. Hope that's at least a little helpful.

 

[Fermata]

Hi,

I plan to apply to DO schools for Fall 2008 admissions. I plan to apply as early as possible as well in June/July. I still have to shadow a DO, though. It's not too late right? How long do they usually expect you to shadow them before they write you the letter? When do I need the letter of recommendation by? Will I be sending the letter separately to the schools with secondaries?

Also, this is probably a stupid question, but I work full time. So I'm wondering how I'll get the shadowing done. I'm hoping I can find a doctor that I will be able to shadow over the weekends? That's probably feasible right? If anyone have advice on this please let me know. Thanks!

I had to coldcall 10+ DO's before I found one that I could shadow. I suggest you get started on that. I ended up shadowing a FP DO for a few hours in the morning and met with him later so he could get to know me better before he wrote me a LOR.

What I can tell you is that it make take a few phonecalls before you can find one who's willing to help. I live in Raleigh, NC but none within the local area were willing to help. It helps if there's a DO that you can find that is either a current adjunct professor somewhere or who has had some teaching experience in the past because they tend to be more open about this sort of thing.

If you need to take off a day from work then I suggest you do. This is sort of an important thing that you have to do.

http://www.osteopathic.org/index.cfm?PageID=findado_main

Use that website to help you get started.

 

[KeyLime]

Not all DO schools require a LOR from a DO although I know it can only help you as most schools recommend it. I had an MD letter instead of a DO letter, and I know that it hurt me in one of my interviews. If you can only swing a couple days of shadowing due to your work hours, that's better than none at all. There are other ways besides job shadowing, such as volunteering, in order to get more clinical hours.

As for how and when to send the letters, I used Interfolio and highly recommend it. You letter writers send or upload their letter to Interfolio, and you can send the letters to the schools when they want them. Typically, schools don't want your LORs until you are sending in your secondary. One exception is NYCOM.

You might want to check your state's Osteopathic organization. I contacted mine, and they put me in touch with a list of doctors who had been open to having students shadow them in the past.

 

[DrVanNostran]

Heres what I am doing, tell me if this ok....

I am shadowing each of the following for three hours:

Family Medicine
Internal Medicine
Orthopedic Surgeon
Random/Probably ER

I am trying to shadow different specialties. If I felt that the session went well, I will ask for a LOR from them. BTW-I plan on using interfolio.

 

[Tanner82]

Yea I shadowed a bunch of them like that too, I just asked the most laid back, down to earth doctor for a LOR. This could be good or bad because obviously he won't say no and he'll want to help you out... on the other hand he could be lazy and forget about it or just not get it in punctually... I'm using interfolio too, still havent got it It's only been 3 days tho

 

[Tanner82]

testing my signature

 

[Muscles00GT]

Just out of curiosity, how many LOR's from DO's are typically needed when applying? Is there any need to have more than one?

 

[digital01]

I only had 1 letter. Also, how long it takes to get a letter I would say depends on the doc. I shadowed a DO for a week and he offered to write a letter on the 3rd day without me asking.

 

[Muscles00GT]

Sounds good. I'm shadowing my family physician for a few weeks and he already said he could write me a LOR if needed. So, hopefully i'm in good shape.