I've been looking for doctors to shadow in my area. I found emails for a couple of DOs and was going to ask if I could shadow but I'm wondering, is it a bad idea to shadow DO if I plan to apply MD? I figured it wouldn't matter because a doctor is a doctor. But it looks like if you're applying DO, you're pretty much are required to shadow a DO. Is it like that with MD as well?
Shadowing DO and applying MD
- Thread starter poetbro
- Start date
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2013
- Messages
- 1,544
- Reaction score
- 1,953
no one is going to care
- Joined
- May 16, 2018
- Messages
- 1,830
- Reaction score
- 4,662
It doesn’t matter. I had a DO LOR that i submitted as part of my committee letter through AMCAS and it turns out it was one of my strongest letters (was told that at an MD interview). It won’t hurt you - shadow whoever you can!
- Joined
- Aug 2, 2013
- Messages
- 787
- Reaction score
- 693
Won't matter. I go to an MD school, and many attendings are DO. It's all the same in the hospital.
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2018
- Messages
- 1,124
- Reaction score
- 1,636
My 2 cents - Its better to shadow a DO than an MD... Shadowing a DO doctor can help meet the DO requirement which some DO schools have while no MD school will discriminate against this. On the contrary, DO schools will discriminate against MD shadowing as some schools strictly say they require a letter of recommendation from a DO doctor while the majority "strongly" recommend that a letter of recommendation/shadowing be from an osteopathic physician.
- Joined
- Jun 11, 2010
- Messages
- 72,623
- Reaction score
- 115,667
Not all DO schools require a DO LOR. Not having a letter won't hurt you, but having one will help.
For MD, they won't care one way or the other.
