Should I leave my BS/DO program and apply MD?

[Angus Avagadro]

With all due respect, you guys are not fully understanding how these combined programs work. OP wouldn't be taking a seat (or tuition) away from anyone! OP is asking about leaving a program AFTER completing the UG component and BEFORE starting DO. The school would merely fill that seat with a regular admission applicant. She wouldn't be leaving after matriculating in DO school, it wouldn't be considered unethical, there would be no reason to disclose it to other schools, other schools would have no way to know, etc. The issue is merely giving up a guaranteed DO spot to take a shot at MD. None of the other issues are in play!

Please re read my post. I was responding to formerf1 who stated 2 of his DO OMS1 classmates applied to MD school while1st yrs and left after getting accepted. Do2021's post and mine will make more sense.

 

[formerF1DO]

I'm not sure if you are advising the OP to apply as 1st yr DO student, or not. If so, respectfully, I would disagree. First, I'm not sure an MD school would accept OP today if they have already matriculated at a DO school. I believe they have a way of knowing this. Other Adcoms might be able to add more info, @Goro, @ Gonnif ? Secondly, it turns a 4 yr med school education into 5, with an extra yr or half yr tuition. Thirdly, I believe it is unethical if the student leaves the DO school after 5 or 6 weeks to matriculate in the MD school next year. The DO school cannot replace the student at this point and eats 3 yrs of tuition. Just my 2 cents.

I wasn't advising OP to apply as a 1st year DO student.
I thought OP was still working on the Bachelor's degree. I assumed OP could apply to other medical schools, while hanging on to the promised spot, as a back up.

In fact, when my two 1st year DO classmates announced they were leaving for US MD schools, almost all of the students were surprised.
My DO school's registrar office, probably knew. They most certainly sent some transcripts.

I don't know the details of how they applied, and what they said on their interviews.
I believe the US MD school Adcoms knew they were already 1st year DO students.
I believe then and even now, you have to list every place you earned a course grade.
Why those schools took them, I have no clue.

I'm just telling a real story.

 

[HopeP]

I assumed OP could apply to other medical schools, while hanging on to the promised spot, as a back up.

I believe OP has clarified somewhere in earlier responses, that is not an option.
So Op has 2 options to choose from:

1. Stay foot as it is, accept DO guaranteed seat and matriculate to DO, be a Dr in another 4 years (jumping to MD is not an option as OP hasn't applied to MD/DO through traditional route).
2. Finish UG in 3 years as expected, don't accept DO guaranteed seat (it is a guaranteed seat, which doesn't materialize unless and until OP accepts at predetermined established schedule as part of 7 year BS/DO program), take gap year to boost MCAT, ECs etc. and apply as traditional route candidate 1-2 years from now to MD/DO schools hoping to get a MD admission.

In fact, when my two 1st year DO classmates announced they were leaving for US MD schools,

The scenario that a matriculated DO student jump the ship to MD for w/e reason is a N/A scenario for OP as OP hasn't applied as traditional candidate for MD/DO school yet, rather has a guaranteed seat for DO school as part of 7 year BS/DO program accepted right after high school. OP hasn't followed the guaranteed seat acceptance process yet. It is just confuses everyone due to nuances of how BS/DO process works vis-a-vis traditional process. Hopefully this clears some air.

 

[KnightDoc]

I believe I have seen Goro mention this and that it is something DO schools expect to occur for several students each year. It is not an unusual occurrence and just broadly speaking, an MD seat is better than a DO seat. I don't believe it is unethical and don't believe the DO schools view it as such either.

This^^^^^. On the other hand, charging large, non refundable deposits upon acceptance to hold the seat because it's a sellers' market ....

 

[KnightDoc]

Please re read my post. I was responding to formerf1 who stated 2 of his DO OMS1 classmates applied to MD school while1st yrs and left after getting accepted. Do2021's post and mine will make more sense.

Sorry! I guess the thread has become so long and convoluted that we are now cross posting! You are correct!!!

 

[DO2015CA]

With all due respect, you guys are not fully understanding how these combined programs work. OP wouldn't be taking a seat (or tuition) away from anyone! OP is asking about leaving a program AFTER completing the UG component and BEFORE starting DO. The school would merely fill that seat with a regular admission applicant. She wouldn't be leaving after matriculating in DO school, it wouldn't be considered unethical, there would be no reason to disclose it to other schools, other schools would have no way to know, etc. The issue is merely giving up a guaranteed DO spot to take a shot at MD. None of the other issues are in play!

That’s not what I was doing. The post earlier hinted at starting the DO program while while applying to an MD program. That’s where that comment came from. If you scroll up to my response about about dropping the program being a slap in the face, I said no for this exact reason. They would fill the spot.

Some people have been out of the field for too long. Even some of the adcoms at my school who do interviews don't know the range of the MCAT and refer to it as the "MedMCATS". I've learned to take everything I read on this forum with a grain of salt and do more research.

What would be unethical is leaving after DO school starts since those seats cannot be offered to someone else. Since quite a few DO schools start earlier than MD this happens a lot and 11 students jumped ship at my friend's school a few years ago. Then again most of us would have done the same thing when a 40+ year career is on the line.

I am not so far removed from the application season, I’ve recently enough gone through the match, and my program uses residents as an equal member when voting how to rank applicants. We are in the interviews and the rank meeting. I would say I qualify as a pretty good resource.

 

[Fawna]

Again, my gender is the bigger issue -- I'm just concerned my age, degree, race, etc. may add more reason for patients to distrust me. I've already been told on here that at 19, I am too immature to start medical school. Not to mention isn't the average age of a new doctor 28?

Correcting people to inform them that you are a doctor will happen at 24, 26, 30+,etc. MD or DO.
(Edit: as a female)

 

[Eye-eye]

I feel like this thread has gotten a bit off the original topic...

 

[Ganon]

OP has a 510 MCAT and everyone is turning their nose up at it like it's a handicap. Only on SDN.
To have done that before completing prerequisites is a fantastic feat and shows that OP can likely do what's needed for MD acceptance.

I'm just an M3, but conventional wisdom is that for something like plastics a research year, master's degree, or other notable accomplishment is almost expected, and picking a better-known med school is absolutely in line with that.

It's risky to give up a bird in the hand, for sure! I think, however, a lot of the conservative sentiment from this thread comes from people who think OP would be somehow snubbing their program... As someone who made some sizable "donations" to DO schools for predatory fees prior to my MD accept, my own advice is to do what will be best for your own career while maintaining professionalism.

OP, if I were in your shoes I'd absolutely at least explore what an MD application would look like and check your local schools for their stats and what that would look like. If it appears that your odds of acceptance are high based on hard data, it isn't a bad gambit.

Another reason to explore MD... Shooting my shot by going allopathic is saving me >60k in tuition difference. Every situation is different, but exploring the numbers on that front is wise as well.

 

[Eye-eye]

I'm just an M3, but conventional wisdom is that for something like plastics a research year, master's degree, or other notable accomplishment is almost expected, and picking a better-known med school is absolutely in line with that.

As an M4, I'd mostly agree, but I would argue that a research year, while common, is not expected per se. If you have mediocre step, then yeah, perhaps. But my classmate doing plastics didn't do a year out, and I'm not (ophtho, so similarly competitive) despite a (slightly, slightly below) average score for the specialty. But I have done other stuff that makes my app stand out a bit. Totally agree that you need to do something to stand out.

 

[DarkHorizon]

I’m a DO orthopedic surgeon, and FWIW OP, I have never been asked what a DO is. I have now been on clinical setting for nearly 8 years. I find it amusing that some premeds here think patients/hospitals care. May be for an academic job at ivory tower. But in the community, no one cares. You’ll have no shortage of patients or lack of respect from your MD colleagues. Only thing that’ll matter is your ability to be a good, competent, compassionate physician. That’s all. If you’re good, you’re good.

With that said, yes, it is harder to get into competitive specialties as a DO, although by and large, most MDs also go into primary care/moderately competitive specialties. However, it’s probably better to keep your options open at this stage. You need to figure out if your school will rescind your guaranteed acceptance if you applied out. If they won’t, I would absolutely apply to MD schools.

However, if they’ll rescind your acceptance, you need to be careful. You have pretty good stats but it’s not slam dunk status by any means for MD schools. Also, the reapplication to DO schools may not be easy as you’ll inevitably be asked why you gave up your seat previously. But it’s not unheard of. I had two people in my class who were previously MD students and quit medical school altogether and then reapplied a few years later. I’m sure they got shunned by MD schools and likely had good stats so my DO school took them. N=2 here, but there are quite a few DO schools and your stats are pretty good, so someone will likely take you. But I do agree, it is a risk and you need to understand the ramifications.