Starting to regret going to a DO School?!? Thoughts on reapplying/transferring?!

[frosted2]

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Despite what others have said on this thread there actually have been DO's who transferred to MD schools. Alternatively they have to start again as a first-year at the MD school but it has happened.

I could not, would not want to repeat MS1 just to get an "MD" instead of a "DO" behind my name. Heccccccccck naw.

 

[Doc_Ock]

I could not, would not want to repeat MS1 just to get an "MD" instead of a "DO" behind my name. Heccccccccck naw.

It certainly mattered to this person. To each their own.

 

[LimpSpatula]

What the **** is a “sub-par” hospital?

 

[Princeton Medical Student]

What the **** is a “sub-par” hospital?

There are well run/well funded hospitals and there are not. What is there to not understand?

 

[Angus Avagadro]

What the **** is a “sub-par” hospital?

A hospital where the in hospital IM service , does NOT consist of an ( Attending, Fellow, Pg1 and Pg3 IM resident, Sub I , and two 3rd yr med students), who passionately argue over whether to put 25 or 30 meq of K in the IV bag.

 

[Apprentice of St. Luke]

This is a feeling I have started to obtain gradually and it has caused me to have a lot of mixed feelings. I cant help but notice the differences between my friends and colleagues in MD schools vs what I am doing in my DO school. They have a plethora of research opportunities and their clinical rotations are at HUGE medical centers that have every department/specialty possible. My rotations will be scattered all over the place in sub-par hospitals. I'm also very worried about residencies and my application because I want to do a competitive surgical speciality which are notorious for not being very DO friendly... Before anyone screams at me that DO's are in every speciality, yes I know that, but the chances are statistically lower, especially now with boards becoming pass/fail.
I also detest the fact that we have to take double the board exams, which is extremely stressful and expensive, when the USMLE is really the only exam that matters, even if it is pass/fail.
My feelings have also been exacerbated by my own encounters of DO bias, in hospitals and talking with my mentor physicians and with patients who constantly ask what a DO is, and me having to explain it time and time again.
Taking classes in OPP have made me realize that I don't really believe in this type of treatment
Does anyone else feel this way? Would it be absolutely foolish of me apply again while in continuing medical school and start over at an MD school? I doubt this has ever been done before. If anyone has ever had this feeling, does it go away? Does it even matter once you reach residency?

May I say this as a forever pre-med - who has been one since many of you residents and possibly attendings were in middle school or less (since 2002)?

You are going to be a physician. Full stop. I envy that. I don't care about the degree designation (MD/DO/MBBS/MBChB, etc.).

I am a 38 year old who works at a well known burger place, with poor GPAs, no recent ECs, etc. I just celebrated my 38th birthday - while my desire is to celebrate my 43rd with at least a medical school acceptance (either MD or DO), realistically that is going down the drain.

Now, what do we call someone who graduated last in medical school at the least attractive medical school on the planet?

"Doctor".

Congratulations, [future] Doctor, on your acceptance to medical school!

 

[Isoval]

I used to have some of the same reservations that you had. I was accepted and matriculated to the only DO school to which I'd applied (TCOM on TMDSAS, since it was the only one then).

1) I have, to this day, never been asked what a DO is or even what OMM is.
2) There are more research opportunities at my school than I know what to do with. This ranges from clinical to educational to bench research. If you wanted to do research here, you could have easily walked out with more than you could carry. I didn't want to do that and you probably don't either, but the possibility is there.
3) I cannot speak much on how the scene will change with Step 1 being Pass/Fail now. However, all signs seem to indicate that Step 2 will be the major indicator of standardized performance moving forward. Maybe you don't want to take two exams, and I get it. But that's an extra sixteen hours of your life for a lifetime of a career in medicine. If you can't do that, you don't belong in medicine anyways. "Well, I'll have to study OMM for COMLEX-" nope, you don't - didn't study a lick of it and cleanly passed both Level 1 and Level 2. Funnily, I did better on USMLE than COMLEX. Additionally, it's something like an extra 1600 dollars for Step 1 and 2. To be frank, that's a drop in the bucket compared to the money you will spend on tuition, study resources, and residency traveling/application fees. It's less than one percent of what your total schooling and application fees will be.

The one comment you make which I cannot summarily rebuke is the possibility that your third year rotation experience may be subpar. Unfortunately, it is well-known that COCA plays fast and loose with rotation requirements in comparison to LCME and some DO medical schools do not even bother scheduling any of your third year rotations for you. A further subset do not have strong rotation connections with local hospitals and you may be sent far and wide to complete your rotations at rural hospitals. My only comment here is that your goal as a medical student is to gain exposure to the way medicine works in practice. It is not to see all the different kinds of pathology, it is not to go to a high-ranked hospital, it is not to have access too all of the best equipment. Your job is to learn how to do consults, to learn interprofessional teams function, and how to go about the day-to-day of managing patients as a medical student. Whether you're at Mass Gen or podunk rural Alabama 40-bed hospital, you will receive that knowledge.