The interview question: why DO question

[BeanBag2]

Hey all, I am starting my interview process in a week and just starting to prepare for all of them. Perhaps one of the most important questions asked is why DO? For me this is very hard to answer. I have done a ton of research on both MD and DO ways of thinking but when I have worked with both I did not really see a difference.

Honestly: I would have liked to apply to both MD and DO, however my sub-par MCAT score held me back from doing so. Before anyone jumps down my throat and says why are you even applying DO you clearly do not agree with our ideology blah blah blah, I just want to practice medicine. I don't care if I have a DO after my name or an MD. I have worked with great doctors both MD and DO so I know the degree is not what makes you become a successful physician.

Answer admissions would like to hear? I am still going back and forth with this. I do believe the human body is astonishing in its capability in healing it's self and there are measures that all people should take to prevent becoming sick and DO physicians tend to stress about it more. Things such as eating healthy, getting enough sleep, exercising often, etc....

I just want to get an idea of how other people went about this question when being asked. Thanks everyone!

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[Stlblues17]

Hey all, I am starting my interview process in a week and just starting to prepare for all of them. Perhaps one of the most important questions asked is why DO? For me this is very hard to answer. I have done a ton of research on both MD and DO ways of thinking but when I have worked with both I did not really see a difference.

Honestly: I would have liked to apply to both MD and DO, however my sub-par MCAT score held me back from doing so. Before anyone jumps down my throat and says why are you even applying DO you clearly do not agree with our ideology blah blah blah, I just want to practice medicine. I don't care if I have a DO after my name or an MD. I have worked with great doctors both MD and DO so I know the degree is not what makes you become a successful physician.

Answer admissions would like to hear? I am still going back and forth with this. I do believe the human body is astonishing in its capability in healing it's self and there are measures that all people should take to prevent becoming sick and DO physicians tend to stress about it more. Things such as eating healthy, getting enough sleep, exercising often, etc....

I just want to get an idea of how other people went about this question when being asked. Thanks everyone!

I said about the body's ability to self heal and medicine helps promotes this self healing etc. this and how it went along with my personal beliefs of health and healing. Please don't use the word 'holistic' in your answer. If you sound like your reciting the 'what is a DO?' Page, that isn't good.

Really think what osteopathic medicine is to you...

 

[Awesome Sauceome]

Your answer to "why DO" should basically be that you wanted to be a DO after working or shadowing with a DO. Basically that they just showed such a good example that you wanted to follow in their footsteps. It doesnt even have to be an MD vs DO thing, not to mention 90% of the time us as pre-meds dont know what the heck we are talking about and will likely end up offending your interviewer.

So for me, I shadowed a couple DOs. In a nutshell I really only brought up the DOs that I shadowed. I said that they were awesome (for specific example/reason X,Y,Z that I witnessed) and that I wanted to follow by their great example and become a DO. Thereby avoiding the MD vs DO thing. When it came up (in one of my interviews), I simply said that I have nothing against MDs at all (as our future colleagues) but that for me personally, I just ended up shadowing DOs more and so I just went down that path without majorly considering MD.

 

[chizledfrmstone]

If you're applying to McDonald's you better be ready to talk about how awesome the Big Mac is. If you say the Big Mac is equal to the Whopper then some people will be offended.

Take aspects of your life that flow with the DO philosophy and run with it.

Answer admissions would like to hear? I am still going back and forth with this. I do believe the human body is astonishing in its capability in healing it's self and there are measures that all people should take to prevent becoming sick and DO physicians tend to stress about it more. Things such as eating healthy, getting enough sleep, exercising often, etc....

There you go. Expand on this further. There is no magical correct answer.

 

[High_protein_diet]

Your answer to "why DO" should basically be that you wanted to be a DO after working or shadowing with a DO. Basically that they just showed such a good example that you wanted to follow in their footsteps. It doesnt even have to be an MD vs DO thing, not to mention 90% of the time us as pre-meds dont know what the heck we are talking about and will likely end up offending your interviewer.

So for me, I shadowed a couple DOs. In a nutshell I really only brought up the DOs that I shadowed. I said that they were awesome (for specific example/reason X,Y,Z that I witnessed) and that I wanted to follow by their great example and become a DO. Thereby avoiding the MD vs DO thing. When it came up (in one of my interviews), I simply said that I have nothing against MDs at all (as our future colleagues) but that for me personally, I just ended up shadowing DOs more and so I just went down that path without majorly considering MD.

Yeah I'd have to agree with this. No need to get technical or even get into OMM. Just mention how the DO/s you shadowed had great relationships with their patients, led you to apply DO, etc.

If you want to know more for interviews, read "the DOs: osteopathic medicine in America".

 

[Awesome Sauceome]

Yeah I'd have to agree with this. No need to get technical or even get into OMM. Just mention how the DO/s you shadowed had great relationships with their patients, led you to apply DO, etc.

If you want to know more for interviews, read "the DOs: osteopathic medicine in America".

Ohhh I guess I should add that I also said that I also have a general interest in learning OMM. I have never seen it personally, so I couldnt really say much about it. But its like you could become a doctor (via MD) or you could become a doctor + learn OMM (via DO), so its like "an extra tool in the tool belt" sort of thing. No one can really argue with that, so thats another safe thing to say.

 

[chizledfrmstone]

Yeah I'd have to agree with this. No need to get technical or even get into OMM. Just mention how the DO/s you shadowed had great relationships with their patients, led you to apply DO, etc.

If you want to know more for interviews, read "the DOs: osteopathic medicine in America".

One interviewer was impressed that I knew the 4 tenants of osteopathic medicine. He said no one else knew them on that day.

Another interviewer presented a scenario that required me to describe OMM and how it could be used.

You don't have to know the technical stuff but you should know the general philosophy.

It really depends on the interviewers you end up with. It's all a crap shoot but be prepared.

 

[AM508]

"the DOs: osteopathic medicine in America".

This. It was a very useful book for understanding the background of osteopathic medicine, which will allow you to have a better discussion on interview day.

 

[DoctorSynthesis]

Hey all, I am starting my interview process in a week and just starting to prepare for all of them. Perhaps one of the most important questions asked is why DO? For me this is very hard to answer. I have done a ton of research on both MD and DO ways of thinking but when I have worked with both I did not really see a difference.

Honestly: I would have liked to apply to both MD and DO, however my sub-par MCAT score held me back from doing so. Before anyone jumps down my throat and says why are you even applying DO you clearly do not agree with our ideology blah blah blah, I just want to practice medicine. I don't care if I have a DO after my name or an MD. I have worked with great doctors both MD and DO so I know the degree is not what makes you become a successful physician.

Answer admissions would like to hear? I am still going back and forth with this. I do believe the human body is astonishing in its capability in healing it's self and there are measures that all people should take to prevent becoming sick and DO physicians tend to stress about it more. Things such as eating healthy, getting enough sleep, exercising often, etc....

I just want to get an idea of how other people went about this question when being asked. Thanks everyone!

Have you shadowed a DO?

Have you seen OMM been done?

Have you read the DOs?

Can you have a conversation about DOs without reciting Wikipedia or a brochure?

Is your answer simply DOs are more hollistic? That's bad. A good way to approach why DO is to gives examples.

 

[keels99]

I talked about how I thought Osteopathic medicine did a better job of focusing on fixing a problem versus just throwing medications at a person to treat them symptomatically. I went on to talk about how I thought American's were overmedicated and the osteopathic approach aligned with my ideals as to how we should treat a patient. A lot of the DO's I work with are pretty no nonsense people and I've always liked their attitudes better than the MD's I work with.

 

[MaduNotSoff]

Was only asked this at one interview. I told the interviewer that I have shadowed two DO's for a significant amount of time and admire their competence and the way they conduct themselves/interact with people around them (patients, colleagues, etc.) One DO works in a group with 6 MD's and they only say positive things about him. I haven't seen OMM performed, but am interested in learning it because it will improve my palpation skills and benefit me when diagnosing/treating patients. Then there were some follow-up questions like "Have you seen a difference between MD's/DO's" to which I said no based on docs I've shadowed. Kept it simple and sincere.

As a side note, one of my interviewers was on the OMM faculty (at a pretty OMM-heavy school) and told me that there are current students at that school totally gung-ho about it, students that didn't mind it, and students that could not stand it. They know that not all DO's will use it, so it isn't necessary to convince your interviewer that OMM is one of your main reasons for pursuing osteopathic medicine. Do your homework and be honest - your interviewers will see right through you if you recite a DO brochure to them.

 

[NovMSScr]

I know this is an old thread but it was the most recent and related thread I could find. How long should your answer to this question be?

 

[asdf123g]

I know this is an old thread but it was the most recent and related thread I could find. How long should your answer to this question be?

depends on how fast you talk but id say maybe 30 seconds to 1 minute for your initial answer. Discussion on your answer may follow afterwards.

 

[NovMSScr]

depends on how fast you talk but id say maybe 30 seconds to 1 minute for your initial answer. Discussion on your answer may follow afterwards.

Thanks, that what I was thinking but I wasn't sure if one is expected to be able to go on for like 5 minutes or what.

 

[asdf123g]

Thanks, that what I was thinking but I wasn't sure if one is expected to be able to go on for like 5 minutes or what.

i havent interviewed yet so take what i said with a grain of salt. This is only what intuition would tell me.