the match

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zorro21

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hello. i am a current 4th yr osteopathic medical student. i am interested in applying for both the allopathic and osteopathic match. i have heard anything things about applying to both at the same time, and i have a few questions if someone could please help me.
1. do you apply to both matches at the same time?
2. which match comes first the osteopathic or allopathic and what are the time frames of applying to both? when do you hear back?
3. what happens if you are accepted into the osteopathic match 1st? what if you match with the allopathic program first?
4. what if you are applying to a dually accrediated program? which match do you use?

thank you for the help.
 
Cant answer too many of those questions but the Allopathic match is announced sometime in the 3rd week in March, so the Osteopathic match is first. That being said as far as the allopath match it is a binding contract so if you match you better be there or they could sue you. I dont know how likely that is but it sure would look bad. As far as your other specific questions I am guessing the DO page would have more answers since there is more experience there about making this decision. Allopath's cant apply to the Osteopath match.

Also, not to make this more confusing but there is also the early match which is for some of the specialties.

Finally, shouldnt there be some person (Dean of Student Affairs) who could help you with this stuff? I am sure your school has some sort of program in place to answer all your questions.
 
The way I understand it is as follows:

you can apply to both matches but the osteopathic match comes first, and if you are matched there, you are automatically dropped from the allopathic match. So if you really want to match allopathically, you have to exclude yourself from the osteopathic match.

For a dually accredited match, you must contact the program and ask which match they want you to use.

The residency director at your school should be able to give you more information and confirm/correct what I wrote.

Hope this is helpful. Good Luck.
 
A correction: You can match in both matches along as the start dates of the programs are different. I matched to a 2004 DO internship and an allopathic residency program that starts in 2005. But just make sure that the allopathic residencies you apply to will accept a DO internship as a PGY-I clinical year.
 
I believe Rad One is right on the money...as a 4th Year DO student...I spent last nite pondering the same exact thing...and I checked with attendings at the hosp today...and they agreed as well....
 
If you apply for a categorical position in the osteo match (about 1 mo earlier than the allo match) and are accepted into a program than you will be removed from the allo match.

If you only apply for the intern year in the osteo match then see Rad One's post.

I did the same as Rad One. Osteo TY intern year and Allo gas advanced years. Be ware that after matching into the osteo intern year YOU WILL BE UNABLE TO RANK CATEGORICAL POSITIONS IN THE ALLO MATCH. This means you will be cutting the odds of your matching so be wary.
 
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