Very Concerned

[kimt2234]

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I live in Madison, WI (capital of Wisconsin, population 215,000). I was just researching the two major insurance providers for the city and investigated how many DO's there are in all the specialties and was astounded that I found there are hardly any DO's at least in my area in all of the specialties. FOr some, there were none at all and when I did spot a DO it was usually only one, maybe two.

what is up with that? After reading the descriptions of what a DO is I feel like that degree is more suited for me, but why does it seem like there are so few? At first glance, it looks like when hiring, hospitals and clinics and insurance companies prefer to hire MD's over DO's.

Even though I am still interested in applying to schools of both degrees, I don't want to take the road less traveled if it is going to bite me in the ass later when it comes to applying for residencies, and particularly jobs. I am particularly interested in Women's health and there are NO DO's in the whole city in this field. WHy? why is it that more people choose the MD vs the DO anyway.

I continually read how similar they are except for a few things, yet there are so few DO schools compared to MD schools. The field has been around since the 1800's. This discrepancy in more people seeking the MD rather than the DO makes me wonder if there is something about the DO that is lacking. Is this true? Plus, people on this forum talk about those that have less than appealing stats to consider the DO or Caribbean schools like they are a last resort or ditch effort, or that that the DO is the only viable option for those that were rejected by MD schools. I don't want to apply to DO schools just because their admissions standards are lower than MD's. Why is that anyway? Why are their acceptance rates higher and the average stats lower than MD?

Again, I just started looking into this and the initial info has these questions brewing in my mind when considering which schools and degree to apply to.

 

[DrMom]

Somewhere around 96% of physicians in the US are MDs and over half of DOs choose to go into primary care specialties. What you're seeing is simply the numbers, not a case of DOs not being able to get jobs.

 

[MoosePilot]

Tough questions, but I think the difference is just that there are fewer DO graduates every year. Fewer DO schools. Osteopathy is growing, but it's not turning out the same number of graduates numerically.

From everything I've researched, DOs won't have any trouble getting hired. Competitive allopathic residencies might be a little harder to get into, but not impossible as a DO, but that's compensated by the fact that there are Osteopathic residencies that only DO grads can enter.

Some will try to explain the lower admissions stats as DO schools putting more emphasis on intangibles, like maturity. My personal opinion is that there is a certain "stigma" among students. They either don't know about Osteopathy or think it's a lesser path and so the majority of students with higher numbers apply MD. It doesn't mean that you can't apply DO with high numbers and live up to your full potential as a physician.

Good luck on your research.

 

[ShyRem]

Madison also has an MD school in it - thus you would expect a higher number of MDs residing there. Look at places with a DO school, I think you'd expect a proportionately higher number of DOs than other places.

 

[dr.z]

If there are only about 5% practicing DOs in the country, you may not see very many of them. They are not distributed equally among the states. Some states have a lot more than the other. According to AACOM's report there are about 535 practicing DOs in Wisconsin. (I think this is from 2002 or 2003).

 

[DrMom]

I think he meant for Wisconsin.

The AOA Factsheet lists 580 DOs in Wisconsin.

 

[USArmyDoc]

I agree with everyone else that is has to do purely with numbers. I know many DO's that are in some high sort after specialties (e.g. neurosurgery). I wouldn't worry much if you perform well! Good Luck

* Also, don't be ashamed to reapply if you feel that DO is not for you.