What DO Schools are more friendly to late applicants?

[Scienceolympian]

I know it's very late in the cycle, but my first MCAT was a 498 and I'm retaking it in August to raise it. My practice scores now are at about 503, and I'm shooting for a 505. I understand these schools having rolling admissions, but I wanted to see which schools would be more friendly to a September applicant. I have a cgpa of 3.52 and a sgpa of 3.4. I'm a microbiology major with a stats and chem minor. I have 2 leadership positions in ECs, have done neuro research for the past 2 years, have over 200 hours of clinical volunteering and 150 shadowing hours. I'm a PA resident, so I'm definitely looking to apply to PCOM and LECOM. Besides those, I"m looking to apply to VCOM, NYITCOM, WVSOM , PNWU-COM, and UNE COM. Are there any schools on this list I should avoid or any I should add?

Also, side note I've shadowed a DO, but she was very reluctant to write a rec letter. Apparently, she refuses to write them for anyone and she was the only DO who I reached out to that allowed me to shadow them. I have a rec letter from an MD, how badly will this hurt my app?

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[mc29012]

September isn't late for DO.

 

[Schwifty]

For DO schools, as long as you have everything in by Thanksgiving you should be fine, so its not "very late"

 

[Ell19]

a letter from an MD is fine- that's where my LOR is from and I'm mostly applying DO. I think there are a FEW schools that request a letter specifically from a DO, but I can't think of them off the top of my head.

 

[DameJulie]

In my experience none of them are "friendly" to late applicants, because all of them operate rolling admissions.

Do note that the "late" line for DO is different than MD.

 

[Goro]

I know it's very late in the cycle, but my first MCAT was a 498 and I'm retaking it in August to raise it. My practice scores now are at about 503, and I'm shooting for a 505. I understand these schools having rolling admissions, but I wanted to see which schools would be more friendly to a September applicant. I have a cgpa of 3.52 and a sgpa of 3.4. I'm a microbiology major with a stats and chem minor. I have 2 leadership positions in ECs, have done neuro research for the past 2 years, have over 200 hours of clinical volunteering and 150 shadowing hours. I'm a PA resident, so I'm definitely looking to apply to PCOM and LECOM. Besides those, I"m looking to apply to VCOM, NYITCOM, WVSOM , PNWU-COM, and UNE COM. Are there any schools on this list I should avoid or any I should add?

Also, side note I've shadowed a DO, but she was very reluctant to write a rec letter. Apparently, she refuses to write them for anyone and she was the only DO who I reached out to that allowed me to shadow them. I have a rec letter from an MD, how badly will this hurt my app?

All of them. As mentioned above, the DO cycle is longer and Sept is fine. So is early November.

The MD LOR is only lethal at schools that require a DO LOR. You CAN mention that you shadowed her. Chances are, as the DO community is small, that some Adcom member will know her, especially if there is a school near her.

 

[mwsapphire]

All of them. As mentioned above, the DO cycle is longer and Sept is fine. So is early November.

The MD LOR is only lethal at schools that require a DO LOR. You CAN mention that you shadowed her. Chances are, as the DO community is small, that some Adcom member will know her, especially if there is a school near her.

Not all the schools OP mentioned need a DO letter! NYITCOM and UNECOM don't ( am also applying there).

 

[Scienceolympian]

All of them. As mentioned above, the DO cycle is longer and Sept is fine. So is early November.

The MD LOR is only lethal at schools that require a DO LOR. You CAN mention that you shadowed her. Chances are, as the DO community is small, that some Adcom member will know her, especially if there is a school near her.

Thank you!

 

[tuf13119]

I think WVSOM is the only DO school on your list that requires a DO letter (maybe why you have it highlighted)?

 

[Medic741]

I know it's very late in the cycle, but my first MCAT was a 498 and I'm retaking it in August to raise it. My practice scores now are at about 503, and I'm shooting for a 505. I understand these schools having rolling admissions, but I wanted to see which schools would be more friendly to a September applicant. I have a cgpa of 3.52 and a sgpa of 3.4. I'm a microbiology major with a stats and chem minor. I have 2 leadership positions in ECs, have done neuro research for the past 2 years, have over 200 hours of clinical volunteering and 150 shadowing hours. I'm a PA resident, so I'm definitely looking to apply to PCOM and LECOM. Besides those, I"m looking to apply to VCOM, NYITCOM, WVSOM , PNWU-COM, and UNE COM. Are there any schools on this list I should avoid or any I should add?

Also, side note I've shadowed a DO, but she was very reluctant to write a rec letter. Apparently, she refuses to write them for anyone and she was the only DO who I reached out to that allowed me to shadow them. I have a rec letter from an MD, how badly will this hurt my app?

I only had an MD letter and applied Nov/Dec and received II from ~7/11 schools I applied to (it’s been a while and I forget the exact number). This never came up as a negative and I was sure to describe my exposure to osteopathic physicians during the interview. Eg while working in the hospital I saw some physicians doing OMM, my PCP was a DO and treated me with OMM when I came in etc. but only talk about what’s true from your experience and you’ll be fine!

 

[DrDumbDrum]

I got an interview invite at NYITCOM with just MD letters. I submitted a DO letter later for good measure, but not having a DO letter when applying was not a problem for me. Also, like many folks have mentioned, September is a perfectly normal time to apply for DO schools!

 

[993444]

All of them. As mentioned above, the DO cycle is longer and Sept is fine. So is early November.

The MD LOR is only lethal at schools that require a DO LOR. You CAN mention that you shadowed her. Chances are, as the DO community is small, that some Adcom member will know her, especially if there is a school near her.

Two quick questions:

1) Do you give extra credit to an applicant who has a letter from a physician who is an alumni at your school?

2) Does a DO letter hurt if you only shadowed them for a day?

 

[BobbyKoch]

Not Goro, but I only shadowed two days and got a letter and it worked out fine. A DO letter only hurts if you have behaved in some inappropriate way, I would think. Hopefully, anyone willing to write you a letter is doing it to be supportive. You can always ask them directly, "would you be willing to write me a strong letter of support?"

I realize it is hard to think of what they could say after a day of wallflowering, but I imagine that schools recognize these letters are not going to be in-depth.

 

[Goro]

Two quick questions:

1) Do you give extra credit to an applicant who has a letter from a physician who is an alumni at your school?

2) Does a DO letter hurt if you only shadowed them for a day?

1) It does impress us more.
2) Nope. Many shadowing events are a day or two.

 

[keanureaves]

Not Goro, but I only shadowed two days and got a letter and it worked out fine. A DO letter only hurts if you have behaved in some inappropriate way, I would think. Hopefully, anyone willing to write you a letter is doing it to be supportive. You can always ask them directly, "would you be willing to write me a strong letter of support?"

I realize it is hard to think of what they could say after a day of wallflowering, but I imagine that schools recognize these letters are not going to be in-depth.

Out of curiosity, what did the letter cover? My physician letter comes from someone I've worked under for 2 years so I'm interested in what assessments are made in one day.

 

[993444]

Out of curiosity, what did the letter cover? My physician letter comes from someone I've worked under for 2 years so I'm interested in what assessments are made in one day.

Well an interview is only 30 minutes...

You can tell a lot about a person in the first day of meeting them.

 

[keanureaves]

Well an interview is only 30 minutes...

You can tell a lot about a person in the first day of meeting them.

I don't think that's an apt comparison. One is shadowing a doctor for a day with presumably no active roles. Interviews are part of of the medical school admissions process, which has been refined over several years (for most schools), with a complete set of your ECs/PS/Secondaries and several sets of eyes evaluating your application.

 

[993444]

I don't think that's an apt comparison. One is shadowing a doctor for a day with presumably no active roles. Interviews are part of of the medical school admissions process, which has been refined over several years (for most schools), with a complete set of your ECs/PS/Secondaries and several sets of eyes evaluating your application.

Most DO doctors will have a short meeting with you and discuss your application before writing the LOR. They can assess your overal personality type, oral communication style, motivation, interest, etc.

You don’t need to know someone for a very long time to assess these things.

 

[BobbyKoch]

Out of curiosity, what did the letter cover? My physician letter comes from someone I've worked under for 2 years so I'm interested in what assessments are made in one day.

I have no idea. He requested a letter of introduction from my premed advisor. So he had that and I asked a bunch of questions during the day, when appropriate. Tried to remain engaged.

 

[BobbyKoch]

I don't think that's an apt comparison. One is shadowing a doctor for a day with presumably no active roles. Interviews are part of of the medical school admissions process, which has been refined over several years (for most schools), with a complete set of your ECs/PS/Secondaries and several sets of eyes evaluating your application.

Loved your work in speed, btw.

 

[Alkain]

Well an interview is only 30 minutes...

Your interview is the entire day you're at that medical school.

Are there any schools on this list I should avoid or any I should add?

You've only got 7 schools. I'd add another 5-8.
The only school where a September application is getting late would be TCOM and maaaybe CCOM/AZCOM.

Also, side note I've shadowed a DO, but she was very reluctant to write a rec letter. Apparently, she refuses to write them for anyone and she was the only DO who I reached out to that allowed me to shadow them. I have a rec letter from an MD, how badly will this hurt my app?

It's not gonna hurt you, it just doesn't help you at the schools that prefer DO letters.

 

[993444]

2) Nope. Many shadowing events are a day or two.

How long would these letters even be

 

[PA_dud3]

Loved your work in speed, btw.

Loved your work with Tuberculosis

 

[Goro]

How long would these letters even be

They vary

 

[Alkain]

How long would these letters even be

Think mine was a paragraph. But hey, it worked. I think they were just looking for a baseline letter of "this kids not crazy".