Being a DO myself, and formerly on a residency selection committee at an allopathic university medical center, I can tell you that DOs are often ranked lower than US trained MDs. And IMGs are ranked even lower.
Now, before I get flamed, let me break it down very simply. It's not usually the degree that's the issue, it's the medical school that the applicant is attending.
For instance, when a department can say that it matched 3 Harvard grads and 2 Yale grads and 2 UCSF grads, what do the heads of the medical university think? Of course... it must be one hell of an awesome department!
Why is that important? The department head looks good, the faculty look good, and the university will be less likely to cut funding to their department. Heck, they may even give more funding to the department.
Now these might be the worst students from each school, with no communication skills, drug histories and even active leprosy -- but that doesn't matter. Drop the big names and it's impressive. The university heads won't likely look at USMLE scores or GPAs, and they're never going to actually meet the residents.
So, does this mean that lesser name med school grads, DOs and IMGs are screwed at major university facilities? No. But it does mean they've got to work twice as hard as their counterparts at the big names. And let me tell you, the grads from the big names are already working their butts off (that's how they got in in the first place).
🙂
