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I think you should post WAMC with cGPA/sGPA for your school list guidance.
Only school I can think of that favors high stats would be Touro-CA (median MCAT was 30 I think).
Also, congrats on 521. It'd be pleasure to know your progress afterwards.
Only school I can think of that favors high stats would be Touro-CA (median MCAT was 30 I think).
Also, congrats on 521. It'd be pleasure to know your progress afterwards.
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Umm... ALL of them. Except the ones that think your mcat is too high and you'll likely not go to their school if accepted, so they don't bother to consider.
I'd submit to MD programs if you're ok with going that route as well.
I'd submit to MD programs if you're ok with going that route as well.
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779663
Chicago would be a dream, I'm really fond of that school. I submitted my secondary to them a while ago and now I can finally send them my MCAT
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AnatomyGrey12
Yeah I wouldn't apply to DO schools with a 521/3.6. Heck I wouldn't apply to DO schools with a 521/3.2
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Z
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With a score of 521, it's never too late until the app cycle literally closes.
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The reason it's that long is to snag last-minute ppl like you, haha.
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And it looks like OP is caught on the net!
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235009
You can try your hand at MD this time but I would strongly recommend playing the long game. Next year you can apply broadly to MD schools with DO as backup late in the season if you're not getting enough love. Congrats on the score.
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I was hoping no one would say that. I don't know if I have it in me to wait another year. I wouldn't matriculate until fall 2018. I'll be 26 then. I've already waited so long and all I wanna do is just get in to medical school but I understand what you're trying to tell me. it could be the right thing for me in the very long run.
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I could be wrong on this, but I'm pretty sure there are MD schools that will only take into account your highest/most recent grade.
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OP, it matters what you want to specialize in. Any thoughts on what you like, what you don't like?
Also if u go to a DO program and do equally well on boards, all options will be open for you come residency time.
Also if u go to a DO program and do equally well on boards, all options will be open for you come residency time.
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A lot of people are advising me to apply to MD schools, and even consider waiting another year and applying next cycle, but is the jump from DO to MD really worth it? Like aside from the title itself, what would I really be gaining? Like if I wanted to get a residency in Internal Medicine for instance, wouldn't it make like zero difference effectively whether I choose MD or DO?
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I've always been drawn to either psychiatry or internal medicine. When I was a little kid I really wanted to be a psychiatrist and I like internal medicine because you get to be exposed to a variety of different cases as opposed to just one thing. I interned with an oncologist for a while and so I've also thrown around the idea of doing an oncology fellowship after an IM residency.
To be honest though, more than anything else, I've always thought that the best approach is to wait until I get exposure in medical school to all of the available residency options and then decide at that point when I will be the most informed as opposed to getting tunnel vision now before I even go into med school.
All I know for certain is that I have absolutely zero interest in anything surgery related
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Guys, GPA really matters in MD admissions.
You could have a 45 mcat and personally cured 3 types of Cancer, but with 3.0 GPA I'd bet good money on zero MD interviews unless you're URM.
You could have a 45 mcat and personally cured 3 types of Cancer, but with 3.0 GPA I'd bet good money on zero MD interviews unless you're URM.
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Since you're not telling us that you want to do rural primary care then MD will give you an advantage. Makes a huge difference if you want to train in an academic IM program and an even bigger difference if you want to do a competitive fellowship (like onc).
MCAT > GPA
A program with a low median MCAT or OP's state school might overlook the grades with such a high MCAT.
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If you care about training in academic IM programs and really like to do research, then go MD. But IM is not competitive for DOs either, depending on the sub specialty of IM.
However, landing residencies also depend on your board scores, doesn't matter if you go the DO route or MD route. Would the MD route give you an advantage if you're really into research or train in academic IM programs? maybe
But, if you're not interested in that, then it doesn't matter. Especially since the bias towards DOs are slowly going away, and the residency merge is coming up
You have to decide if it will be worth it to wait another year to apply for MD or not. Not sure how many credits you have already under your belt, but your GPA might take a lot of classes to increase.
Also, psychiatry and IM aren't the super competitive specialties, and I'm sure you can land one regardless if you go to a DO or MD school.
http://www.insidermonkey.com/blog/10-least-competitive-medical-specialties-in-america-384685/
However, landing residencies also depend on your board scores, doesn't matter if you go the DO route or MD route. Would the MD route give you an advantage if you're really into research or train in academic IM programs? maybe
But, if you're not interested in that, then it doesn't matter. Especially since the bias towards DOs are slowly going away, and the residency merge is coming up
You have to decide if it will be worth it to wait another year to apply for MD or not. Not sure how many credits you have already under your belt, but your GPA might take a lot of classes to increase.
Also, psychiatry and IM aren't the super competitive specialties, and I'm sure you can land one regardless if you go to a DO or MD school.
http://www.insidermonkey.com/blog/10-least-competitive-medical-specialties-in-america-384685/
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What if I wish to do a fellowship after my residency? Will it matter whether I'm a DO or an MD at that point?
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The advantage of going to an academic program is not just research.
If two people got the same board score the MD student has a big advantage and will be preferred every time.
Getting any IM spot is easy but getting the spot you want in the location you want can be very difficult.
Your thoughts on the "DO bias" and the "merger" are misguided and I won't rehash my views on those topics.
The fact that you linked to insidermonkey.com when talking about residencies yet think you are somehow qualified to comment is funny/terrifying
To OP be careful who you get your information from on sdn.
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Its likely that DO or MD will have an impact on where you do your residency, which will have a major impact on your fellowship options, so even if there is no impact of degree post residency directly, there will still be an indirect impact of medical degree on fellowship options.
It depends more on how you did on your boards, where you did your residency at, your CV, LOR, etc
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Listen to the board certified physician that's giving you advice. I'm not interested in anything über competitive that's unattainable for a DO either. But I'd happily wait a year to save ~$60-$80,000 to go to a cheap in state MD program.
Edit: congrats on the score.
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Edit: congrats on the score.
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The insidermonkey article gave a quick and concise look at the competitiveness of the residencies mentioned.
If OP wants, they can also check out
http://www.nrmp.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Charting-Outcomes-2014-Final.pdf
or pay a fee and check out (has MD and DO match info)
https://www.aamc.org/cim/specialty/exploreoptions/list/
And the DO bias is slowly going away with the newer generations of practicing physicians, and some regions are more DO friendly than others.
And no, the merger isn't going to solve all of these biases, but it is important to let OP know that after the merge, there will only be one residency match instead of having the DO and MD matches.
OP is trying to decide between applying to DO now or waiting and applying to MD. I have no idea what their situation is and I'm letting them know that applying to DO is not the end of the world if they don't want to apply to a super competitive residency. There is no need to scare them into thinking MD is the only choice, especially since they don't seem to want to wait.
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If Hematology/Oncology is so competitive, how come only 55% of the total fellowship slots are taken up by U.S. MD.'s? I'm just starting to learn how much incorrect information is actually circulating around SDN. Hem/Onc is competitive, BUT it's competitive because you need good board scores. Being a DO will not barr you in any way from getting a residency. You probably just have to study in a non-preferred area but it's very attainable as a DO. 30% of students in Hem/Onc fellowships last year were Non-US IMG's!!
My proof: http://www.nrmp.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Results-and-Data-SMS-2016_Final.pdf
Pg. 12 and pg. 16
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What @MeatTornado is saying is true IF you want to go to like UCLA, Johns Hopkins, Stanford, etc. for your IM residency. Other than that, look at the facts!!!! I'm going to be completely honest with you. You can do anything you want as a DO, I repeat ANYTHING. BUT, it all comes down to how well you perform and some minor bumps.
Bumps are:
-1) MD's only take the USMLE as opposed to DO route you have to take COMLEX and USMLE in order to get an Academic IM program with in-house fellowships.
-2) With decent board scores, MD's will most likely get a residency in their home area while you MAY have to move to a less competitive area in the country. (this depends on where you are located--- ex. Los Angeles and UNC Chapel Hill IM programs are out of the question). So if you're ok with moving for residency to get what you want, then you're good.
That's basically it. It's easy for many MD's to say that it's hard for DO's to get good residencies because they don't see many DO's in them, but the fact is DO's just apply to their own AOA residencies with AOA fellowships for the most part and do the same thing (why go through all the extra hassle when you're a DO and have your own hospitals that take care of you instead?) . And for the DO's that don't get in, it's much much more likely due to a low board score performance or other personal factors than their title of DO next to their name. Get into DO schools, and if/when you have choices, choose the one that feels the most like the right fit and just kick ass. Hope this helps!
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What is your uktimate goal OPs? I see you have some doubt now.
If you don't care about the tittle and just want to be a doctor and go internal medicine, Just apply this year and get your chance to become a doctor. Or you can apply MD and DO now and see. In the end, you will become a doctor, just different is maybe Now or Later
If you don't care about the tittle and just want to be a doctor and go internal medicine, Just apply this year and get your chance to become a doctor. Or you can apply MD and DO now and see. In the end, you will become a doctor, just different is maybe Now or Later
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AnatomyGrey12
With a 521 I would bet large amounts of money that in 4 years when OP matches he will regret going straight to a DO program without giving MD a fair shake when he goes through the match and doesn't get what he wants. I don't care if OP is impatient, patience will be the far better option in this case. His future career could be on the line, if he had a 512 then yeah I would just say go DO but a 521 is a freaking 38 and that isn't just something to sneeze at.
This is a very simplistic view of the reality, and not really that accurate.
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Hi OP,
Sorry to throw another voice into this conversation. I was in a similar situation last year (3.3something gpa, 518 mcat I got back mid-september). Advice on here was to delay applying until next cycle so I could have a shot at MD & DO. Being honest, that's what I wanted at the time so I delayed. Results are TBD since the application cycle is still early, but the early news hasn't been great with many rejections (but one interview invite at a school I am tremendously excited for!)
I feel this thread devolving into another MD vs. DO discussion, so I'll just offer you this advice: your MCAT is fantastic, but your GPA is still low and a lot of schools aren't going to like that. You should check that table that's floating around here somewhere that gives you the % chance of matriculating with your mcat and gpa. Yes I am just a pre-med, but if I had to look into my crystal ball, I really don't think it's going to matter all that much if you go MD or DO. That's been the advice i've gotten from the faculty I work with. To me, this is really a financial question. State MD schools can put you in a really terrific financial situation. Look up your state schools and their tuition. Then look at the DO schools you're excited about, and check out their tuition. If it's drastically more than your state school, I think it's worth waiting a year. But if the cost is comparable, I think you should seriously consider sending in you aacomas asap.
Sorry to throw another voice into this conversation. I was in a similar situation last year (3.3something gpa, 518 mcat I got back mid-september). Advice on here was to delay applying until next cycle so I could have a shot at MD & DO. Being honest, that's what I wanted at the time so I delayed. Results are TBD since the application cycle is still early, but the early news hasn't been great with many rejections (but one interview invite at a school I am tremendously excited for!)
I feel this thread devolving into another MD vs. DO discussion, so I'll just offer you this advice: your MCAT is fantastic, but your GPA is still low and a lot of schools aren't going to like that. You should check that table that's floating around here somewhere that gives you the % chance of matriculating with your mcat and gpa. Yes I am just a pre-med, but if I had to look into my crystal ball, I really don't think it's going to matter all that much if you go MD or DO. That's been the advice i've gotten from the faculty I work with. To me, this is really a financial question. State MD schools can put you in a really terrific financial situation. Look up your state schools and their tuition. Then look at the DO schools you're excited about, and check out their tuition. If it's drastically more than your state school, I think it's worth waiting a year. But if the cost is comparable, I think you should seriously consider sending in you aacomas asap.
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Apply Caribbean, they will give you a 80,000 dollar scholarship! (This is sarcasm just to be clear)
I would apply to both MD, DO programs, if you dont get into MD, then you have DO. I believe Touro CA, as everyone else has said are super MCAT focused. Also schools like Midwestern (Both campuses), etc are MCAT heavy.
I would apply to both MD, DO programs, if you dont get into MD, then you have DO. I believe Touro CA, as everyone else has said are super MCAT focused. Also schools like Midwestern (Both campuses), etc are MCAT heavy.
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AnatomyGrey12
Just to note to the original question: the coastal Touros love high MCAT scores. If you are going to go DO I would avoid them like the plague. Both of them have terrible board scores, which should tell you something about the school if they have some of the highest MCAT scores.
