that's not what i got out of that particular post but that's all i'll say about that. i was also not meaning to be snippy, but pointing out what i perceived to be a contradiction. to be fair, it was probably somewhat aggressive since i was hoping you would go into it. too bad you didn't. maybe they should merge pre-allo and pre-osteo after all.
pho pasteur changed their name to Le's now. which is too bad. not the same ring.
DO residencies were created for DO graduates. Since DO's could not, at one time, attend MD residencies, what else could they do?
There are more MD residency spots than there are MD applicants to fill them. And not all of those spots are in 'desireable' specialties. Government funding is lost when those spots consistenly do not fill. So, DO's are allowed - no - needed to fill those spots. For a while, it was just crappy spots in crappy specialties. Then programs realized that we weren't all voodoo and OMM, we knew medicine too. Then more programs considered DO applicants, in specialties that were more desireable. Things were still okay, there were plenty of spots, and IMGs also rounded out the lists nicely.
Now there are more graduates from all schools, the number of residency spots has not increased since the 80's. While most MD grads would not take a DO residency spot, some would if it were in a desireable specialty - like plastics or derm. Suddenly it wasn't just "MD spots for MDs only", now it was "DO spots for MDs too".
But it really isn't an equitable system. A DO and MD candidate applying to an MD program with equal stats - the MD wins. The DO with higher stats than the MD candidate - perhaps equal competitiveness. Is that fair? Maybe not, but it's what it is.
DOs are designated as independant candidates. It's not as if we lobbied for that status, it's what we are considered by ERAS and NRMP, just like past MD graduates and IMGs. As such, we can sign outside the match. This traditionally favored the weaker programs, who would pressure DO's to sign outside the match in order to assure filling that year. This is seen as some sort of advantage, but unless you are offered a contract to your number one choice and want to go there, it's a mind-fu*ck when they dangle the contract in front you and hint that if you don't sign, you can kiss their ranking you away.
It's not as if people sign outside the match left and right. It's like the '90 college credits required to matriculate to med school'. Technically possible, but not often encountered - especially in the more competitive specialties.
And speaking of competitive specialities. At one time, anesthesia was considered a sh*tty specialty. So was psychiatry. You couldn't get an US grad to apply to those specialties. You know who filled that undesireable void? DOs. IMGs. Anesthesia is very DO-friendly. So is EM, one of the youngest specialties, the red-headed, bastard step-child unholy offspring of surgery, medicine, peds, and OB. No one wanted to do EM - it was new, strange, run under the department of surgery as a division - didn't rate departmental status. Who went into EM in droves? DOs.
Mind you, this is all skewed to my viewpoint, but historically and trend-wise, it's on target. Now that anesthesia and EM are becoming more popular, DOs and IMGs are being squeezed out. Things are different now. More USMDs may not get what they want, and all others may not match at all.
). You seem pretty disrespectful of anyone not gung-ho about DO schools. DOs again are a viable option, but is it just as good as an MD option? Maybe so, maybe not. You've voiced your breathless opinions and I've posted match lists to compare. But the fact that you then go on bashing Caribbean schools makes me think your ego isn't smaller than anyone else's, it's just rationalized differently. If you do go into a DO school, when you do your rotations, you would find many who are from the Caribbean as well as from stateside MD schools, will you look down on the Caribbean students and smugly laugh at the stateside MD students for being in the same place as you?
