I've been having difficulty expressing my reasons for not choosing osteopathic medicine (as an alternative route) and was interested if anyone else has experienced this. The question arises frequently, due to an uncompetitive mcat score, and it continues to frustrate me. Let me first preface that I have nothing against Osteopathic medicine. I simply feel that it's not for me. Anyway, I try (repeatedly!) expressing how I feel to my family, but it doesn't seem to register. Their response is simply, "What's the difference, you practice medicine just like an MD" and their right, often leaving me at a loss for words. As an older/non-traditional student, I originally set out (like many others, I'm sure) to become an MD and not willing to compromise my objective. Why can't people accept that!! (DAMN IT!!) I'm not gonna let some ridiculous 8 hour exam dictate my life, I refuse. If I go DO, it won't be by way of default, but because of my attraction to the philosophy. (This is one of the problems with the whole DO, MD stigma....the fact that DO institutions are perceived as less competitive. Standards for admission should be equal at both degreed programs. The stigma will remain until this changes.) But thats another issue......I guess I just wish people would be more respectful (and understanding!!) of my decision to go allopathic. If it takes another year or so, so be it. Any "constructive" advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. P.S.- I hope I haven't offended any osteopaths for it was not my intent.
I am a fourth year DO student. I fully support you. The worst thing you could do to yourself is to apply to a school that you didn't want to go into in the first place. You will be miserable. Your classmates and profs will sense this. Eventually your patients will sense this. This is exactly why I went DO and not MD. I applied and interviewed at both DO and MD schools. After one interview at one MD school, I knew then there was NO WAY I would EVER go to an allopathic school. It just wasn't for me. I would have been miserable. Do not listen to all the "nay-sayers", follow your heart. You are the one that is gonna have to live with your decision, so make sure it is the one you want! Billie, MS-IV
Jacky..... Thanks for sharing your thoughts and, in addition, would like to thank you for not applying to osteopathic school.... You are absolutely correct.... Don't apply to something as a mere default.... Pursue your dreams and best wishes....
"I've been having difficulty expressing my reasons for not choosing osteopathic medicine (as an alternative route) and was interested if anyone else has experienced this."--jacky. response: perhaps the above remark can be attributed to what upperclass med. students, admissions directors, and generally secure people like to call, "pre-med anxiety." osteo. medical practitioners that volunteer admissions advice to pre-medical students prefer to describe d.o.-schools as qualified options that equivocally end in board-certification/board-eligibility; and the complete american legal right to practice all healthcare procedures within the scope of specialty practice. "The question arises frequently, due to an uncompetitive mcat score, and it continues to frustrate me."--jacky. response: please realize where you occasion upon uncertainty about the ability of osteopathic medical students to become proficient and helpful practitioners; or the ability of osteopathic medical schools to provide at least as thorough curricula expected of all u.s. med. schools. "I simply feel that it's not for me."--jacky. response: fair enough, i suppose. it's interesting that you'd also simply search for confirmation and approval of your feelings by creating this thread. "I try (repeatedly!) expressing how I feel to my family, but it doesn't seem to register. Their response is simply, "What's the difference, you practice medicine just like an MD" and their right, often leaving me at a loss for words."--jacky. response: perhaps your family doesn't share the individual vanity that you've described of yourself evident in your need to scribe "m.d." after your name to validate your medical education. "I originally set out (like many others, I'm sure) to become an MD and not willing to compromise my objective. Why can't people accept that!! (DAMN IT!!) I'm not gonna let some ridiculous 8 hour exam dictate my life, I refuse."--jacky. response: temper, temper, friend. you give the impression that your "objective" was more to acquire the "m.d." degree and less to serve as a caregiver to suffering patients. if your "objective" is sincerely that unscrupulous, it's no wonder that you'd type that people have trouble accepting it. "If I go DO, it won't be by way of default, but because of my attraction to the philosophy."--jacky. response: actually, if you ever end up matriculating at an osteopathic medical school, you've clearly described (unless you're confused, or influenced) that it would only be by "default." "the fact that DO institutions are perceived as less competitive. Standards for admission should be equal at both degreed programs. The stigma will remain until this changes."--jacky. response: the interests of osteopathic med. institutions are to train physicians for employment in underserved areas of the united states; farbeit from you to query their admissions standards, their obligation to their students and communities, and whom these schools presume to be fitful doctors. any perceived "stigma" will remain until you ever begin clinical rotations at area hospitals, and learn the importance of compassion; and the insignificance of your name-badge when you're charged with alleviating someone's pain. "But thats another issue......I guess I just wish people would be more respectful (and understanding!!) of my decision to go allopathic."--jacky. response: i think we all wish that people could be more respectful and understanding. people are funny sometimes, don't you think? good luck.
