Just curious if allopathic residencies will accept COMLEX alone, or will they require USMLE. I have a DO telling me he is eligible to apply to many allo residencies with just COMLEX.
Will allopathic residencies accept COMLEX alone?
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depends on specialty
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Yes, but this is dependent, as above, on the specific program and specialty.
If you want to match ACGME, just take the USMLE to be safe. It isn't that much more effort studywise. I hear mayn students just study for the USMLE and tack on OMM for the COMLEX.
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Yeah...this depends on the program/residency. You are competing with people who all have taken USMLE. It is hard for programs to compare you to them with just a COMLEX. It also helps to rotate at a program. If they know you, then you MAY be ok with just COMLEX because they KNOW YOU. Otherwise, if it is just based on paper, it is better you take the USMLE.
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At the hospital I volunteered at, one of the peds resident was a do and said she didn't take the usmle. But I know the g-surg program requires USMLE for sure. So you have to contact each location for the specialty you are interested in. I think many people like the usmle so they can compare students equally.
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What? Why would DO programs care about USMLE score? I would think it would be a huge waste of time, money, and effort to take the USMLE if you score well on the COMLEX and want to apply to only AOA specialties.
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if DO programs care about USMLE scores, there is a serious issue at hand, that doesn't make any sense, and i've never heard of that from any of the people i know in DO residency programs. if you're applying to anything MD outside of family practice and want to go to a 'top' or 'upper mid level ' prorgam, take the usmle and squash it. don't take it if you are at risk of failing - you can't hide a failed usmle score.
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You can certainly hide of a failed USMLE score.
Just don't report it 👍
Also, Doctors Hospital asked me why I took the USMLE. I gave them my reason, but I didn't care what type of response I'd get in return. I obviously didn't bother to rank a DO program at the end of the day.
Just don't report it 👍
Also, Doctors Hospital asked me why I took the USMLE. I gave them my reason, but I didn't care what type of response I'd get in return. I obviously didn't bother to rank a DO program at the end of the day.
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Just as a note: AOA programs are not supposed to ask for your USMLE score, they do not have the ability to find if you took the USMLE on their own, and you do not have to disclose your USMLE score. If you know of a program that asks people for their USMLE score you're supposed to alert the AOA as thats not listed as one of their allowed measures of assessing you. This all sounds serious and to the AOA it is (to me, not so much. I find it humorous).
Of course: if they do find out you took it and you don't give the submit or refuse to tell them in interview... well you can go ahead and be a whistle blower but you're sure as hell not getting in either
. Thats just common sense. If a DO program asks you about it, tell them you did not take it. Why the hell would you tell them anything else unless you got a 260+as for the OP's question: perhaps a general rule would be useful here. Obviously every program has the ability to vary. As a rule all NBME (so not neccessarily SF match stuff) programs *have* to accept the COMLEX. It's NBME police. Now if they choose to never give you an interview is up to them (oh caveats). So you have plenty of programs that simply wont look at it if you don't have the USMLE. Just though it was worth the slight clarification. The general rule you should assume here is surgery or 'competitive' = USMLE.
Any NBME surgery will effectively require the USMLE. And a competitive location for any other other residency will require it. Its important to note that while this rule isn't all encompassing, its surprisingly useful in that you will find the "less competitive" programs of "competitive" residency in general will usually be okay with your COMLEX alone (this is seen a lot with ophthalmology in middle america, so I'm told). And "competitive" programs in "noncompetitive" residencies will generally want the USMLE as well (see: family med or peds in manhattan)
Again. General rule, not absolute rule. Still call up your potential residency spots and ask. This is just so you can gauge what you should be expecting based on where you are aiming. And of course there are exceptions. St. Barnabus is a very competitive gen surg NBME program which does not require the USMLE. Shock trauma in Maryland (which, okay, is a fellowship) is the #1 trauma program in the country and let in at least 1 DO who never took the USMLE. But generally the rule holds true.
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i don't think you can legally do that. if a program finds out you took or failed a usmle and didn't report it , it could suck down the road. on the other hand, what they don't know probably won't hurt them if the comlex is decent.
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When it's time for you to apply on ERAS, you'll see how easy it is to not report it.
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as doctor4life said, its very easy to not report, and there is no requirement to report it. Simply dont have your application and what you say on your interview contradict each other if you have a score to hide. Thats plain careless.
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An osteopathic PD asking about USMLE scores is ridiculous, and should be reported.
The whole justification for the existence of separate GME and separate licensing exams is that osteopathic training is supposedly "different" from ACGME. An AOA program director using USMLE scores is basically admitting officially that this policy is wrong.
And just to reiterate what others have said here, never admit to an AOA program director you took the USMLE.
The whole justification for the existence of separate GME and separate licensing exams is that osteopathic training is supposedly "different" from ACGME. An AOA program director using USMLE scores is basically admitting officially that this policy is wrong.
And just to reiterate what others have said here, never admit to an AOA program director you took the USMLE.
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Meh. If i did poorly on the usmle i probably wouldn't report it, if they asked about it i don't know how comfortable i'd be saying i didnt take it though. I'm in the opposite boat, I did well on the usmle and craptacular on the comlex, so i'm probably only releasing my usmle to residencies and not disclosing the comlex, if they ask i'll just tell them how I did at the interview.
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They won't care about COMLEX. However, they will want to know that you passed them, since this is how you will attain your license.
I don't know how having COMLEX scores shown in your profile will impact your application. My initial thought is that it will have no impact, since you do have USMLE score(s).
Why should a D.O. PD not ask about USMLE scores? Is it really against protocol?
Not sure if this notion has been brought out, but a reason why D.O. programs might ask about USMLE scores is more to see how committed the student is to a D.O. residency rather than to gather another data point, especially given that the tests are somewhat different.
Sure, if a student applies and matches D.O., then their prior interest in the subsequent allopathic match (as reflected by taking the USMLE) would become moot--thus further justifying the question. But it might be a sign to some programs of how committed the student is to osteopathic training. So if it's inappropriate to ask about USMLE, it might be because it could be construed as a veiled means of obtaining other information (i.e., how purely the D.O. blood flows).
In any case, I think that it would be a low-yield question to ask, and probably is unwise for a program to put too much weight on it. Just a thought.
