Hi Everyone,
I, too, will be attending an Osteopathic school this fall. Which one in particular, remains to be seen. And, like many of you, I am now realizing that we will have to travel a different path than our allopathic brethren, unless things change quite a bit ? something not likely in the short term. I am, however, not put off by my prospects at all, and continue to believe that I will have just as many options as an MD will, depending, of course, on how well I perform in school.
While we cannot deny that there exists a very real difference between what the DOs and the MDs face once they graduate, I do not believe that the situation is as bad as some of us might think. I will have to agree that, in general, DO schools (my main concern here is the lack of research opportunities) and DO residencies leave much to be desired, when compared to some MD schools and residencies. However, no one can claim in good conscience that all 125 or so MD schools are better than all 19 DO schools, nor that all MD graduates are more qualified than DO grads. It would be utterly ridiculous to even entertain that notion. Is there still a preference for MDs at MD residencies? Perhaps. But, that has to be a reflection on the PD and not on the program. I seriously doubt that a wise PD would rather put out sub-par MDs than better qualified DOs.
I am only now beginning to understand how the whole concept of residency works, so forgive me if I am mistaken in some assumptions. However, I keep reading that every year several residency spots, especially in the competitive ones, go unfilled because many of the applicants just are not sufficiently qualified. If that is true, it is good news, and I say that because it means that PDs really want to see qualified candidates filling their spots, and are not willing to lower the standards just to fill those spots. I doubt such programs would deny spots to qualified DOs simply because they are DOs.
I am interested in a surgical career, as I am sure many of you are. But, I would really rather not go to an MD school over all DO schools, simply because it is an MD school. I will readily concede that many MD schools are better than many DO schools, but I will add that such an assessment of quality is relative. In other words, the high tier schools are better than the low tier ones, but the low tier schools are still very good schools, and will provide each of us with quality education. Ultimately, then, how well each one of us does in school is what will determine the options that are available to us once we graduate.
Good luck to all!