what would you do?

[DOtheD.O.]

I’m a 3rd year DO student interested in Ortho. I’m planning my 4th year electives and I have a dilemma. I have been looking into MD/DO programs and although both have great programs, there are a few solid MD programs that have caught interest. I understand that a fair amount of this process is dependent on personality, how well I rotate, luck, competition at the site, etc…

The problem is the DO match is a month earlier than the MD match. My understanding is that once someone is matched into a DO program they are dropped from the MD match. So if I want to go to a MD program, I cannot rank DO programs (where probability is greater that I would match) and I risk going unmatched.

I’m a slightly above average student ~top 20% in class, I’ve got a 233/97 on USMLE Step 1, 633 on COMLEX, 1 non-ortho research pub, poster presentation. Pending ortho pub, a few Clinical honors and slightly insane work ethic.

Again, I know that there is more to matching than grades and this is not a “Do I have a chance?” thread. I would like to know what you would do in this situation.

[wnlevine]

As I'm sure you are aware the probability of a DO student matching in an MD program are not great (but also not impossible) and there are some very high profile DO Orthopaedic surgeons in the AAOS - Jim Weinstein is the Chairman at Dartmouth for example.
We recently had an outstanding DO student do research with us and he ultimately decided to apply in the DO residency match and easily obtained his 1st choice - I think he would have been competitive in the allopathic match but he independently opted for an osteopathic pathway.
I think every individual has to weigh the risks and benefits of both and ultimately decide how much "risk" they are willing to take.

good luck in the decision-making process

wnl

[DOtheD.O.]

Thanks for your response Dr Levine!

If anyone else has input I would greatly appreciate it.