DO with MD Fantasy and a Question

I have been reading this forum for over a year now and have finally decided to register, login, and post.

I am a MSIII at an osteopathic school who desperately wants to train allopathically; I believe that nearly every allopathic program is superior in terms of caseload, variety, and affiliations. I do NOT want to get into a MD vs. DO p@#$ing contest. I am simply a DO student who couldn't get into MD school and am trying to salvage the remainder of my medical education (still a little bitter, can you tell?).

So, the long awaited question is . . .

Do any of you know of any MD programs with DO residents? Through painful research I know that the Univ. Buffalo program has a PGY4 DO and that the Med. Col. Georgia has a PGY1 DO.

Did anybody come across any other DO friendly programs during home or away rotations?

P.S. If you guys have any interest in osteopathic manipulative therapy (OMT), I can teach you all about it! Just kidding. We DO's may not be too smart but we do have a sense of humor!

I've worked with several osteopathic physicians and I've always thought that they were very competent physicians.
As far as allopathic ortho programs that welcome D.O.s, I don't know of many. You mentioned two more than I knew existed. All of the osteopathic pods I've come across have all trained at osteopathic programs. If I were in your shoes, I'd consider applying to both.

Dude, you are kidding me with this self pity DO crap! I also am a DO student and think OMM is a bit nutty but please, stop with the "DO's aren't smart enough" self-deprecation. I'm pretty sure that kind of mentality will NOT endear you to anyone picking residents. I feel like my education has been great! I agree with IM that the DO orthopods I have met have been good docs, even though they trained at osteopathic institutions. I worked as a PT for 8 yrs before school and have met enough docs to know that most of my classmates are going to be well qualified physicians. Everybody wants to train at the best site possible. No doubt many allopathic sites have advantages, and if you are dead set on trying to get a allo spot, best of luck. But in the meantime, put your bitterness on the shelf because I already have to fight enough stereotypes without other DO's jumping on the bandwagon. Sorry for the rant.

The Mayo Clinic has a very competent intern (I rotated with him as a senior med student) in their 1st year class.

No self pity . . . just trying to get the best residency training available without having to move my family all over the place and rely on a fellowship year to solidify my skills.

I NEVER implied that DO orthopods were inferior, just DO ortho programs.

For starters there are less than 25 DO programs compared to 150+ MD programs. The majority of DO programs are located in small community hospitals. In almost every case, there is a larger allopathic program within a half hour's drive. This creates a variety/caseload problem because the DO programs operate out of a 100-400 bed hospital with the same amount of residents that the 500-600 bed MD programs have. Moreover, the DO programs are at hospitals with less ER visits and have virtually no home trauma. Many other aspects of the program are also covered via away rotations through larger affiliated hospitals (hand, sports, peds, etc).

The problem with applying to both MD and DO is that the DO match is 6 weeks before the MD match. If you match DO, then they automatically pull you from the MD match so you never even get a chance. Morever, the majority of the DO programs are 4 years with a 1 year traditional internship (at least 6 months of non-surgical rotations). You match the internship and not the residency; more often then not there are more interns than residency spots so somebody gets squeezed.



I was worried about MD/DO cat fights . . . I never even thought of a DO/DO one.

Beemer, you and I may know that the MD/DO training difference is negligible (in the long run) but do program directors know/believe this? You are confusing self-pity with reality. DO's are expected to go into Primary Care and the first two years of DO med school is definitely geared to this. The last two years, which I feel are the most important/informative, are identical. If you are honestly not in denial, good for you.
If your into cranial OMT and the pedal pump, that's fine with me. If you consciously chose a DO program over an MD one that's fine too. I'm not and I didn't! :roll smile:

Thanks BJ!