I’ve been in medical school now for a few years. I think it’s time I share my whole story. I am gathering my thoughts now and will start to share my experiences over the next while here on the under used blog portion of my site. Med school isn’t easy and has it’s ups and downs. I hope that as I share my thoughts and feelings that they will be useful to some of you out there.
October 21, 2011 2 Comments
Hey Bypassey,
So i am going to start at RVUCOM this fall and I’m a little confused about residency options given DOs can apply to MD residencies, DO ones or a mix of the two. I am pretty sure I am going to take the USMLE to keep my options as open as possible but I am looking at the list of osteopathic residencies (http://opportunities.osteopathic.org/search/search.cfm) and I see no difference in the list of allopathic ones. So my question to you is why would a DO want to pursue an allopathic residency and compete against US MD’s when there’s a significant portion available to them? Does it have to do with location, money, etc? Any clarification in the matter would be greatly appreciated!
-Haris
Currently DOs can apply for both matches; however, if a DO student matches with an AOA residency then they are required to take it. Sometimes a student really wants a specific residency location that is an MD run residency so they won’t apply in the AOA match. Pay is essentially the Ashe between the two. If you plan to go to a non AOA residency you would really want to consider taking the USMLE though.
For me, I’m a DO all the way and therefore I’m just worrying about the COMLEX.