<p>I confess that I haven't really done much homework thus far in the med-school application process, and just recently have begun doing a bit of research. I noticed that while DOs at our local community hospital have as good a position and reputation as MDs - biggest practices in some specialties, great reputations, heads of department, etc. the college rankings by scores/grades put them by and large in the bottom quartile. (My "MD" is actually a DO and our youngest was delivered by the DO doc who seems to be the most sought after OB/GYN in town). I only know a couple of physicians with Caribbean qualifications, but they seem to be doing as well, if not better, than the average doc here.</p>
<p>So my question - If one is very likely to go in the non-academic career path, what are the negatives of going to a DO school or to the Caribbean where, at least superficially, it appears to provide an easier admission for someone with a 30 MCAT with a dreaded sub-10 component (P/B/V 10/12/8)? My home state, PA, has at least two DO schools - LECOM and PCOM where I know some of our local physicians were trained. Do these programs have problems placing students in good residencies or are there some career handicaps that I'm unable to see if I look superficially at the medical staff lists of hospitals in our area?</p>
<p>If there is a link or resource that goes in a bit of detail into the med school application process, with gotchas and such, I'd appreciate being directed towards it.</p>
<p>DO programs are a great alternative; Caribbean programs are absolutely not. It seems that Caribbean programs have roughly a 50% pass rate on the boards and then a 50% match rate – so it seems that you have approximately a 25% rate of actually becoming a doctor. (Assuming that there are no other filters – e.g. flunking out of the school itself.)</p>
<p>DO programs, by contrast, have their own residencies and their own boards, so they do an excellent job of actually creating physicians.</p>
<p>Honestly, if you have the grades for DO, take Caribbean off your list of consideration. Even at the best of the best Carib (like SGU), they average 70-75% making it to US residencies. At others it is closer to 40%. </p>
<p>Like BDM said, DO is a great backup if you don’t get into a US MD school. While DO schools do have their own residencies/boards, now days many (if not most) students will also take the USMLE to keep the option of MD residencies on the table. </p>
<p>I don’t know about LECOM but PCOM has a good track record of people specializing and doing both MD and DO residencies…probably not as good as most US MD’s, but still good nonetheless. In some ways it is hard to compare how well MD versus DO students fare, since many students at DO schools are really interested in primary care to begin with. </p>
<p>PCOM’s match list
<a href=“http://www.pcom.edu/student_life/student_affairs_main/match_list.html[/url]”>http://www.pcom.edu/student_life/student_affairs_main/match_list.html</a></p>