Yes, even my wife’s hospital said no to volunteering because of age. He was able to do shadowing and started a non-profit as a workaround.
That’s the reason we want to take any respectable BSMD program rather than again going through same drill at much higher intensity.
And, I feel it’s much less pressure than applying to 20-30 med schools and competing with more matured kids during traditional cycle. Only thing is that BSMD route seems much more competitive due to fewer no. of spots in those programs.
Don’t have to be desperate, but nevertheless its another great opportunity.
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Shadowing for like 200-400 hrs is not needed for medical school admissions. IIRC, it was mentioned around 50-60 hrs for D in a communication from the medical school.
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Ohh, sorry I thought you meant that for college, the only research that you can add is publications.
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Agree, if one can get into a BSMD and is happy with it, one should seriously consider it. Applying via regular route is always a Plan B, not a necessity.
Correct, around 50 hrs (at least some of them with primary care). DS continued shadowing thru UG locally during breaks with various specialists so that he will have an idea about specialties and start planning on day one of medical school.
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Channeling a former famous president’s infamous quote, it depends on what’s your description of respectable program “is”.
Congrats have you been added to the UIC GPPA class of 2025 PM?
Those of you who interviewed on 2/15 for Suny Upstate, have you heard back?
I notice the general theme of DO being secondary to MD. Would you mind elaborating on why that is the case. I am just curious and trying to learn more about these options. I am a novice on this topic and do have much to learn. In the town we live in there is a neurosurgeon who is a DO and another who is an MD. Is it much harder to get into some specializations with a DO than with an MD for a kid who is very capable and focused on his/her career goal more than the route to that goal? Appreciate your thoughts @NoviceDad @rk2017 @Vicky2019 @srk2017 @grtd2010 and other seniors.
@NoviceDad @srk2017 @rk2017 Do you think a manuscript in the process of getting published (but not yet published) in a peer-reviewed journal will have any weightage?
Yes some value, but expect to answer questions. DS was supposed to complete his first author paper more than a year back but due to unavoidable delays it’s not done but he and his PI (in LOR) mentioned it and was asked about the progress and ETA.
Know folks whose kids went to DO school (at least one of the parents is a MD) so it is perfectly fine.
Its turning out to be much longer wait than anticipated 2-4 weeks with a possibility of within 3 weeks as projected by Upstate. 
Any publication under review in a peer-reviewed journal is a plus.
It has to do all about residency for highly competitive specialties. That is one of reason why MCAT score is so low even for highest tier DO school than low tier MD school.
One way to look at is the GPA and MCAT scores of students going to MD vs DO.
In general, if you get a MCAT score >=515, you are likely to get into a MD school. However, for a DO school, that same MCAT score tends to be >=505.
Also, while all specialties are open for DO, many DO schools tend to encourage DOs to go into primary care.
Also, some program directors tend to prefer MD students over DO students over International students who are US citizens over International students who are non-US citizens.
However, in the past decade of so, the number of DO seats have grown from ~ 3000 to ~8000. This clearly shows more students are opting for DO.
Someone had mentioned that results will be out today. So I was wondering.
DOs have it harder to match into competitive specialties. Last year only 6 DOs matched into dermatology and no DOs matched in plastic surgery. If you are not interested in the following specialties, being a DO will be just fine.
Orthopedic surgery
Neurosurgery
ENT
Dermatology
Plastic Surgery
Ophthalmology
Interventional Radiology
Urology
Yes, it has value.
For anything you submit in your application, be prepared in an interview to answer questions about it.