<p>Having gone through this process recently, if medical school were my end goal (as it should be), I wouldn’t be comfortable applying solely to MD programs with a 55-65% shot at acceptance. You’d have to apply very creatively and to a large number of programs to make that worthwhile, which is time consuming, emotionally taxing, and expensive.</p>
<p>If I were in your shoes, I’d seriously consider DO programs. I think you can learn a lot on the internet, but I’d also suggest reading some books (I think there’s one called “The DOs” which I’ve heard is a good read) and talking to some physicians (both MD and DO) about the differences. As far as I can tell, DOs used to be completely different from MDs and over the past few decades, have come to be practically equal (which means that people of your parents’ generation probably believe DO << MD, whereas your friends probably believe the two are nearly equal). </p>
<p>Shadow some DOs too!</p>
<p>If it doesn’t seem like the DO route is the one for you, then if I were in your shoes, I think I’d give MD a shot (if I did indeed hit the 31-33 MCAT mark that you expect). If it didn’t work out, I’d use that bonus year to do something great to bulk up all aspects of my application (especially the non-academic ones, since it’s hard to improve a GPA that has 120h behind it) and then apply again. If I didn’t hit the MCAT mark (say, ended up 28 or 29) I’d reconsider the DO route or would consider retaking it and applying the following year. </p>
<p>What do you want to do?</p>