Applying to DO and MD detrimental?

[catwoman]

I have heard a rumor that if DO schools see that you are applying to both DO and MD schools, they do not look favorably upon this, as if you are only applying to DO schools as a back up. I would definitely not class myself in this category, as my top choice would be a DO education, but since there are so few of these schools in the country, I'm wondering if applying to more med schools in general (both MD and DO) is smart.

Any thoughts on this??

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[TraumaDR]

Personally as an Ohio resident when I looked at schools to apply to I decided to apply to all of the MD schools as well as OUCOM. Then I decided to apply to a few DO schools outside of Ohio. At my OUCOM interview one lady simply asked if I had applied to any MD schools, to which I replied yes. She said she was just curious where I had applied to and that it wouldn't affect my acceptance or rejection. The next morning I received an e mail from OUCOM telling me that I had been accepted. So in conclusion I do not think its detrimental, for me I simply did it becuase of the tuition reasons!! Good luck with your application process!

TraumaDR

 

[group_theory]

Well,

on my AACOMAS primary application, I wrote that I was applying to both DO and MD schools in the essay portion. That didn't seem to prevent me from getting interviews.

I even mentioned it again on the essay portion of each school's secondary application. And I answered truthfully when asked what other schools I have applied to.

So it is not detrimental. What would be detrimental is if you LIE on your application, saying that you applied only to DO schools, when in fact you apply to DO and MD schools. If you lie about that facet of the application, what other stuff may you have lied about? That's when the adcom's imagination goes wild (and bad for you).

 

[Albah]

Hey catwoman,

adcoms do want to know where you applied (especially if MD and DO) and they will most likely ask you a related question in an interview. They may want to find out if you really want to go to their school or if you are just using them as a backup. So they may ask you straight out why you applied to both MD and DO, and you just have to tell them your reasons. In my case, they never asked me straight out but I think they can tell if you are truly interested in their school by the way you project yourself during the interview.

I think they would be more inclined to ask why you applied to both if they see a huge discrepancy between the schools you applied to. For example, if you applied to 1 DO and 15 MD.

I applied to both and I have gotten an acceptance and waitlist so far. So adcoms don't use that argument as a basis to reject you.

Good luck!

 

[NUgirl]

I honestly don't think the med schools care (too much) that you applied to both, and they know that a lot of people do apply to both.

I thought that my admission to NOVA would particularly be affected b/c they ask you on their secondary to list every school you are applying to, and I had applied to 19 MD schools and 7 DO schools. But at my interview they didn't even say anything about that, and I got in 3 weeks later.

Don't worry about it, it's really common for pre-meds to apply to both.