Question for medical students (or for those who know about residencies)

[Lolaaa]

I haven't started medical school yet but I would love to understand this better and sorry if this is a stupid question. With the DO and MD residencies merging together, how would taking the STEPs as a DO student be beneficial? Wouldn't we be considered for the MD spots without taking the USMLE since the residencies merged?

and also, can the core rotations be done at a hospital of our choice, or are they school-dependent?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Osminog]

Taking the USMLE Step 1 and 2 exams can be very advantageous (and in some cases, pretty much necessary) for DO students who are interested in competitive/surgical specialties or selective university programs. Having a pass on Step 1 and a respectable Step 2 score can help a DO applicant get more invites during interview season. Many residency program directors have no clue how to interpret COMLEX scores and want an objective basis for comparing DO applicant and MD applicant test performance.

With that being said, for DO students who want to match, say, community FM or IM in the Midwest or a rural area, the USMLE exams might not be all that valuable.

Where you do your core rotations during third year is completely school-dependent.

 

[Lolaaa]

Taking the USMLE Step 1 and 2 exams can be very advantageous (and in some cases, pretty much necessary) for DO students who are interested in competitive/surgical specialties or selective university programs. Having a pass on Step 1 and a respectable Step 2 score can help a DO applicant get more invites during interview season. Many residency program directors have no clue how to interpret COMLEX scores and want an objective basis for comparing DO applicant and MD applicant test performance.

With that being said, for DO students who want to match, say, community FM or IM in the Midwest or a rural area, the USMLE exams might not be all that valuable.

Where you do your core rotations during third year is completely school-dependent.

thank you that was really helpful!

 

[FutureDoctor5000]

You should always take step... especially with step 1 going p/f there is no reason not to take it

 

[DOVinciRobot]

Because it wasn’t a real merger. The ACGME merely adopted the AOA programs. The majority of MD programs to this day don’t even know a “merger” happened.

Everyone should take USMLE if they don’t want to be automatically filtered out. It’s an exceptionally easy filter to employ.