I'm comparing SGU and NYCOM...

Thank you all for the responses!!! Sorry for the confusion, I am concerned about both residency and fellowship (thanks for clearing that out).

Stephew, I still think it makes perfect sense, we all would like to stay close to our home and loved ones, but very few of us want to have a DO label after our names (except those who sincerely believe in their philosophy). I truly hope that after residency and especially fellowship, not many hospitals will pay attention to where we come from, but DO will stay with usfor the rest of our lives...

I guess I'm answering my own question... but I just want to make sure I'm doing the right thing

I had a really long post written up, but I seemed to have lost it. I want to thank all of you who responded to my post, I really did appreciate it.

I did not turn in my deposit for SGU, although I technically can until later today. For now though, I am likely leaning towards the DO route. It seems to be the path of least resistance, or as someone else said it best, the path with the least amount of unintended consequences.

After thinking about it much, I think most of this MD vs. DO stigma is fostered only by pre-meds, and from talking to DO's, this seems to be a non-issue in residency and beyond. To me, the quality of the individual's care determines whether or not s/he is a good doctor, and not the degree behind his/her name. Patients rarely ask where their doctors went to medical school, and most are even simply too uninformed or preoccupied to even notice the initials on their doctor's identification tag; I mean, I am pretty sure they have enough common sense to realize that you are a doctor if you're taking their history down, listening to their concerns, prescribing them medication, etc.

I think I am going to go the DO route, because as I mentioned, the school is closer to home, the facilities are brand new, it's in a great location, the attrition rate is virtually zero, and most important of all, it is the type of environment that I could really see myself fitting into - by that, I mean the support structure in terms of the faculty and students is very welcoming, and just overall excellent.

Right now, the AOA and the AMA are having talks about having a combined match, which would be better for osteopathic students. Currently, if you do the AOA and the ACGME Match, if you get into a DO residency, you are automatically dropped from the latter match. This is why most DO's (60%+) end up only doing the ACGME match.

As it is, for DO's, it looks really noncompetitive right now to get into ACGME Peds, FP, IM, EM, OB/GYN, PM&R, and Anesthesiology. I looked at the SGU matchlist and compared it to the school that I plan on going to, and well, I think going the DO route might give me a better chance on getting a residency in CA. Only 30 or so of 482 SGU grads got CA residency spots, and most were not at UCSF, UCLA, UCI, USC, etc. This is what is tempting me to go the DO route, considering that a large number of the DO grads got residencies at those institutions. Also, there didn't seem to be a lot of people that got into Anesthesiology from SGU (2%), and I think I would have an easier time matching into that as a DO.

For cardiology, it really doesn't matter much if you're an MD or a DO as long as you complete an ACGME accredited internal medicine residency - since cardiology is a fellowship, anyone that completes the ACGME IM residency is on the same footing practically. Also, last I heard, there seems to be a pretty significant representation of DO's in Cards.

Getting neurology and radiation oncology would be kind of hard as a DO, but I think it would be equally as hard coming from any offshore school as well.

Anyway, I will definitely update you all in the coming days as to my final decision. I have midterms coming up soon, otherwise I would write more, but feel free to PM me, msdh00, NataliaLL, or anyone else, if you have any questions.

As an end to this post, I will leave you with the 2004 NYCOM match list (It looks pretty good to me).
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Anesthesia:
Albert Einstein, NYC (6)
Johns Hopkins- Baltimore, MD
St Lukes Roosevelt/University Hospital of Columbia University - NYC (2)
University of Rochester/ Strong Memorial, Rochester NY
SUNY Brooklyn- NYC (2)
University Hospital- Jackson, MS
Westchester Medical Center (2)
Stony Brook University Hospital, NY
University of Maryland

Internal Medicine:
Beth Israel Medical Center, NYC (8)
Cleveland Clinic, OH (2)
Lennox Hill Hospital- NYC (3)
St Lukes Roosevelt/University Hospital of Columbia University - NYC (4)
Westchester Medical Center (2)
Maimonides Medical Center, NYC (2)
North Shore Univ Hospital/NYU School of Medicine (4)
UMDNJ- Robert Wood Johnson, NJ (4)
New York Hospital and Med Ctr Queens (5)
St. Vincents-NYC
UMDNJ- Newark
Hershey/ Penn State- PA
Kern Medical Center, CA
Cook County, IL
Ochsner Clinic Foundation- LA (2)
Geisinger Health System, PA
Staten Island Univ Hospital
Stony Brook Unic Hosp, NY
Morristown Mem Hospital, NJ
Washington Hospital Center, DC
Winthrop Univ Hospital, NY
SIU SOM- Illinois
Mt Sinai SOM- Elmhurst NY
Newark Beth Israel
Texas A&M- Scott and White
Univ South Florida- Tampa, FL
Roger Williams Hospital, RI
Albany Medical Center, NY
Danbury Hospital, CT
Metro Health Med Ctr- OH
Rochester General Hospital, NY
SUNY Brooklyn


Emergency Medicine:
Beth Israel Medical Center, NYC
Einstein/Jacobi Med Center, NYC
SUNY Upstate (3)
Univ Florida HSC
NY Methodist
Cook County- IL
Stony Brook Univ Hospital, NY
Long Island Jewish Med Center (2)
North Shore Univ Hospital/NYU School of Medicine, NY
Union Hospital, NJ (2)
St. Barnabus, NYC (6)
Lehigh Valley Hospital, PA
New York United Hospital and Medical Center, NY (2)
Christiana Care, DE

EM/IM
Henry Ford Hospital, MI
St. Barnabus Hospital, NYC

Family Practice:
New York Hospital, Columbia Presbyterian, NYC
UMDNJ
Methodist Hospital, Sacramento, CA
Lutheran Medical Center, NYC
Columbia Hospital, FL
Wyckoff Medical Center, NYC
Good Samaritan Medical Center, NY
Stony Brook Univ Hospital, NY
Carilion Health, Roanoke, VA
Conroe Family Prac- TX
Medical College of Georgia

OB/Gyn:
Boston Univ Med Center, MA
St Lukes Roosevelt, NYC/University Hospital of Columbia University (2)
NYU Downtown Hospital, NYC
UMDNJ- Newark, NJ
Metropolitan Hospital Center, NYC (2)
Danbury Hospital, CT
Texas Tech Univ- TX
Good Samartian Medical Center, NY
Virginia Commonwealth Univ System
St Vincents Medical Center, NYC


PM&R:
Columbia/Cornell- New York Hospital, NYC (2)
Mt. Sinai Medical Center, NYC (3)
NYU School of Medicine, NYC (3)
Stony Brook Univ Hospital, NY (2)
Boston Univ Medical Center, MA
Einstein/Montefiore, NYC
Long Island Jewish, NY (2)
SUNY Brooklyn, NYC
Nassau Univ Hospital, NY (2)

Pediatrics:
Tulane Univ SOM- LA
North Shore Univ Hospital/LIJ, Schneider Childrens (7)
Thomas Jefferson Univ Hospital, Dupont Childrens, PA
University of Texas- Houston
Stony Brook Univ Hospital, NY (2)
Jersey Shore Univ Hospital, NJ
Winthrop Univ Hospital (3)
Maimonides Medical Center, NYC
UMDNJ- Newark
Newark Beth Isreal, NJ
INOVA/ Fairfax, VA
SUNY Upstate Medical Center

Psychiatry:
Brown University, RI
Long Island Jewish, NY (4)
UMDNJ- Newark (2)
Barnes Jewish Hospital, MO
North Shore University Hospital, Manhasset, NY
Temple Univ Hospital, PA
Univ of Connecticut, CT

General Surgery
Einstein/Montefiore Med Center, NYC
Hershey/Penn State, PA
Berkshire Med Center, MA
Lutheran Medical Center, NYC
St. Barnabus Medical Center, NYC
Wyckoff Heights Medical Center, NYC
Genesys Health Systems, Grand Blanc MI

Orthopedics
Botsford General Hospital, MI
SouthPointe/Cleveland Clinic, OH
Peninsula Hospital, NYC
Brooke Army Medical Center, TX

Urology
Long Island Jewish/ North Shore Univ Manhasset, NY

Radiology- Diagnostic
Univ of Louisville, SOM, KY
Univ Rochester/Strong Memorial, NY
Nassau Univ Med Center, NY
Univ at Buffalo, NY
St. Barnabus Medical Center

It does look like a good list, and everyone does have to do what they think is best...so good luck at NYCOM!

That being said, anyone else remember how rude and arrogant those NYCOM students and administration were to us when we went there? They told us we couldn't use their libraries, their dining halls, their study rooms, their hallways, bathrooms, etc. They even told us they didnt have enough room to let us park, when they had a gigantic parking lot and only abut 1/5 of it was actually being used!

I ended up talking to the NYIT dean(NYCOM is located on the NYIT campus), because we were told the only place we could spend time was either outside or in this one building way down the street from the lecture hall/labs we were using. It was raining one day, so a bunch of us jogged down to that building and ended up meeting the dean. When he found out who we were and why we came to that building(called 'the barn'), he became super angry at the NYCOM administrators. Apparently NYIT had given us permission to park in the parking lot, eat in their dining halls, study in their libraries...but NYCOM didnt want to share. Now, I can understand that they had to look out for their students best interest first, but we had just come from an island where our school blew away. jebus, have some pity!

And those NYCOM kids used to give us attitudes whenever and wherever possible. So much for getting into medicine to help our fellow man. that's all crap anyway, clearly, we're in it for the money! wooo!!!


Sorry, had to vent...those NYCOM people were so mean to us....

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"I like my women like I like my coffee....hot...sweet......and with a spoon in them!"--E.I.

thanks for the nycom placement list.

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Steph
If you get a warning, put on yer manpants and stop whining about it.

DOS ARE GLORIFIED MASSAGE THERAPISTS. IF YOU WOULD RATHER GO TO A DO SCHOOL THAT ACTAULLY REALIZE YOUR DREAM OF BEING A DOCTOR, DOCTOR = MD, YOU NEVER REALLY WANTED TO BE A DOCTOR IN THE FIRST PLACE. TWO YEARS IN GRENADA IS NOT BAD AT ALL. THIS IS COMING FROM A FOURTH TERM STUDENT HERE WHO HAS AN EXAM TOMORROW! THE ISLAND IS GORGEOUS, THE FACILITIES ARE AMAZING. AND FOR ALL THOSE THAT ARE WORRIED ABOUT NOT GETTING AMERICAN PRODUCTS HERE YOU ARE PROBABLY A REALLY FAT PERSON OVERLLY CONSIDERED ABOUT FOOD. AND BUGS ARE EASILY TAKEN CARE OF BY HAVING A SCREEN ON YOUR WINOW AND USING BUG SPRAY. AND FROM WHAT I RECALL ABOUT THE US, THERE ARE BUGS THERE TO! IF YOU WENT TO COLUMBIA MEDICAL SCHOOL AND GOT AN APARTMENT NEAR THERE, YOU MOST PROBABLY WOULD HAEV THOUSANDS OF ROACHES IN YOUR APARTMENT. I SHOULD KNOW I WENT THERE FOR UNDERGRAD. SUCK IT UP, LEAVE YOUR MOMMY AND BECOME A REAL DOCTOR.

MD RULE DOS DROOL!

PS OUR RESIDENCY PLACEMENTS ARE AWESOME, WE HAD SIX ORTHOPODS LAST YEAR.

remember: do not feed the trolls.

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Steph
If you get a warning, put on yer manpants and stop whining about it.

I have been accepted to NYCOM and I live in Stony Brook which is 25 mins away. I also applied to SGU and got in. However, the SGU graduate who interviewed me was a neurologist working in critical care. I ask him this question and he said it does not really matter. But then it was followed by: my boss, the head of neurology at Stony Brook University Hospital is a neurosurgeon. She is a DO, graduated from NYCOM.
I have paid both SGU and NYCOM because I couldn't initially deicide which way to go. But after doing an extensive research and browsing forums like this, I have finally decided to go to NYCOM.

[QUOTE="healgood luck to you!

I personally believe the DOs and IMGs (MD) are treated the same when it comes down to residency/fellowships... second tier compared with US grads. We have to work harder, get better scores, and secure stellar letters of recommendation just to have a chance to interview at a competitive residency/fellowship. The stigma will always be there for both groups.
- SGU class '01

Depends on what state you want to end up in. Some states (I believe it is 5) require DOs to do an extra year of internship before entering residency.

-The Trifling Jester