To DO or not to DO

So here's the controversial subject of the hour. MD vs DO. Is one better than the other? The following are my opinion about DO school and the debate...

Here's a refresher: Osteopathic schools grant a D.O. which is a doctorate of osteopathy. Allopathic schools grant the traditional M.D. DO schools are a little newer, and a DO has all the same "doctor powers" as an MD. They can prescribe, treat, do surgery, etc. The cool thing about DO schools is that they teach physical manipulation techniques which are damn awesome. For example, they may learn to treat a condition with physical manipulation of lymph nodes to promote drainage before resorting to an antibiotic. It's like getting regular medical school plus something extra cool.

There are pros and cons to both schools I believe. The pros of DO school seem pretty obvious to me. You get to be part of a pretty progressive community and learn modern techniques in medicine. Unquestionably I think the education is equal if not better, and your skills will be just as strong as any MD program. DO schools are a little less competitive to get into (but probably not for long... they're catching on quickly!)... meaning that you still have to have all the pre-reqs completed and to take the MCAT, but you can get in with less competitive scores.

The cons of going to DO school are basically that you're going to have to work in a world full of dumb-ass MDs that think that you're inferior. And this can really limit you. First you have to consider the specialty that you want to enter. Most DOs train to do family medicine, pediatrics, internal medicine, etc. There are actually DO residency "slots" that you apply for as a DO based on the DO specific board exams. If you want to cross over an train in a traditionally allopathic residency, you'll ALSO have to take the USMLE boards which are for the MDs. This would grant you access to apply for some allopathic spots, which may include some more competitive specialties like anesthesiology, radiology and orthopedics.

All in all it sounds great, right? So you're probably wondering why I didn't just go to DO school instead of spending so many years waiting for an acceptance to an allopathic school. Well, looking back I probably should have just gone to DO school. But here's the reason I didn't. Basically, I didn't think that I had the strength (nor did I want to), spend the rest of my life defending my education and my credentials. Like it or not, there is a huge stigma from the majority (the MDs) towards the minority ( the DOs, the international graduates, the Caribbean grad, the foreign medical students). I figured I'd had a hard enough time getting here, and I didn't want to add to my problems.

Looking back, this was probably naive... but at the time that's what I felt. And since I'd been rejected by allopathic schools, I guess I felt that I had to prove something to myself by making it. Whatever. I definitely could have saved myself a lot of time and heartache if I'd been a little less proud. Because truthfully, I know a lot of MDs who wish they were DOs, but I don't know any DOs who wish they were MDs.