Is DO stigma largely in the premed bubble?

It’s so funny how this thread is being answered by 1) DOs and 1) premeds. As an MD I’ve absolutely heard about this stigma from PDs, patients, and fellow residents. I go to a competitive anesthesia residency and served on interview committee and literally witnessed DOs not getting ranked highly because of the fact that “we already ranked a lot of DOs highly” and they want to keep our program >90% MD. I’ve heard surgeons talk shit about DOs behind their backs and make jokes like “well now the DO thing makes sense.” Our affiliated surgery program at my institution takes no DOs in their categorical positions.

The stigma sucks and shouldn’t exist but it absolutely does. People giving anecdotes about knowing chiefs of departments or neurosurgeons who are DOs doesn’t mean that the stigma doesn’t exist at all. If you ask those super successful DOs, I bet they’ll tell you that it was an uphill battle. People who pursue DO and end up going into fields like FM, IM, neuro, psych, etc prob won’t feel this as much. But the match data is out there, people shouldn’t just act like “unless you’re doing plastics or derm you’re fine.” Look at the data for optho, urology, vascular, even IM fellowships that are competitive like cardiology and GI. They may match, but look at the top programs. If your goal is to match ANY cardiology program as a DO, you’ll probably be fine… but threads like these do such a disservice to premeds who are trying to weigh their options. The stigma exists whether we agree with it or not.

/r/premed Thread Parent