LGBTQ+ Friendly DO Schools

General Med Student Discussion
1

Hi All,

I am a lesbian who is planning to apply predominantly to DO schools next year (along with 10-20 MD schools). While being LGBTQ+ isn’t exclusive to my identity, I don’t want to spend 4+ years in a location where I have to fear discrimination and hatred for who I am. However, I know a lot of DO schools are in smaller towns as opposed to large cities. I currently live in my home state of CA where I’ve spent most of my life, other than four years of undergrad in OR and three years after undergrad in DC. For this reason, I’m not familiar with the lower midwest/southern locations of some DO schools. A lot of those schools are in “red” states, which is why I’m wondering if I should apply to schools in that part of the country.

As you can imagine, I’m not applying to of the religiously affiliated schools. I’m also not applying to any schools in TX because they use a separate application and at least 90% of applicants are TX residents.

Other than religious schools and those in TX, what other DO schools should I NOT apply to because the location is unfriendly towards LGBTQ+ people? What DO schools should I strongly consider because they are in LGBTQ+ friendly locations?

Thanks!

1 Like
2

Have you tried finding medical students to talk to at the schools you might be interested in? I am in CA too and talked to two students at Touro and thank goodness I did because it doesn’t seem like the school for me. Even though I live 10 minutes away! So talking ti students is super helpful when wanting to learn more about how they are treated. I suggest following schools on social media so you can find students to talk to about things like this. I’m not LGBTQ+ but I understand your concern, I don’t want to go to a school that isn’t diverse enough to the point I’m like 1 out of 3 Latinx students. I’ve talked to a student who was 1 out of 2 black students and I was shocked.