Pediatrics/ Pediatric Specialties as a DO

I’m trying to decide if I should go the DO or MD route, and this is starting to become a sticking point for me. It seems like the DO pediatric residency are pretty slim, but I like what I know about the DO education bettter. So, I figured I’d ask you all. Is it harder to get into a MD residency as a DO? What “extra stuff” do you have to do, if any?


Before anyone says anything about it, I know I’m getting ahead of myself. What can I say? I’m a planner (to a fault).


Thanks!


Allison

I can’t say much about the MD/DO residency part for peds, though there were plenty of DOs in the peds program where I did my neuro residency. When I was on my peds neuro rotation, I was talking to one of the peds resdents and she was telling me that there is a significant paucity of peds subspecialists. That is definitely true for peds neuro.

You can do the DO medical school and participate in the MD residency match, and will be equally competitive (being a DO won’t hurt you in the match). So even if there are fewer DO-specific pediatric residency programs (I don’t know if there are) that need not stop you from pursing an osteopathic medical degree.


Kate

Agreed. I don’t think a DO degree will hinder you at all in pursuing pediatrics and I think you will find that most MD peds residency programs will be open to you as a DO. If you think you want to do a pediatric subspecialty, I would strongly encourage you to do an allopathic (MD) peds residency.