u/glixys

Hey guys, just wanted to seek some advice on what path would be the "better idea" for my goals from people who are more experienced with the premed route than I am. So I got admitted to a 6-year BS/DO program with LECOM Elmira as well as my flagship state universities UT Austin and Texas A&M as a Public Health and Neuroscience major, respectively. The requirement to stay in the former is to maintain a 3.5 GPA (the MCAT is waived).

Now, from whomever I've asked so far, I've gotten mixed opinions, some say to take the guaranteed option and run, saving 2-4 years of my life, others say that I should try for MD.

I've heard iffy things about LECOM's experience but from what I've seen, the Elmira branch campus's policies/admins are much nicer/supportive than the terrible ones in the original and FL campuses.

About my interests within medicine, they're pretty wide as of now as obv I haven't gone to med school yet to narrow it down, but I can say for sure I'm not at all interested in anything surgical. Some of what I think I'm interested in are Psych, EM, Anesthesia, RadOnc, Internal Med->Heme/Onc, and PM&R.

About cost, the BS/DO program's 2 years of undergrad are tuition free, and the med school part is around 40k/yr, so 160k in total for the 6 years in tuition, and the COL of the area is quite low. For TAMU/UT, if i did undergrad there and then was lucky enough to get into a TX med school, those 8 years in tuition would also be around 160k, but that'd be a lot higher if I didn't and ended up at an OOS med school. The money gained from making attending income 2 years prior at the former also wasn't accounted for.

Only thing holding me back from the 6-year program is how difficult it might be to match as a DO as opposed to an MD. Elmira's matches are pretty good for a DO school, their students have said that around 6% of their class went into anesthesia and another 6% to PM&R, and had an ENT, 2 Derm, a NSGY, and an Ortho match this year out of their class of ~120, though I think despite that the path would probably be easier at an MD school for sure.

Please feel free to provide your thoughts regarding this, I'm looking to gather any and all opinions.

The main specialties I'm interested in (pretty wide range rn as ofc I've not gotten to med school yet to be able to narrow it down) are EM, Psych->CAP, Anesthesia, PM&R->Pain, IM->Heme/Onc, and Diagnostic Rad. Not really interested in anything surgical at all. Was wondering if ya'll would recommend this program or going down the traditional route at my state school (UT). Total cost for the 6-year program would be about the same as the 8-year path of UT->Texas med school if I get in. Ofc I won't decide just based on this but some input would be much appreciated. Thanks!