"Do podiatry schools have MCAT requirements"
"yeah… that it was taken."
"curiously looked at podiatry schools MCAT average. It was a great confidence booster. With an average that low you wonder why they even bother with it"
"
Many people don't realize that medicine is a BUSINESS first and helping people second. Same thing with DOs. Why do DOs even exist when we have MDs already. Do you not realize how much money DO schools make from students that couldn't make it to MD?..."
...These parts above are not wrong, particularly the last one.
Reddit can be pretty negative and snarky, but it's a free country. Many people there do give good things to think about.
The job of podiatry is fine for people interested in the work. I like the job. The podiatry options and income relative to the debt for podiatry are out of control.
That's a function of the new schools and many grads and higher tuitions (tuition/fees/housing roughly doubled in the dozen years since I graduated ... yet incomes up 20-25%, at most). That means podiatry debt is well over double - and with higher interest rates now. The fellowship fad, a pretty clear function of job scarcity, also potentially adds another year of time and loan interest.
Those outcomes should be fully expected when podiatry schools go from 7 to 11 schools in less than twenty years. It's saturation, through and through. Podiatry schools profit from mainly students who couldn't get into MD or DO school. That increased supply of podiatrists hurts ROI for the grads relative to their money and time spent in schooling.
Like anything, podiatry is not amazing as the fluffers say.
It's also not as tough or bad as those who are struggling or frustrated may say.
It just is. It's podiatry.
The true advice for prospective DPM students is:
- Look at ROI (both tuition/debt and time).
- Shadow if interested, see the job.
- Realize who profits significantly from more students/ residents / grads / members.
- Make your own decisions based on you own interests and situation and other options.
- If you do matriculate, work hard. Realize podiatry schools exist to profit, there is a very real attrition rate, and not all grads will get quality residency.