Exploring Careers in Medicine: Podiatry

Many prospective medical students do not realize that podiatrists, physicians and surgeons who treat the foot, ankle, and structures of the leg below the knee, do not attend allopathic or osteopathic medical schools. Rather, these doctors attend a specialized program in podiatric medicine and receive a Doctor of Podiatric Medicine (DPM) degree.

Did you know?...

• Podiatric programs cost less than MD and DO programs.

• All podiatric residencies are surgical (as opposed to DO and MD residencies), and the residencies are shorter in length (3 years). Podiatrists can also opt to extend their training and specialize further.

• Podiatric programs, while competitive, tend to have more forgiving admissions requirements (MCAT and GPA), than MD or DO programs. In 2021, the American Association of Colleges of Podiatric Medicine (AACPM) reported that the mean overall GPA for matriculants was 3.4 (Science: 3.2, Non-Science: 3.5), and the mean MCAT was 494.3.

• Graduates of DPM programs enter a secure, lucrative field that provides a solid work-life balance, with a humane number of working hours per week.

There are 11 accredited podiatry schools and the AACPM website is an excellent resource for information on them. They have breakdowns of each school's mission, special programs and services, demographics, and social media handles. We’ve included the list of schools below, along with average MCAT scores and GPAs for matriculants.

*Data reflects 2021 matriculating class

If you are interested in podiatric medicine and want to apply, you should plan to submit your application in August or early fall the year before you hope to matriculate (which will be your senior year if you plan to enter after graduation). AACPMAS begins processing primary applications in August for fall admission the following year. For priority consideration, AACPMAS says you should submit before March. While the final application deadline date is June 30th for fall admission of the same year, we don’t typically recommend submitting your application so late in the cycle. 

Israeli Medical Schools will No Longer Accept American or Canadian Students

Israeli medical schools—Tel Aviv University’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine, the Ben-Gurion Faculty of Health Sciences (BGU), and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology’s Rappaport Faculty of Medicine—will no longer accept American or Canadian students. A physician shortage in Israel led to this decision by the Israeli government, along with the large number of Israelis unable to gain admittance to medical school domestically. The Class of 2026, which includes students who matriculated this fall, will be the last to include American and Canadian students.

The decision comes as a shock to the international community as the Israeli medical schools have a long history of educating foreign students; Tel Aviv University’s Sackler has graduated foreign doctors for over 40 years, BGU for 30, and the Technion for about 20. Tel Aviv University’s executive dean, Dr. Stephen Lazar, wrote to the school’s foreign medical students, “It is with the deepest regret that I must inform you that the Israeli government has directed all foreign medical programs, including American medical programs, to stop accepting new students,” he wrote. “This political decision was made in order to increase the availability of seats in Israeli medical schools for the Hebrew programs, so that many Israeli students will not have to travel abroad for their medical education. TAU president Ariel Porat and dean Ehud Grossman have assured us that enrolled students, including the class of 2026, entering this week, will be permitted to complete their medical studies.”

Both the former and current presidents of BGU, Professors Rivka Carmi and Daniel Chamovitz, noted their disappointment, while also pointing to the need for Israel to focus on its own physician supply—only about 900 Israeli students per year attend domestic medical schools. Chamovitz put it succinctly, “There was no choice. We need more Israelis to study medicine here. Those who worked in our international school will teach Israelis instead of foreigners. Nothing will change,” he said. Carmi pointed out that among OECD countries, the average proportion of doctors is 3.4 per 1,000. In Israel the average falls below that, at 3.1, and in some parts of the country, it is 2.7. 

In addition to the low number of Israeli-educated doctors, the physician shortage has been amplified by mass retirements from Soviet-born doctors who immigrated to Israel, and to some extent the pharmaceutical, health technology, and other high-paying private businesses that lure physicians away from clinical practice. Most North American medical students who studied in Israel returned home post-graduation.