Dr. Szabo's insular world.

You sure do have a patronizing tone with your posts, Dr. Szabo. You seem to have some real difficulty in understanding or tolerating other opinions. You also appear to lack much sympathy for those who are less fortunate. You're just like every other poster who extols the virtues of podiatry while verbally smacking anyone who disagrees. I guess that's easier than lifting even a knuckle hair to offer advice. Oh yeah, I forgot. You don't want to divulge your secrets of success to a bunch of "malcontents" and "anonymous" posters. At least I agree that many people can have a fruitful, rewarding career as a DPM.

I'm sick of saying it, but I'll post it again. I accept responsibility for not investigating podiatry more thoroughly. The schools, however, need to accept responsibility for increasing enrollment while failing to keep up with an equal number of decent residencies that fully train the resident. The schools need to accept responsibility for not always populating the faculty with competent, experienced professors that can impart their wisdom on students who are investing a ton of money. The schools and the APMA do nothing to promote the profession (though, before they promote it, they should overhaul it to the point where it can be promoted truthfully). The schools also need to RAISE the standards for admission instead of incrementally lowering them year by year. And what reasonably minded student would even begin to think to ask questions like, "are there going to be enough residencies when I graduate"? "am I going to be fully trained as a podiatrist when I graduate"? "is my residency program going to pay me anything for my work"? "is there going to be a way for me to help get my loans paid off if I'm having a hard time making ends meet"? It bears repeating: Any student who is applying to a REAL medical school does not need to worry about these ridiculous possibilities.

What country do you live in, Dr Szabo? I live in the United States which encourages dissent and debate. I appreciate this freedom to express my concerns as well as my happiness. And what powers have been bestowed on you to blanketly call a group of people who don't follow your beliefs "terminably miserable"? I'm actually a very, very happy person. I just made a mistake with podiatry and am currently correcting it.

"I hope the obscurity of this site has limited its ability to adversely influence the future of the profession."

The funny thing is that I'm sure that this site has next to nothing to do with the extreme drop in application numbers. People are just doing their research and talking to the professionals. My guess is that very few DPM's, MD's, DO's, other health professionals, college advisors are recommending podiatry as a viable career.