Osteopathic Medical Schools Guide

Allopathic vs. Osteopathic

Are there differences between allopathic and osteopathic medical schools? Well, they are no different from allopathic schools. Osteopathic medical schools are very demanding and rigorous. In fact, DO schools are harder because they teach OMT. As if medical school wasn't hard enough!

Also, the DO and MD schools have different board exams. MD students take the USMLE (United States Medical Licensing Examination), while the DO students take COMLEX (Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination). DO students can take the USMLE to apply to allopathic residencies, but MD students cannot apply to osteopathic residencies.

Osteopathic Medical Schools Requirements

In order to get accepted by a DO school, you do the same thing as if you were applying to allopathic programs. You need good grades, a good MCAT score, letters of recommendation, etc. You also need to do extracurricular activities, but for DO schools you need to shadow an osteopathic physician. It can be any type of DO doctor (ie primary care physician, surgeon, dermatologist, etc.). DO schools place an emphasis on this because they want students to know what osteopathic medicine is about before they become osteopathic doctors. On top of shadowing, you need to get a letter of recommendation from an osteopathic physician. This means you need to take time getting to know the doctor andmaking a good impression. So, it takes time to apply to DO schools. Don't just jump into the osteopath wagon withouttaking some time to think about it and don't ever think of DO schools as a backup. DO schools look down on applicantswho do this.

Also, make sure you know who A.T. Still is and what he did. (Hint: go back to the osteopathic section of my site)

Now, DO schools tend to be more forgiving of your past than allopathic medical schools. They also tend to like nontraditional applicants. I'm not sure why, but many people who worked and decide to become a doctor have better success at applyingto DO schools than MD schools. So, if you're a nontraditional applicant, seriously consider applying to osteopathicmedical schools.

There are 28 osteopathic medical schools and more to come as of 2009. Go to the AACOM site to see what schools are of interest to you. Each school has different programs and curriculum. Some schools teach problem based learning (PBL) only. Instead of traditional lecture style learning, PBL teaches medicine by giving students a case study (ie patient has diabetes) and it's the students job to find out everything about this disease and how it affects the body. In other words, you're presented with a problem and it's your job to study it. You don't have to solve it by diagnosing and whatnot, but the idea is to learn in this fashion. Also, some osteopathic medical schools tend to favor applicants from the local area. For example, some schools want students to stay and practice in the area the school is located. Consequently, they prefer students who are from the area. Honestly, it's impossible to know which schools are like this unless you can talk to the administration and students, so just apply broadly and hope for the best. This process can be random. You never know what's going to happen until you try.

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