So I'm not sure how many people out there are intersted in this but my thoughts on osteopathic have changed a little...
First some things specific to DMU...
So first of all I already said I am in Iowa. Even in Des Moines (the capital) it feels much more like a suburb and not so much a city. There are minorities in the city but not very many in the area around the school. I am the ONLY AA in my class. I knew the numbers would be low, but I didn't think I'd be alone. So that in itself has been hard for me. I am used to my undergrad where even though there are certainly far fewer minorities there is still enough of a group total to not feel so alone. Along that note the SNMA chapter here was a huge dissappointment. I knew I wanted to attend a school that had an SNMA chapter because they were so helpful to me in undergrad so I joined immediately when I got here. However, I very quickly realized that the group was what I was looking for. They are not connected to the national organization really and no one in the club knows what the real organization is. They simply use it as a club that volunteers in the community. This isn't a bad thing, just not what I was expecting adn I will be encouraging them to change the name of the group for next year. There is one black faculty member here who makes sure to meet and to support any black student and encourage them and he has been a great resource to me, especally when I need to vent.
As for osteopathic schools, there are two main differences between osteopathic and allopathic for those who don't know. 1) Osteopathic does OMM- Osteopathic manipulative medicine. This is a technique similar to chiropractic and is a hands on way of diagnosing and manually treating many musculoskeletal problems. My personal take on this is that it is a legitimate treatment and really more of an art than a science, but defintiely benefits many patients. However, I simply don't have the energy or motivation to become really good at this because of the course load of a medical student. So I will probably end up as one of the many DOs who never use it after school. 2) Osteopathic schools generally train many more primary care doctors. This is a draw to many students who knwo they are more interested in promary care than a specialty but there are also some people I have met that are bitter about being at a DO school and are only here because of being rejected at MD schools. So overall there is a good balance between ppl who specialize and don't and it important to keep in mind that the door isn't closed to any specialty at all.
When I came here I was morre interested in being a DO than an MD but by this point I have decided that they are essentially the same. Therefore, I don't think anyone should try to only go DO or only go MD (unless you know you have the dedication to master OMM and that's what you want to do). At first I was offended by the number of people who told me to go MD because my scores were good enough for it, but now I understand them. I wouldn't change my decision on where I went because with my scholarship it is the best financial decision. But as far as I can tell MDs get more respect than DOs in the medical community, so that might be the small push to go that direction.
Overall I dont think the numbers of AA in osteopathic schools will change very quickly but maybe they can over time. It sounds like a number of east coast schools already have pretty good numbers. If people are worried that DO schools aren't good enough I certainly don't think that's true and I would definitely recommend it over a Carribean school. Just look at the board pass rates for the schools and it can tell you which ones have solid programs.
Love it!!! 
