Discovering D.O. For the First Time

[YLFounder]

I just recently decided to venture into the D.O. school side because I'd like to apply to a variety of schools and I've been told D.O. schools are willing to take the lower GPAs. Is this true? How is the D.O. application cycle? I'm completely clueless when it comes to the application process and how their curriculum will be different.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Awesome Sauceome]

Typically they do take lower stats. But some of the older schools have scores similar to MD schools (check out CCOM - Midwestern).

Application cycle is pretty similar. AACOMAS opens in June and the season is about as long. You need pretty much all of the same stuff on your application as you would for MD.

Curriculum is held to the same standards as MD schools, but simply there is also a few hundred hours (over the entire education) on OMT. Otherwise its the same. At the end of year two you take COMLEX which is the DO equivalent of USMLE. However, you also have the option to take the USMLE and apply to allopathic residencies. Third and fourth years are reasonably similar. Depending on what school you go to you would go to smaller tertiary hospitals and outpatient clinics. Only a few have the massive hospital system of an MD school (check out Michigan state and Oklahoma state). This can be good or bad. For some its greats because you have more choice in where you want to do rotations and can do more away rotations in places that you would prefer. But again that is on a school by school basis.

 

[YLFounder]

If I would be applying to schools such as the new Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine in Dothan, Alabama or the new Osteopathic School opening up in Auburn, Alabama, would you expect them to take low-tier students because it is their opening classes?

Thank you for replying back!

 

[Awesome Sauceome]

I dont know too much about Auburn. However, ACOM had an average gpa of 3.4 and 26 MCAT this year.

Its not necessarily that all of the DO schools are shoo-ins. And especially with the MD/DO residency merger that just happened a few weeks back, I bet you anything this year is going to spike in competitiveness. Either way, most have been slowly working their way up in average stats year by year. Some of the newer ones (that even DOs question their existence) have much lower stats. Think like 3.3 gpa and 24 MCAT... Others that have been around for 90+ years are very, very competitive - pretty much on par with a lot of MD schools (think like 3.6+ gpa and 29+ MCAT). Even some of the ones that were made in the 70s are pretty competitive.

What are your stats like? Any ECs? Have you shadowed a DO? I dont know about ACOM, but a lot of DO schools "strongly recommend" (ie require) a LoR from a DO. So that is something to also think about, with the season coming up.

 

[YLFounder]

I founded two organizations on campus, one which is deeply integrated with our pediatric hospital. I am going to start shadowing DOs this May; I found a list through their directory online. I'm only a sophomore right now, so I will begin preparing for the MCAT this summer too.

 

[Awesome Sauceome]

Yea you've got time. Make sure to only take the MCAT when you are 100% ready and after you have taken all of the pre-reqs. This whole trip is a marathon, not a sprint.

Sent from my RM-917_nam_usa_100 using Tapatalk

 

[hallowmann]

I founded two organizations on campus, one which is deeply integrated with our pediatric hospital. I am going to start shadowing DOs this May; I found a list through their directory online. I'm only a sophomore right now, so I will begin preparing for the MCAT this summer too.

If you are a sophomore, you have a decent amount of time to improve your GPA. If I were you, I would use that time.

If you really want to apply DO, and are worried about your GPA, you can always take course retakes at a CC for any course that you got <B- in. AACOMAS accepts course retakes and factors them into your GPA, so you could significantly improve your GPA that way.