Regardless the MD schools have a higher match rate into Allopathic postgrad training than DO schools. Most of the better DO programs are around 70-75 percent, there are some schools where the number is lower and large number of students go to AOA training programs.
Again, not entirely accurate. Look at the NRMP match. DO match rate in ACGME has consistently increased for years, even with MD and DO expansion. Last year it was 77.7%. That was the highest it has ever been. The year before it was ~75%, which was also an all-time high.
Also, not everyone settles AOA because they can't match ACGME, actually as you know, the timeline is not conducive to that (the AOA match is 1st, so anyone who matches is pulled out of the ACGME match).
Now, of course MD match rate has always been high, but we have almost no way of knowing what the real DO match rate (ACGME and AOA) has been. There are lots of factors that come into play. The big one being that many people that apply AOA rank only the most competitive programs and use their ACGME applications as backups. In addition, some DOs who don't match AOA also end up not matching ACGME, so they are counted twice as "unmatched". Even with that, the match rate is at least in the high 70s (77.7% ACGME and 77.5% AOA) and could be as high as 89% overall. This is an across the board average for DOs, not just at the "better DO programs".
Are we talking just ACGME match? Because I know of two schools that had a 100% match rate for 2014.
No school, even MD schools have a consistently 100% match rate. You are confusing GME match rate and GME placement rate. Most schools have placement rates in the 98-100% range for its graduates.
Do those who don't match scramble into ACGME? Sorry if this question comes off ignorant. I'm a bit confused.
There is no ACGME scramble. The way it works is that DOs do one of 3 things:
(1) They apply strictly AOA. They apply in the fall of their 4th year to only AOA programs. They interview at some of those programs. Then they rank those programs. Anyone who doesn't have glaring deficits/redflags in their app (failing a board, repeating a year, etc.) shouldn't have a problem matching if they apply to reasonable programs and have backups (i.e. don't apply only NS if you have a 400 COMLEX and no research in the field). For those that fail to match, they can scramble AOA.
(2) They apply strictly ACGME. They do not apply to any AOA programs and as a result are the non-participants listed in the Natmatch data. As you can see from cliquesh's link the range of DOs in this group varies a lot by schools and can be anywhere from 20.9% of the class to 72.1% of the class, and the average is 46.5% of classes. If they fail to match ACGME, they can SOAP (a series of mini matches that follow the NRMP match) or they can scramble into whatever few spots are leftover on the AOA side after the Natmatch and scramble.
(3) They apply both AOA and ACGME. This is done by a decent number of people for lots of reasons. One of them being that they could apply competitive AOA and less competitive ACGME as a backup. Another is just a way to increase their chances, especially if they are less competitive. Don't forget that there are a ton more ACGME spots than AOA spots. Anyways, these people apply to both in the fall, they see what kind of interviews they get, then they rank AOA. If they match AOA, they are pulled out of the ACGME match. If they don't, they rank ACGME programs (the deadline and match is later). If they match, they're done. If they fail to match a second time, they can SOAP or they can scramble whatever is left on the AOA side.
As you can see, because there is some level of overlap, it's impossible to calculate exactly what the DO match rate is. If it were one match, it would be easier, but it isn't. As I said above, a straight calculation is likely an underestimate because certainly some (if not many) of the DOs that don't match AOA will also not match ACGME, so they are counted as not matching twice.
On top of that, Osteo grads are not separated from Osteo seniors in either match, so that confounds things more. As you can see, MD grads have NRMP match rates in the 60s, so it's possible the DO seniors match rate is actually a bit higher.
Even with this, a straight calculation of the match rate still comes out in the high 70s, based on just the numbers of DOs that match out of the total number of eligible DOs (from the AOA numbers - unfortunately there's no way to know how many DO grads applied only ACGME, but hopefully the number is small enough not to change things much - don't forget also that DO grads applying for an ACGME PGY2 position after a TRI aren't counted as "matched" by the NRMP anyways).
Total no. of eligible grads for 2014 = 5645 (from AOA data)
Total no. that matched AOA = 2341 (from AOA match)
Total no. that matched ACGME = 2127 (from NRMP match)
So, overall DO match rate is
at least = 4468 / 5645 * (100%) = 79.15%
