DO vs MD Med School

[NUgirl]

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I was wondering, does anyone know how much easier, if at all easier, it is to get into a DO school than a Med school? I know the averages for the MCAT and GPA for med schools are approximately 3.6 and 30. What are they for DO schools? Thanks!!!

 

[Hedwig]

It varies from school to school. Look in the osteopathic forum under the post, "Harder DO Schools to Get Into" or something like that. To summarize, if your numbers are dismal, you're not going to get in. If your numbers are good or even just okay and have a lot of clinical/life experience, you have a great chance. If your numbers are excellent but you have no real clinical or life experience then your chances of getting into osteopathic medical school aren't great. But again, numbers vary among the 19 schools (20 as of next year), so go to the osteopathic forum.

 

[jimjones]

I agree with the above poster. In my experience, if you have low - average stats, such as 3.3 gpa and 25 MCAT, and an interesting life showing you are a 'people person', then DO schools will be easier to get into than MD schools. If you have great stats, such as 3.7 gpa 32 MCAT, and not much of a life except maybe some research, then MD schools will be easier to get into. Any combinations of the above are hard to say. What does your file look like?

 

[Dr JPH]

Average for applicant matriculating into DO schools in 2000 (as published by AACOM) were:

GPA
Science: 3.36
Non-Science: 3.50
OVERALL: 3.43

MCAT
Physical: 8.18
Verbal: 8.11
Biological: 8.69
OVERALL: 25


Keep in mind that DO schools (generally) look at more than just the numbers when reviewing an applicant. This is the case for all the schools I applied to, anyway.

Good luck to you!

 

[mpp]

Osteopathic schools are slightly more competitive because of the lower percentage of matriculants to applicants compared with allopathic schools. Last year there were 7,708 applicants for 2,848 spots at osteopathic schools (37 percent matriculation rate) as compared with 34,859 applicants for 16,365 spots (47 percent matriculation rate) at allopathic schools.
The statistics get a bit blurred as many of osteopathic applicants are also allopathic applicants.

The <a href="http://www.aacom.org/education/publications.html" target="_blank">Annual Statisical Report</a> and the published <a href="http://www.aamc.org/data/facts/start.htm" target="_blank">National Applicant Data</a> have information to help you compare allopathic and osteopathic admissions information.