Less Competative Admission

[Masha]

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I've heard that admisssion to osteopathic med schools is less competative and "numbers based" than to allopathic schools. If this is true, why is it so? is it becuase less people want to be DO's?

 

[DORoe]

I've heard that admisssion to osteopathic med schools is less competative and "numbers based" than to allopathic schools. If this is true, why is it so? is it becuase less people want to be DO's?

This is dependent from school to school. Overall the average stats for a DO student are a little lower than that of MD, but a lot of osteo schools are very competitive. I think the reason for this probably stems from the history of the profession. We (I say we loosely as I am only a MSI) had a long uphill battle to become recognized and gain full practice rights in all states. Also the lack of knowledge and information regarding the profession plays a role in this as well. You would be surprised the number of people that have no idea what a DO is. Also, with a much lesser number of schools there are significantly lower numbers of DO's as there are MD's which undoubtably contributes to the lack of awareness by the public and pre-med communities. I noticed that you are a senior in high school currently and are exploring your options. If you are truly interested in the profession I would suggest you get a copy of "The DO's: Osteopathic Medicine in America" by Norman Gevitz. This book has a lot of the history and basic principles of osteopathic medicine, and while a bit dry at times is very informative.

*Another word of advice, take what people say on this board with a grain of salt*

 

[Biodude]

23 DO Schools
126 MD Schools

These are approximations, but you get the idea. Obviously going to be more MD's than DO's 😛

 

[DoctorRama]

Also, DO schools tend to accept more non-traditional students than MDs, that may be a reason for the "less numbers-based" factor.