Osteopathic vs Allopathic Acceptance Rates

Get Your Med School Admissions Questions Answered!
This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
lolcat

lolcat

Full Member
10+ Year Member
Joined
Sep 9, 2009
Messages
282
Reaction score
10
I'm not sure why I'm not able to find this information online. I'm at work and did a couple of quick searches but couldn't come up with what I'm looking for.

I wanted to see the # of applicants vs # of marticulants overall for DO and MD. I have a feeling that DO actually accepts a smaller percentage of applicants.
Members don't see this ad.
 
Ah yeah, true. I read before MD has about 48,000 applicants and 20,000 seats, but not sure if I'm remembering correctly. Was having a chat with my buddy at work about this and was just curious.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
Info equivalent to something like Table 24 is not released for DO schools to my knowledge. I wonder why though...because it wouldn't be flattering? Seems like it would be incredibly useful to applicants and I can't think of any other reasons it wouldn't be reported
 
That's why I couldn't find it. That's disappointing.. I think there were about 15,000 DO applicants? Want to know how many seats there are
 
According to AACOM: For the DO class entering 2014, 17,944 applicants for 6,562 seats.
Source: http://www.aacom.org/reports-programs-initiatives/aacom-reports

The interesting thing about DO schools though is the rapid increase in the number of applicants. For e.g., for 2008-2009 entering class 11,742 people applied, for the 2015-2016 entering class 20,447 people applied.
 
It's probably the same or around the same for both
 
N of 1, for my school:

~5000 apps
~5oo interviews
~250 accepts
100 seats


Matriculation rate = ~2%, same as Harvard, 2x as much as Gtown. Yes, I know they're different applicant pools...although there's probably some decent overlap with the COMs like CCOM (LizzyM score = 66) vs Gtown (70).


lolcat said:
I'm not sure why I'm not able to find this information online. I'm at work and did a couple of quick searches but couldn't come up with what I'm looking for.

I wanted to see the # of applicants vs # of marticulants overall for DO and MD. I have a feeling that DO actually accepts a smaller percentage of applicants.
Click to expand...
 
I assume the vast majority of accepts end up matriculating. Even with a conservative 90% matriculation rate for DO schools, the projected acceptance rate would be ~40%. Similar to MD.
 
These numbers tell you very very little without seeing the GPA and MCAT that accompanies them...you need something like Table 24 to even begin talking about chances/selectivity
 
Banco said:
I assume the vast majority of accepts end up matriculating. Even with a conservative 90% matriculation rate for DO schools, the projected acceptance rate would be ~40%. Similar to MD.
Click to expand...

I also think we need to take into account students who apply to MD and DO, get into both, and choose MD, which I would estimate to be higher than 10% of the applicant pool, but I have no numbers to back that up.
 
efle said:
These numbers tell you very very little without seeing the GPA and MCAT that accompanies them...you need something like Table 24 to even begin talking about chances/selectivity
Click to expand...

The document posted above has some cool information similar to table 24.

Average DO Matriculant GPA/MCAT = 3.5/27.

WedgeDawg said:
I also think we need to take into account students who apply to MD and DO, get into both, and choose MD, which I would estimate to be higher than 10% of the applicant pool, but I have no numbers to back that up.
Click to expand...

I was thinking of that too, that's why I gave the 90% number as a rough estimate. Considering the stats of the applicants/matrics, I don't expect too many will be going to MD.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
Banco said:
The document posted above has some cool information similar to table 24.

Average DO Matriculant GPA/MCAT = 3.5/27.



I was thinking of that too, that's why I gave the 90% number as a rough estimate. Considering the stats of the applicants/matrics, I don't expect too many will be going to MD.
Click to expand...
I saw it gave median and std.dev but I am pretty sure it isn't really a bell curve
 
Banco said:
I was thinking of that too, that's why I gave the 90% number as a rough estimate. Considering the stats of the applicants/matrics, I don't expect too many will be going to MD.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I figured that's why you did that. I'm just not 100% sure what the actual number would be here.

Also (forgive me for going off-topic) I'm not getting alerts for people quoting me anymore. Anyone have any suggestions? I checked my alert preferences and it says I should be, but I haven't for the last 5 quotes or so...
 
WedgeDawg said:
Yeah, I figured that's why you did that. I'm just not 100% sure what the actual number would be here.

Also (forgive me for going off-topic) I'm not getting alerts for people quoting me anymore. Anyone have any suggestions? I checked my alert preferences and it says I should be, but I haven't for the last 5 quotes or so...
Click to expand...
Have you tried restarting
 
WedgeDawg said:
Yeah, I figured that's why you did that. I'm just not 100% sure what the actual number would be here.

Also (forgive me for going off-topic) I'm not getting alerts for people quoting me anymore. Anyone have any suggestions? I checked my alert preferences and it says I should be, but I haven't for the last 5 quotes or so...
Click to expand...

The site is hinting that you should spend less time on here :hilarious:
 
One person with between a 40-45 applied DO apparently according to one of the tables haha
 
The real, burning question: what percentage of applicants that apply either DO or MD get into neither? 49,474 applied MD. 17,944 applied DO. There were 13,000 reapplicants according to Gonnif's table. Assuming that some people give up, there must have been at least 13,000 who did not get in anywhere in the previous year.

What percentage of the DO applicant pool applied DO only- that is, zero MD schools? I would hazard a guess that it's probably no more than 1/3 the total DO applicant pool, with most DO applicants applying to their MD state schools and Rosy Franklin-type low tiers along with DO. I'd say there's probably about 55,000 medical school applicants in total, with 26,000 being accepted to at least one MD or DO program.
 
whatever5 said:
Someone got into a DO school with an MCAT of less than 14...
Click to expand...

This someone probably has connections within that school...I am sure it has happened in MD schools sometime, some place.
 
From what my wily old Admissions dean (and others) tells me, about 50% of the applicants to all med schools have no business even thinking about med school, except as being standardized patients.

The wise gyngyn has written about having to read an app with someone who had a single digit MCAT score. No, not in all three sub-sections...the whole exam!
 
gonnif said:
You have no idea who these applicants are and what there background are; making assumptions and placing stereotypes is rather arrogant and that is the last quality I want to see in an applicant. I know of one rather low scoring applicant who nonetheless was quite successful in medical school. Why the low score. Well the day before he was flying missions out of Kuwait, then rushed to Saudi Arabia to take the exam, sleeping on top of a large refrigeration box the night before, having horrible computer issues that crashed finally leaving him with score he got as he headed back to Kuwait to fly missions the next day. He is now finishing residency in the Pacific Northwest.
Click to expand...

It's also worth noting the vast majority of these with traditional low stats such as under a 2.5 and under 23 MCAT scores still graduate MD schools within 5 years. If you graduate you essentially can get a residency.
 
efle said:
Have you tried restarting
Click to expand...
giphy.gif
 
efle said:
Must be quite the connections to make up for wasting a seat on someone who is very unlikely to pass boards
Click to expand...

With a 5-14 MCAT, I would bet lots of money that they wouldnt pass boards on 3 attempts let alone one. Unless of course, extremely extenuating circumstances.
 
Mad Jack said:
They are very different applicant pools with some degree of overlap. I wouldn't draw any direct comparisons based on raw acceptance rates, they really don't say much.
Click to expand...

Dont many applicants apply to both DO and MD though?
 
Gandy741 said:
Dont many applicants apply to both DO and MD though?
Click to expand...
Yeah, but the kind of people that apply to both are often either geographically limited, borderline candidates, or insecure. They aren't the same sorts of people, on average, that apply exclusively MD or DO.
 
Gandy741 said:
With a 5-14 MCAT, I would bet lots of money that they wouldnt pass boards on 3 attempts let alone one. Unless of course, extremely extenuating circumstances.
Click to expand...

The vast majority of people even with those stats still graduate MD schools within 5 years.
 
gonnif said:
You have no idea who these applicants are and what there background are; making assumptions and placing stereotypes is rather arrogant and that is the last quality I want to see in an applicant. I know of one rather low scoring applicant who nonetheless was quite successful in medical school. Why the low score. Well the day before he was flying missions out of Kuwait, then rushed to Saudi Arabia to take the exam, sleeping on top of a large refrigeration box the night before, having horrible computer issues that crashed finally leaving him with score he got as he headed back to Kuwait to fly missions the next day. He is now finishing residency in the Pacific Northwest.
Click to expand...
Calm down buddy. Have you considered that maybe he should've voided and retaken at a better time rather than risk his cycle on someone being sympathetic? Regardless of circumstances someone with those numbers hasn't demonstrated a solid likelihood of success in Med school. Note that this doesn't mean they can't succeed in Med school; just hasn't demonstrated that they probably will like the vast majority of other applicants had to. Consider that perhaps you're being a bit over sensitive and reading offence where there was none intended...
 
efle said:
Calm down buddy. Have you considered that maybe he should've voided and retaken at a better time rather than risk his cycle on someone being sympathetic? Regardless of circumstances someone with those numbers hasn't demonstrated a solid likelihood of success in Med school. Note that this doesn't mean they can't succeed in Med school; just hasn't demonstrated that they probably will like the vast majority of other applicants had to. Consider that perhaps you're being a bit over sensitive and reading offence where there was none intended...
Click to expand...

This is not a good look for you. That's all I'll say.
 
GrapesofRath said:
This is not a good look for you. That's all I'll say.
Click to expand...
? I've seen Goro say essentially the same thing many times, that yeah maybe someone got a 15 because of a flu hitting them mid test or something else unrelated to ability , but the correct thing to do then is void and retake...and I don't really see what about my earlier comment was so inflammatory
 
WedgeDawg said:
Also (forgive me for going off-topic) I'm not getting alerts for people quoting me anymore. Anyone have any suggestions? I checked my alert preferences and it says I should be, but I haven't for the last 5 quotes or so...
Click to expand...
I see my name tagged without having gotten an alert not infrequently, as well, despite resetting the Alert Preference. I theorize that one does not get tagged if one's name is added after posting, via the Edit feature.

Edit: Testing @WedgeDawg did you only get an alert for getting quoted, or also for being tagged?
 
GrapesofRath said:
The vast majority of people even with those stats still graduate MD schools within 5 years.
Click to expand...

I'm sure, but its hard to fathom. Of course, I'm a full believer in re-invention and life events thrashing your MCAT score.
 
Catalystik said:
I see my name tagged without having gotten an alert not infrequently, as well, despite resetting the Alert Preference. I theorize that one does not get tagged if one's name is added after posting, via the Edit feature.

Edit: Testing @WedgeDawg did you only get an alert for getting quoted, or also for being tagged?
Click to expand...
I only got one for being quoted, but I've found that normally if a user tags and quotes me in the same post, only the quote will show up as an alert (I guess it would be silly to get two alerts for the same post).
 
Catalystik said:
"(I guess it would be silly to get two alerts for the same post)" I agree, yet it happens.

Edited for testing: @WedgeDawg without quoting you first.
Click to expand...

Nothing - just happened to check the thread, but I was also under the impression that edited tags or quotes don't give alerts.
 
gonnif said:
A) Dont call me Buddy; Emeritus would be order
B) Did you ever even stop and think what an adcom might consider OTHER than MCAT especially for an active military in a combat zone
C) Did you ever think about what OTHER factors the adcom might consider that would show this candidate would be successful in medical school
D) Offense was given, whether intended or not by making an assumption and being arrogant. There are two things I look for when I am reading an application the first being is it an arrogant tone or confidence. The tone of your post, whether intended or not, reads as such and it is one of those that get scored low when evaluating
Click to expand...
Sir Buddy Emeritus, I understand that other factors weigh into an app. My point (and the one frequently brought up by Goro) is that no life story makes it sensible to admit someone to Med school without good evidence that they can handle it. If you have an extremely low MCAT you have not demonstrated something very important , and being a single mother of 25 or a veteran of ten wars doesn't take the place of whats supposed to be shown on the MCAT. Different (no judgement on relative) values.

If you're broke, fee assitance. If you can't schedule testing now, schedule it later when you can. If you cant fit it in any time in the forseeable future (raising many kids alone) , how the hell will you have time for Med school?
 
gonnif said:
You know your right, how can someone like Dr. Barbara Ross-Lee, the first African American woman to be dean of a major medical school, do it raising 3 kids alone in Detroit in the 1970s possibly do it? Or someone like former AMA Chair, Dr. Rebecca Patchin, after supporting her husband thru medical school as a nurse, leaves her, so she decides at age 35 to start medical school?

Or maybe, you need to take a moment and realize not everything in the world is absolute, that everybody has their own path to take, and that you as a potential physician should be able to accept the possibility that there always are atypical cases and patients to consider that dont fit into the mold.
Click to expand...
Try reading my post again. I didn't say you can't have time for Med school if you have kids. I said if those kids are so consuming that they are preventing you from having time for taking the MCAT, it follows they would prevent you from having time for Med school. At least based on all the Med students testifying that Med school is like a nonstop series of MCATs.

Again, never said all doctors should fit a mold. Said Med schools should select from among those that have shown they can handle it. I'm excited to see what words you next put into my mouth or what you can find to misread and counter with unrelated evidence.
 
efle said:
If you're broke, fee assitance.
Click to expand...

The Fee Assistance Program (FAP) is almost completely useless for non-trads, since we almost all have a job of some kind and the jobs count against us for FAP.

Yes, we use the job money for the MCAT and for applications.
 
efle said:
Try reading my post again. I didn't say you can't have time for Med school if you have kids. I said if those kids are so consuming that they are preventing you from having time for taking the MCAT, it follows they would prevent you from having time for Med school. At least based on all the Med students testifying that Med school is like a nonstop series of MCATs.

Again, never said all doctors should fit a mold. Said Med schools should select from among those that have shown they can handle it. I'm excited to see what words you next put into my mouth or what you can find to misread and counter with unrelated evidence.
Click to expand...

To say a single factor will disqualifies someone (in your eyes, or in the eyes of an adcom member) from gaining admission doesn't mean it should (and vice-versa). I think gonnif is simply bringing up the point that some schools will place much higher emphasis on other factors for a candidate that they believe will do well. If you have a reason for a poor MCAT score, and you have other qualifications that suggest you can handle the stress/rigors/etc, why turn them away?

The example vet could have had a great GPA, leadership experience, and maturity far outweighing someone who hasn't ever supported themselves. We know nothing of the story other than a poor MCAT, so to say they shouldn't be allowed entry until they prove themselves (on the MCAT) is shortsighted. Yes the MCAT is a good test for the applicants ability to pass licensing exams, but it's not the only standardized test around, or metric of academic aptitude.
 
NonTrad16 said:
To say a single factor will disqualifies someone (in your eyes, or in the eyes of an adcom member) from gaining admission doesn't mean it should (and vice-versa). I think gonnif is simply bringing up the point that some schools will place much higher emphasis on other factors for a candidate that they believe will do well. If you have a reason for a poor MCAT score, and you have other qualifications that suggest you can handle the stress/rigors/etc, why turn them away?

The example vet could have had a great GPA, leadership experience, and maturity far outweighing someone who hasn't ever supported themselves. We know nothing of the story other than a poor MCAT, so to say they shouldn't be allowed entry until they prove themselves (on the MCAT) is shortsighted. Yes the MCAT is a good test for the applicants ability to pass licensing exams, but it's not the only standardized test around, or metric of academic aptitude.
Click to expand...
Yeah the problem is that maturity leadership and even a high GPA are not strong evidence of being able to handle the academic rigors of a medical education. I see how they add value. I do not see how you could think a very low MCAT even with a good excuse should be admitted without retaking - as I said before no life story, no amount of adversity overcome makes it a good idea to admit someone if there's high risk of them failing out. Just have them take it again so they can dispel any doubts.
 
Yeah, but as someone else stated, the majority of the "low stat" applicants still end up handling the academic rigors of a medical education, graduating within 5 years.

The stats don't back your argument.
 
Last edited:
Doug Underhill said:
Yeah, but as someone else stated, the majority of the "low stat" applicants still end up handling the academic rigors of a medical application, graduating within 5 years.

The stats don't back your argument.
Click to expand...
They do back it, because I don't have to see a majority fail rate to call it an overly risky move and a waste (on average across many people) compared to people with near 100% pass rates.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

G
NEOMED post interview acceptance rate
Replies
0
Views
961
granted90
G
MDterminator
SMP with Conditional Acceptance vs DO Acceptance
Replies
17
Views
2K
Angus Avagadro
Angus Avagadro
I
Natural science internship as an allopathic pre-med student?
Replies
3
Views
468
AJS59
AJS59
BroScienceMCAT
WAMC - California Allopathic Applicant
Replies
2
Views
658
BroScienceMCAT
BroScienceMCAT
P
UTMB acceptance rate for OOS students
Replies
1
Views
895
wysdoc
wysdoc
Top