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The 2026-2027 DO School Specific Threads are now available in the School Specific Discussions forum. The 2025-2026 discussions are now available in the prior year discussions forum.
Question about the merger - COMLEX or USLME?
Started by ToKingdomCome
why are people asking these kinds of question on pre-medical forum?
Isn't pre-medical forum suppose to be about getting into a medical school?
Isn't this more relevant to medical forum????
<<< my pic
Isn't pre-medical forum suppose to be about getting into a medical school?
Isn't this more relevant to medical forum????
<<< my pic
more active here among incoming med students as well
I feel like those who have been studying in medical schools already know better...
There will be no option. All DO students must take the COMLEX for the foreseeable future. It's a substantial money maker and there is no other mechanism in place to test OMM proficiency. A change, if it does happen, will not be immediate. The merger may not even happen for multiple years (there's a range do dates extending to 2020).
Plan from Day 1 to take the USMLE as well. It's best to keep all your options on the table.
As DrEnderW said, there is no choice in the matter. For one, in order to graduate from ANY US DO school, you must take COMLEX Level I and II (both parts of II).
Agreed. The USMLE is recommended if you want an MD-affiliated residency, however not taking it (and only having the COMLEX scores) will put you at a disadvantage.
Do you think DO schools will at least start to put more emphasis and interest in the usmle and having their students do well in it?
Having to take both tests used to bother me but after reading through a lot of posts in the medical student forums and on the COMLEX prep forums, it seems that a common strategy is to study hard for the USMLE, take it first and then cram OMM like crazy and take the COMLEX 3-5 days later. If it is as straightforward as that, it shouldn't be all that bad.
Unless its a requirement, I doubt it. Any change, including changes to curriculum, usually cost money or time, something that people rarely expend without a clear benefit. I'd say the few DO schools that emphasize USMLE the way they emphasize COMLEX are anomalies and only do so because of a strong feeling held by someone higher up.
I disagree. All three schools I interviewed at said they anticipated increasing their emphasis on the USMLE to have students be more competitive for residency applications post-merger (n = 3, but still).
I don't think the content differences are as big as people let on from what I've seen. However, the style of questions are different and require practicing each.
Many students use outside sources such as Constanzo, BRS, First Aid, Goljan, Pathoma, Firecracker, etc where you will get all the info.
Many students use outside sources such as Constanzo, BRS, First Aid, Goljan, Pathoma, Firecracker, etc where you will get all the info.
Two DO students from like 2-3 years ago (I haven't seen them since) told me that their respective school frowned upon when you mentioned that you were interested in taking the USMLE and inquired about how many students took it during interviews.
Now, I've noticed more students speak about taking the USMLE non-anonymously without being frowned upon from their respective schools.
Now, I've noticed more students speak about taking the USMLE non-anonymously without being frowned upon from their respective schools.
All of the ones I interviewed at didn't even mention USMLE. This may also be regional, since the distribution of AOA residencies certainly is. If you interviewed in areas with sparce AOA residencies where most graduates have to go ACGME, this makes more sense. That said, I still don't think it would be a common focus at DO schools, because again its not a requirement, whereas passing the COMLEX is.
