"The D.O is In Now" The New York Times July 29 2014

[SkipJunior]

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/03/e...athic-branch-of-medicine-is-booming.html?_r=0

I'm sure a fair proportion of you have read this article already but I'm posting it for all the people who haven't read it.

The field of osteopathic medicine has grown enormously in recent years. More and more people are slowly learning about this field and D.Os are slowly becoming more mainstream.

The admissions standards of D.O schools are slowly but surely going up as competition increases rapidly for D.O seats.

Unfortunately some of the comments in the article do viciously attack D.O schools and how "easy" they are to get in.

Overall though, I'm glad that people's opinions about D.O is changing, albeit slowly.

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[IslandStyle808]

The article was actually posted before. And that thread just crashed and burned, because you will have medical students and residents who will think training at big name institutions have far superior training to those of institutions that do their training in community hospitals. Be prepared for this (especially on pre-allo since you have posted their also).

 

[SkipJunior]

I was not aware that it was posted before. Also, the article states that the DO and MD residency training programs will merge and be under one accreditation body, ACGME. So wouldn't the training be similar due to the merger since they will all have to follow the same standards?

Yes I did post in pre-allo but before anyone accuses me of cross-posting, I would like to point out that my post in pre-allo is very different from this post (not simply a copy and paste).

 

[cliquesh]

I was not aware that it was posted before. Also, the article states that the DO and MD residency training programs will merge and be under one accreditation body, ACGME. So wouldn't the training be similar due to the merger since they will all have to follow the same standards?

Yes I did post in pre-allo but before anyone accuses me of cross-posting, I would like to point out that my post in pre-allo is very different from this post (not simply a copy and paste).

There are plenty of terrible acgme accredited residencies.

 

[dcguthrie7]

Well I appreciate you posting it- had not seen this one. Thanks

 

[Shinobiz11]

If getting into DO school is so easy, why doesn't everyone get accepted? From my experience, DO schools just look at your application more holistically and as Goro said are more approachable with high GPA/lower MCAT and vice versa. Once you get into medical school its all on you to study and pass boards.

 

[user3]

If getting into DO school is so easy, why doesn't everyone get accepted? From my experience, DO schools just look at your application more holistically and as Goro said are more approachable with high GPA/lower MCAT and vice versa. Once you get into medical school its all on you to study and pass boards.

Honestly, a large chunk of those "rejected" applicants were competitive, but did not apply properly.

I can't tell you how many times I see these cases: low average but not horrible stats. Applied to a handful of schools like CCOM/DMU/Western. No acceptances.

With new schools popping up every year, 23-24 MCAT's will be competitive for the forseeable future. (competitive meaning favorable chance of 1 acceptance).

anyway, whether DO school is "easy" to get into depends on how difficult we think it is to obtain a mediocre GPA and 23-24. With so many new schools, this IS enough to get in somewhere right now.

 

[Shinobiz11]

Honestly, a large chunk of those "rejected" applicants were competitive, but did not apply properly.

I can't tell you how many times I see these cases: low average but not horrible stats. Applied to a handful of schools like CCOM/DMU/Western. No acceptances.

With new schools popping up every year, 23-24 MCAT's will be competitive for the forseeable future. (competitive meaning favorable chance of 1 acceptance).

anyway, whether DO school is "easy" to get into depends on how difficult we think it is to obtain a mediocre GPA and 23-24. With so many new schools, this IS enough to get in somewhere right now.

Nah, MCAT averages are going up. LUCOM is low because they are a "last resort" school. With newer schools of course they need matriculants so they'll accept lower scores. However, more and more students are becoming aware of the DO route and it's going to become more competitive in the coming years, especially with the new MCAT.

 

[user3]

Nah, MCAT averages are going up.

avg MCAT rose only 0.02 from 2012 to 2013.

 

[Shinobiz11]

avg MCAT rose only 0.02 from 2012 to 2013.

Is this for all applicants or matriculating students? (too lazy to look it up)

 

[SkipJunior]

I do know that 10-20 years ago, the average MCAT score of a DO matriculant was 24, now it's 27. Also by no means is a DO acceptance guaranteed if you have a 23-24 MCAT, even with new schools (with the exception of the infamous LUCOM). Some of the new DO schools (just like the HBCUS and the Puerto rican MD schools) accept applicants with lower MCAT scores because they have other characteristics that make them a good fit for the school.

The reputation of DO is a lot better now than it was even 10 years ago. As a consequence, a lot more premeds apply DO and are happy to join DO schools. This means that competition and admissions standards will only go up.

 

[user3]

I do know that 10-20 years ago, the average MCAT score of a DO matriculant was 24, now it's 27. Also by no means is a DO acceptance guaranteed if you have a 23-24 MCAT, even with new schools (with the exception of the infamous LUCOM). Some of the new DO schools (just like the HBCUS and the Puerto rican MD schools) accept applicants with lower MCAT scores because they have other characteristics that make them a good fit for the school.

The reputation of DO is a lot better now than it was even 10 years ago. As a consequence, a lot more premeds apply DO and are happy to join DO schools. This means that competition and admissions standards will only go up.

To my best estimation, the threshold to get in seems to be around 3.2/24 or 3.4/23.

Translation- with around these #'s, if you do your homework, apply early and broadly to all of the newer schools like LUCOM/LMU/ACOM, etc and schools like VCOM/WVSOM, your chance of at least 1 acceptance should be favorable.

 

[user3]

Is this for all applicants or matriculating students? (too lazy to look it up)

matriculants

 

[SkipJunior]

To my best estimation, the threshold to get in seems to be around 3.2/3.2/24 or 3.4/3.4/23.

Translation- with around these #'s, if you do your homework, apply early and broadly to all of the newer schools like LUCOM/LMU/ACOM, etc and schools like VCOM/WVSOM, your chance of at least 1 acceptance should be favorable.

Keep in mind this is the threshold for SOME DO schools, not all. I can give you a long list of DO schools that will reject someone with those kind of stats. By the way, this is true of MD schools too. For example, if you are a West Virginia or New Mexico resident, then the threshold stats you gave will give you a good chance of receiving a interview invite to your state MD school. If you can speak Spanish and have a connection to Puerto Rico, then those threshold stats are good enough to receive at least 1 acceptance. If you are a black applicant, then the threshold stats you gave will give you a fighting chance of receiving at least one acceptance at the HBCUs.

 

[user3]

Keep in mind this is the threshold for SOME DO schools, not all. I can give you a long list of DO schools that will reject someone with those kind of stats. By the way, this is true of MD schools. For example, if you are a West Virginia or New Mexico resident, then the threshold stats you gave will give you a good chance of receiving a interview invite to your state MD school. If you can speak Spanish and have a connection to Puerto Rico, then those threshold stats are good enough to receive at least 1 acceptance. If you are a black applicant, then the threshold stats you gave will give someone a fighting chance of receiving at least one acceptance at the HBCUs.

An applicant can get into at least 1 DO school (>50% chance) with these numbers without being URM or from an area with regional bias or other such circumstances you mention. The same simply cannot be said for MD if you are below around 3.6/30.

 

[Shinobiz11]

matriculants

Still went up

 

[SkipJunior]

An applicant can get into at least 1 DO school (>50% chance) with these numbers without being URM or from an area with regional bias or other such circumstances you mention. The same simply cannot be said for MD if you are below around 3.6/30.

If you include a last resort school like LUCOM then sure, what you say is true. However what I said about MD schools is true too.

 

[hallowmann]

To my best estimation, the threshold to get in seems to be around 3.2/24 or 3.4/23.

Translation- with around these #'s, if you do your homework, apply early and broadly to all of the newer schools like LUCOM/LMU/ACOM, etc and schools like VCOM/WVSOM, your chance of at least 1 acceptance should be favorable.

It's good to see that you've become more reasonable about your optimism over time. I actually think your statement is accurate (especially compared to your previous 3.0+/22+ statements).

Still went up

You can't really extrapolate info from only 1 yr change. Last year's (2013, 2014 hasn't come out yet) average matriculant stats showed the smallest increase in some time. Most likely it was more of normal year to year variation (or possibly due to the failed merger that didn't resolve until Feb). Over the past 5 years DO matriculant MCAT scores have increased by 0.7-0.75, and they've been ona clearly positive trajectory in spite of many new schools opening.

 

[mdr8]

The average MCAT for matriculants at RVU-COM (which is one of the newest D.O. schools) for class of 2017 was a 28.3. The average cGPA was 3.6 and sGPA of 3.6. Those are pretty solid numbers for what a lot of people consider a "lower tier" D.O. school (I think it is a perfectly fine D.O. school, just using it as an example).

 

[DoctorSynthesis]

The average MCAT for matriculants at RVU-COM (which is one of the newest D.O. schools) for class of 2017 was a 28.3. The average cGPA was 3.6 and sGPA of 3.6. Those are pretty solid numbers for what a lot of people consider a "lower tier" D.O. school (I think it is a perfectly fine D.O. school, just using it as an example).

MUCOM a new school and touros (relatively new) all have good number actually