If you are considering applying for the osteopathic medical program but you are now sure whether your academic achievements make you successful applicant here is the list for you – 10 easiest doctor of osteopathy schools to get into. There are 33 osteopathic medical schools accredited by American Osteopathic Association (AOA) in the USA. These educational institutions are present throughout the country and they offer around 7,000 seats for new students every year. Those who graduate from these schools are licensed to practice medicine in all states.
Like traditional medicine, osteopathic medicine uses modern technology in diagnosing diseases and prescription drugs in treating illnesses. However, one of the most important differences between doctor of medicine (MD) and doctor of osteopathic medicine (DO) is a set of techniques called osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMT) deployed by the later. OMT is hands-on care which means that a doctor detects, treats and prevents a disease by moving patient muscles and joints. According to AOA, OMT is effective in treating muscle pain and it can also be helpful in healing other conditions such as asthma, sinus disorders, menstrual pains, migraines, carpal tunnel syndrome… Because of the significance which this method has in osteopathic medicine, osteopathic students spend approximately 200 hours in mastering the practice of OMT.
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Another difference between traditional and osteopathic medicine is holistic approach employed by DOs. When treating a patient, DOs do not only focus on a specific physical problem, but they approach a patient as a whole person. It means that they look at circumstances surrounding the patient, trying to discover how lifestyle and community affect his health. They also believe that a problem with one part of the body affects the whole system and they assume that our body has innate ability to heal itself. DOs’ task is to set into motion the self-healing body’s potential by using previously mentioned osteopathic manipulative medicine techniques.
Osteopathic medical schools are mainly focused on educating primary care physicians who will work in rural and underserved parts of America. According to AOA, “DOs constitute 7 percent of all U.S. physicians” but “they are responsible for 16 percent of patient visits in communities with populations of fewer than 2,500.” Graduates who focus on primary care specialties are not among top-earners among medical professionals as you can see from our previous list of Top-ten Best Paid Medical Specialties.
Every year the number of applicants for osteopathic medicine colleges increases and consequently it becomes a little bit harder to get into OM school. AACOM’s report about changes in applicant profile in the period between entering class 2012 and entering class 2015, shows how the number of students applying for OM programs increased along with their average GPA and MCAT. While in 2012 the mean grade point average was 3.44, four years later it was 3.47. At the same time MCAT score went from 25.73 to 26.38. For entering class 2016 there were 20,720 applicants who sent 185,602 applications for 6,592 available places at all osteopathic medicine colleges which means that there were 3.14 applicants for each seat.
In creating the list of easiest doctor of osteopathy schools to get into we used into account average GPA and MCAT score of latest class. Usually, this data are available on schools’ websites. However, in a few cases such information couldn’t be found on schools’ web pages, so we relied on other resources. Note that besides GPA and MCAT score, osteopathic schools also consider previous students’ course work. They require from applicants a standard set of courses that includes general chemistry, organic chemistry, English, physics, biological science and similar. Some schools recommend additional courses emphasizing that it gives applicants a competitive advantage.
