Pre-Medical Profession

The differences between osteopathic and allopathic degrees are centered on the basic philosophy of osteopathy. Osteopathic philosophy focuses on a holistic approach to practicing medicine, meaning treating the patient as a whole—not just the symptoms or injuries. The concept of “mind, body, spirit” is very commonly cited in the holistic philosophy of osteopathic medical education. With this philosophy comes the emphasis that structure determines function and that all the body systems are interconnected, therefore the musculoskeletal system reflects and affects the condition of all the other systems. 

Osteopathic schools require up to 200 hours of manipulation training on top of the medical coursework, demonstrating the emphasis placed on the musculoskeletal system. This training teaches students manual therapy and manipulation techniques, adding another tool to traditional forms of diagnosis and treatment to effectively care for patients. Other than teaching osteopathic manipulative medicine, the medical school curriculum for an MD and DO is virtually indistinguishable.

A large percentage of DO physicians practice in primary care (family medicine, internal medicine, OB/GYN, and pediatrics) whereas most MD physicians are in non-primary care specialties. MD and DO students and residents take different licensure exams, but both are important in determining factors for acceptance to residency programs. MD students take the United States Medical Licensing Exam (USMLE), while DO students take the Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination (COMLEX). The ACGME, Association of American Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM), and American Osteopathic Association (AOA) are in the process of implementing a single GME accreditation system. This means that there will no longer be allopathic and osteopathic residencies, but simply just medical residencies. Refer to the following page for updates.

The osteopathic and allopathic medical schools will retain their distinctions and the processes for continuing medical education programs and licensure examinations will remain unchanged. Several befits are envisaged and some of these are outline below:

• Provide high-quality uniform graduate medical education accreditation that enhances opportunities for residents/fellows and provides transparency to the federal government, licensing boards, US, and international credentialing committees, and most importantly the public.
• Increase collaboration among the medical education community to address the challenges facing graduate medical education for the benefit of all medical residents and fellows, and for the benefit of their patients.
• Reduce costs and increase efficiencies by eliminating duplicative accreditation costs and reporting.
• Eliminate need for programs to choose either MD or DO accreditation pathway or face undue burden to be dually accredited by the ACGME and AOA.
• Provide consistency across all residency/fellowship programs in evaluation methods and accountability standards, using specialty-specific Milestones for assessing the competency of residents/fellows graduating from all US graduate medical education programs.
• Offer all US medical school graduates a uniform graduate medical education pathway, allowing them to seek admission into any residency and fellowship program.
• Preserve and protect osteopathic medical education in essential dimensions of the osteopathic tradition, including through AOA board certification, accreditation of colleges of osteopathic medicine, and osteopathic licensing examinations.
• Increase opportunities for osteopathic graduate medical education and recognition for all ACGME-accredited programs. Provide education in Osteopathic Principles and Practice to all MD and DO medical school graduates; programs can receive the designation for their osteopathic curricula through ACGME Osteopathic Recognition.

• Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC)
• The above AAMC link allows you access to the AAMC Resource Guide for Pre-med Students along with other helpful information and links including the below links.
• MCAT (Medical College Admission Test)
• The above AAMC/MCAT link has valuable information including:
• Preparing for the MCAT exam and  Registering for the MCAT exam    
• MSAR (Medical School Admission Requirements)
• This link takes you to the AAMC/MSAR Online, a one-year subscription service, is a powerful online database that allows you to easily browse, search, sort, and compare data on U.S. and Canadian medical schools.
• AMCAS  (American Medical College Application Service)
• The above AAMC/AMCAS link has valuable information including How to Apply, FAQ, and Instruction Manual
• Resources for Pre-med Students  by the AAMC
• Core Competencies for Entering Medical Students  by the AAMC
• American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM)
• Osteopathic Medical College Information Book by AACOM

• Mount Sinai Humanities and Medicine Early Acceptance Program
• State University of New York (SUNY) College of Medicine Early Assurance Program
• University of Cincinnati ROSE Program (Sophomore Ohio residents)
• University of Florida College of Medicine Juniors Honors Medical Program (UFCOM) (7-year BS/MD program - does not accept high school students)
• University of Toledo MEDStart Early Acceptance Program