When choosing between D.O. and M.D., many premed students get flustered. They don’t have enough information about what’s better for them. There’s a lot of confusion on what the difference is between these two degrees especially with the current changes, but I will address these and hopefully leave you more informed on what medical school philosophy fits you on your “Doctor Journey”.
Table of Contents
BACKGROUND
History of M.D.
The practice of medicine was started around colonial times when physicians were trained in university to practice medicine. During this time there was no official organization that garnered the rights and rules of practicing physicians.
In 1766, the first medical professional organization was made, New Jersey Medical Society. As time went on more schools and organizations were opened that regulated the practice of medicine and by the very early 1800s the Medical Doctor (M.D.) degree was made to certify physicians to practice on patients.
History of D.O.
Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (D.O.) was developed by Dr. Andrew Taylor Still, MD in 1874. He wanted to focus his medical career on a whole-body approach to treat the patients in a holistic, whole-body way.
His main goal was to create a philosophy of medicine where self-healing is promoted within the patient. He decided to go on this path because of his research that he conducted on the human musculoskeletal system where he concluded that all parts of the body must work together in perfect harmony in order for the patient to have proper health.
In order to continue his philosophy, he started using techniques on patients to treat them in a holistic fashion (known as OMM today). Dr. Still continued to follow his philosophy and opened the first osteopathic medical school in 1892 where the Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine was created.
APPLICATION
During my application cycle, I had applied to both M.D. and D.O. schools. The applications were quite similar with very few differences. There are over 152 accredited M.D. schools, while there are 35 accredited D.O. schools. M.D. schools use the AMCAS service while D.O. schools use AACOMAS as their service.
AMCAS usually has a window of applying starting in June and ends in January.
AACOMAS also starts in June but continues until April of the next year.
These are the basic timelines for the application service, but make sure to check individual school deadlines before applying! Both types of schools are starting to require CASPer, which is a character-based test. I would suggest utilizing BeMo tips to prepare for the CASPer.
Both types of schools strongly advise shadowing a physician before applying to medical school. This shows that you have a decent understanding of the career you are going into. D.O. schools strongly recommend shadowing a D.O. physician before applying to the school which shows that you really get to understand the osteopathic philosophy in real life. Make sure to start communicating with local D.O. or M.D. physicians as soon as possible if you need to get shadowing experience!
On top of shadowing, to improve your chances of medical school for both D.O. and M.D. schools it is highly recommended to do some type of community work. Examples include but are not limited to volunteering at local hospitals and clinics.
SCORES
Average scores between D.O. and M.D. students vary quite a bit. Regardless, it is still highly competitive to get into either type of medical school.
The average MCAT score for osteopathic schools is 503.83, while the average MCAT for allopathic schools is 511.5.
The average GPA also differs where D.O. students accepted have an average GPA of 3.56, while M.D. students have an average of GPA 3.73.
A great way to get tips on how to improve your score on the MCAT is through MCAT Mastery. This website has tons of free materials and stories of students who have improved their MCAT scores dramatically. Some of their material costs some money, but I would recommend buying the MCAT handbook that they offer. It has lots of little tips and tricks that can slowly but surely boost your overall score!
CURRICULUM
Osteopathic and allopathic schools comprise of very similar curriculum structures. They both require students to have a generous amount of knowledge for the whole body.
OMM
The difference lies in that D.O. schools add Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine (OMM) in addition to what allopathic schools teach.
OMM helps to teach a more holistic and alternative approach to taking care of patients. This is done through extensive training and practice is the system of the musculoskeletal system by practicing with OMM partners weekly for usually the first two years (approximately 200 hours of course work). These techniques are used to promote the body to self heal during times of injury or disease.
Class Size
Class sizes are different as D.O. schools tend to have bigger classes ranging in the 100s to sometimes even 400s, while M.D. schools tend to have a maximum class size of around mid 100s.
Clinicals
Minimal clinical differences exist between M.D. and D.O. Both types of schools offer many opportunities to rotate with physicians of various types of specialties like internal medicine, pediatrics, surgery, OBGYN, cardiology, and so much more. Here the difference lies in that D.O. schools may put an emphasis on primary care and underserved area community work on their students more than M.D. schools. Although here there lies no major difference between the two different philosophies of medical schooling.
TUITION
There is very minimal difference in tuition between M.D. and D.O. and it matters more depending on the circumstances like state, in-state, or out-of-state student status, and whether the school is private or public. The average tuition for public medical schools is around $37,566 while private schools come in around $60,655 per year.
Most of these medical schools offer scholarships or funds in order to drive down the overall tuition price that students have to pay. Another great way to pay for these medical schools is by committing to a branch of the military in the U.S. By doing this, you are able to get your medical school paid off and get a monthly stipend. The catch is that you must serve at the minimum the same amount of years you had the military pay off for you.
RESIDENCY
Since 2020 the residency matching program now works the same way for both D.O. and M.D. students. This means that it is much easier for D.O. students to receive a residency spot than it was before.
According to 2022 The Match data, over 92.8% of M.D. students get matched to their specialty of choice, while 89.1% of D.O. students get matched to their specialty of choice. Lots of D.O. schools have a 95+% match rate in residency and some like Touro Nevada have a 100% match rate! Now there are some differences in residency match rate between the two philosophies of medicine and these are listed below for the 2022 Match.
| Specialty | M.D. Senior Match Rate | D.O. Senior Match Rate |
| Anesthesiology | 69.8% | 17.4% |
| Child Neurology | 61.4% | 9% |
| Dermatology | 80% | 10% |
| Emergency Med | 54.5% | 25.8% |
| Emergency Med-Anesthesiology | 50% | 50% |
| Emergency Med-Family Med | 57.1% | 14.3% |
| Family Medicine | 31.3% | 30.4% |
| Family Med-Preventive Med | 0% | 50% |
| Internal Medicine (categorical) | 37.2% | 17.1% |
| Medicine Anesthesiology | 66.7% | 0% |
| Medicine Dermatology | 87.5% | 12.5% |
| Medicine Emergency Med | 71 | 29% |
| Medicine Medical Genetics | 60% | 0% |
| Medicine Pediatrics | 84.7% | 9.9% |
| Medicine Preliminary (PGY-1 only) | 71.1% | 8.5% |
| Medicine Preventive Med | 62.5% | 0% |
| Medicine Primary | 57.8% | 7.7% |
| Medicine Psychiatry | 83.3% | 12.5% |
| Interventional Radiology | 82.2% | 6.7% |
| Neurodevelopment Disabilities | 60% | 40% |
| Neurological Surgery | 84.2% | 3.8% |
| Neurology | 50.9% | 17.1% |
| Obstetrics-Gynecology | 73.6% | 16.1% |
| OB/GYN-Preliminary (PGY-1 only) | 22.2% | 5.6% |
| Orthopedic Surgery | 80.6% | 12.7% |
| Osteopathic Neuromusculoskeletal Med | 0 applicants | 62.5% |
| Otolaryngology | 87.5% | 5.8% |
| Pathology | 36.6% | 12% |
| Pediatrics (categorical) | 56.5% | 19.7% |
| Pediatrics Anesthesiology | 100% | 0% |
| Pediatrics Emergency Med | 66.7% | 33% |
| Pediatrics Medical Genetics | 60% | 3.3% |
| Pediatrics P, M, and R | 100% | 0% |
| Pediatrics Preliminary | 69.6% | 13% |
| Pediatrics Primary | 41.9% | 12.2% |
| Peds/Psych/Child Psych | 95.2% | 4.8% |
| Physical Medicine and Rehab | 57.8% | 30.6% |
| Plastic Surgery (integrated) | 89.2% | 0% |
| Psychiatry | 61.2% | 18.9% |
| Psychiatry Family Med | 100% | 0% |
| Psychiatry Neurology | 50% | 25% |
| Radiation Oncology | 70% | 10% |
| Radiology Diagnostic | 55.3% | 31.1% |
| Surgery (categorical) | 65.3% | 13.1% |
| Surgery Preliminary (PGY-1 only) | 26.4% | 4.9% |
| Thoracic Surgery | 87.2% | 2.1% |
| Transitional (PGY- 1 only) | 56.9% | 20.9% |
| Vascular Surgery | 85.7% | 1.2% |
| TOTAL PGY-1 | 51% | 18.4% |
| Anesthesiology | 67.1% | 15.3% |
| Child Neurology | 28.6% | 42.9% |
| Dermatology | 82.9% | 7.7% |
| Interventional Radiology (integreated) | 80.5% | 14.6% |
| Neurodevelopment Disabilities | 100% | 0% |
| Neurology | 70.8% | 9.9% |
| Nuclear Medicine | 0 applicants | 0% |
| Osteo Neuromusculokeletal Med | 0 applicants | 100% |
| Physical Medicine and Rehab | 50.9% | 37.6% |
| Radiation Oncology | 58.4% | 4.2% |
| Radiology Diagnostic | 71.5% | 13.2% |
| Radiology Nuclear Med | 66.7% | 33.3% |
| TOTAL PGY-2 | 69.8% | 14.9% |
| TOTAL PHYSICAN R POSTITIONS | 0 applicants | 0 applicants |
This table shows the differences that D.O. and M.D. students have when going into the match for residency. Some of the specialty matches repeat after PGY-1 because they are part of the PGY-2 match. Speaking of which PGY stands for “Post Graduate Year”. This signifies what year of residency students have applied for. Usually speaking those specialties that offer a PGY-2 position from match means that they also require a preliminary or transitional year before being able to join their residency program.
The Physician R positions stand for reserved physician spot that is reserved for previous medical training to undergo residency again. Here in the 2022 match, there was no data due to no applicants for Physician R positions.
With the 2022 match data and previous match data, M.D.s tend to end up in more specialties than D.O.s. This is shown by the data above as D.O.s are at a significant disadvantage for specialties such as vascular surgery. D.O. students tend to get into primary care for their field of work. Keep this in mind when deciding between which medical schools to apply to.
BOARDS
Both D.O and M.D students have to take licensing exams in order to graduate and move on in their careers. Although the tests required are different for both schooling philosophies.
USMLE
M.D students are required to take the USMLE to receive their license. The USMLE exam comprises of three different steps. The first two steps are required before residency and the third step is usually done during the first year of residency.
COMLEX
D.O students must take the COMLEX exam. The COMLEX exam is split up into three different parts with two mandatory parts to graduate, and the third part being done after graduation. The COMLEX is accepted by many residency places. It is highly recommended for D.O students to also take the USMLE as it would broaden their horizons for acceptance by medical schools since all residencies accept the USMLE.
PRACTICING
Both D.O.s and M.D.s can practice as any type of physicians within the U.S. In regards to salary, there is a lot of variables that come into play. Some of these variables are dependent on the specialty a person is in, the state they are in, how much in demand their service is, and multiple other factors.
In accordance with these factors, there is a slight difference in salary between both M.D. and D.O. physicians. This difference is due to the average M.D. being more specialized and working in more urban environments than the average D.O. physician. M.D.s tend to be more specialized because of the higher acceptance rate of M.D.s in specialized residences over D.O.s as shown in the match data.
Perhaps this trend will change because of the same match system that has been implemented recently. Overall there is not a significant difference in salary between the two degrees, it mostly depends on what you are doing.
When practicing there is a difference of respect shown between the two degrees. As of recent history and ever since the creation of osteopathic medicine, allopathic has been regarded as the more respected and better-known type of physician in comparison to an osteopathic physician.
Although as hopefully understood by this blog, there is not much of a difference in training between both of the types of schooling, except the fact that osteopathic schools tend to teach OMM on top of what the allopathic curriculum teaches.
But as time goes on the D.O. stigma is becoming less and less especially with the merging of residency matches for both D.O. and M.D. This has made it easier for D.O. students to match for residency. On top of this, the current and past President of the United States has had a D.O. physician as their personal physicians during office.
Yes, the stigma is still there between D.O. and M.D., but it is decreasing over time. I believe in the next few decades it may reverse with D.O. physicians being more highly regarded due to their extra training on holistic healing techniques on top of traditional western medicine. What do you think?
CONCLUSION
Let’s recap the differences and similarities between a D.O. and M.D.
Similarities
The similarities for both D.O. and M.D. start with both being able to work full time as a physician within the U.S. and a lot of the western world. They both are matched for residency within the same program. Salary is very similar for both degrees. Tuition also does not vary much for the different types of medical schools.
Differences
The differences in the two philosophies of schooling start with the acceptance of applicants. For D.O. schools you are highly recommended to shadow a D.O. physician. D.O. medical schools also tend to accept lower average GPA and MCAT scores than their M.D. counterparts. The application differs for both as osteopathic schools use AACOMAS, and allopathic schools use AMCAS. In terms of curriculum, D.O. students have to learn OMM on top of the normal allopathic curriculum. In order to get your license, D.O. students must take the COMLEX, while M.D. students need to take the USMLE. For residencies, M.D. students have a higher match rate into specialties of their choice over D.O. students.
Final Regards
Hopefully, by now you have gotten the gist of the difference between osteopathic and allopathic medicine. And to be honest there is no answer to the question of whether D.O or M.D. is better than one another. It is a deeply personal decision on which philosophy you want to choose for your path to becoming a physician. If you do not care about the difference and want to simply pursue your dream career of being a physician then I would advise you to apply to both M.D. and D.O. schools. You can then decide what individual schools that you get accepted to suits you better. All in all, I hope this was helpful in informing you of the differences and similarities between the two medical school philosophies. Good luck on your “Doctor Journey” and please feel free to comment your thoughts below!
By Kartik Goswami
Good boy
Thank you!
Great article. Nice statistics included.
Thanks my man!