There are two ways to become a doctor. Students can attend either an allopathic or an osteopathic medical school, but the latter option is becoming more popular.
First-year enrollment at osteopathic schools, which award D.O. degrees, is expected to increase by 162 percent between 2002-2003 and 2019-2020, according to recent data from the Association of American Medical Colleges. M.D.-granting, allopathic schools will only see a 29 percent increase within that period, the report states.
“Osteopathic medicine has just become better known,” says Stephen C. Shannon, president of the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine.
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As more physicians from osteopathic schools graduate and enter the workforce, more people become aware of this option for medical training, says Shannon.
Medical school applicants who are interested in attending a D.O. school should consider what type of education they’ll receive from an osteopathic school and other factors that can shape their medical school experience.
“Osteopathic medicine focuses more on primary care and more on treating the whole patient and prevention,” says John M. Kauffman, Jr., dean of the Wallace School of Osteopathic Medicine at Campbell University.
There are 31 accredited colleges of osteopathic medicine and many schools focus on producing doctors who will work in rural or underserved areas. More than a dozen new colleges, branch campuses or remote training sites have opened in the last 10 years, according to research from the organization. In contrast, there were 141 M.D. schools by 2012, according to a report from the Association of American Medical Colleges, and more will open in the future.
As a medical school applicant, Frederic “Fritz” Stine believed the philosophy behind osteopathic medicine aligned with his interest in helping people with limited access to healthy food and inadequate health care.
“I applied to just D.O. schools,” says Stine, who recently finished his second year at the Kentucky College of Osteopathic Medicine at University of Pikeville. The school aims to produce “graduates who are committed to serving the health care needs of communities in rural Kentucky and other Appalachian regions,” according to its mission statement.
“I was interested in going to a school that had some purpose behind it,” says Stine, who is from Kentucky. “I didn’t want to just be a doctor.”
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Physicians trained at these schools may consider a patient’s mind, body and spirit when developing a treatment plan, says Kauffman. Knowing that a patient practices a faith that has certain dietary restrictions, for example, may help a doctor to better assess the patient, he says.
Premeds often apply to both M.D. and D.O. schools and can expect stiff competition at both types of institutions. Wallace, for example, opened just a few years ago and had more than 3,200 applications for its first class, Kauffman says. Only 162 were enrolled. The class starting this fall had more than 5,000 people apply. When deciding on which D.O. school to attend, applicants should think about much of the same criteria they would look for at M.D. schools, experts say.
“Each college has its own personality,” says George Mychaskiw II, the founding dean and chief academic officer at Burrell College of Osteopathic Medicine at New Mexico State University, which will have its first class start in 2016.
Applicant’s should consider a school’s geographic location as well as their personal career goals, he says.
Because many new schools have a regional focus, applicants who prefer urban environments, for example, may have trouble adjusting to a school in this type of setting.
Osteopathic schools are often focused on graduating students who want to go into primary care, experts say. If applicants want to be geriatricians, for example, they should look at schools with strong faculty and clinical components in that area, Kauffman says.
Choose [between M.D. and D.O. medical schools.]
If they’re eyeing a D.O. school that hasn’t been around long, they may have other considerations to evaluate.
“We’re a new college, obviously, so that has some pluses and minuses,” says Mychaskiw. New schools don’t have a track record of, for example, where graduates do their residencies or what they choose as specialties.
But on the upside, “you can sort of set the tone and set the culture for the college,” he says.
Just like M.D. schools, osteopathic colleges can also differ in terms of their resources and learning opportunities. Talking to students and graduates of these schools can help applicants to narrow down their choices.
Premeds can begin preparing for applications and research schools in their freshman or sophomore year of college, Kauffman says. Applying can be a long process, and it’s important that future M.D.s plan accordingly.
“You can never start too early,” Mychaskiw says.
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As D.O. Medical Schools Expand, Applicants Have More Choices originally appeared on usnews.com
