Osteopathic Medicine (DO)
Pre-med students start here! A Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO) program trains physicians with a whole-person approach. Preparing for a DO program requires careful, advanced planning starting your first year!
Be sure to also check out requirements for Allopathic Medicine (MD), as many students apply to both program types.
Resource: Begin looking over information about DO programs at the AACOM website.
Selecting Courses
There is no specific major that a student needs in order to continue on in a medical training program after graduation. The biochemistry major most closely tracks with the admission requirements for DO training programs; however, we routinely work with students that are majoring in other areas or double majoring.
In addition to completing a major, students interested in DO training need:
- Two semester-long courses in Biology with lab [BIOL 111, 121, 172, or 208; and BIOL 237, 256, 257, 260, or 289]
- Two semester-long courses in Chemistry with lab [CHEM 117 and 220]
- Two semester-long courses in Organic Chemistry with lab [CHEM 230 and 235]
- Two semester-long courses in Physics with lab [PHYS 101 and 102]
- Two semester-long courses in English with intensive writing
- One semester-long course in Biochemistry [BIOL/CHEM 260 or 300]
- One semester-long course in Math or Statistics
The following are suggestions to more fully prepare for the MCAT and a future career as a physician:
- One semester-long course in Psychology [PSYC 100]
- One semester-long course in Sociology [SOCI 100]
- As many chemistry and biology courses that fit into a schedule.
- Learn a language that helps you serve diverse people and communities.
The process for formally applying to DO training programs begins 18 months before you intend to start a training program. Your initial application should be completed in June of the year before you intend to start a training program.
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Request a committee letter from the Health Professions Advisory Committee by emailing the following materials to HPAC@expresswayautobody.com by February 1.
- Unofficial transcript
- Science GPA
- The identity of all individual evaluation letter writers. Internal letters (two science and one non-science faculty) need to be received by HPAC by March 15.
- MCAT score or a list of practice exam scores.
- Draft of your Personal Statement
- Complete the MCAT exam no later than mid-April of your application year.
- The AACOMAS application system opens at the beginning of May. Completed applications can and should be submitted during the middle of June.
- The AACOMAS processing fee is $195 for the first school and $40 for each additional school.
- Secondary applications begin in July with an additional cost of up to $200 each. These contain several essays to write and need to be submitted with two weeks of receipt.
- On-site interviews will occur in the late summer and fall of the application cycle. The applicant most cover all the travel costs for these interviews.
Important considerations:
- DO training programs will review your overall GPA, as well as, your Science GPA. To be a competitive applicant these two GPA values should be similar and above 3.7.
- You must shadow a DO.
- DO training programs will look to your personal statement to understand how your experiences inside and outside the classroom have prepared you to be successful in medical school and as a future physician.
- DO training programs require a competitive score on the MCAT which is around 515. Sitting for the MCAT costs $315.
- DO schools will conduct a criminal background check and sometimes a credit check.