Allopathic Medicine vs Osteopathic Medicine: What Pre-Med Students Need to Know

Since you are here, we assume you have already made up your mind to become a doctor.

First and foremost, we appreciate your dedication to a career rooted in compassion and care. Now, let’s clear up the confusion that brought you here—allopathic medicine vs osteopathic medicine.

Is applying to an osteopathic medical school worth it? Or, are you better off pursuing a career in allopathic medicine? This discussion should help you make a final decision.

What Is an MD?

A Doctor of Medicine (MD) is an allopathic doctor, which means they use standard medical methods to identify and treat illnesses, such as prescription drugs, imaging techniques like X-rays, and surgery.

Allopathic medicine is also sometimes called standard or conventional medicine.

As a general practitioner, an MD can work in family medicine or primary care, giving a wide range of care. They can also choose to specialize in a number of areas, which takes extra training.

These specialties include surgery, pediatrics, and fields focused on specific organs, body systems, or diseases.

What Is a DO?

A DO, or Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, uses the same standard medical methods as an MD, or Doctor of Medicine, plus some extra ones.

Osteopathic doctors focus on preventive care and holistic health because they see the mind, body, and feelings as all being connected to each other.

They also use osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT), which is a hands-on method that involves moving and adjusting the body to find out what’s wrong, fix it, and keep it from getting worse.

It is true that more than half of Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine (DOs) work in general care, but they can also specialize, just like MDs.

They are responsible for and can carry out the same medical responsibilities as MDs, like performing surgery (with the right training) and writing prescriptions.

How Are DOs and MDs Similar?

The road that MDs and DOs take to become doctors is similar. Before becoming doctors, they finish a four-year college degree that usually includes pre-med classes.

Then, for MDs, they go to medical school, and for DOs, they go to a college of osteopathic medicine.

After four years of medical school, both MDs and DOs do an internship and a residency, where they learn by doing under the guidance of more experienced doctors.

Some people may also look for internships to get more training in a specific area.

Even though MDs and DOs go to different kinds of medical schools, they often work together during training and internships.

Those who want to practice medicine must pass a licensing test, whether they are an MD or a DO. What kind of test the doctor has to take depends on where their license is from.

The level of care from both types of doctors is about the same.

In fact, a study that looked at the outcomes of more than 300,000 Medicare patients didn’t find any big differences between MDs and DOs in terms of the length of hospital stays, the rates of readmission, the rates of death, or the general costs.

How Are DOs and MDs Different?

There are a lot more MDs than DOs in the United States.

Almost nine out of ten doctors who finish from medical schools in the U.S. have an MD. Another study found that 81% of doctor visits are to MDs and only 19% are to DOs.

Colleges of osteopathic medicine and allopathic medical schools are both very competitive and have strict requirements for entry.

On the other hand, students at colleges of osteopathic medicine tend to have slightly lower GPAs and MCAT scores than students at allopathic medical schools.

This has nothing to do with the quality of care or education; it’s just demand and supply. Most aspiring doctors want to become MDs, so the entry barrier is higher in allopathic medicine.

There are not as many students in colleges of osteopathic medicine as there are in allopathic medical schools.

An interesting fact is that only about a quarter of medical students in the U.S. choose to become DOs.

But people are becoming more interested in the DO degree. Between 2011-2012 and 2021-2022, enrollment in DO schools rose by 68%.

DOs also get extra training to learn how the muscles, nerves, and bones all work together and impact health as a whole.

They learn osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMM), which is also called osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT), for about 200 hours a week.

OMT is a way to treat a number of conditions, such as back pain, neck pain, and muscle sprains, by using hands-on methods that help the body heal and relieve pain.

Allopathic Medicine vs Osteopathic Medicine: Difference in Approach

MDs and DOs have different perspectives when it comes to prescribing medications.

MDs usually focus on finding symptoms and making a diagnosis based on those symptoms. They also tend to help people more specifically.

Dos, on the other hand, see the body as a whole and treat health problems with that in mind. There is a lot of truth to this idea, which is at the heart of osteopathic medicine.

DOs tend to focus more on prevention and may give more lifestyle advice than MDs because they have a wider view of health.

There are some MDs who also use a holistic method in their work, but it’s not the norm in the field.

DO vs MD: Which Doctor to Choose

MDs and DOs have to meet similar educational qualifications, so they are both highly trained professionals.

Most of their education is the same, and they both use modern medical tools like X-rays and prescription drugs.

You might not notice many changes between an MD and a DO if you consult both of them. In fact, you might not be able to tell them apart at all.

But here are some things to think about if you’re choosing between an MD and a DO:

Approach

MDs diagnose and treat specific parts of the body, while DOs look at the whole body and how its parts work together through a more holistic lens.

A DO might think about how a problem with your bones might affect your muscles or other parts of your body.

Location

The way MDs and DOs are spread out can change from region to region.

So, about 19% of doctors in New Jersey with a medical degree from the U.S. are DOs, but only about 7% of doctors in Alabama are. You might find it helpful to see who works in your area.

Specialty

DOs are more likely to work as specialists in areas like family medicine, internal medicine, and pediatrics.

That’s right—about 3 out of 5 DOs work in these fields, and 22% of family medicine doctors with a U.S. medical degree are DOs.

Conditions of Health

Osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMM) is a method that DOs are trained in. They use their hands to gently press on or stretch different parts of the body.

This method can be used to find out what’s wrong and treat conditions like asthma, headaches, sinus infections, musculoskeletal pain, and injuries from repeated stress.

Final Thoughts

Both MDs and DOs are highly trained physicians capable of providing the care you need.

While their training is largely similar, DOs spend additional time studying how the bones, nerves, and muscles interact.

This focus leads DOs to adopt a holistic approach to medicine, considering how all the body’s systems work together.

The degrees are equivalent, so as a med student, you need to decide which path you want to take.