Osteopathic schools MAY be easier to get into than allopathic schools. Looking at the numbers, that is sometimes the case. However, at my school (I am an osteopathic student) there are applicants rejected every year who have great numbers (GPA/MCAT) but don't seem to fit with the school or the osteopathic program. In fact, some of these applicants are later accepted at MD schools, I know two from this year, myself.

On the flip side of the coin, there are students at my school who were accepted to both MD and DO schools, and chose osteopathic medicine. Others applied to both, and only were accepted at DO school. In short, it's a challenge to get into med school, no matter where you apply. DO school is definitely not a short cut.

From my own experience as a patient and a student physician, patients usually have no idea whether their doc is a DO or an MD. They simply know the individual as "Doctor" and they run with it, unless they are a particularly informed consumer seeking out osteopathic manipulation treatment, for example. My mom's OB/GYN was a DO during my teen years, and my regimental surgeon with the Marines was a DO radiologist. They work alongside MDs and nobody really seems to know the difference or care one way or the other in most cases.

Quickly, then (TOO LATE! TOO LATE!): Anything you could want to do in medicine is available to DOs, just like MDs. Surgery, Emergency Med, Family Medicine, whatever. Osteopathic schools tend to have a generalist bent in their training, but I think that can help make better doctors. Even specialists need to know how to treat the whole patient, you know?

As a student DO, you learn physical manipulation treatments in addition to what your allopathic colleagues learn. You take boards (either the COMLEX osteopathic boards, or both the COMLEX and the USMLE allopathic boards... your choice). You will become a doctor. It will, hopefully, rule.

That said, there are vestiges of an unenlightened age which may still harbor anti-DO sentiment. I have seen it but once, and frankly, I don't worry about it.

The main thing, in my opinion, is to find a school where you will be happy, whether it is allopathic or osteopathic, and then bust your tail, because it is a hard slog either way.

Good luck! 😀