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Here are our picks for the best osteopathic medical schools in the nation. We evaluated every accredited DO program across six weighted criteria to identify the ten that consistently rise above the rest.
We used the Choose DO Explorer Tool to find the average MCAT score and GPA of each medical school. We also used the recent Applicants & Matriculants report from the AACOM to find the acceptance rate.
To determine our rankings, we evaluated each osteopathic medical school against the following criteria:
Every school earned its spot based on structural and institutional factors that directly shape the quality of your osteopathic medical education.
Getting into a top DO program is very competitive. The top DO programs are not safety schools, and treating them like backups is one of the fastest ways to get rejected.
Across the top 10 osteopathic medical schools on our list, the average matriculant scores a 505.5 on the MCAT and holds a 3.67 overall GPA. According to AACOM, the average matriculant MCAT score is 503, and the average matriculant overall GPA is 3.61. That puts the bar for elite DO programs roughly 0.50% higher on the MCAT and about 1.66% higher on GPA than the national osteopathic matriculant average.
Top osteopathic schools expect a clear understanding of osteopathic philosophy and a visible commitment to whole-person care. You need documented shadowing hours with a DO physician. Your personal statement must explain why osteopathic medicine, specifically, not just why medicine in general. Admissions committees can tell the difference between someone who researched the profession and someone who added DO schools as a fallback.
Competitive numbers get you past the first filter. What separates accepted students from waitlisted ones is a track record of holistic thinking, service orientation, and real exposure to osteopathic practice woven through every layer of the application.
Inspira Advantage’s expert admissions counselors can help you get accepted to a top osteopathic school. We’ll help you submit a standout personal statement, prepare for interviews, and show your passion for whole-person care.
Acceptance rates tell you how competitive an osteopathic medical school is to get into. They don't tell you whether that school is the right fit for your career.
Use acceptance rates to help you build your balanced school list, not to rank schools by prestige. Sort the programs you're considering into three categories:
Apply to a mix of osteopathic schools from all three categories. Most applicants who fail to match into any DO program make the mistake of applying only to reach schools.
Factor in these qualifications when you’re evaluating your schools:
The smartest way to use acceptance rates is as a screening tool during your application strategy phase. Where you attend medical school matters far less than what you do once you get there.
Top osteopathic medical schools don't just want to see shadowing hours on your application. They want proof you understand what separates osteopathic medicine from allopathic practice at a clinical level. The fastest way to demonstrate that understanding is to document specific OMM encounters during your shadowing experience.
During your shadowing experience, record:
Nate Overholtzer, who pursued his medical education at the USC Keck School of Medicine and is an expert advisor at Inspira Advantage, highlighted how DO applicants should approach shadowing opportunities in our pre-med webinar. He said:
"Especially if you're interested in applying into osteopathic medicine and going to a DO school, taking the time to have shadowing hours with DOs is a really good opportunity. If you do a lot of shadowing in the summer two or three years before you actually are planning to apply to medical school, it's a good time to maybe even ask them at the end of the summer just to write a letter of recommendation."
Strengthen those shadowing relationships two to three summers before you plan to apply. That timeline gives the physician enough contact hours to write a letter of recommendation that speaks to your clinical curiosity and commitment to osteopathic principles, rather than a generic endorsement that reads as if it could be written by anyone.
The single biggest mistake applicants make on their personal statement is writing a "why medicine" essay and tacking on a sentence about holistic care at the end. Admissions committees at elite DO programs read thousands of these every cycle. They can spot a recycled MD essay immediately.
Structure your narrative around the moment osteopathic medicine became distinct from allopathic medicine in your mind. Connect that moment to the four osteopathic tenets and explain how those principles will shape the kind of physician you plan to become.
Every paragraph should make it clear you'd choose osteopathic medicine even if MD programs didn't exist. That level of conviction is what separates competitive applicants at top-ranked programs from the rest of the pool.
Dr. Katherine Munoz, a plastic surgery resident at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, served for five years on the admissions board at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine. She is also an expert advisor at Inspira Advantage, where she provided advice during our secondary application webinar. She said:
"The only thing you'll absolutely have to answer is, if you're applying to DO schools, why DO over MD. You should be able to firmly support why you are interested in attending a DO school as opposed to an MD school."
Dr. Munoz points out that top DO schools specifically want to see a firm, well-supported commitment to their branch of medicine. She warns that applicants cannot simply reuse MD essays for this part of the process, as they must have a distinct rationale for their interest in osteopathic care.
A letter of recommendation from a DO physician carries more weight in osteopathic admissions than a letter from an MD, PhD, or research supervisor. Many top programs require at least one, and even those that don't will notice its absence.
The strongest DO letters don't come from a single afternoon shadowing visit. They come from physicians who have watched you operate in a clinical setting over multiple weeks and can speak with specificity about your potential as an osteopathic physician.
A DO who writes that they watched you interact with patients over three months and can see you applying OMT in your future practice gives the admissions committee something no academic reference can provide.
Dr. Nakia Sarad, a graduate of Touro College of Medicine and expert advisor at Inspira Advantage, provided valuable advice in our DO vs. MD webinar. She said:
"It's really important to have some sort of osteopathic background. Some sort of experience, either shadowing, and have a letter of recommendation. That's going to make you more competitive for the DO program so that you'll have a higher chance of more interviews."
Dr. Sarad highlights that applicants who secure a DO letter early and invest in that clinical relationship land more interview invitations than those who treat the requirement as a box to check. Start building that relationship at least a year before you submit your AACOMAS application so the letter reflects depth rather than a brief encounter.
Osteopathic medicine exists largely to address physician shortages in rural and underserved communities. Admissions committees at top programs know this and actively seek applicants who have seen those gaps firsthand. Direct clinical experience in underserved settings separates you from candidates who only log hours at large urban academic centers.
Here are just some ways you can demonstrate primary care:
Each of these experiences gives you material that admissions reviewers at top DO programs actively look for. They want proof that you understand where the healthcare system fails and why osteopathic medicine's whole-person philosophy is built to address those failures.
The key is connecting the experience to your commitment to osteopathic practice. Don't just list the hours. Describe a specific patient interaction that revealed a gap in access and explain how the osteopathic approach would have changed the outcome.
An applicant who writes about watching a rural patient drive 90 minutes for a routine follow-up and then connects that reality to osteopathic primary care training demonstrates a level of intention that generic "I want to help people" narratives never reach.
A strong Casper or PREview score won't override a weak GPA, but a poor score can knock an otherwise competitive applicant out of the interview pool at programs that weight these assessments heavily in their screening process. Treat these exams with the same level of preparation you gave your MCAT.
Many elite osteopathic programs require or recommend the Casper test or the AAMC PREview Exam. Both assess qualities that top DO schools prioritize beyond academic metrics:
Practice responding to ethical scenarios out loud under timed conditions. Record yourself and review whether your answers demonstrate collaborative thinking, patient-centered reasoning, and awareness of how social determinants affect health outcomes.
A strong Casper or PREview score won't override a weak GPA, but a poor score can knock an otherwise competitive applicant out of the interview pool at schools that weigh these assessments heavily in their screening process.
You need an MCAT score of 509 or higher to be competitive at elite DO programs. The national matriculant average across all DO programs is 503, but the average across the top 10 DO schools in the U.S. is 505.5. Scoring above 509 puts you in a competitive range at the best DO programs in the country.
You need a GPA of 3.78 or higher to be competitive at the top 10 DO schools. If your GPA falls below 3.78, strong upward trends in your final two years of coursework and a high MCAT score can offset the difference at several top programs. However, a 3.78 overall GPA is enough to be competitive at the top DO schools in the country.
The best DO schools on our list consistently place 95% or more of their graduates into residency positions, including competitive specialties like orthopedic surgery, emergency medicine, and internal medicine. Look at each school's match list by specialty rather than just the overall percentage, because a 97% match rate means something different when half the class matches into family medicine than when a program places graduates across 20+ specialties.
Not all top DO schools require the Casper test, but many do. Each program sets its own policy on whether Casper is required, recommended, or not considered. Several top programs on our list use Casper or PREview scores as an early screening filter, meaning a weak score can eliminate you before anyone reads your personal statement. Check each school's admissions page directly for their current testing requirements, as policies change between cycles.
The strongest DO programs separate themselves through residency match rates, board pass rates, clinical training infrastructure, and research funding. A top program gives you early clinical rotations at affiliated hospitals rather than scrambling to place you at outside sites. It offers dedicated research tracks or dual-degree options. It produces graduates who match into competitive specialties at rates that rival mid-tier MD programs. Average programs can still produce excellent physicians, but the built-in infrastructure at a top school removes friction from almost every stage of your training.
Yes, you can get into a top DO program with a low MCAT score. A below-average MCAT score doesn't automatically disqualify you, but it forces every other part of your application to compensate. Strong clinical experience, a compelling personal statement, a high GPA trend, and a standout Casper score can keep you competitive at many top programs.
Dr. Marshall Kirsch was the original author of this article. Snippets of his work may remain.
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