A Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine is a fully licensed physician, and a BS/DO program is the osteopathic version of a BS/MD: a combined path from high school to medical school. This is a plain guide to what these programs are, a verified list of them, and a straight way to tell whether the path fits.

This guide is for the student and for the parent reading over their shoulder. It covers what a DO is, what a BS/DO program asks of you, the verified list of programs, and who the path tends to fit.

What a DO is

Start with what is not in dispute. A Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine is a fully licensed physician in all 50 states, with the same unlimited scope as an MD. DOs prescribe, operate, and practice in every specialty. Roughly three in ten US medical students today are training to be DOs, not MDs. This is not a fringe path. It is a large and growing share of American medicine.

Since 2020, there is one residency system, not two. The separate osteopathic match was merged into the single ACGME system, so DO, MD, and international graduates now apply to the same residencies through the same process.

The evidence that matters most is what happens to patients. When researchers compared outcomes for DO and MD physicians, they found no meaningful difference. A 2023 study in Annals of Internal Medicine looked at more than 329,000 hospital admissions and found 30-day mortality of 9.4 percent for patients treated by MD hospitalists and 9.5 percent for DO hospitalists, with the same readmission rates, the same length of stay, and the same cost. A 2025 study in JAMA Surgery extended this to more than 2.3 million operations and again found no significant difference in mortality between DO and MD surgeons. The patient cannot tell the difference, and neither can the data.

The one real difference in training is osteopathic manipulative medicine, a hands-on approach to the musculoskeletal system that DO students learn on top of the standard medical curriculum. It is an addition, not a substitution. You get everything an MD learns, plus that.

Where DO and MD differ

The path is not identical in every way. DOs are a minority in a few of the most competitive surgical subspecialties, such as plastic surgery, neurosurgery, dermatology, and orthopedics, where MD graduates still fill most of the seats. Outside those fields, a DO faces little obstacle.

Across medicine as a whole, the gap is small and narrowing. In the 2025 Match, DO seniors matched at 92.6 percent and MD seniors at 93.5 percent. One practical difference to plan for: DO students take the COMLEX board exam, and many also take the USMLE to be competitive for the most selective residencies, so a student aiming at a competitive field should expect to prepare for both.

DO students also enter medical school with somewhat lower average stats than MD students, around a 503 MCAT and a 3.6 GPA versus roughly a 512 and a 3.8. The bar is a bit lower on average, but admission is still selective, and given that patients do equally well in both hands, the entrance number is not a measure of the doctor.

What a BS/DO program is, and the ones that exist

A BS/DO program is the same idea as a BS/MD program. A high schooler earns a conditional seat in medical school now, completes undergrad, and moves into med school without reapplying through the open national process. The only difference is that the medical school is an osteopathic one and the degree is a DO. Most run 6, 7, or 8 years.

There are three different things here. Families mix them up constantly, and they are not the same:

1. Getting in out of high school. The bar to win the seat.
2. Keeping the seat. Almost every program sets a college GPA you must hold, and some require an MCAT score, to move into the medical-school half. This is the most decision-relevant fact and the worst-documented one online.
3. The standard route. The normal application to osteopathic med school through AACOMAS, for context, which is a different bar from the two above.

A program can be generous on getting in and strict on keeping the seat. Those are not the same promise.

BS/DO mostly runs through osteopathic medical schools that reserve high-school-entry seats with partner colleges, so this list is grouped by medical school. We include only programs that hold a real seat, guaranteed or conditional. Many programs promise a guaranteed interview, which is not the same thing, so we leave those off. Where a school does not publish something (continuation GPA, seat counts, attrition), we say so rather than guess. Every program below now has its own full breakdown, linked.

• Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM), the largest network, with high-school entry through partner colleges including Gannon, Penn State Behrend, Pitt-Bradford, Fitchburg State, Nazareth, Washington and Jefferson, Washington College, and Florida Southern.
• NYITCOM (New York Institute of Technology), high-school entry through NYIT, SUNY Old Westbury, St. Bonaventure, and SUNY New Paltz (whose 3+4 track feeds both NYITCOM and TouroCOM on identical terms).
• Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine (New York), high-school entry through Lander College for Women, NYSCAS, and SUNY New Paltz.
• Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine (New Jersey), high-school entry through Rowan University (with an MD-or-DO choice), Rutgers University-Camden, Fairleigh Dickinson, and the Rowan College of South Jersey Pathway to Medicine.
• Kansas City University (KCU), high-school entry through Rockhurst University and Missouri Southern State.
• Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, for Ohio residents, with high-school entry through Ohio University, Baldwin Wallace, Cleveland State, John Carroll, Ohio Dominican, Otterbein, and Shawnee State.
• Midwestern University Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine, high-school entry through the Illinois Institute of Technology.
• NSU Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine (Florida), high-school entry through Nova Southeastern University’s dual-admission program.
• University of the Incarnate Word School of Osteopathic Medicine (Texas), high-school Direct Admit pathway.
• Rocky Vista University Montana College of Osteopathic Medicine, high-school entry through Rocky Mountain College.
• West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine, high-school entry through West Virginia Wesleyan’s Go D.O. Early Scholars.

A few honest notes. There is no complete, authoritative national directory of BS/DO programs anywhere online, and the lists that do exist admit they are partial, so this is our attempt to be the exception. We could not find attrition data specific to BS/DO combined programs anywhere, including the most useful number of all: how many students admitted from high school keep the seat through to graduation. We keep this current and flag what we cannot verify rather than fill the gaps with confidence we have not earned. Verified July 2026, and you should confirm the specifics directly with each program before you rely on them.

Is this the right path for you?

This path fits a particular person, and the honest test is not your stats. It is whether the following is true.

It tends to fit when:

• The pull toward medicine, and toward whole-person care, is real and your own, not borrowed.
• You are genuinely ready to commit at 17, because most of these seats are binding or close to it.
• The savings in time, in money, and in the anxiety of reapplying matter to your family.
• Your likely destination is one of the many fields where a DO faces no real obstacle, which is most of them. DOs make up a large and growing share of the primary-care pipeline (41.7 percent of first-year family medicine residents in 2021 were osteopathic graduates), and many go on to subspecialize from there. Across most of medicine, the degree is not the obstacle.

Think hard, or look elsewhere, when:

• You are set on one of the few hyper-competitive surgical subspecialties at a top program. The competitive-specialty point above is real, and you should walk in with eyes open.
• You are not yet sure medicine is the life you want. A binding seat is a heavy thing to take at 17 on a maybe.
• You are reaching for the seat only as a safety net or for the name. That is the wrong reason, and admissions readers can feel it.

If you want to know what this path feels like from the people living it, listen to a few episodes of D.O. or Do Not, a podcast of osteopathic physicians telling their own stories. Hearing it from DOs is the most honest preview you will get.

The whole point of this guide is to let you decide with the truth instead of the rumor. A DO is a doctor. For the right student, a BS/DO program is a real and good way to become one. For the wrong reasons, it is a heavy commitment to make young. Only you and your family can tell which you are, and you should make that call with clear eyes.

If you want help reading your own situation honestly, that is the work I do, and the rest of the free library is here to keep you going on your own. Questions before you decide? Email rorymerritt@bridge2md.com.

Sources and method

Verified July 2026. Where data is unpublished, we say so rather than estimate.

Clinical outcomes, medicine: Miyawaki A, Jena AB, et al. Comparison of Hospital Outcomes for Patients Treated by Allopathic Versus Osteopathic Hospitalists. Annals of Internal Medicine, 2023.

Clinical outcomes, surgery: Russell TA, Tsugawa Y, et al. Comparison of Outcomes for Patients Treated by Allopathic vs Osteopathic Surgeons. JAMA Surgery, 2025.

USMLE and DO match outcomes: Journal of Osteopathic Medicine, 2022.

Primary-care contribution: Pristell C, Byun H, Huffstetler A. Osteopathic Medical Schools Produce an Increasing Proportion of Family Medicine Residents. American Family Physician, 2024.

Single accreditation transition: peer-reviewed review of osteopathic surgical specialties, 2021.

Match rates and scale: NRMP 2025 Main Residency Match results. AACOM Quick Facts (2024-2025). Admission metrics: AACOM applicant and matriculant reports (2024) and AAMC FACTS (2024-2025), reported differently by the two bodies, so treat as directional.

Common questions

Is a DO a real doctor, and is a DO equal to an MD?

Yes. A Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine is a fully licensed physician in all 50 states, with the same scope as an MD, and can practice in any specialty. Large studies comparing patient outcomes have found no meaningful difference between DO and MD physicians.

What is the difference between a DO and an MD?

DO and MD students complete the same core medical training. DO students also learn osteopathic manipulative medicine, a hands-on approach to the musculoskeletal system, on top of the standard curriculum. Since 2020 both train through a single residency system.

Is it easier to get into a BS/DO program than a BS/MD program?

DO matriculants average somewhat lower MCAT and GPA than MD matriculants, so the entrance bar is generally a bit lower. But admission is still highly selective, with far more applicants than seats, and DO schools weight mission, clinical experience, and genuine interest in osteopathic medicine.

Can a DO become a surgeon or a specialist?

Yes. DOs practice in every specialty. A few of the most competitive surgical subspecialties, such as plastic surgery, neurosurgery, and dermatology, remain MD-dominated and are harder for DOs to enter, which usually requires excelling on boards and research.

Do BS/DO students have to take the MCAT?

It varies by program. Some require the MCAT, some waive it if other requirements are met, and some require a minimum score to keep the seat and move into the medical-school years. Always confirm with each program directly.