Office of
Health Professions Advising

Osteopathic Medical Schools

Though the information given on this website regarding human medicine is generally targeted towards allopathic medical schools (i.e., those awarding the MD degree), there are many similarities to osteopathic medical schools (i.e., those awarding the DO degree). For information specific to osteopathic medical school, please see the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine web site.

You should also be aware that application to osteopathic medical school will require that you have a letter of evaluation from an osteopathic physician. If you know a DO at home, you might approach him/her about shadowing him/her.

Foreign Medical Schools

If you plan to practice medicine in the US, we do not recommend that you apply to foreign medical schools with your first application. If you are not accepted to a US medical school, and you have a genuine interest in attending a foreign medical school, you may want to include one or more foreign schools in a subsequent application. Before doing so, you should research this option and discuss it with a health professions advisor.

Other Health Professions

Resources in the HPA cover careers and degree programs in public health, nursing, physician assistant, physical therapy, optometry, and several others. But the best source of information on these fields is the Internet. You will find a list of health professions with links to informational sites at the health professions advisors web site. In general, students making application to these programs will not be expected to use the services of the HPA to submit letters to those programs. However, you are welcome to use the resources of the HPA and to see a health professions advisor with any questions you might have regarding these programs.