Types of Medical Schools

Allopathic vs. Osteopathic

Most students do not realize that there are different types of physicians. The two most common are allopathic (MD’s) and osteopathic (DO’s). Approximately one in five medical students in the US are enrolled in osteopathic medical schools. Osteopathic physicians basically undergo the same training at allopathic physicians and compete for the same residencies. Osteopathic medical schools are growing in popularity and they tend to be easier to get into. Finally, there are more new osteopathic medical schools taking students and the number of seats is increasing faster than allopathic medical schools. You should investigate both types of medical schools and speak to MD’s and DO’s to find out which career is better for you.

Public vs. Private

There are essentially two types of medical schools which differ in cost and philosophy. Public medical schools are funded by state taxpayers and are usually affiliated with state universities. UK, UL, University of Cincinnati, and UNC-Chapel Hill are all public medical schools. Vanderbilt, Duke, Stanford, and Harvard are all private medical schools. All osteopathic medical schools are private and have similar costs to allopathic private schools.

State Residency Concerns

A big difference between public and private is cost. The total cost of attendance (tuition and fees) at UK is $42,094 per year (for Kentucky residents) and at Vanderbilt it is $68,834 (no residency difference). You should note that the UK total cost for non-residents is $76,842 per year. The reason that there is such a large difference for residents vs. non-residents at a state public medical school is that taxpayers are paying a significant amount of money to educate a medical student. Statistics show that most students will practice medicine in their state of residence. Therefore, UK is not going to accept a lot of out of state students since they probably will not stick around and practice in Kentucky. The Kentucky state legislature mandates that ~75% of the UK class must be Kentucky residents. Most out of state students who get into UK have some tie to the state (for instance, they went to college in Kentucky). If you are a Kentucky resident, you will have a better chance at getting into a Kentucky medical school. Virtually all public medical schools are similar to UK in this regard. Many Centre students apply to the University of Cincinnati in the mistaken belief that they will get some sort of preference because Cincinnati is near Kentucky. It does not work that way! If you are not an Ohio resident (or a resident of a few counties in northern Kentucky or Jefferson County) it is probably not worth your time/money to apply to Cincinnati. Private medical schools do not have residency concerns and everyone pays the same tuition. This page on the AAMC has some links to applicant/matriculant tables that show the in-state vs. out-of-state differences.

Besides cost, the other major difference in public vs. private is the emphasis on research. Private medical schools tend to be more research oriented and want to attract students who have more of an interest in doing research. This statement does not mean that public medical schools do not do research because there is a lot of excellent research at places like UK and UofL. Public medical schools tend to attract more people who are interested in becoming practicing physicians, while private medical schools attract more people who want a career in research medicine. If you want to get into one of the big name private medical schools you will need to have some research experience in addition to a higher GPA and MCAT score. In recent years, most Centre students have attended medical schools in their state of residence. You cannot establish residency in a state by going to college there. Centre students who are not Kentucky residents have a good chance of getting into UK and UofL because they have Kentucky ties by virtue of their choice of college. Otherwise, medical schools are not very concerned if the college you went to is in or out of state. Osteopathic medical schools are more interested (though not exclusively) in students who are looking for a career in primary care. There are foreign medical schools, but very few Centre students have applied to one in the last 10 years and only a couple have attended.

The Number of Schools to Which You Should Apply
A common question is “How many medical schools should I apply to?” Most Centre students will apply to the public medical schools in their state of residence at a minimum. Kentucky residents are lucky because there are two public medical schools. Ohio residents have five public medical schools. Apart from the public medical schools, you will need to think about applying to some private schools. There is no point in spending money applying to private schools if you are not interested in attending them. If you are not sure, go ahead and apply to a few if you are qualified. Do not apply to Harvard if you do not have the GPA or MCAT. You can check websites to find averages. It is also very difficult to get into public schools out of your state of residence. In fact, some public medical schools will only accept residents. Do not just look at the GPA/MCAT averages of a public medical school and think that you can get in! Most medical schools have similar course requirements, but some are different. You may be at a disadvantage if you have not had the required courses. 

Early Decision

Most medical schools have an early decision option. The way this option works is that you apply to only one school and opt for the early decision option. The deadline is August 1st and you are guaranteed a decision by October 1st. You may not apply to any other medical schools until you are rejected by your early decision school. If you are accepted early decision, you must attend that medical school. The important message here is that you must be sure that you want to go to a medical school and reasonably confident that you will get in before you try the early decision option. If you do not get in early decision you will be at a huge disadvantage at other schools because you will need to fill out their secondary applications and probably will not get an interview until very late in the cycle. Be sure to consult with a pre-med advisor AND someone from the medical school before applying early decision. The best option usually is to apply normally, but get your materials in as early as possible!

Early Assurance Program 

The University of Kentucky College of Medicine has developed the Early Assurance Program (EAP) open to Centre students to apply to during the second semester of their sophomore year. Centre on average has at least 1 student apply to the EAP each year. When applying for the EAP, you have the option to choose which campus you wish to apply to: Bowling Green, Northern Kentucky, or Morehead (the Rural Physician Leadership Program). Students who are accepted and complete the program (meeting all eligibility criteria) will receive guaranteed admissions. If you are interested in applying to the EAP, you should talk to one of the pre-med advisors (premed@centre.edu). Additional information for the 2024-2025 academic year can be found here.

Some students may be interested in a career that combines research with clinical medicine. For them, an MD/PhD degree may be desirable. This dual degree generally takes 7-8 years. It is usually two years of medical school coursework followed by 3-4 years of PhD research (usually biomedical) followed by two more years of clinical rotations. The AAMC website explains MD/PhD degrees. MD/PhD programs are usually more competitive than MD programs. You will need at least a 3.8 GPA and >85 %ile on the MCAT. In addition, you will need significant research experience. The actual area of research is not important, but you must have a demonstrated long-term commitment to research. You could do research with a Centre faculty member over several terms and summers or you could do research at another institution over the course of several summers. Alternatively, you could take one or two years off after Centre and work in a research lab. The other common dual degree programs are MD/MBA, MD/JD, MD/MPH, and many other variations.