Osteopathic Medicine

Types of Degrees Osteopathic Medicine Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many osteopathic medicine graduations there were in 2018-2019 for each degree level.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Doctor’s Degree	6,700

What Osteopathic Medicine Majors Need to Know

In an O*NET survey, osteopathic medicine majors were asked to rate what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important in their occupations. These answers were weighted on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the most important.

Knowledge Areas for Osteopathic Medicine Majors

Osteopathic Medicine majors often go into careers in which the following knowledge areas are important:

• Medicine and Dentistry - Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
• Psychology - Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Biology - Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
• Therapy and Counseling - Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.

Skills for Osteopathic Medicine Majors

The following list of skills has been highlighted as some of the most essential for careers related to osteopathic medicine:

• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Judgment and Decision Making - Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
• Writing - Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
• Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.

Abilities for Osteopathic Medicine Majors

As a osteopathic medicine major, you will find yourself needing the following abilities:

• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).

What Can You Do With a Osteopathic Medicine Major?

Below is a list of occupations associated with osteopathic medicine:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Family and General Practitioners	14.3%	$201,100
Physicians and Surgeons	11.4%	$200,890

How Much Do Osteopathic Medicine Majors Make?

Salaries According to BLS

Average salaries range from $203,880 to $211,780 (25th to 75th percentile) for careers related to osteopathic medicine. This range includes all degree levels, so the salary for a person with just a bachelor’s degree may be a little less and the one for a person with an advanced degree may be a little more.

To put that into context, according to BLS data from the first quarter of 2020, the typical high school graduate makes between $30,000 and $57,900 a year (25th through 75th percentile). The average person with a bachelor’s degree (any field) makes between $45,600 and $99,000. Advanced degree holders make the most with salaries between $55,600 and $125,400.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Osteopathic Medicine

Some degrees associated with osteopathic medicine may require an advanced degree, while others may not even require a bachelor’s in the field. Whatever the case may be, pursuing more education usually means that more career options will be available to you.

How much schooling do you really need to compete in today’s job market? People currently working in careers related to osteopathic medicine have obtained the following education levels.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
Post-Master’s Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Master’s degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees at the doctoral level.	3.5%
Doctoral Degree	65.4%
Post-Doctoral Training	31.1%

Online Osteopathic Medicine Programs

In the 2018-2019 academic year, 35 schools offered some type of osteopathic medicine program. The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level	Colleges Offering Programs	Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year)	0	0
Certificate (1-2 years)	0	0
Certificate (2-4 Years)	0	0
Associate’s Degree	0	0
Bachelor’s Degree	0	0
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	0	0
Post-Master’s	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	35	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Is a Degree in Osteopathic Medicine Worth It?

The median salary for a osteopathic medicine grad is $203,880 per year. This is based on the weighted average of the most common careers associated with the major.

This is 411% more than the average salary for an individual holding a high school degree. This adds up to a gain of about $3,279,600 after 20 years!

Majors Related to Osteopathic Medicine

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to osteopathic medicine.

Major	Number of Grads
Nursing	63,380
Rehabilitation & Therapeutic Professions	23,124
Medicine	19,720
Public Health	18,212
Pharmacy/Pharmaceutical Sciences	16,970
Health & Medical Administrative Services	14,633
Mental & Social Health Services	14,322
Allied Health Professions	11,260
Communication Sciences	9,970
Dentistry	6,403
Veterinary Medicine	3,297
Alternative Medicine & Systems	2,714
Chiropractic	2,608
Dietetics & Clinical Nutrition Services	2,301
Optometry	1,747
Advanced Dentistry & Oral Sciences	1,654
Health Sciences & Services	1,526
Medical Illustration & Informatics	1,418
Other Health Professions	1,292
Health/Medical Prep Programs	1,117
Clinical/Medical Laboratory Science	842
Medical Science	809
Podiatry	579
Bioethics/Medical Ethics	553
Allied Health & Medical Assisting Services	475
Veterinary Biomedical & Clinical Services	455
Alternative Medical Support Services	129
Dental Support Services	83
Movement & Mind-Body Therapies	79
Energy & Biologically Based Therapies	34
Ophthalmic & Optometric Support Services	19
Practical Nursing & Nursing Assistants	3
Health Aids/Attendants/Orderlies	0

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• College Scorecard
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020
• Image Credit: By V. Jack Ruther under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.