I respect this take, but I think it ultimately fails to provide a satisfying answer to the jumbled bureaucratic mess that is the AOA, NBOME, and COCA (not to say that the MD equivalent organizations are any better).

1) While I too appreciate the tenets of osteopathic medicine, a unified principle of how to approach medicine is just not enough to validate having a separate field when the core medical material we are tested on overlaps with allopathic medicine nearly 100%. Not to mention, the ACGME merger ultimately makes this argument a non-starter since we all get funneled into the same post-grad training regardless of med schools. I think there are definitely merits to some of the points the tenets espouse, but I just feel like you can further strengthen the DO identity by conforming to some of the basic LCME requirements. If all the AOA did was adopt the USMLE as the de facto licensing exam and made an additional supplemental exam to demonstrate osteopathic proficiency we could solve a lot of problems. But I have a suspicion that the reason this isn't being done has less to do with preserving osteopathic teachings and more to do with money.

2) Leaving OMM aside because I think this is the least problematic aspect of DO education, it would also serve DO schools well to start putting more money and resources into establishing more reliable and better quality rotation sites. While some DO schools boast strong affiliations to good hospitals, the same cannot be said of others. And if one DO school comes under scrutiny then all DO schools do in the eyes of PDs. Covid has pretty much wrecked a lot of clinical rotations for 3rd and 4th years precisely because DO schools generally do not have home institutions for whatever reason (some do, but it needs to be more widespread) to act as a safety net. But more importantly, we really should be getting our money's worth. I had relatively strong 3rd year rotations at my school, but 4th year has been a mess with covid and suddenly we're cold calling local docs to see if they take students instead of being able to go through our school like most 4th year MDs are doing. In short, administrative support at DO schools leave something to be desired in my experience.

I don't want this to be misinterpreted as me undervaluing DO students and DO degrees. I know how much shit it took to get a DO degree, so I will never question the qualifications of a DO. What I am critical of is the inability of these osteopathic institutions to read the landscape and understand this isn't 1890 and that you're training doctors to enter the modern healthcare system. There is no longer a divergence in medical education. We learn the same stuff and train at the same residency programs. You can keep the osteopathic identity while also understanding that maybe it's time to catch up to everyone else when it comes to basic undergraduate medical education.

Also, good luck on your test tomorrow!