At a time when applications to most health professions schools are either flat or declining, applications to U.S. colleges of osteopathic medicine (COMs) are up by nearly 8.8 percent, setting a record for the third straight year.  The application numbers reflect a six-year period during which several new osteopathic medical schools have opened their doors and thousands of additional potential medical students have applied to enter one of the fastest-growing health care sectors.

Some 12,875 individuals are hoping to fill one of the 5,100 total fall 2009 seats available at the nation’s 25 COMs and their branch campuses, compared with last year’s record-setting 11,650 applicants.

Today, nearly one in five U.S. medical students (nearly 17,000) is training to be an osteopathic physician, a ratio that is expected to grow to one in four by 2019. The centralized online application for the 2010 entering class is now open at https://aacomas.aacom.org/.