Minimal Educational Requirements

Comparison of the Education of DCs and MDs

Both chiropractic and medical schools require certain course work for admission. These vary from school to school. Very few schools of either type require a bachelor's degree, although some specify that they prefer the applicant have such a degree.

Chiropractic colleges do not require the MCAT. Some medical schools do. Contrary to common belief, some medical schools (including high profile institutions) require the bare minimum of undergraduate requirements.

We took the admission requirements for medical schools from the publication titled: Medical School Admission Requirements, 1997-1998: United States and Canada, 47th edition (published by The Association of American Medical Colleges). Admission requirements for accredited chiropractic schools are dictated by the Council on Chiropractic Colleges (the agency appointed by the U.S. Dept. of Education to accredit chiropractic colleges).

The Parker College study reported that on average, chiropractic college involves 372 more classroom hours than medical school. Chiropractic students also have more hours of training in anatomy, physiology, diagnosis, and orthopedics (the musculoskeletal system).

It should be apparent from looking at the data below that in general, the chiropractic student has a more extensive classroom education and practical training in these areas, particularly in diagnosis, than the medical student.

Requirements for Admission to
Chiropractic and Medical Schools

College Courses	Parker Chiropractic College	Harvard Medical School	Stanford University
Biological Science (with lab)	1 year	1 year	1 year
General or Inorganic Chemistry	1 year	1 year	1 year
Organic Chemistry (with lab)	1 year	1 year	1 year
Physics (with lab)	1 year	1 year	1 year
English or Communicative Skills	1 year
Psychology	1/2 year
Humanities or Social Sciences	22.5 quarter hours
Electives	6-to-18 quarter hours.

Degree Requirements

These basic educational requirements for graduates of both chiropractic and medical schools show that although each has its own specialties, the hours of classroom instruction are about the same. (The class hours for basic science comparisons were compiled and averaged following a review of curricula of 18 chiropractic colleges and 22 medical schools.)

Minimum Required Hours

Chiropractic College		Medical School
456	Anatomy/Embryology.	215
243	Physiology	174
296	Pathology	507
161	Chemistry/Biochemistry	100
145	Microbiology	145
408	Diagnosis	113
149	Neurology	171
56	Psychology/Psychiatry	323
66	Obstetrics & Gynecology	284
271	X-ray	13
168	Orthopedics	2
2,419	Total Hours for Degree	2,047