I have interviewed at TCOM so I can comment only on what I saw/heard that day:
Pros:
1. Cheap tuition (~9k instate, 25K OOS) and cheap cost of living
2. Nice location within Fort Worth
3. Nice facilities (although I think they are comparable to the other TX schools).
4. Strong dedication to OMM and they do a significant amount of OMM-related research. They have a brand new seven story building dedicated to research.
5. Lots of innovative curriculum options. MPH can be integrated into curriculum to finish both in 4 years. Rural track program will let you pick a rural community to be involved with over 4 years (do preceptorships with the local doc, spend a couple of weekends in the nearest ER and do a community project during the summer). They were also the first school in TX with a simulation lab.
6. Seems like they have strong match lists. The boast that the current chief resident of IM at Johns Hopkins is a TCOM grad. Also, it seems like there is a strong network of TCOM alum.
7. They are ranked in top 25 for primary care by US news (therefore they are recognized, even outside of DO circles, as being a top notch school).
8. Largish class size ~150, but still smaller than many DO schools.
Cons:
1. I left the interview a little unsure about where we would do our clinical rotations since there is only a primary care out-patient clinic attached to the school.
2. We only met two students on interview day and one of the two seemed pretty immature (younger average age than many DO schools if that is a concern for you).
Neither pro or con:
1. 90% of the class MUST be from TX, so admission for OOS students is tight. Also, I think it could mean that many of the students could be there by default because they didn't get in anywhere else in TX (I think they try to prevent this by asking LOTS of why DO questions though.)
Mostly agree, but a few points of clarification from an actual student:
That "seven story building" isn't all OMM. The grad school (among other things) is in there too.
Clinical rotations: JPS, Plaza, Harris, the newly established satellite campus in Corpus Christi (for those that want to move) and a few other random places
The second year students usually tour the interview groups, but if thay have a test then the admissions staff takes over.
Without repeating any of the above -
Pro:
TWO sim labs
Kaplan review included in year 2 tuition
excellent rapport with faculty
no attendance policy (with the exception of clinical integration and labs)
safe campus (one reason is that hospitals are 3-4 miles away)
no dress code (with exception of labs)
Con:
under-utilized sim labs
antiquated fitness facility, but better than nothing
hospitals 3-4 miles away (resulting in a safer campus)
Hope this helps. Good luck with the applications and interviews!
