Touro NY - current students?

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bds03

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Hi everyone,

I was looking to get perspectives of Touro NY from any current students. I am trying to learn more about the school. I have spent a lot of time already on the SDN boards and talked to students - so far, I haven't heard the best about the school from the students I talked to. Even the ones on my interview day were lukewarm (and I thought those students are supposed to be the ones who "recruit" you to the school) and as I was coming in for my interview, one student told me not to come there and that he was trying to transfer out.

So not the best opinion about the school so far, but the thing is that I would really like to be in NYC for personal reasons. What I would like to know are the pros/cons of your school and what the general perception of Touro NY is.

Topics I was especially interested in are:

1) 3rd/4th year rotations



2) Basic Sciences Curriculum and Quality of Faculty



3) Student Body Contentment



Thanks so much in advance!

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A student there told me the anatomy class is rather unorganized and that almost half of the class failed (for which class I forget...could be anatomy). He was able to pass by learning anatomy through another med school's website and self study.
 
Hi everyone,

I was looking to get perspectives of Touro NY from any current students. I am trying to learn more about the school. I have spent a lot of time already on the SDN boards and talked to students - so far, I haven't heard the best about the school from the students I talked to. Even the ones on my interview day were lukewarm (and I thought those students are supposed to be the ones who "recruit" you to the school) and as I was coming in for my interview, one student told me not to come there and that he was trying to transfer out.

So not the best opinion about the school so far, but the thing is that I would really like to be in NYC for personal reasons. What I would like to know are the pros/cons of your school and what the general perception of Touro NY is.

Topics I was especially interested in are:

1) 3rd/4th year rotations



2) Basic Sciences Curriculum and Quality of Faculty



3) Student Body Contentment



Thanks so much in advance!

Hi,
I am a first year so I can only speak for the first three & half months experience. The school overall seems fine. Over the past few weeks we have had a lot of exams stressing alot of folks out. I don't think you are to surprised with that. As for the teachers and curriculum. Most of the teachers are OK. You show up, pay attention, study their power point presentations, take the test and normally pass. Yes their are some flaky questions that I have had teachers ask but that has happened to me in both undergrad and grad school so it seems to be a continuation of this. Anatomy is a little different. The prof there is trying to get people to study independently (i.e. read the book) and study through dissection! The lectures for anat do not include them listing every muscle you need to know (which is all of them). They do not coddle you so if you don't want to show up to dissection or don't want to actively participate in dissection, they won't care but YOU MUST PASS THE EXAM. In fact if you do decide to come, send me a note and I will let you know a few tricks to reduce your work in Anat that the class of 2011 gave us. Also of note is the fact that Anat is normally your most difficult class in the first semester no matter what school you go to. The grades for Anatomy have also gone up for the second test. Now for pros / cons

Cons:
1. It is a new school so bugs are still being ironed out.
2. They are still adding rotation sites but due to St George signing a contract with the NYC hospital corp, their hospitals (the city owned ones) are giving their slots to St George first. They are actively working on some very nice sites right now but nothing is set in stone as of yet except for the hospitals mentioned to you in your interview.

Pros:
1. They are giving you about 6 weeks of study time for the boards at the end of your second year unlike some other schools.
2. The Dean has made it clear that he wants us to do well and he will make every effort to ensure we do well on the boards. He understands quite clearly that our performance will reflect upon the school.

In short, every school has issues. Do I think that these are far worse than other schools, no.

Good Luck,
Gold
 
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1) 3rd/4th year rotations

These are still being worked out. We will *hopefully* have 2 fairly big hospitals nearby that will accommodate us, but we don't know for sure yet. We're hoping to hear about this in January.

2) Basic Sciences Curriculum and Quality of Faculty

I would say they are pretty mediocre in general. Some of them are very boring lecturers (so no one attends), whereas others have ridiculous exams that test either your ability to memorize powerpoint slides or your ability to memorize minutiae. Our pathology professor is pretty psychotic, although she's getting better. Our class averages were dipping into the 40's on her exams (with only 4 people passing), so the administration had a little intervention with her.

I would say the bigger problem is the administration, which is completely out of touch with the student body's needs or concerns. Our dean is a total egomaniac who loves to come into class and threaten us. Our class attendance began to decline a lot because people felt that there wasn't enough time to study for exams AND go to class. To counter this, he mandated that people sign an attendance sheet every hour if they wanted the opportunity to remediate an exam (which a lot of us feared we would need to do when the class average was 46 on a pathology exam.)

3) Student Body Contentment

Honestly, I would say it is pretty low. Personally, I just want to finish up this year and get out into the hospitals. I hate dealing with the administration. I don't work well when I'm threatened, yet that they love to rule the school with sticks instead of carrots. I definitely don't get the feeling that they're here for us -- it feels more like they're here to run a business.

It's actually really sad to watch the enthusiasm in everyone's eyes dim. Last year a lot of people were active in the community. We were eager to form clubs and get involved in the school. However, this year it seems that a lot of us have just given up on that and have just tried to get through school. This is partly due to the administration nixing any sort of club related to race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or religion. Even the women's health club was challenged! So I think after so many fights, people just started to give up. Morale, at least among 2nd years, is pretty low.

Sorry this is such a downer post. Keep in my mind this is my own interpretation, so it's possible not everyone feels this way.
 
Malignant administration is not unique to Touro-NY alone. NYCOM has/had similar problems. In fact, several of its students have posted on SDN highlighting some of things Jess posted.

During my interview at Touro, I was impressed with how the deans took time to speak to us and answer some of the questions we had. They sounded like they deeply cared about the students. Deans at NYCOM were no show.

At the end of the day both schools will produce fine graduates.Its kinda a New York thing......
 
when I was here on an interview there were other second years who were not happy either.
 
Just registered as a member but I have been viewing this site for quite some time. Just wanted your thoughts on Touro-NY. Im aware you are a second year but would just like to draw on some of your experiences. Someone on one of the threads was complaining about the school and the administration. I interviewed, was accepted, and like the area (to live and study). Do you feel you are receiving a quality education and are being prepared properly for the boards? Yes, the school is new, but is it a mess? Also, how is the student morale? There's nothing worse than going to school and everyone complaining. Thanks for any help
 
I think I touched on some of these things above. At least among the 2nd year class, morale is not that great right now. A lot of people try to avoid coming into school to avoid frustrations with classes and administration. A lot of people, including myself, are really just counting the days until we don't have to be in class here. We've fought for several months to get certain things changed, but it feels like our concerns fall on deaf ears. Perhaps these are growing pains of a new school, but I've had a lot of moments where I thought to myself, "Really? In your years of planning for a school you didn't think of THAT?"

For example, we had a meeting about rotations last week. It turns out the only CONFIRMED hospital is a psychiatric hospital in Queens that can hold 10 students. There are a couple big hospitals that they're "90% sure about." However, I couldn't help but wonder why we are mere months away from the start of our rotations and they don't have these hospitals nailed down. They've had literally years to get this figured out. They blamed it on the Caribbean schools giving millions of dollars to NYC hospitals so that their students could rotate here, but that only happen in the last few months. It just made them look like they put this off until the last minute.

In terms of board preparation, I think they're pretty much getting the job done. I think a lot of that depends on your own personal preparation anyawy. It does seem that we'll be allotted some time to study only for the boards, so I've got to give Touro credit for that. It's in their best interest for us to pass our boards, so I think they're going to take steps to make sure that that happens.

Anyway, after speaking to people at other Touro schools, it seems like our frustrations are not unique to us. Touro administration is notoriously bad, no matter where you are. I'm actually curious if there are any osteopathic schools with administrations that are perceived favorably by the students. I've heard complaints from students from Western and UNECOM as well. Maybe it's just the nature of medical eduction...

Just registered as a member but I have been viewing this site for quite some time. Just wanted your thoughts on Touro-NY. Im aware you are a second year but would just like to draw on some of your experiences. Someone on one of the threads was complaining about the school and the administration. I interviewed, was accepted, and like the area (to live and study). Do you feel you are receiving a quality education and are being prepared properly for the boards? Yes, the school is new, but is it a mess? Also, how is the student morale? There's nothing worse than going to school and everyone complaining. Thanks for any help
 
no confirmed hospitals? u anticipate that being a problem in 2011? also, how far from the school are the rotation sites? will most students be moving closer to the hospitals the 3rd and 4th yr? where do u live? i wanted to live in harlem close to the school, but is it dangerous in some areas and do i need a car? if u were to go back would you attend touro again or go elsewhere? i live in miami now. im tryin to make a decision between touro-ny, georgia-pcom, or azcom-glendale arizona
 
no confirmed hospitals? u anticipate that being a problem in 2011? also, how far from the school are the rotation sites? will most students be moving closer to the hospitals the 3rd and 4th yr? where do u live? i wanted to live in harlem close to the school, but is it dangerous in some areas and do i need a car? if u were to go back would you attend touro again or go elsewhere? i live in miami now. im tryin to make a decision between touro-ny, georgia-pcom, or azcom-glendale arizona

I applied to all three schools and I withdrew my interviews from PCOM-GA and AZCOM when I got accepted to Touro-NY. PCOM-GA is a new school and hasn't graduated its first class yet so it's hard to evaluate it. AZCOM is an established school and has produced nice graduates. However, its students will tell you that those who made it,did so on their own.

Touro-NY is in Manhattan where you are immersed in city life and culture. If you like living in a major metropolitan area (like most doctors lol), you'll like it at Touro-NY. You don't need a car to go to school.
The list of hospitals I received were mostly hospitals in NYC and its surrounding boroughs. So you don't have to move.

Finally, you have to ask yourself what you want from a medical school. For me, I wanted to be in a major city or very very close one. Secondly, I'm a good self-learner and I wanted a school that will give me time to prepare for my boards. Touro gives their students 6 weeks break for board prep which is great. Thirdly, I'm a big fan of small class size which made PCOM-GA attractive. Touro-NY has a good class size for a DO school and I didn't feel lost when I sat in one of the lectures during my interview.

Lastly, I was the Vice-President of the student body when I was in undergrad. I know how hard it is to break into the administration to enact change or introduce new things. It takes time and personal commitment to see it happen. You must convince them it's for the good of the students and school as a whole. The folks at Touro-CA had to fight to introduce the Gay Straight Alliance. These things takes leadership and patience.
So to my future colleague Jess, I think you guys in 2nd year should keep at it and continue exerting pressure on the administration for programs and clubs you guys are trying to create. As the first class, we are all rooting for ya!
 
nice post. i have similar preferences. the 6 week break for boards is a big pro in my opinion. where r u from?
 
nice post. i have similar preferences. the 6 week break for boards is a big pro in my opinion. where r u from?

I'm from New York and went to undergrad here also :laugh: .
 
Thank you for the feedback. Can you give me some idea of areas to live in? Are there students that buy a condo/home? How difficult would it be to buy outside of NY and commute in?

I would be moving from california and have no idea where to start looking!!

Thanks
 
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Thank you for the feedback. Can you give me some idea of areas to live in? Are there students that buy a condo/home? How difficult would it be to buy outside of NY and commute in?

I would be moving from California and have no idea where to start looking!!

Thanks

New York city housing market seems very resistance to the mortgage crisis. Housing prices hasn't really come down here. Good news though is that some new apartment buildings in Harlem are having problems finding a buyer according to reports released last week by the NYC govt.

What do you mean outside of NY? If you mean outside of Manhattan, then it's not a difficult task. You can buy a place in Queens, Brooklyn,Bronx or even Staten Island and still be able to commute to school.

After the Wall Street crash, I think the New York market may be starting to get ripe for buying a place.

Trendy neighborhoods with young crowd, bars and restaurants in Brooklyn:park Slope, Brooklyn Heights, Williamsburg and Carroll Gardens.

Manhattan:It's pretty dense with everything you need.The question is finding an affordable place that you like and is a tad spacious!:smuggrin:

Not about Queens and the Bronx.

I'd suggest you plan a month's trip to New York and get a feel for each.
 
A student there told me the anatomy class is rather unorganized and that almost half of the class failed (for which class I forget...could be anatomy). He was able to pass by learning anatomy through another med school's website and self study.


I just finished anatomy and it wasn't easy! Half the class did not fail it was more like 10-15 people which is an average number across most med schools. Also one must realize that unlike other med schools passing is 70% or higher no exceptions.

The professors do in fact lecture which is contrary to many opinions but in there lectures they focus on the more difficult material (since there is limited lecture time) and leave the less difficult material for you to learn on your own. There are many outside resources that help make the coarse more palatable like BRS and the many embryology videos online.

According EVERY single second year i have spoken to, the methods that Dr. Teronova uses seemed suck but when they started to take practice board tests everyone who passed Dr. T's class annihilated the questions (keep in mind that out of about 120 students only 10-15 failed). So now (post anatomy) they understand the method to Dr. T's Madness.
 
hmm i love NY as much as anyone else on this thread but i go to a school in TN, why? in my mind it hands down beats a lot of these schools, i chose my school based on its merits not its location. Don't fall under the trap of i am in a ny school so i will be fine..that's baloney!In med school the location of a school should have no bearing on your choice because you will rarely get to truly appreciate life outside of school. If you like to think that your social life is what matters then why go to med school? I pulled through fine and now in the process of setting up my electives in NY, you need to realize that having tons of distractions during your preclinical years is a big negative! If you want to do well academically and excel on the boards stay away from large class sizes, long commutes, and most importantly a gizzilion distractions surrounding your school. I can't imagine going to a school in las vegas, manhattan etc;
 

Anyway, after speaking to people at other Touro schools, it seems like our frustrations are not unique to us. Touro administration is notoriously bad, no matter where you are.

As a fellow Touro student (Touro-CA) I can wholeheartedly endorse this sentiment.

Still, I am really sorry for you guys. It's just terrible the way you are treated. Especially when you are paying all that money.

Oh, and be careful about looking forward to 3rd year. When you realize the rotations just simply won't be there, and that the school is simply not going to help you find them, you will be shocked, you will be angry, you won't be able to believe that they lied to you with their constant vague promises and suggestions "Not to worry, it all works out."

Believe me, it doesn't all work out. You will continue to be screwed by the school.

What can we do except spread the word about the truth about this school?


bth
 
Lamborghini has a few valid points. Definitely say away from large classes, and long commutes. But to minimize all distractions while you are in med-school is absurd. You are going to be studying a freakin lot, regardless of where you go. You need ways to let off steam after a major test or the completion of a semester, and you need to be in an environment where you think that would best be accomplished (NYC or some other place). Believe it or not, you do get to appreciate life outside med-school, you need a good balance between studying and everything else. If you feel the need to study 12 hours a day, 7 days a week so that you can ace all your classes, you are going to have 2 years of you life robbed by med-school and are just going to regret it.

Of course going to a school just because it is n NYC doesn't make much sense either. Touro is a fairly new school, and there's tons of things I shake my head at over here (I'm a second year). If you are confident in your ability to learn and take in a lot of information, and are well disciplined, having a lot of distractions around you can't hurt. If you know you've gotten in trouble before because distractions have led you away from your studies, and you don't want to take the chance, then it may be best for you to go somewhere more low key. Good luck.
 
I think I touched on some of these things above. At least among the 2nd year class, morale is not that great right now. A lot of people try to avoid coming into school to avoid frustrations with classes and administration. A lot of people, including myself, are really just counting the days until we don't have to be in class here. We've fought for several months to get certain things changed, but it feels like our concerns fall on deaf ears. Perhaps these are growing pains of a new school, but I've had a lot of moments where I thought to myself, "Really? In your years of planning for a school you didn't think of THAT?"

For example, we had a meeting about rotations last week. It turns out the only CONFIRMED hospital is a psychiatric hospital in Queens that can hold 10 students. There are a couple big hospitals that they're "90% sure about." However, I couldn't help but wonder why we are mere months away from the start of our rotations and they don't have these hospitals nailed down. They've had literally years to get this figured out. They blamed it on the Caribbean schools giving millions of dollars to NYC hospitals so that their students could rotate here, but that only happen in the last few months. It just made them look like they put this off until the last minute.

In terms of board preparation, I think they're pretty much getting the job done. I think a lot of that depends on your own personal preparation anyawy. It does seem that we'll be allotted some time to study only for the boards, so I've got to give Touro credit for that. It's in their best interest for us to pass our boards, so I think they're going to take steps to make sure that that happens.

Anyway, after speaking to people at other Touro schools, it seems like our frustrations are not unique to us. Touro administration is notoriously bad, no matter where you are. I'm actually curious if there are any osteopathic schools with administrations that are perceived favorably by the students. I've heard complaints from students from Western and UNECOM as well. Maybe it's just the nature of medical eduction...
Have they confirmed the hospitals yet?:confused:
 
Yes. This year we are are Trinitas Regional Medical Center, Staten Island University Hospital, St. John's Episcopal, Bronx Lebanon, and Palisades Medical Center. There are also options to do rotations upstate in Binghamton or Utica. We were told there are more hospital being added to this list for our fourth year, but we haven't been told which ones yet.
 
Have they confirmed the hospitals yet?:confused:

I'm very skeptical of any "confirmation" handed out by Touro.

They will give you a list of hospitals. They will say "its not a problem, we have the rotations."

BE SKEPTICAL. Ask the tough questions:

How many students are taken at each of these hospitals? (They'll often throw in the name of a respectable hospital to distract you, but not tell you that only one student/year rotates there.)

How many students will be assigned to a particular rotation? (30 students assigned to the same surgery rotation means you won't get to scrub in on cases.)

Is it a teaching hospital with supervision for students to assist with procedures? (if its not you'll never put in an IV, never assist with a central line placement, never do an ABG, never learn to suture a laceration. You'll stand there, watching, for two years b/c students aren't covered by hospital insurance policy.)

How many times will you have to move 3rd and 4th years? (If you have to move every 3 months from upstate to downstate to Michigan to get all your required rotations in, you'll be so displaced it will be nearly impossible to focus on learning.)

Will my rotations be inpatient? (An OG/GYN "rotation" at an outpatient clinic means you'll never see a delivery, let alone assist with one. A Medicine rotation at an outpatient clinic means you'll never do an admission, never work-up a patient for MI or Stroke or Afib or GI bleed, or anything else.)

Does the hospital count DOs and Carribean students together? Hospitals/DO schools have started to do this sneaky thing to pack students on rotations. The have quotas on the number of med students they can have on a rotation, but they count DO students separately from MD students (Caribbean) allowing them to take twice as many students.

Is there an organized didactic program at the hospital in which med students can participate? Students sent to hospitals without residency programs in that department. No residency program means no lectures, no teaching rounds, no attendings willing to round on their patients with students. No interns/residents there to help students along.

Does the school compensate attendings to teach? No $$ = no teaching. Attendings are busy people. If you don't pay them to take the time out of their day to teach, they have no incentive to teach.

What rotations are required? What is available? No required neurology rotation means they had such a hard time finding neurology rotations for students that they couldn't require students do one. No neurosurg rotation available means no chance to see neurosurg. No child psych rotation means you won't be seeing child psych.

Which professors from years 1&2 will be continuing to teach students years 3&4? No continuity in teaching means a massive disconnect in your education.

Investigate your field of interest. If you have an interest in peds, ask to speak to someone in the pediatrics department about the rotation. Ask them what the rotation is like for med students. If you can't talk to anyone at all for even a few minutes, this is a red flag.

Ask the tough questions. Don't be fooled by vague promises and a "list of hospitals."

Don't rely solely on admissions personnel. Talk to 4th year students who can tell you their experience with trying to arrange their rotations. Find out what its really like.

bth

PS - I did 8 months of my 3rd year at a hospital on Touro's "list": St John's Episcopal.
 
Wow. Is Touro-NV that bad also?? I mean I was originally against going there but it made sense since I'm already living here in Henderson that I should try to get into Touro, but reading this keeps confirming my original thoughts about the school.
 
I dont think all touros act the same. Yea there are/were a lot of problems with TUCOM-CA but TUCOM-NV turned out just fine. TouroCOM-NY will be only 3 years old so it is obviously gonna have things to work out...but it's getting there...slowly but surely.
 
I dont think all touros act the same. Yea there are/were a lot of problems with TUCOM-CA but TUCOM-NV turned out just fine. TouroCOM-NY will be only 3 years old so it is obviously gonna have things to work out...but it's getting there...slowly but surely.

On a very general level, I would confirm that Touro-NV seems to have its act together way, way more. Touro NY on the other hand seems to have massive problems. Touro-CA, same.
 
I'm very skeptical of any "confirmation" handed out by Touro.

They will give you a list of hospitals. They will say "its not a problem, we have the rotations."

BE SKEPTICAL. Ask the tough questions:

How many students are taken at each of these hospitals? (They'll often throw in the name of a respectable hospital to distract you, but not tell you that only one student/year rotates there.)

How many students will be assigned to a particular rotation? (30 students assigned to the same surgery rotation means you won't get to scrub in on cases.)

Is it a teaching hospital with supervision for students to assist with procedures? (if its not you'll never put in an IV, never assist with a central line placement, never do an ABG, never learn to suture a laceration. You'll stand there, watching, for two years b/c students aren't covered by hospital insurance policy.)

How many times will you have to move 3rd and 4th years? (If you have to move every 3 months from upstate to downstate to Michigan to get all your required rotations in, you'll be so displaced it will be nearly impossible to focus on learning.)

Will my rotations be inpatient? (An OG/GYN "rotation" at an outpatient clinic means you'll never see a delivery, let alone assist with one. A Medicine rotation at an outpatient clinic means you'll never do an admission, never work-up a patient for MI or Stroke or Afib or GI bleed, or anything else.)

Does the hospital count DOs and Carribean students together? Hospitals/DO schools have started to do this sneaky thing to pack students on rotations. The have quotas on the number of med students they can have on a rotation, but they count DO students separately from MD students (Caribbean) allowing them to take twice as many students.

Is there an organized didactic program at the hospital in which med students can participate? Students sent to hospitals without residency programs in that department. No residency program means no lectures, no teaching rounds, no attendings willing to round on their patients with students. No interns/residents there to help students along.

Does the school compensate attendings to teach? No $$ = no teaching. Attendings are busy people. If you don't pay them to take the time out of their day to teach, they have no incentive to teach.

What rotations are required? What is available? No required neurology rotation means they had such a hard time finding neurology rotations for students that they couldn't require students do one. No neurosurg rotation available means no chance to see neurosurg. No child psych rotation means you won't be seeing child psych.

Which professors from years 1&2 will be continuing to teach students years 3&4? No continuity in teaching means a massive disconnect in your education.

Investigate your field of interest. If you have an interest in peds, ask to speak to someone in the pediatrics department about the rotation. Ask them what the rotation is like for med students. If you can't talk to anyone at all for even a few minutes, this is a red flag.

Ask the tough questions. Don't be fooled by vague promises and a "list of hospitals."

Don't rely solely on admissions personnel. Talk to 4th year students who can tell you their experience with trying to arrange their rotations. Find out what its really like.

bth

PS - I did 8 months of my 3rd year at a hospital on Touro's "list": St John's Episcopal.

This is an excellent list of questions to ask.
 
In my opinion Tourocom is a complete flop. This place only has accreditation for two reasons, money and political power. It's a shame that students get subjected to this stuff so the school can pad it's pockets. I couldn't even imagine some of this stuff being done in the US, let alone in a medical school in the US. This is what happens when a medical school is run by unscrupulous people.

I wanted to highlight one sentence from this as someone who survived Touro.

It is a shame.​

Touro should be ashamed. The Touro administration is flat out ripping students off. The name for what Touro College is doing at Touro-CA and Touro-NY is fraud.

At the same time (take it from someone who survived the system) there's light at the end of the tunnel. You'll get a residency. You'll be a doctor. Your patients will love you.

Every med student faces serious challenges. And how we approach those challenges defines us, and gives us tremendous insight into the challenges (medical, financial, beauraucratic, emotional) that our patients face.

Trying to put a positive spin on a dismal situation? Maybe. But seriously, what else ya gonna do? Don't let Touro's dysfunctional BS get in the way of your awesomeness.

bth
 
Well it appears that Touro NV, isn't as bad as the other two, so I will stick with my plans of applying there next cycle. Of course I will continue to seek out opinions about the school.:)
 
How is this school allowed to exist? Its absurd that students cant find rotations, probably considered the most important part of Medical School.

Does this ever happen with MD schools? For example, how would the lowest ranked MD school (Howard?) compare to TouroCom, which I am assuming is the lowest ranked D.O. school by consensus. (since there are no official rankings).
 
DO vs. MD

A doctor is more or less a product of the training he/she gets. If we are establishing that the training is inferior, then shouldnt that also mean the knowledge of that doctor is not at the same level as his MD counterpart. I am an aspiring pre-med, and I really like the idea of "holistic" approach. I think it sits well with my personality. But when I scroll through MD boards and DO boards, it feels like two different worlds. In one, social issues i.e) dating, nightlife is being discussed, getting acclimated to cadavers, and what not..while here it seems to be more or less troubles with the schools.

In other words, they generally dont have to worry about issues with the school itself, and can focus on other troubles within themselves and around them.

Just an observation!
 
Just saw a doc from TouroCom-CA, and he agrees to all the problems mentioned above. He did say that it can be nice in one way because you have the "flexibility in coordinating your rotations". Didnt pursue that any further.

I had him do an OMM on me, and he pushed down on my clavicle and moved my arm around. He said its supposed to help your lympathic system. Anyone want to expand on the purpose of this technique?

Thanks!
 
How is this school allowed to exist?

Great question. Unfortunately, you won't get an answer. They'll just tell you, as above "Hey, look on the bright side. More freedom!"

Complete BS / dismissal of the issue.

Its absurd that students cant find rotations, probably considered the most important part of Medical School.

It is absurd.

For more information on all the above, and the situation in general, read:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osteopathic_medicine_in_the_United_States

bth
 
How is this school allowed to exist? Its absurd that students cant find rotations, probably considered the most important part of Medical School.

Does this ever happen with MD schools? For example, how would the lowest ranked MD school (Howard?) compare to TouroCom, which I am assuming is the lowest ranked D.O. school by consensus. (since there are no official rankings).

We DO have good rotations for our students. I have been very happy with my rotations thus far. I don't know where you're getting this info that we can't find rotations. And since you've admitted that there are no DO rankings, it's quite bold of you to claim that TouroCOM is the lowest ranked DO school. If I was you, I'd really stop and think before you start making claims like that when you have absolutely nothing to base that off of except he-said-she-said.

DO vs. MD

A doctor is more or less a product of the training he/she gets. If we are establishing that the training is inferior, then shouldnt that also mean the knowledge of that doctor is not at the same level as his MD counterpart. I am an aspiring pre-med, and I really like the idea of "holistic" approach. I think it sits well with my personality. But when I scroll through MD boards and DO boards, it feels like two different worlds. In one, social issues i.e) dating, nightlife is being discussed, getting acclimated to cadavers, and what not..while here it seems to be more or less troubles with the schools.

In other words, they generally dont have to worry about issues with the school itself, and can focus on other troubles within themselves and around them.

Just an observation!

Who here is establishing that DO training is inferior to MD? I certainly am not. Nor has anyone else in this thread. In fact, outside of your premed cohorts, very very few people in the medical community would say a DO education is inferior to an MD education. You're medical education is what YOU put into it. Graduating from Harvard does not guarantee that you'll be the best doctor in the world, nor does graduating from a school with lower stats mean you'll be a bad doctor.
 
Just saw a doc from TouroCom-CA, and he agrees to all the problems mentioned above. He did say that it can be nice in one way because you have the "flexibility in coordinating your rotations". Didnt pursue that any further.

I had him do an OMM on me, and he pushed down on my clavicle and moved my arm around. He said its supposed to help your lympathic system. Anyone want to expand on the purpose of this technique?

Thanks!

The idea is that lymph ducts are between epithelial cells, and by moving the layers underneath your skin in a certain way, you can open up the spaces to help improve lymph flow.
 
Just saw a doc from TouroCom-CA, and he agrees to all the problems mentioned above.

To his credit (which I should have said before) the doctor acknowledged the problems. Most people at Touro acknowledge the problems. And this is a good thing. It's not like everyone at the school pretends otherwise.

bth
 
I'm rotating with some pretty unhappy TouroNY students right now. They said that when they applied and interviewed, they were given a list of hospitals in Manhattan where they were told that they'd be rotating. Now that they are third years, they have very few hospitals period because they aren't allowed to infringe on other med school's territories (ie Einstein, NYCOM, etc.) They have places in the Bronx, New Jersey and Staten Island for the most part, nothing at all in Manhattan. They have ONE place for psych (meaning - that hospital is completely over-saturated with students).

I feel bad for them, it really seems like they were tricked.
 
A little disappointed because this OMM technique didnt do anything for me. The doc even cautioned me that I may get runny nose. First time I ever looked forward to that, but didnt happen.

What do you guys think about Nasonex vs. Veramyst?
 
A little disappointed because this OMM technique didnt do anything for me. The doc even cautioned me that I may get runny nose. First time I ever looked forward to that, but didnt happen.

What do you guys think about Nasonex vs. Veramyst?

OMM is to treat a somatic dysfunction. Can't treat what's not broke. Assuming you're young and relatively healthy? I'm not sure why he did that specific technique, but I imagine that it would have worked better for patients with edema in their arms, or such. Then again, I'm only a first year. If you want to argue about the veracity in claims behind OMM, pick a different thread.
 
wow. people are just dogging on TouroCOM. I go there, as a first year. And i really, really like it. Dr. Rich teaches anatomy class and she is hilarious, entertaining, engaging. that other teacher is gone. we all love Dr. Rich and her class. she is top notch too. teaches downtown at Cornell, as well as at our school. we also just got a physical diagnosis teacher who taught at NYU for years. it's the third year. maybe third times a charm?

it takes a little while to get the bugs worked out. but it seems pretty good to me so far.
 
I agree that our newly hired academic faculty is very good. If they can tolerate our overbearing administration long term remains to be seen.

Despite the fact that the school has seen significant faculty improvements, I feel the school has gotten much worse overall because of the adversarial administration. As a second year, I have seen the change from first year and I am very unhappy about it.
 
I agree that our newly hired academic faculty is very good. If they can tolerate our overbearing administration long term remains to be seen.

Despite the fact that the school has seen significant faculty improvements, I feel the school has gotten much worse overall because of the adversarial administration. As a second year, I have seen the change from first year and I am very unhappy about it.

Touro-CA hires new faculty and deans every year. The good ones always quit. They realize Touro is a highly malignant environment to work for, and leave.

bth
 
I'm a first year at Tourocom, and the general consensus is that Second years hate the school and First years like it just fine. So far my experience here is that the admin is putting in 150% effort into making the school excellent. I guess some people see that as overbearing. I guarantee next year's class will have it better than we do now.
 
I'm a first year at Tourocom, and the general consensus is that Second years hate the school and First years like it just fine. So far my experience here is that the admin is putting in 150% effort into making the school excellent. I guess some people see that as overbearing. I guarantee next year's class will have it better than we do now.

This is hysterical. How many months have you been at the school?

Just WAIT till you hit 3rd year.

bth
 
I'm a first year at Tourocom, and the general consensus is that Second years hate the school and First years like it just fine. So far my experience here is that the admin is putting in 150% effort into making the school excellent. I guess some people see that as overbearing. I guarantee next year's class will have it better than we do now.

FYI You have it a lot better than we did. Your teachers seem to be better and ours on most classes are much better then the class of 2011. Not everything is perfect but some of the teachers like Dr Jones in imuno are MUCH BETTER than whom he replaced! A lot of the second years have some gripes with the required attendance and our quiz mania in some of our classes. We will see how it goes. It looks as if the attendance policy is already starting to fall apart. Overall I think the class of 2013 will go farther than us.
As for rotations, I have heard mostly positive things from the class of 2011. The big weakness now seems to be with our psych rotation being overbooked.
 
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