2020-2021 Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine (Middletown Campus)

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Don’t know about the MCAT but as of right now the white coat is in person.
Hi, do you know when the white coat ceremoy would be? Thank you!

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After 3 cycles of applications, I finally got my A off the waitlist today! Don’t give up hope, everybody 😭
 
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If I just got accepted at another school would it hurt my chances of getting off this waitlist? Would they think I'm less likely to go if I paid a deposit somewhere else?
 
If I just got accepted at another school would it hurt my chances of getting off this waitlist? Would they think I'm less likely to go if I paid a deposit somewhere else?
wondering the same thing. I do not wish to go to the school i was accepted at, but its an acceptance ):. I would much rather get off the waitlsit here and go!
 
If I just got accepted at another school would it hurt my chances of getting off this waitlist? Would they think I'm less likely to go if I paid a deposit somewhere else?
I don’t think it would hurt your chances. Think about the lucky people who got multiple acceptances. I also know of someone who used one acceptance as leverage to gain acceptance to their top choice with a letter of intent 🤷🏻‍♀️
 
Hi All! So, I sneaked into the MD waitlist thread and it looks like there is not a ton of movement there. This affects all the DO waitlists too. Almost like a trickle effect. Aaah. This is driving me crazy. Good luck to everyone.
 
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Does anyone know if COMLEX and USMLE are required? Or just COMLEX?
I believe only Comlex is required for us technically. But if we want to be competitive and considered for most programs, you also need to take the USMLE
 
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Current Second Year at Touro Middletown. Feel free to ask questions here or through a DM.

(UPDATE) I didn’t expect to receive so many messages in such a short time span. I’ve been asked by a few of you on my general experiences at Touro. To save time, I will post my response here:

First Year was very challenging. I have many friends at other MD medical schools and I can say with confidence that (the first year) of Touro is significantly more challenging than the average medical school. Our flipped classroom model allows the faculty to cram in massive amounts of material. We watch lectures on our own time which means that school days are filled with discussion sections and labs.

The most important thing about Touro is this: If you keep up with the work then you will learn medicine in a more thorough and in-depth manner compared with the average medical student. If you do not keep up with the material, however, then your time at Touro will be MISERABLE. Once again, our flipped classroom model forces us to watch lectures on our own time. If you show up to class without watching the previous days’ lecture content then you will understand exactly 0% of what’s going on in discussion. It would be a massive waste of time. Just keep in mind that staying caught up with lecture material can be nearly impossible at certain times in the semester. There are only so many hours in a day!

Additionally, the vast majority of my peers have masters degrees. I have noticed that those without masters degrees have a difficult time at this school. I’m not saying that you won’t do well if you don’t have a graduate degree, but it will help A LOT (especially for the first semester). I think Touro’s preference for applicants with masters degrees speaks a lot to the mindset of the faculty: they want people who can handle the rigors of a difficult pre-clinical curriculum.

I cannot speak about the specifics of our clinical years. From my layman’s perspective, however, the strength of Touro (Middletown) is not in our rotation sites. Touro greatly excels in the pre-clinical curriculum. If you learn as much as possible in the first 2 years then it will set you up for a lot of success during your rotations (independent of how bad the rotations may be). If, on the other hand, you just float by during the first 2 years then I think you will be frustrated with your rotation experience. This is just my 2 cents.

All in all, Touro is a great school if you take the pre-clinical years seriously and are efficient with your time. I am very confident that our pre-clinical curriculum is superior to the vast majority of MD/DO schools BUT ONLY IF YOU KEEP UP WITH THE CONTENT.
 
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Some more Q&As.

Q: Dress code and attendance policy?

A: Since the majority of our classes were online, I cannot speak to the dress code in much detail. The issue of dress code was only spoken of once or twice in reference to someone showing up for a zoom meeting wearing a baseball cap. I think if you look relatively respectable (no short shorts, no hats . . eat) then you should be 100% ok.

Formal attire is mandatory during our OSCEs where we wear our white coat and participate in mock clinical situations. This occurs 3-4 times per semester. Other than that, people wear whatever they want to school/ zoom (including sweatpants and sweaters).

Attendance is somewhat mandatory. Our "discussion sections" are actually called clicker sections. The professor will show us questions and then we enter the answers with a remote control. These count for 10% of our grade. Since we were online, these clicker questions were posted on a web page as a quiz which counted towards our grade. If Touro goes in-person next year then the clicker quizzes will count purely for attendance (ie. just doing the quiz will give you 100%). If you don't care about something that counts toward 10% of your grade then don't show up to clicker sessions.
 
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Q: What does a typical week look like?

A: The first image depicts a typical week without exams. The second image is a busy week (which includes exams).
It is very busy during the day. When class ends in the afternoon then people typically take a quick break then spend the next 3 to 4 hours watching lectures online. After that, they study for the upcoming exams.
 

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Current Second Year at Touro Middletown. Feel free to ask questions here or through a DM.

(UPDATE) I didn’t expect to receive so many messages in such a short time span. I’ve been asked by a few of you on my general experiences at Touro. To save time, I will post my response here:

First Year was very challenging. I have many friends at other MD medical schools and I can say with confidence that (the first year) of Touro is significantly more challenging than the average medical school. Our flipped classroom model allows the faculty to cram in massive amounts of material. We watch lectures on our own time which means that school days are filled with discussion sections and labs.

The most important thing about Touro is this: If you keep up with the work then you will learn medicine in a more thorough and in-depth manner compared with the average medical student. If you do not keep up with the material, however, then your time at Touro will be MISERABLE. Once again, our flipped classroom model forces us to watch lectures on our own time. If you show up to class without watching the previous days’ lecture content then you will understand exactly 0% of what’s going on in discussion. It would be a massive waste of time. Just keep in mind that staying caught up with lecture material can be nearly impossible at certain times in the semester. There are only so many hours in a day!

Additionally, the vast majority of my peers have masters degrees. I have noticed that those without masters degrees have a difficult time at this school. I’m not saying that you won’t do well if you don’t have a graduate degree, but it will help A LOT (especially for the first semester). I think Touro’s preference for applicants with masters degrees speaks a lot to the mindset of the faculty: they want people who can handle the rigors of a difficult pre-clinical curriculum.

I cannot speak about the specifics of our clinical years. From my layman’s perspective, however, the strength of Touro (Middletown) is not in our rotation sites. Touro greatly excels in the pre-clinical curriculum. If you learn as much as possible in the first 2 years then it will set you up for a lot of success during your rotations (independent of how bad the rotations may be). If, on the other hand, you just float by during the first 2 years then I think you will be frustrated with your rotation experience. This is just my 2 cents.

All in all, Touro is a great school if you take the pre-clinical years seriously and are efficient with your time. I am very confident that our pre-clinical curriculum is superior to the vast majority of MD/DO schools BUT ONLY IF YOU KEEP UP WITH THE CONTENT.
This is very helpful. Thank you for all of your posts!
 
Current 2nd-year student here. For our rotation selection process we are given a list of core sites that we have to rank based on our personal preference. Some students choose based on location or what those hospitals are known for. Here's the site list: Rotation Site List (Not all of these are core.) After ranking these sites, we are put in a lottery system and a few days later we are assigned a site. This core site will have all the core rotations you must complete but we are also given a vacation month and an elective month. This elective can be done at the hospital or possibly another one. I believe there's also a VSLO system but some electives wont require you to go through this system. I've also heard bad experiences about this (students applying and spending money on the application but the program wasn't accepting students). So it's also suggested that you contact the site.

This also goes for fourth year, however traditionally you aren't bound to any one site and many students travel around the country on "audition rotations" to show interest in being a resident there. I haven't gotten there yet so this is all I know.

*For third year it's stated that you can find an external site outside of the lottery but the site has to agree to sign an affiliation agreement and the site has to agree to take you for all of your core rotations. Third year is also pass/fail with an honors option to show your dedication to that specialty. (Good for Residency Applications)

Can you share which ones are the CORE sites? Are the large systems (e.g. Staten Island, Trinitas, NUMC) tend to be the core sites where you would do all the core rotations? Thanks so much
 
Hey guys, received an A from my top choice and will be withdrawing from touro! Hope my spot goes to one of you guys💛
 
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I spoke to admissions recently and their waitlist is still moving very, very slowly. I’m really praying for an A soon. I’m trying to stay positive, but I’m starting to lose hope.
 
Is it still possible to get off the waitlist for this school or would they let someone in from the biomedical science program at this point?
 
Is it still possible to get off the waitlist for this school or would they let someone in from the biomedical science program at this point?
Not to be a downer but our white coat is in 3 days and at this point they would just pull from the MS program to fill seats if needed.
 
Can you share which ones are the CORE sites? Are the large systems (e.g. Staten Island, Trinitas, NUMC) tend to be the core sites where you would do all the core rotations? Thanks so much
Sorry about the wait. The website can be a bit confusing since it lists both the Middletown and Harlem sites in separate tabs. Please refer to my attachment for Middletown specific information. These may change by the time you would matriculate and start rotations.
 

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Not to be a downer but our white coat is in 3 days and at this point they would just pull from the MS program to fill seats if needed.
Would they pull from previous masters students who are waitlisted? Or from incoming masters students?
 
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Would they pull from previous masters students who are waitlisted? Or from incoming masters students?
im assuming those already waitlisted. incoming still have to meet the requirements to get an interview etc
 
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Does anyone know if the waitlist is still open??? Do we get an email saying it closed When it closes?
 
Does anyone know if the waitlist is still open??? Do we get an email saying it closed When it closes?
I beleive orientation already started !? safe to assume the cycle is over if you did not get an email inviting you off the waitlist.
 
Sorry about the wait. The website can be a bit confusing since it lists both the Middletown and Harlem sites in separate tabs. Please refer to my attachment for Middletown specific information. These may change by the time you would matriculate and start rotations.
Thanks so much for sharing!!!
 
How long was y'alls interview last cycle? Just got one for 21-22 and need to put in PTO so was wondering how long I may have to take off, I know it starts at 8 AM. Thank you!
 
How long was y'alls interview last cycle? Just got one for 21-22 and need to put in PTO so was wondering how long I may have to take off, I know it starts at 8 AM. Thank you!
Mine went the full 6-7 hours. Just get that day off if you can.
 
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