2020-2021 Touro University (Vallejo, California) TUCOM-CA

[loveangel2206]

As someone who is committed to Touro as of rn, what is TUCOM's rep among DO schools?

I would like to know this as well

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[fishking8888]

Got an II today!!!!!!! Completed mid - october, LM70, ORM, Bay area resident

Super stoked because this is one of my top choices! LETS GO!!

 

[kaylajpaige]

i was accepted a while back, definitely planning on attending. Do they give you anything when you start, like a stethoscop, an ipad, anything like that?

 

[Coldwater_Adler]

So, I have been accepted. Do ya'll know when they start sending us emails to our Touro email? Or when the facebook group opens up?

 

[cruzertown411]

have yall filed for FAFSA? I think they said not to in the interview until feb but idk

 

[Coldwater_Adler]

When did u complete the MPH app? I haven’t heard back and mine was complete 11/15

Call the MPH office. They are really awesome and let me know where my application was every step of the way

 

[Coldwater_Adler]

have yall filed for FAFSA? I think they said not to in the interview until feb but idk

I have. Havent heard anything back about it tho

 

[loveangel2206]

have yall filed for FAFSA? I think they said not to in the interview until feb but idk

I have also already filed fafsa

 

[tucomadcom]

i was accepted a while back, definitely planning on attending. Do they give you anything when you start, like a stethoscop, an ipad, anything like that?

You have to purchase your own stethoscope and other medical equipment as a requirement for the Osteopathic Doctoring course.
iPads and other tech are not provided. I made a post way earlier in this forum about how we're a smaller, and newer program relative to other big med schools in CA. If you're looking for a lot of material goodies, you're better off at a well established school with a lot of alumni donations. If you're looking for quality education, we're just as good as any program
(your white coat is provided lol)

 

[tucomadcom]

So, I have been accepted. Do ya'll know when they start sending us emails to our Touro email? Or when the facebook group opens up?

Aside from your acceptance letter from the Director of Admissions, the chair of the COM admissions will be sending you an introductory email within the next few months. Other onboarding emails should be sent out mid spring if not already. FB group will be created in March for the class of 2025.

 

[tucomadcom]

have yall filed for FAFSA? I think they said not to in the interview until feb but idk

If you're hoping to start school in the Fall (no matter which program), you should go ahead and complete your FAFSA as soon as you can. Best to get all of that stuff out of the way so there's no confusion and headache later on when you have to do a bunch of other onboarding stuff for the program.

 

[Neon-turtle98]

Did anyone ever find out if this program accepts update letters/LOI? I really like this program and am getting worried that it’s too late to hear back now about an interview.. 😣

 

[tucomadcom]

Did anyone ever find out if this program accepts update letters/LOI? I really like this program and am getting worried that it’s too late to hear back now about an interview.. 😣

Yes we accept it. Send it!

 

[xtb20ltsolxx]

I was accepted to one of my top choices, I was wondering how do we give up our seat after being accepted and paying the deposit?

 

[tinyhandsbob]

Any current or former students who can chime in about their experience at TUCOM? Applied and would like additional input about the school /culture. I drove around the island and the campus was closed due to COVID but it did not look very appealing/thriving from the outside.

 

[Balanced_Tension]

Any current or former students who can chime in about their experience at TUCOM? Applied and would like additional input about the school /culture. I drove around the island and the campus was closed due to COVID but it did not look very appealing/thriving from the outside.

I'm a 4th year. What specific questions do you have? Campus has been shut down since COVID began, but you can imagine that usually all of the parking lots are full of cars and people are out and about. Hopefully you made it up toward Fargutt Inn. It's much nicer up there, with a good view of the water/Vallejo.

The buildings are old, but they are remodeling the interior in specific areas. I remember driving to campus for the first time for my interview and thinking "no way I'm going here" after seeing the buildings from the outside. However, I still ended up at Touro and I think it was the correct decision for me. Looking back from the perspective of a 4th year, I would hesitate to choose your school based on how pretty the building is. I could have gone elsewhere with new buildings and been in a lot more debt, and missed out on many of the opportunities I have now.

 

[tucomadcom]

I was accepted to one of my top choices, I was wondering how do we give up our seat after being accepted and paying the deposit?

Email Steven Davis (Director of Admissions) that you'd like to withdraw your decision/seat and he might have further instructions for you. That's all!

 

[tucomadcom]

Any current or former students who can chime in about their experience at TUCOM? Applied and would like additional input about the school /culture. I drove around the island and the campus was closed due to COVID but it did not look very appealing/thriving from the outside.

I'm a 4th year. What specific questions do you have? Campus has been shut down since COVID began, but you can imagine that usually all of the parking lots are full of cars and people are out and about. Hopefully you made it up toward Fargutt Inn. It's much nicer up there, with a good view of the water/Vallejo.

The buildings are old, but they are remodeling the interior in specific areas. I remember driving to campus for the first time for my interview and thinking "no way I'm going here" after seeing the buildings from the outside. However, I still ended up at Touro and I think it was the correct decision for me. Looking back from the perspective of a 4th year, I would hesitate to choose your school based on how pretty the building is. I could have gone elsewhere with new buildings and been in a lot more debt, and missed out on many of the opportunities I have now.

Agreed! Speaking only to the location aspect of Touro: the school buildings' exterior are old and not the aesthetic a person would imagine for a med school. But the interior is fine. Touro has acquired a lot of old military buildings as part of the campus and repurposed/renovated for school. Mare Island is rich in military history, and the island itself has an old, antiquated kind of charm that I think is so underrated. I enjoy my runs around the island and the sunsets on the island are quite amazing.

 

[tinyhandsbob]

I'm a 4th year. What specific questions do you have? Campus has been shut down since COVID began, but you can imagine that usually all of the parking lots are full of cars and people are out and about. Hopefully you made it up toward Fargutt Inn. It's much nicer up there, with a good view of the water/Vallejo.

The buildings are old, but they are remodeling the interior in specific areas. I remember driving to campus for the first time for my interview and thinking "no way I'm going here" after seeing the buildings from the outside. However, I still ended up at Touro and I think it was the correct decision for me. Looking back from the perspective of a 4th year, I would hesitate to choose your school based on how pretty the building is. I could have gone elsewhere with new buildings and been in a lot more debt, and missed out on many of the opportunities I have now.

Thanks for your feedback- glad to hear the inside looks a little more presentable. A few questions:

1) How much dedicated time is there to study for the boards and does the school mandate any shelf exams?
2) How many hours of class are there on a typical day during year 1 and 2? Are there weekly exams?
3) Does the typical student change hospitals for most rotations during 3rd year? How would you rate the quality of the rotations in terms of providing you with opportunity to make the connections required to get good LORs? How easy is it to do all your 3rd year rotations in Sacramento area and/or Southern California if you so desired?
4) Are students generally happy? Does the administration care about the students and do their best to ensure everyone graduates and finds residencies (within reason)?

Thanks a bunch!

 

[Balanced_Tension]

Thanks for your feedback- glad to hear the inside looks a little more presentable. A few questions:

1) How much dedicated time is there to study for the boards and does the school mandate any shelf exams?
2) How many hours of class are there on a typical day during year 1 and 2? Are there weekly exams?
3) Does the typical student change hospitals for most rotations during 3rd year? How would you rate the quality of the rotations in terms of providing you with opportunity to make the connections required to get good LORs? How easy is it to do all your 3rd year rotations in Sacramento area and/or Southern California if you so desired?
4) Are students generally happy? Does the administration care about the students and do their best to ensure everyone graduates and finds residencies (within reason)?

Thanks a bunch!

1) Minimum was 4 weeks of dedicated board prep for my class. This year may have been different due to COVID. In normal times, you finish the second year curriculum and go straight into 'board prep' and then go straight into rotations. For most people, if you desire, you could use your first rotation as a vacation block to study for boards longer, or you could do a dedicated 2-4 week board study professional development elective to get more study time. In my class, I think there were very few people who wanted more than 4 weeks of preparation who were not able to get it.

However, the game has changed for your class, as USMLE Step 1 and COMLEX Level 1 are now pass/ no pass. Frankly, I think a good portion of my class could have simply passed both tests with just a week of prep. Doing well on it score wise is a totally different ball game, however. What will be important for you is getting dedicated time to study for USMLE Step 2/Comlex Level 2, as that is still scored and will be the new Step 1 in terms of residency applications.

2) It was generally anywhere from 5-8 hours of scheduled class on most days for me. Usually like 2 hours is mandatory at least 4 out 5 days a week. Sometimes you'd have 4 hours of doctoring/OMM labs in a day (which are mandatory).Not sure how they are doing things these days with COVID for the preclinical students though.

For my class, there were definitely weekly quizzes and assignments but real exams were every 2-3 weeks for the most part. Touro uses a TBL format, where you take the test on your own and then take the test again as a team in your TBL group. The 1st semester is the only time you could end up having an exam every week as you will be taking anatomy as well as the FOM class (biochem, cancer biology, basic pharmacology, etc), so you will have multiple different modules going at one time.

3) This depends on the rotation core site and student preference for how much you move around. For example if you are in the San Joaquin General or UCSF Fresno core site group, you will do roughly half of your rotations at those sites and half at other sites around Touro (North Bay Medical Center, etc). But if you are at Natividad, St Josephs or Bakersfield, you will do your entire year at that site, minus any electives or clinical distinction rotations that you elect to do elsewhere.

Quality overall was good, and I would say is getting better yearly. I had both good rotations and some bad rotations. There is a page on our student website where there are reviews of all the different rotations at each site: so, let's say if you wanted to do Pediatrics, some sites would be better than others and you would be able to end up at one with an awesome Pediatrics experience. I was able to get the letters that I needed and people to make calls for me based on my 3rd year rotations. Don't forget, that a big plus of Touro is the 3 months of electives during 3rd year (1 elective month and 2 clinical distinction rotations), and 5.5 months of electives as a 4th year. You can use these to do whatever you feel you need to (board study, audition rotations, research, etc) in order strengthen your residency application.

Staying in Socal or Sacramento for rotations is definitely possible. We have sites at both, but both are popular amongst students so you aren't guaranteed to get them. Touro determines rotation site's based on a lottery system.

4) I would say students are happy, generally speaking. With every medical school you are going to find students who are disgruntled for a multitude of reasons. Touro is no different in that respect. I definitely got screwed by Touro a few times (we call it getting Touro'd), but every DO student I have met has had something similar happen over the course of their medical school education. Best advice is to get into a MD school where things like not being provided the COVID vaccine don't really happen (and of course, there are exceptions)...

And to the last part of your question, the administration definitely cares about student success. One of the big benefits of Touro is that it is hard to fail out. Once you are here, they want you to graduate. That does not mean it is easy, but no one is being dismissed after failing a single remediation exam (there's an example of that from another school in the DO forum right now). I definitely feel that I have the support that I need from my Dean's in applying to residency, and could even call one of them right now if I felt the need to, and they would likely answer.

Hope that helps!

 

[hopefulmeddo]

I was invited to an interview recently and I was wondering if there were any other students who have trouble setting up an interview date. I called multiple times but none of my calls were picked up.

 

[fishking8888]

I was invited to an interview recently and I was wondering if there were any other students who have trouble setting up an interview date. I called multiple times but none of my calls were picked up.

I had the same issue even though I called 1 hour after I received the email and it was still business hours. Today is a holiday so I would just call tomorrow sometime in the morning PST. It's no big deal so don't sweat it

 

[SunMouse]

I was invited to an interview recently and I was wondering if there were any other students who have trouble setting up an interview date. I called multiple times but none of my calls were picked up.

I left a message, and was called back the next morning.

 

[fishking8888]

So, I have been accepted. Do ya'll know when they start sending us emails to our Touro email? Or when the facebook group opens up?

Congrats on the A! Sorry to be neurotic but when was your interview date? A lot of recent interviewees have been waitlisted and I'm one of those awaiting decisions this Friday so I'm super worried since this is one of my top choices. Thanks in advance!

 

[Coldwater_Adler]

Congrats on the A! Sorry to be neurotic but when was your interview date? A lot of recent interviewees have been waitlisted and I'm one of those awaiting decisions this Friday so I'm super worried since this is one of my top choices. Thanks in advance!

It was early fall. Do not remember the exact date

 

[fishking8888]

Anyone else who interviewed recently super nervous about decisions being released this Friday? So many waitlists have been reported in the last couple months...

 

[AcceptableKale]

Does anyone know if waitlisted candidates can ask for feedback regarding their application?

Also, when June comes around, the email said that we may if we desire send an update letter. Is this also meant to be a letter of interest in the school? What additional updates are you guys planning on submitting (ie are you taking additional classes this semester or engaging in new activities)?

 

[xtb20ltsolxx]

Just withdrew my acceptance from here - I hope it goes to one of you! Good luck

 

[fishking8888]

Just withdrew my acceptance from here - I hope it goes to one of you! Good luck

You're a hero 😻

Edit: I realize that could be read as sarcasm. It's not - thank you so much!

 

[moralebooster]

I left a message, and was called back the next morning.

+1

 

[tucomadcom]

Does anyone know if waitlisted candidates can ask for feedback regarding their application?

Also, when June comes around, the email said that we may if we desire send an update letter. Is this also meant to be a letter of interest in the school? What additional updates are you guys planning on submitting (ie are you taking additional classes this semester or engaging in new activities)?

You will not get direct feedback regarding your application/interview. You can try email Director of Admissions Steven Davis for some guidance, but he might also be very limited in what he is able to tell you specifically in regards to your app. It might be more broad strokes and general answers. But the official rule is that no interviewer/admissions member is allowed to give direct post-interview feedback while the cycle is still open.

 

[fishking8888]

Waitlisted just now - interviewed 1/12. Big sad...

 

[WannabeGP]

Does anyone know if Touro CA is pass/fail for good? I can't seem to find information on it online other than on their FAQ (which was updated in 2019) which includes their letter grading scale as well as some talk in older SDN threads that Touro CA was moving to pass/fail grading.

 

[Neon-turtle98]

Received an interview yesterday! Scheduled for 2/22
They had lots of availability in February

 

[milkshake&fryes]

Received an interview yesterday! Scheduled for 2/22
They had lots of availability in February

congrats! when were you complete?

 

[Neon-turtle98]

congrats! when were you complete?

9/1

 

[tucomadcom]

Does anyone know if Touro CA is pass/fail for good? I can't seem to find information on it online other than on their FAQ (which was updated in 2019) which includes their letter grading scale as well as some talk in older SDN threads that Touro CA was moving to pass/fail grading.

The curriculum is pass fail - I don't see it changing anytime soon.

 

[epeppere]

For anyone who has already interviewed, do they ask questions of the whole group more discussion style or different questions for each candidate? Or a mix? Thanks in advance!

 

[loveangel2206]

For anyone who has already interviewed, do they ask questions of the whole group more discussion style or different questions for each candidate? Or a mix? Thanks in advance!

They ask each individual interviewee a different question based on your application.

 

[amitgrewal10]

Does anyone know if accepted students for the class of 2025 were sent any emails regarding things to do for the new class such as completing the new student checklist?

 

[Wazza10]

Does anyone know if accepted students for the class of 2025 were sent any emails regarding things to do for the new class such as completing the new student checklist?

I got an email earlier that says to check the new student checklist website regularly. But so far I've only seen the document for the spring class for other colleges. I'm assuming there will be more emails in the coming months.

 

[ISOgoodjuju]

Does anyone know how full the class is? Still waiting on an II

 

[milkshake&fryes]

Does anyone know how full the class is? Still waiting on an II

+1

 

[brain_dude]

Does anyone know how full the class is? Still waiting on an II

I interviewed in November and everyone from that day who reported in was waitlisted. And this despite the fact that med students during interview day explicitly talked about how they usually accept most people post-interview. So some have taken that to mean they're already full or almost so. It still leaves the question of why they continue to interview folks, so who knows. Some have reported acceptances after this date, however, so there seems to be slim but existent chances still for you.

 

[ISOgoodjuju]

I interviewed in November and everyone from that day who reported in was waitlisted. And this despite the fact that med students during interview day explicitly talked about how they usually accept most people post-interview. So some have taken that to mean they're already full or almost so. It still leaves the question of why they continue to interview folks, so who knows. Some have reported acceptances after this date, however, so there seems to be slim but existent chances still for you.

That makes sense. Thanks for the reply!

 

[MeimeiLover]

I accepted my seat a while back, but didn't get any emails except my DO Licensure Disclosure and Response Form. On my TouroOne site, under Financial Aid, it still shows the "admission decision pending" a red flag. Did I miss any steps to accept my seat? I am a little worried.

 

[tucomadcom]

I accepted my seat a while back, but didn't get any emails except my DO Licensure Disclosure and Response Form. On my TouroOne site, under Financial Aid, it still shows the "admission decision pending" a red flag. Did I miss any steps to accept my seat? I am a little worried.

Please email [email protected] with regards to your specific question.

 

[Antiseptic11]

Complete 10/27 hoping to hear back from this school

 

[catsnlattes]

II today, complete 1/4

 

[onemanshow3998]

II today, scheduled 2/23, submitted 9/30, they seem to have a good amount of availability