Touro CA, NV or NY
Started by dodoc2015
Here is a recent thread that should help a bit with NY vs. CA.
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=795839
Nevada, I'm not as familiar with.
I have toured the campus, and again I don't think the location has much to offer. But it is really a personal decision- where do you think you'd be happiest?
Best of luck. PM if you have specific Touro-NY questions.
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=795839
Nevada, I'm not as familiar with.
I have toured the campus, and again I don't think the location has much to offer. But it is really a personal decision- where do you think you'd be happiest?
Best of luck. PM if you have specific Touro-NY questions.
I've heard some good things about the NV rotations, and some not so good things about the NY and CA ones.
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I'd say NV for rotations.
I have a friend who graduated CA a few years ago and did his rotations far away as the local ones at the time were lacking. NY is too new imo to really give advice. NV is new but is chronically under-served and the only local med school is in Reno, so Vegas is wide open territory.
I toured at all three and liked NY>CA>NV but thats just me and is not taking rotations into account.
I have a friend who graduated CA a few years ago and did his rotations far away as the local ones at the time were lacking. NY is too new imo to really give advice. NV is new but is chronically under-served and the only local med school is in Reno, so Vegas is wide open territory.
I toured at all three and liked NY>CA>NV but thats just me and is not taking rotations into account.
Yea. I've heard that NV is a very strong school and has some interesting unique rotation opportunities, but is not a very appealing school at sales pitch and/or tour. NV basically has CA sites plus some unique ones (or so ive been told).
Since the biggest hit on CA is that its rotation sites are among the worst out there (both for not offering *that* many highly desirable ones and having the more desirable ones being very far from CA), the NV site should be looked at as their local NV ones and a whole smattering of CA leftovers if you want to go somewhere else in the country.
Now NY has good rotations. Dont listen to the haters. Everyone bitches that we dont have any 3rd years in manhattan, but they forget that our 4th years are all over manhattan. And that our 3rd year programs (with exception of Binghampton which is an awesome, and wholly voluntary, hospital) are all within 30 minutes of the school. In an ironic twist, what NY can't offer you is a bunch of hospitals in areas outside NYC. We've consolidated all out spots in on "hudson river NJ" and the other boroughs since people freaked out when we lost Harlem Hospital that we were 'losing NYC'. This has led to our rotation sites being very close to each other and to the school.
Plus they're really good hospitals, but thats my opinion.
am i pro-NY? well I spent all my life here. But I've heard some good things about NV (once you get past that it makes a more poor first impression than most places). I have family that went to CA, and they were extremely lukewarm about it. (they were very happy that it was affiliated with St. John's in Queens, which is a TouroNY hospital too. Thats a big time AOA residency location).
From what Dr. Haight and his buddies at the admissions office told us on interview day, you have one hell of a chance still. They don't have tiered waitlists for nothin'!
I think there are many, many factors to take into account, and most importantly which school is best for you? I cannot comment extensively on Touro NY (I did not apply there) but I would choose NV over all of the schools I applied to. The rotations are very strong, they have impressive research and the faculty seem excellent. In addition, I could not personally see myself enjoying life in Vallejo or NY. But, I travel to Red Rocks often for the amazing climbing there. I would really like to spend my (probably very small) amount of free time climbing and hiking and playing outdoors and not driving hours to get to some of my favorite spots. I think it just depends on what is most important to you. Best of luck in your decision! 🙂
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I would make your decision based on the education 
you'll receive and clinical rotations available....👍
I wouldn't worry too much about what you'll be doing in your free time bc let's face it while in school you simply don't have much, thus I don't think that should be high on the list of deciding factors.
However, you really do have to look at the whole picture. ask yourself:
-Where do I fit best?
-Where will I be the happiest and most comfortable?
Good Luck
you'll receive and clinical rotations available....👍I wouldn't worry too much about what you'll be doing in your free time bc let's face it while in school you simply don't have much, thus I don't think that should be high on the list of deciding factors.
However, you really do have to look at the whole picture. ask yourself:
-Where do I fit best?
-Where will I be the happiest and most comfortable?
Good LuckHonestly, where are you getting your information from? How much do you really know about TUCOM-CA's rotation sites? Are you getting your information from a current student or a faculty member or from a rumor mill? Things have changed a lot since the last few years. And Touro-CA has contracts with some of the biggest hospitals in the Bay Area.
Since the last couple of years, Touro-CA has been adding more and more sites in the bay area/Northern California and Southern California. The 2nd years picked their top choices of rotation spots last month and I was told that since last year Touro-CA added about 32 new rotation sites in the bay area alone. Rotations sites are far from the worst, in fact, being a Bay Area native, I say they're at pretty decent locations and with big hospitals names behind them. Most of Touro-CA (80%+) rotation sites are in CA and at respectable teaching hospitals.
If anything, its Touro-NY that seems to be in trouble with their rotations sites because of the big Caribbean schools moving in.
I'm planning on applying to TUCOM-CA. Does Touro-CA get sites at SFGH?
My cousin graduated from TouroCA 3 years ago and his cousin (so my cousins cousin?) graduated from there 6 years ago. So I believe thats secondhand knowledge since its their personal opinion. Also the TouroNY deans (when we ask why we dont share all their rotations) talk well of the rotations, but they watch their words and admit that the rotations generally have a pretty poor reputation. They say its undeserved, but they also admit that it is the reputation.
BTW, both of my relatives had to travel across the country for rotations, one because he didnt like any of the rotation sites in CA (3 years ago) and the other because the hospital he was going to dissolved its association and he got bumped all the way to St Johns in queens.
TouroNY's rotations get a lot of positive review. Once you ignore people complaining that there are no cores in manhattan, and you realize that they have nothing but amazing things to say about the rotations everywhere bordering manhattan. I do think I took a rather neutral stand though, so i'll try to maintain it. TouroNY has a whole different set of rotation spots (With two overlaps) to Touro CA/NV. But in four years ours *appears* to have at least pulled even, if not surpassed the TouroCA spots in word of mouth support. This is of course contigent on the two first hand experiences i've heard (slightly dated as they are) and the general rumor mill you hear from students you run into at the overlapping sites.
BUT, i think i stated this before. I hope I did. The rotations between the two are so very distinct. Its a whole different world. We just got lucky with strong word of mouth beyond the "not in manhattan proper" part. Since manhattan is the smallest county in america, thats not hard to be excluded from it (and since other elite schools such as NYMC are in the same boat). You guys have a poor reputation on the street, but my deans had defended the spots saying it was unjustly biased against. Just commenting to the word on the streets.
Quick note: I dont think myself, or any regular poster on this board, is in the business of bad mouthing any school that isn't in the carib or named RVU (I cant resist with the latter, its so trendy to diss it right now). But when people ask for opinions there are only so many times that I have any useful anecdotes from trusted sources or first hand experience to give. So usually I have to use common sense and cite the general opinion trends I see.
In this case I also had trusted anecdotes. But dont take it as bashing CA. I was just acknowledging that the general feeling, even among people I've personally talked to from the school, is that the rotations are the weak point of the school. If they've been improving them recently then they are correctly engaging a perceived weakness. But I dont think any school's "weakness" should disqualify them because I'm all for promoting the DO schools to greater success, not infighting and dissing of each others education.
In this case I also had trusted anecdotes. But dont take it as bashing CA. I was just acknowledging that the general feeling, even among people I've personally talked to from the school, is that the rotations are the weak point of the school. If they've been improving them recently then they are correctly engaging a perceived weakness. But I dont think any school's "weakness" should disqualify them because I'm all for promoting the DO schools to greater success, not infighting and dissing of each others education.
DocEspana, we meet again 😉
For the sake of clarifying and spreading the good word of change, TUCOM-CA has changed leaps and bounds in the realm of rotations over the past few years. Our new Dean of Clinical Education is showing his hard work through creating new rotations, maintaining productive rotations and is working with hospitals to create solid programs and even develop potential residencies.
The majority (80% as RemoteControl noted) of sites ARE in California, but there still are out of state options. Current rotation spots include California (Long Beach, Colton, Chino Hills, Santa Maria, Santa Rosa, Vacaville/Fairfield, Turlock, Salinas, Fresno, Bakersfield, the Bay Area traveling and we've just confirmed Napa), Michigan, New York, Oregon, Colorado and Pennsylvania. The sites in California have become very competitive/highly desired, for obvious reasons (majority of the students are CA residents) and I have no doubt that IF (and that's a big if) a program were to dissolve no students would be forced out of state, simply because we have so many California spots. It might seem like a weakness in comparison to some longer established schools who may have associated hospitals, but rest assured that the rotations have improved greatly and are only heading in the direction of progression.
I applaud the SDN posts that demonstrate school pride because it's important to be proud of where you are and where you're headed. As I've said before, when making a decision as important as selecting a med school, you must talk with current students to get the "whole" story. If you rely a great deal on hearsay or passed down info, your vision may be skewed.
DoDoc2015, our waitlist does move. If you're a high waitlisted and serious about attending TUCOM-Ca, keep in contact with our office of admissions. A letter of intent or something that can update your file/show why you should be moved up will only help! Best of luck!
LastPolarBear, not sure about SFGH. It could be part of the traveling bay area group, but I'm not too familiar with the array of sites. It's possible to establish some of your own rotations, so if it were somewhere you really wanted to rotate through, you can either do an elective or try to set up one of your core rotations.
For the sake of clarifying and spreading the good word of change, TUCOM-CA has changed leaps and bounds in the realm of rotations over the past few years. Our new Dean of Clinical Education is showing his hard work through creating new rotations, maintaining productive rotations and is working with hospitals to create solid programs and even develop potential residencies.
The majority (80% as RemoteControl noted) of sites ARE in California, but there still are out of state options. Current rotation spots include California (Long Beach, Colton, Chino Hills, Santa Maria, Santa Rosa, Vacaville/Fairfield, Turlock, Salinas, Fresno, Bakersfield, the Bay Area traveling and we've just confirmed Napa), Michigan, New York, Oregon, Colorado and Pennsylvania. The sites in California have become very competitive/highly desired, for obvious reasons (majority of the students are CA residents) and I have no doubt that IF (and that's a big if) a program were to dissolve no students would be forced out of state, simply because we have so many California spots. It might seem like a weakness in comparison to some longer established schools who may have associated hospitals, but rest assured that the rotations have improved greatly and are only heading in the direction of progression.
I applaud the SDN posts that demonstrate school pride because it's important to be proud of where you are and where you're headed. As I've said before, when making a decision as important as selecting a med school, you must talk with current students to get the "whole" story. If you rely a great deal on hearsay or passed down info, your vision may be skewed.
DoDoc2015, our waitlist does move. If you're a high waitlisted and serious about attending TUCOM-Ca, keep in contact with our office of admissions. A letter of intent or something that can update your file/show why you should be moved up will only help! Best of luck!
LastPolarBear, not sure about SFGH. It could be part of the traveling bay area group, but I'm not too familiar with the array of sites. It's possible to establish some of your own rotations, so if it were somewhere you really wanted to rotate through, you can either do an elective or try to set up one of your core rotations.
