Touro - Mare Island Class of 2011!!!

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West Coaster

West Coaster

Mokari has it in for me.
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Ok.... I gotta do it now that the 2011 school year acceptances are happening ..... Where are the prospectives/students of Touro-MI?? :cool:
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i'm here in illinois!! i think i've messeged u before :) congrats to you too!
 
I'm interviewing there on Monday. Any thoughts? What do you love about Mare Island? :)
 
Members don't see this ad :)
yea cebenedic .. its good to talk again after so long .. are you from Illinois? .. I am in Indiana for the week .. its alot colder here than in Cali
 
Congratulations on the interview stage Sarikate! ... I think what I most appreciate about Touro is the beautiful location it is in, the surrounding area isn't too bad either ... :)D ) Good luck on the interview!
 
Congratulations on the interview stage Sarikate! ... I think what I most appreciate about Touro is the beautiful location it is in, the surrounding area isn't too bad either ... :)D ) Good luck on the interview!
 
Ok.. so I don't know why it posted twice...
 
Sarikate said:
I'm interviewing there on Monday. Any thoughts? What do you love about Mare Island? :)
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i think touro is one of those places you go into the interview day skeptical and leave loving the place. i admit, i was turned off by the whole vallejo thing..and i also got scared of the drive from the airport to touro because of those bridges and highways so close to the water (hey i come from a flat-land state :) with no bridges ). but i really liked touro and i think it will be a great fit for me. plus, i've lived in the midwest and east coast and it would be nice to see what the west coast is like:thumbup: the only thing is that before i found out i got in at touro..i was already in the aacomas/amcas application process again..i'm hoping to stay in illinois..but if i can't touro is where i'm headed!

hmm i dont know much about mare island since i was only there for 4 hrs =) but it seems pretty cool with the up and coming homes...i definitely will live in the tucom housing on the island the first year at least...so i'm sure i'll like it:thumbup:

good luck on your interview! u'll do great!

and to WestCoaster, yeah cali is def. warmer than indiana ;) and indiana is boring so i'm sure cali is way more fun!
 
Sarikate said:
I'm interviewing there on Monday. Any thoughts? What do you love about Mare Island? :)
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just curious how the interviews are going!!... has anybody interviewed recently or received any acceptances? When did the first batch of interviews take place?

For those of you who are going out for the interview, know that the Island is always getting better. Due to the amount of construction, it sometimes seems that it is a mess.

If anybody has any questions of the area, I will do my best to answer them. I grew up about 20 minutes away from the school. The thread for the class of 2010 is incredibly helpful as well.

-AJ
 
I interviewed on 10-16. Really love the school/people/location/weather/proximity of great friends who moved out to Bay Area/proximity of kung fu masters. My Dad actually went to school there in the late 60's (I even interviewed on his birthday:weird!)when it was still functioning as a Naval base, and I was born in California, although only lived there for 2 months. I thought it went very well; but you never can tell until they tell you. I will know tomorrow!!! :scared: :D
 
toothless rufus said:
I interviewed on 10-16. Really love the school/people/location/weather/proximity of great friends who moved out to Bay Area/proximity of kung fu masters. My Dad actually went to school there in the late 60's (I even interviewed on his birthday:weird!)when it was still functioning as a Naval base, and I was born in California, although only lived there for 2 months. I thought it went very well; but you never can tell until they tell you. I will know tomorrow!!! :scared: :D
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Good luck !!! *crossed fingers*
 
I'm also going to TUCOM next year. I just got the acceptance. I too am from the midwest-Minnesota. I used to live in SoCal and want to move back to CA. I loved it out there.
 
toothless rufus said:
I interviewed on 10-16. Really love the school/people/location/weather/proximity of great friends who moved out to Bay Area/proximity of kung fu masters. My Dad actually went to school there in the late 60's (I even interviewed on his birthday:weird!)when it was still functioning as a Naval base, and I was born in California, although only lived there for 2 months. I thought it went very well; but you never can tell until they tell you. I will know tomorrow!!! :scared: :D
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How'd it go, toothless??? and how was the interview Sarikate?
 
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I'm a member of the class of 2011, too. Just wanted to say hi! I got my acceptance in July after turning down a seat in the class of 2010 off the waitlist. I'm so excited to be heading here in August! I'm local, so if anyone has any questions, let me know. Also, my plan is to live in Berkeley. If anyone else is interested in that either as a roommate or a car pooler, please PM me or e-mail me at steffidaniel at yahoo dot com. I look forward to meeting everyone.

Thanks,
Stephanie :)
 
Hi everyone, I'm new to all of this but let me just congratulate everyone that got accepted and wish those going through interviews good luck! I got accepted to the class of 2011 and am really excited! I come from Hawaii so I'm used to living by the water, but I gotta admit that the lifestyle in California is really different from Hawaii.
 
swtblubird said:
Hi everyone, I'm new to all of this but let me just congratulate everyone that got accepted and wish those going through interviews good luck! I got accepted to the class of 2011 and am really excited! I come from Hawaii so I'm used to living by the water, but I gotta admit that the lifestyle in California is really different from Hawaii.
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Wow! How did you pick Touro?
 
congrats to everyone here too!!! :) what are you guys doing between now and when school starts? i work in the pathology department now...writing reports and occasionally watching the doctors do grossings. i'm going to europe tho next summer..can't wait! hope everyone is doing well! :luck:
 
West Coaster said:
Wow! How did you pick Touro?
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I got a chance to meet some people from that school and they told me about how they enjoyed their experience and the fact that they could some of their rotations in Hawaii, I was excited! I also wanted to get off this rock for a while ("island fever") and explore more options to medicine in the mainland. I must say, the school isn't all that when you first look at it, but it really does grow on you and if the students say they get a great education from it, then who cares about how the school really looks right? :D
 
How does everyone plan on finding housing? Are students going to go before and spend a week trying to find housing and roommates?
 
West Coaster said:
How'd it go, toothless??? and how was the interview Sarikate?
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Rejection!:eek:And seriously, the interview could not have been better! Apparently, I did not explain my very past academic history in my PS! (difficult personal times) actually I did,and stated problem solved, just did not include the gory details,as PS is supposed to be positive, and space is limited, and given that Dr. Haight told us "At this point, your academics are no longer in question", I thought it a fool's mission to bring it up myself! I feel as if I were misled, albeit unintentionally, and was planning on making this the focus of my interview, until the "academics no longer in question thing", or that if there were any remaining issue, they would have brought it up at the interview, or not even offered me one! (hello, two screenings!) Why on Earth would I bring up something where they would go "Why is this ninny bringing up something negative about himself, knowing full well that at this point, its not even as issue!?"

For all the good it assuredly will not do, I am going to write the Dean and the Admission Committee. At the very least, maybe this will lead then to change their policy in terms of what is said day of the interview. Dr. Haight said there are no appeals to the decision, but I don't believe this qualifies as an appeal.

Of course, there could have been something else, but I genuinely believe my interview could not have gone any better.

And now I'm stuck going to Harvard Medical School. Unbelievable!!
 
Hi all,

Happened to find this thread. Just wanted to say congrats to all, you've worked hard to get this far. Good job.

I'm a second year. Let me know if I can be of any help.

Bryan

TUGSA
 
This just in! David Hasselhoff himself has learned of my plight, and is considering performing at Touro-CA until they reconsider their decision!! Whadda swell guy! There is always hope!
 
I interviewed in CA on Monday and in Nevada on Tuesday. Maybe that fact that I was rear-ended on I-80 on my way to the airport discolored my experience (got some major whiplash - I need a DO, stat!) but I didn't think that Cali would be a good match for me. We only met one student! She was super-friendly but I wish we could have talked to more students. Also, my fiance was a bit hesitant in the first place about going to the Bay Area, and I knew that going into it, so that might have biased me a bit as well.

I got accepted to Nevada, I just found out yesterday - so I think I would choose that school over Cali, just because I got a better feeling about the place for me personally. But congratulations to all who got accepted and who have decided to go there! That's great! Isn't it crazy - we're going to be med students. Kind of freaks me out, but I'm ready :)
 
I'm in!! I'll see you guys there! :clap: :laugh:
 
I had my interview on Oct 24th and I just checked my e-mail..guess what? I got in !! I'm so so excited~ I'm going to be a doctor!! :D
 
I have a question. There's so much talk about changing the curriculum for next year, do you think they really will? Also, do you think you can tell me about the current curriculum and how it would change if they changed it? I know you'll be a third year (so it doesn't really apply to you), but hopefully you can help me. Thanks a bunch!!!
 
bth7 said:
Hi all,

Happened to find this thread. Just wanted to say congrats to all, you've worked hard to get this far. Good job.

I'm a second year. Let me know if I can be of any help.

Bryan

TUGSA
Click to expand...

I was hoping you could help me...I was wondering about the curriculum at Touro. There is so much talk about them changing the curriculum next year, but I heard they were talking about this for a while. Also, what will be the difference between the current curriculum and the new one? I know you're going to be a third year so this probably won't apply to you, but hopefully you can help me out. Thanks a bunch!!!
 
ivyivy said:
I had my interview on Oct 24th and I just checked my e-mail..guess what? I got in !! I'm so so excited~ I'm going to be a doctor!! :D
Click to expand...

Congratulations to all who got in... !!! exciting times!
 
swtblubird said:
I was hoping you could help me...I was wondering about the curriculum at Touro. There is so much talk about them changing the curriculum next year, but I heard they were talking about this for a while. Also, what will be the difference between the current curriculum and the new one? I know you're going to be a third year so this probably won't apply to you, but hopefully you can help me out. Thanks a bunch!!!
Click to expand...

Even though I'm a second year, of course I care! First of all, yes, Touro has been talking about changing its curriculum for a while. And yes, change comes slowly; results take a while to materialize. So don't hold your breath on this one.

Having said that, it would appear the shift is from a systems based approach - to a problem based learning approach. This probably means very little to someone who's not in med school. Or, you may have some idea about what this means, but aren't really clear on what it means since until you're actually in med school, its sort of an abstract discussion.

It's really hard to explain to someone who's not in med school how totally consuming and overwhelming the body of knowledge you are expected to digest is. I'm in the middle of it, I consider myself to be a fairly intelligent guy, went to a good undergraduate school, have a background in science, blah, blah, blah . . . it doesn't matter. Med school is INSANE. It's not that what you learn is so intellectually challenging, like quantum mechanics or non-linear algebra or something. It's the VOLUME of information. So the question becomes, how do you organize this massive ocean of knowledge?

Traditionally, it's been organized by body system - meaning med schools teach you one organ system at a time, for example the kidney, and teach you everything you need to know about it: the biochemistry, anatomy, histology (microscopic anatomy), normal physiology (function), the pathology, the infectious agents that target that organ, the clinical presentations of those pathologies and infections, the treatments and for these diseases - including pharmacological and other modes medical managements. Then, they test you and move on to the next body system or organ, for example - the heart.

This is sort of what Touro (and lots of other med schools) have now. Except instead of two years of this, Touro spends the entire first year on "normal" physiology, anatomy and histology of these systems, then spends the second year going through them again, but this time from the pathology/pharmacology/management point of view. This is sort of nice, because you get to do everything twice. You try to learn as much as you can about the kidney's function and anatomy the first year, and then you get to revisit that knowledge during year two, reinforcing what you've already learned and adding a new layer of information on top of it.

But as you will shortly learn, patients don't present as an organ system. They present to you as a person, usually with multiple problems to be addressed which all inter-relate to multiple organ systems. Because no drug is perfect, the treatments you will prescribe to them will affect multiple organ systems, whether you like it or not.

Problem number 2, dividing the information up this way feels very 'out of context.' And it makes it a little difficult to integrate and quite frankly, remember. That where Problem Based Learning comes in. With PBL, students learn in the context of patient cases. You start with the history, physical and symptoms of a particular patient, and then learn everything you need to know to understand the relevant physiology at play, how to arrive at a diagnosis, and what the appropriate treatment options in the context of this particular patient. This last step is particularly important, since which treatment you prescribe is as dependent on the aspects of your patient unrelated to their illness (their age, their access to drugs, other health problems, etc.) as it is to their diagnosis.

The old system presupposes this idea that all doctors are expert physiologists - that they understand everything about the theoretical operations of the human body, and they uses this expertise to diagnose and treat.

The problem with this is that our understanding of physiology has grown exponentially, and is now far too sophisticated for anyone to understand all of it. (That's why we have specialists.) Second, being a master theoretical physiologist doesn't necessarily mean you know how to relate to patients effectively – i.e. how to take a focused history and physical, the single most important skill you will develop in med school.

PBL focuses on what doctors actually need to know, emphasizing the physiology that's actually relevant to understanding a set of problems or a pathology and how to efficiently make a diagnosis and create a treatment plan, all within the context of an actual patient history. PBL is based on the idea that doctors use their intuition and experience with patients signs and symptoms to generate a diagnosis - so med school should start developing that intuition from day one.

The other difference with PBL is a move away from the classic lecture hall style approach, where you sit there for 8 hours a day listening to someone dissertate on some aspect of medical knowledge. (Think mind-numbing and soul-crushing.) It's incredibly passive. You don't really learn anything. You're going to have to go on your own and learn it anyway. So PBL tries to facilitate learning by breaking students into groups, giving them a case, and having them investigate it themselves, with a faculty adviser ready to guide you. It's WAY more active, you actually have to ENGAGE the material, rather than just absorb it.

That's probably A LOT more about med school curriculum than you wanted to know. Of course, all of this is just the rather uninformed opinions of a second year med student, so take it with a grain of salt.

Also, the Touro curriculum already has PBL in it, and any new curriculum will have plenty of the old-school systems approach in it as well. So it's not a black or white thing, more like shades of grey.

In short, all of you looking to begin med school should be enthusiastic about any attempt to more to a move PBL approach. If nothing else, it's more fun.

Hope this helps shed some light on the next few years of your life.

Bryan, OMS II

Touro University Gay-Straight Alliance
 
bth7 said:
Even though I'm a second year, of course I care! First of all, yes, Touro has been talking about changing its curriculum for a while. And yes, change comes slowly; results take a while to materialize. So don't hold your breath on this one.

Having said that, it would appear the shift is from a systems based approach - to a problem based learning approach. This probably means very little to someone who’s not in med school. Or, you may have some idea about what this means, but aren’t really clear on what it means since until you're in med school, its sort of an abstract discussion.

It's really hard to explain to someone who’s not in med school how totally consuming and overwhelming the body of knowledge you are expected to digest is. I'm in the middle of it, I consider myself to be a fairly intelligent guy, went to a good undergraduate school, have a background in science, blah, blah, blah . . . it doesn't matter. Med school is INSANE. It's not that what you learn is so intellectually challenging, like quantum mechanics or non-linear algebra or something. It's the VOLUME of information. So the question becomes, how do you organize this information?

Traditionally, it’s been organized by body system - meaning med schools teach you one organ system at a time, for example the kidney, and teach you everything you need to know about it: the biochemistry, anatomy, histology (microscopic anatomy), normal physiology (function), the pathology, the infectious agents that target that organ, the clinical presentations of those pathologies and infections, the treatments and for these diseases - including pharmacological and other medical managements. Then, they test you and move on to the next body system or organ, for example - the heart.

This is sort of what Touro (and lots of other med schools) have now. Except instead of two years of this, Touro spends the entire first year on “normal” physiology, anatomy and histology of these systems, then spends the second year going through them again, but this time from the pathology/pharmacology/management point of view.

This is sort of nice, because you get to do everything twice. You try to learn as much as you can about the kidney's function and anatomy the first year, and then you get to revisit that knowledge during year two, reinforcing what you've already learned and adding a new layer of information on top of it.

But as you will shortly learn, patients don't present as an organ system. They present to you as a person, usually with multiple problems to be addressed which all inter-relate to multiple organ systems. The treatments you will prescribe to them will affect multiple organ systems, whether you like it or not.

Problem number 2, dividing the information up this way feels very 'out of context.' And it makes it a little difficult to integrate and quite frankly, remember. That where Problem Based Learning comes in. With PBL, students learn in the context of patient cases. You start with the history, physical and symptoms of a particular patient, and then learn everything you need to know to understand the relevant physiology at play, what the diagnosis is, and what the treatments are.

The old system presupposes this idea that all doctors are expert physiologists - that they understand everything about the theoretical operations of the human body, and they uses this expertise to diagnose and treat.

The problem with this is that our understanding of physiology is way too sophisticated for anyone to understand all of it. (That's why we have specialists.) Second, being a master theoretical physiologist doesn’t necessarily how to relate to patients effectively – how to take a focused history and physical.

PBL focuses on what doctors actually need to know, emphasizing the physiology that's actually relevant to making a diagnosis and creating a treatment plan, within the context of an actual patient history. PBL is based on the idea that doctors use their intuition and experience with patients signs and symptoms to generate a diagnosis - so med school should start developing that intuition from day one.

The other difference with PBL is a move away from the classic lecture hall style approach, where you sit there for 8 hours a day listening to someone dissertate on some aspect of medical knowledge. (Think mind-numbing and soul-crushing.) It's incredibly passive. You don't really learn anything. You’re going to have to go on your own and learn it anyway. So PBL tries to facilitate learning by breaking students into groups, giving them a case, and having them investigate it themselves, with a faculty advisor ready to guide you. It's WAY more active, you actually have to ENGAGE the material, rather than just absorb it.

That's probably A LOT more about med school curriculum than you wanted to know. Of course, all of this is just the rather uninformed opinions of a second year med student, so take it with a grain of salt.

Also, the Touro curriculum already has PBL in it, and any new curriculum will have plenty of the old-school systems approach in it as well. So it’s not a black or white thing, more like shades of grey.

In short, all of you looking to begin med school should be enthusiastic about any attempt to more to a move PBL approach. If nothing else, it’s more fun.

Hope this helps shed some light on the next few years of your life.

Bryan, OMS II

Touro University Gay-Straight Alliance
Click to expand...

WOW! Thankyou so much for the insight. I think PBL style learning is where medical school is going. Clinical experience will be emphasized more and more from day one of med school. I find this almost a relief, and I know it will definetly be more fun than sitting all day in lecture. :thumbup:
 
Thank you, Bryan, for the awesome explanation. Though, it sounds like this might not happen again for the upcoming year? I'm really hoping the curriculum will be mostly shifted to PBL by next summer--any idea what the chances of that are?

Also, congrats to everyone who is coming on board--see you in August!!
 
Some people have asked me about 3rd year rotations, so I decided to post some of what I know about the 3rd year sites. What follows is Dr. Towne's list of sites. This list is not complete, and it changes a bit from year to year depending on availability, but it gives you a general idea. The most important thing to know is that Dr. Towne has worked tirelessly to make our 3rd year core rotations site top quality sites where we get good general training. Different sites accommodate different numbers of people.

You can view the list on the TUGSA website:

http://www.tugsa.net/touro/

Bryan
 
Thanks Bryan for ALL of your help...I'm sure we'll have many more as we get closer to school starting up! I'm glad that Touro integrates both PBL and lectures right now. At one point, I think that lectures will probably help on the boards and PBL will help with diagnosing patients. It's like having both worlds integrate as one. Anyways, I'm super excited about starting and CONGRATULATIONS to everyone else that's recently accepted.
 
Ooh, you guys can do family practice rotations in Alaska, it looks like! I would DEFINITELY encourage you to do that if you've ever been interested in going to Alaska (I live here). They have a very nice family practice facility here, with a third-year resident from Touro-MI (the nurses say he's one of their best docs). Go in the summer - you'll have 20 hours of daylight!
 
HAHAHAHAHAHA he forgot my e-mail on friday, i was frantically waiting for it. I clicked my inbox at least 10000000x. and then i e-mailed dr. haight this morning. I 'm IN!!!!!!!! OMGOSH!! I'm so happy. close by home, family, and the tahoe area! YAYYYYY OMGOSH! HELP ME!! I'm GOING NUTS!!!!! AHAHAHHA I screamed so loud in lab, hahahahahaha. PRAISE GOD!
 
manfood.com said:
HAHAHAHAHAHA he forgot my e-mail on friday, i was frantically waiting for it. I clicked my inbox at least 10000000x. and then i e-mailed dr. haight this morning. I 'm IN!!!!!!!! OMGOSH!! I'm so happy. close by home, family, and the tahoe area! YAYYYYY OMGOSH! HELP ME!! I'm GOING NUTS!!!!! AHAHAHHA I screamed so loud in lab, hahahahahaha. PRAISE GOD!
Click to expand...

congratulations!!! doesn't it feel great?..go and celebrate :)
 
manfood.com said:
HAHAHAHAHAHA he forgot my e-mail on friday, i was frantically waiting for it. I clicked my inbox at least 10000000x. and then i e-mailed dr. haight this morning. I 'm IN!!!!!!!! OMGOSH!! I'm so happy. close by home, family, and the tahoe area! YAYYYYY OMGOSH! HELP ME!! I'm GOING NUTS!!!!! AHAHAHHA I screamed so loud in lab, hahahahahaha. PRAISE GOD!
Click to expand...

Many congrats! You've earned it!
 
THANK YOU!!!! WOO HOO!! I wish I could celebrate, but there is too much work and too much quizzzeesssssssssssss and too much cooking!!! AHHH!H!!!!! lol.. It's time...for a .......... I don't know....

TIME FOR SOME SNOW!!!
 
I hope to be joining the class of 2011, as I have my first interview on Jan 30th... Wish me luck :)
 
Congratulations to those getting in and all the interviews! ... The other day I received an e-mail and letters about the combined Masters program Touro is instituting .. I was wondering if any of you were interested or going to do it?
 
i'm in! good question..who's doing the dual degree?
 
I was contemplating it, but I'm not sure. I'm going to take anatomy, so I'm not sure I want to do that commute every day. that commute is no fun, lol.
 
lysosome said:
i'm in! good question..who's doing the dual degree?
Click to expand...

i actually was considering it.:) i really would love an mph, but i think for me i'd like to get it maybe during my residency or after. i'm glad touro is offering it as an option now...if i lived near the school i definitely start those classes in january like they said and finish as much as i can before med school..oh well :)
 
which service is better in vallejo?

verizon or cingular? Trying to get everything set up before I go.

Thanks.
 
manfood.com said:
which service is better in vallejo?

verizon or cingular? Trying to get everything set up before I go.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

when i went for my interview, my cell had full service in vallejo and i have cingular...hope that helps :)
 
manfood.com said:
which service is better in vallejo?

verizon or cingular? Trying to get everything set up before I go.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

I have verizon. No major problems. Lots of people have cingular too. I haven't heard anyone with serious complaints about their cell phone coverage in Vallejo.

bh
 
spanktiggety tastic. I'm gonna go with the one with the better PDA. hehehehe. thanks mang!!
 
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