Men: Dark suits, very conservative. I noticed one guy who didn't wear a suit coat, although he had on a professional looking shirt/tie/slacks. He looked OK and I'm sure did fine, but definitely stuck out a little around. So get that black/navy suit of yours dry-cleaned and ready to go.
Women: I think all of them wore some kind of women's suit thing. I know one wore heels because I noticed she was a bit uncomfortable after the tour. Other than that I didn't pay any attention.
The medical education building that houses almost all of their classes and educational facilities is new, so there was very little outside walking--never got too hot even with the 100+ weather.
When you arrived they handed you a menu with about 15 choices of sandwiches/wraps/salads. It was catered by the on-campus cafeteria. I think "4-star cafe" was its name. It was good. Our student tour guides ate with us and got drilled with lots of random questions about every aspect of life at TCOM. Then they took us on a super chill tour.
I did have about an hour of downtime after the tour before my second interview. We just chilled in the lounge by the admissions office and chatted with Caroline, the interview coordinator, who was really great all day long and was willing to talk candidly about every aspect of the admissions process. She tells you a little about your interviewers, which really puts you at ease: "He's a stickler for time and will be watching the clock, so be standing outside the door right on the dot." "So-and-so will definitely ask you about the osteopathic philosophy and expect a good answer, so be ready for that." "So-and-so is a surgeon and never takes longer than 10 minutes--don't sweat it." " So-and-so is a chatter-box and 30 minutes usually turns into 60+, so I've added some space to your schedule to buffer that if it happens."
This school is so laid back and friendly. The students seem much more interested in collectively becoming excellent clinicians, rather than gunning for the top research/rotation spots. They seem to help each other out a lot. Really just relax and be yourself. My interviewers were both really relaxed and open about everything. Relax and be confident in the good things about your application that landed you an interview in the first place. Read the interview feedback section (see very top of this page) to prepare for an ethical question or two. Other than that just remember to smile and look like your happy to be there. A few of the applicants were super serious and never cracked a smile--they seemed kinda stressed out. No need for that.
Overall I was extremely impressed, more than I thought I would be. I'm convinced
TCOM is the best DO school in the country, and as far as clinical training goes (maybe not research, if that's what you're into) can compete with and even beat most MD schools. Their match list had tons of super competitive residency matched across the state and country--the numbers you'd expect from an MD school. They have about 60% go into primary care, but a plurality of those went into IM, so many will end up doing competitive fellowships in non-primary care fields.
During the tour the students gave us the real low-down on OMM and the whole DO vs MD thing. It opened my eyes some, and I am now
much more comfortable going DO, at least at this school, than I was before. Basically OMM has its benefits, but its OK if you are skeptical of some of the techniques--most people are. You aren't expected to worship AT Still or anything. It's nothing more than an added tool to the large repertoire of classical medicine training you receive. If nothing else, it will teach you how to be very comfortable touching and physically examining patients.
Very good school.