Touro University College of Osteopathic Medicine - California Interview Feedback Summary
Vallejo, CA
Osteopathic Medical Schools | Private Non-Profit
Overall, applicants ranked the school in the top 40% of interviews, indicating it is moderately regarded. They found the interview generally impressive with a moderate stress level and felt they did okay.
⭐ Overall Impressions ▼
How do you rank the facilities?
How do you rank this school among ALL other schools?
Most respondents rank this school above all other schools.
How do you rank this school among other schools to which you've applied?
Most respondents rank this school above other schools they applied to.
0 = Below, 10 = Above
What is your ranking of this school's location?
Most respondents rate the school location as good.
0 = Bad, 10 = Great
How is the friendliness of the admissions office?
Most respondents said the admissions office was friendly.
What is your ranking of this area's cultural life?
Most respondents rate the area’s cultural life as good.
0 = Bad, 10 = Great
How is the responsiveness of the admissions office?
Most respondents said the admissions office was responsive.
💬 Interview Questions ▼
What is one of the specific questions they asked you?
The most commonly asked interview questions at medical schools cover a range of topics such as customer service impact, professionalism, personal experiences, interests, challenges, and motivations for choosing osteopathic medicine. While some interviews were file-specific, others focused on applicants' backgrounds, research experiences, and ethical views, with a few questions tailored to the MMI format possibly subject to nondisclosure agreements.
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How will your customer service experience impact you during medical school and as a physician?
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Why DO?
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What is something that makes you smile?
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What does professionalism mean to you? Why is it important for osteopathic physicians to be professional?
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If you couldn’t go into healthcare, what field would you want to go into
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What does teamwork mean to you?
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How would I balance a desire to learn with all the work I have to do?
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What do you do for fun?
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"tell me about your experience with underserved populations?"
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What is something that we don't know about you?
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Question about research I did several years ago
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What would you do if you didn't get in to any schools this year?
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I was asked about any hobbies or activities that helped me relieve/reduce stress.
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What determines whether you have a good or bad day?
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Have you shadowed a DO?
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Specific to my application (what style of yoga do you teach and what is your favorite pose?)
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They asked me if I felt comfortable relocating (I'm from OOS)
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What is an elective rotation you would create as a professor at a med school
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How do you handle anxiety? (Specific to my work experience in an ER)
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Why do you want to go into osteopathic medicine?
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What difficulty have you overcame, and how did you change?
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What do you think will be the biggest challenge for you in medical school?
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What is your most special volunteer experience?
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Do you have a support system (family and friends) in California? (I'm from Boston)
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What do you expect out of me as a professor?
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Explain "why D.O." without using the word "holistic"
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What do you think makes a good leader?
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How have your experiences led you to believe that you can be a good physician?
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They only asked me ONE question. "Why medidine/DO/TUCOM?" Pissed me off. You're seriously going to base everything off of one answer?
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Since I'm from Texas, they asked me why I didn't want to go to TCOM.
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What is something at your college that you didn't like? / What major adjustments are you most worried about for medical school and how will you deal with it?
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What negative experiences have you had with doctors?
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How did you come to choose your (humanities) major, and how did that lead to your post-graduate work?
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Everything is related to your application (mostly your extracurriculars, jobs, etc.) and connecting it to Osteopathic Medicine. Although some did not like the style of the interview, this interview is really about speaking from your heart. Don't B.S. and don't blabber, and you'll do fine in the interview portion.
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A long-winded version of what was an obstacle you overcame in a group and how?
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how would you explain what you would do as an osteopathic physician to someone who didn't know what a D.O. was?
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Tell me about your summer in Panama.
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What is one thing you would change about healthcare & what would you like to do about it? (smth like that)
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Why DO? Did the doctor you shadowed do OMM? Why Touro?
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As a history major, do you see a difference in how you approach history and how you'd approach medicine?
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What qualities do you look for in a doctor? If you were a resident with 50 patients all to yourself, how would you be 'personable' with all of them?
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What would you in 20-30 years when you're no longer passionate about medicine?
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Are you prepared to handle the pressure and information overload that medical school brings?
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Questions specific to my file, research, courses taken, essay experiences.
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All questions will be related to your application. Be ready to talk specifics about volunteering, shadowing, working, grades, MCATs, and significant events in your life. Also get comfortable talking about low points in your application like MCATs and GPA. A lot of people in my group got asked "How did you improve your MCAT score so much in 3 months" or "You were persistent in taking your MCATs, how would you have done things differently"
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If you have someone in your class who is adamantly against the osteopathic component of the program, what would you do?
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The first interviewer asked questions based on what she read in our files
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What experiences made you most want to pursue DO?
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tell me about your time in the Americorps
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tell me what you know about osteopathic medicine.
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How did you improve your MCAT so much ?
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Tell me about your journey to medicine.
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What class prepared you best for medical school?
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Without mentioning the use of OMM, explain osteopathic medicine.<Br> Without using the word "holistic" or "whole", describe osteopathic medicine.<br> What is one of yr weakness?<br> How will you be able to balance the stress of med school? <br> In your shadowing experiences, the DO used cranial therapy, can u tell us about that?<br> What was the last nice thing you did for somebody?<br> What are u gonna do if u dont get in?
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what is the inspiration you learn from the Dr. you work with?
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How will you handle stress of medical schooL?
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What have you done to mature since your undergrad years and what have you learned?
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What is your explanation for not having done any research?
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Questions about my grades
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How will you apply the principles of osteopathic medicine to your future practice?
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specific questions from file
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Most questions were directly about my nontraditional major and career and how I would bring and incorporate that into medical school.
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I would list some specifics if they weren't so specific to me. I will say this: if you have holes in your application, or obvious issues with grades or other things, make sure you can articulately and logically address them. Don't hem, haw, and do it on the spot. Honestly assess why they should say yes to you in spite of the flaws and talk about that, or the very good reasons for your digressions.
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Tell us about your research experiences.
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Something to the effect of "Explain you leadership qualities".
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see above
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How would you add to the next class to make it better?
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Why are you interested in osteopathic medicine?
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What do you know about Touro and why do you want to come here?
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Tell me about your research.
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A specific question about one of my hobbies. What would be the easiest and the hardest things for you about being in medical school?
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What is the most defining moment in your life
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Two-year LDS mission to Finland...tell me about that.
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If you could meet anyone from the past, who would it be?
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I see that you know American Sign Language, how did you get into it and can you show us something?
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Why osteopathy and what got you interested in it?
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Why Medicine?
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Should medicine be a part of death?
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Can you handle the rigor of medical school?
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Why Touro?
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specific to my file
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Why DO
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If you could start a club at Touro, which would you start?
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The typical why DO, why med
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What is the difference between MD and DO
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What is the most negative thing you'll have to overcome to be a good ____(can't remember if he said ''doctor'' or ''med student'' but I answered as though he said ''doctor.''
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What are your strengths and weaknesses?
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How did you pick your undergraduate institution?
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Identify this quote
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Why not PT, why DO and not MD?
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Tell us about an experience that has been very uncomfortable for a patient and how you handled it to make them more comfortable?
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All application specific! Though I will recite questions others were asked (role play), i.e. pretend you are the dean of a school meeting with a student who is being dismissed...
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How do you feel about moving to San Francisco from Texas? (No problem since this is my first choice)
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What was the name of the D.O that wrote your recommendation letter and tell us about her?
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-What is the most important characteristic or trait that a physician should have? -Tell me about your research?
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Why did you decide to switch from engineering to medicine?
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question about healthcare
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What is your view on stem cell research?
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See difficult/interesting question
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What is the stupidest thing you have done and what have you learned from that.
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Please tell us about your experiences in Japan.
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What is the difference between chiropractic manipulation and osteopathic manipulation?
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Why did you choose D.O.?
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all the questions were file specific`
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As a Psychology major, how will you handle the science load of medical school?
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What has having a child taught you?
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Why Osteopathic Medicine?
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they were all fairly specific to me and my application.
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Tell us about your clinical research experience at UCSF and how you came to know TUCOM students on this job.
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The horseradish question.
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How was you personal trauma affected your choice to become physician?
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What is your experience with DO medicine?
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DDT has been banned in America becasue its potential danger to the environement. However, in some Afircan countries DDT can be used to control the spread malaria. What's your ethical view on this matter?
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What will you do if you don't get into medical school.
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Why?
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do students have the opportunity to gain clinical exposure during their basic science years?
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All of the questions came straight out of my application. Be ready for questions that deal with the minutia of the application.
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Why osteopathic medicine, considering your background?
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all straight from file
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So tell me why you are applying to an osteopathic program in addition to the allopathic program and what major differences separate these two fields in your opinion?
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Why DO? Why Medicine?
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Why at such a young age would you consider making such a long committment before you even started to experience the "real world"?
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They were all very specific to my file and wouldn't be helpful to others.
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the transplanting a uterus into a man one, and if i were to come into contact with an MD student who started to "bad mouth" (for lack of the actual question) the DO program, how would i react and what would i say
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See above.
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Why did you decide to persue an MD and not a PhD? (I have a lot of research experience)
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Define family and its importence to you
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What was the most important experience during your time volunteering?
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When creating a public health intervention, what are the two most important things you need to know or do as a physician?
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How did your brother, he's a DO, influence your decision to become an Osteopathic physician?
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Will you take the MCAT over again?
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How will your past work experiences in dentistry and veterinary medicine contribute to you being a good physician? And, you described (in your personal statement) a situation in which you worked with children who spoke a different language than you and you felt that you were still able to communicate with them by holding their hand and speaking softly; do you believe animals respond to this type of communication as well?
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You said in your application that creativity is an important asset for a physician to have. What's another?
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Introduce yourself and tell us where you went for undergraduate. When/How did you decide you wanted to practice medicine?
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What is the difference between osteopathic and allopathic medicine?
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How well prepared are you for a career in medicine since you're so young? :-(
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Asked about a quote in my application. and how that was connected to being a DO.
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Why do you want to do DO if your mom is an MD?
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Why medicine and why DO?
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why osteopathic medicine specifically?
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You studied for and took the MCATs after your father passed away. How difficult was that?
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When did you realize that you want to become a doctor?
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What do you think is the biggest challenge you will face in med school?
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What brings you to TCOM?
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Why did I want to go to TUCOM?
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Talk about my study abroad experience.
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D.O.'s treat the symptoms, and not the patient. What do you think about this?
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it's all directed to your application
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Do you know who Carl Jung is? How do you apply communications to medicine?
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Do you think your confidence is a weak point?
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How do you plan to balance your charity work with your financial needs? (I want to work with low income youth)
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How do I think osteopathic medicine will help in a neurological based profession?
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How did you like your undergraduate experience?
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What did you do when you volunteered at a psych hospital?
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Tell me about your D.O. experience.
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Have you ever worked with a DO?
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Tell me about your DO experience
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Why are you interested in becoming a D.O., and how did you find out about it?
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Describe osteopathic medicine without using the word "holistic" or anything with "whole" in it.
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Tell me about your research paper. What did you conclude?
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explain specific accomplishments in my teaching experiences.
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Please explain what you meant in your personal statement when you posed the question: "How do we become who we are?"
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What do you take from world war II and what is your favorite musice to play on the violin?
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Tell us about your road to DO
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There are only three questions and they are all easy and about your file. If you didn't B.S. anything, you should be able to answer them.
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Why osteopathy, when you have an MD mother?
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If I had shadowed a DO and how that influenced my decision to study Osteopathic Medicine.
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What is the dumbest thing you have done? They got me on this one...could not come up with something...took me a few seconds...
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How would you help your patients make health related decisions?
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what are qualities of a good physician, application specific stuff, how will i overcome obstacles, questions about classes i took.
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Tell me more about your research. What significant conclusions did you reach?
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What do you like about osteopathic medicine?
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Tell me more about your volunteer work.
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Why did you decide to major in microbiology? MCAT?
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Your mother is an allopathic physician, why do you want to be an osteopath?
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What is the difference btwn a Osteopathic and Allopathic physician?
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That where should i start "tell us about yourself" prompt happened.
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Explain the difference between DO and MD.
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What did you take from your specific major?
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Describe the characteristics that would make you a great osteopathic physician.
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Tell us about your research in detail.
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Are you a leader or a follower?
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Questions about my research, work at a doctor's office, volunteer experiences
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why osteopathic over MD
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How did you pay off your college loans in one year?
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See most difficult question
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Why D.O. when you have a M.D. father, what qualities do you have that will make you a great D.O., being an xray tech, what made you decide to be a phyiscian.
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explain causality and inference and effect
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Describe your graduate research as if you were talking to someone who had no background in science or medicine.
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My questions were specific to my application.
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Why DO when dad is MD, how I would approach them differently
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Why the west coast and why Touro?
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mostly about the your specific file; some about health insurance/state of health care
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Why DO when your family is all MDs? Since you come from an MD family...what would you say to your family and other MDs about the DO philosophy to help them in their practices?
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You have been out of school for 7 years. Why has it taken you so long to make the decision to go back to school?
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Can you tell me a bit more about your experience with Osteopathic med.
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Talk about your research, and how is that important to how you will practice medicine. (did research)
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Why D.O.?
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What do you think are the differences between DO and MD.
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Why do you want to be a D.O. and what is the difference between a DO and MD?
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What made you want to be a DO? Elaborate on your shadowing experiences.
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Describe a clinical experience. What was your favorite internship?
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Question about my undergraduate research
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Why DO instead of MD?
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Why DO vs MD?
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Research related question
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all questions were based on my application...just memorize yo app sucka!
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"How is medicine in the UK different from the US?" (I did a study abroad program in the UK and the interviewer was from England)
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about being an older student
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Tell me about your experience working with a DO
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How do you know you are charismatic?
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What are similarities between chemistry and emergency medicine?
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"You went to the Air Force Academy... Please tell me about that..." "So you are no longer in the military... How do you feel about the current crisis America is involved in?"
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As a non-science major do you think you will be as prepared as your science major peers
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What was your worst subject in school? Why?
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Why did you apply to TUCOM/What attracted you to TUCOM?
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Tell me about your military experience. Tell me about your research.
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Why did you choose your undergrad school?
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Something along the lines of which component of osteopathic medicine do I believe in the most, or value the highest
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Tell me your views regarding bioethics
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How does golf soothe your soul?
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Tell me about your volunteer experiences
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Tell me about Pag-asa (a community service group I helped found).
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What is the biggest problem facing medicine today, particularly osteopathic medicine?
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"What was the last book that you read?"
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What prompted you to change careers? Do you really think that a career in medicine will offer a less demaning lifestyle than your previous career in business?
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Tell me about your experience as a Surg. Tech.
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Why did I feel that Osteopathy was for me.
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How would you handle a mother who was overly concerned about her child, knowing that her child was going to be okay?
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Why did you pick business as your major?
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How would I explain osteopathy to a person who has never heard of it.
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Tell me about your Senior Thesis Research.
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Question about sailing. What area of your education do you feel most prepared in? What area do you feel least prepared for?
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Asked me about my clinical experience, do I want to pursue research or primary care
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Hard work, determination, and tenacity are three qualities you feel you possess that helped you to get to where you are today. These are “get there†words. What qualities do you think will help you succeed in medical school and the medical profession? I said the same qualities would work…
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Tell us about your research.
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Only 4 questions asked - the interesting and difficult ones above, and then two that were specific to my personal statement
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How did you come about going from being a musician to going into medicine?...What quaities do musicians and doctors share?
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What was it that attracted you to osteopathy?
What was the most interesting question?
Students said most interesting question asked at Touro University College of Osteopathic Medicine - California discussed a wide range of topics, from personal experiences to healthcare challenges. While the questions varied, there was no predominant theme or specific focus noted among the responses.
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How can you relate the concept of structure and function being related to one of your own experiences?
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What do you want to get out of medical school?
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If you were on a clinical rotation in Emergency Medicine and the attending physician suggested a particular treatment plan that you disagreed with, how would you approach that situation?
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What would you be doing if you couldn't work in healthcare?
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They asked a good amount of stuff on the difference between empathy and compassion
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How will learning Spanish make you a better physician?
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What do you do for fun?
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On your resume you mentioned that you blog. Given the amount of misinformation on the internet, what do you think is your ethical responsibility when blogging? How do you avoid spreading misinformation?
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Question about local news story
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I was asked how my participation in service activities (Volunteering, EMT, etc.) helped me overcome/improve any weaknesses I had.
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If driver less cars become the norm and a safer way of transportation, would you continue to drive?
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None
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How do you help a patient who has the means to be healthy but has no interest in doing so?
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If I would like to work in a private practice or a hospital
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Who are you?
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Do you think allopathic medicine is bad compared to osteopathic medicine?
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Convince the other interviewer that you really want to be accepted and that we should accept you.
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There were many follow up questions regarding your answers. Then Dr. Glover pulled slips of paper out of a hat as questions.
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Pile of cards, face down, each with an emotion written on them (anger, fear, joy, etc.). Interviewees in the group each choose one card and must explain to the interviewers a time in which they felt that emotion.
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Where do I see myself in ten years?
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How important is service to the osteopathic education?
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Our group had pretty easy questions.. The other group had serious ethical dilemmas & critical thinking questions, but we didn't have any that were out of the ordinary
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(Not mines but other people in my group got asked) If you could travel back in time what would you change? What was the nicest thing you've recently done for someone? Given your public health background, how do you control the obesity epidemic in America? Since there's only one guy in our panel today, what do you think if I (the professor) decide to play matchmaker and match you guys up? How about if I was a doctor and decided to play matchmaker on my patients? What do you think about it? Suppose you were sitting in lecture and I ask you a question and you space out. I decide to throw you a quarter and say in front of the class "call your mom and tell her that you are failing in medical school." How do you react and how will you deal with this? What newspapers do you read? If you could design a medical school what attributes would you include? If Touro does not accept you, what do you think would be the reasons why? How do you study? Individually or in a group?
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This was to another applicant: Having lived in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, what would you have done differently from a medical point of view?
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Freddy Mercury (the lead singer of Queen) had AIDS for a number of years, but did not reveal his condition until 24 hours before his death. Many felt that he should have told his fans about his illness. Do you agree with that?
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a very personal one that is too long to repeat
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Asked of another student: If you were a fruit, what would you be.
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Scenario
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none really
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One of the interviewers got this really off the wall question. Something about how you giving the heimlich maneuver to your wife to save her but you do it so hard that you damage her trachea causing her to be hospitialized and in greater pain. How would you deal with the idea of you causing her such pain?
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You mention the importance of empathy in patient care. How would you make sure you wouldn't become depressed while working with others in difficult situations?
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question specific to my file
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Oops! the interviwer thought I taught Spanish. Be careful what you write in your personal statement. They might caught up the wrong info!
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It seems like you have had tough times in the past. What would you do if times like these arose in medical school and how would you handle it?
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How do you plan on getting over all the hurdles you will find in Medical school.
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Do I have a support system here?
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File specific stuff - be ready to know everything you wrote and everything you've done.
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Just questions specific to my history.
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Tell us about your heirloom tomatoes. Loved that question!
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Should the supplement industry be regulated? I do research and prod. dev. for supplement co. I said DEFINITELY! (and i think drugs should be better regulated).
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If you were to put together a team, how would you do it?
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If you could change one thing in your file, what would it be?
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Essay related: how would you incorporate osteopathic medicine as a passion with your life goals of the pursuit of scientific knowledge
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what do you know about osteopathic medicine
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Tell me more about your research.
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How did you get involved in your major/area of interest/work? Good question becuase it gave me a chance to really talk about my passion.
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What life experiences would you say is the defining moment in your life.
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DO: In your essay, you talk about altruistic behavior. I had another student tell me there is no such thing because any act to help another is meant to make the giver feel better about themselves, thus creating a selfish desire. How do you feel about that perspective?
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''Don't you think that reading novels is a waste of time?''
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if you could meet anyone from the past, who would it be?
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influence of music upon your success in medical school
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Scenario: a doctor needs to have power over his patient but also needs to have a good relationship with him. Which is more important?
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The previous interviewee had been asked about the communication between patient doctor dynamics and she said that she wanted to flatten the hierarchy between the patient and doctor. They asked me to tell her why this was a bad idea.
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Particulars about my file.
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what was my fellow interviewee's favorite hobby
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Should medicine be a part of death?
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If you were at class one day and the professor said class is cancelled for the remainder of the day, what would you do?
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Specific question about one of my volunteer experiences
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All typical questions
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What don't you want others know about you?
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What specialty would you go for if not primary care?
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Why not veterinary medicine?
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What would be one thing I wouldn't want them to know about me.
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If TUCOM was a brand new school and I was part of the first entering class. What kind of student club would I start. (All 5 of us were asked this same question.)
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Nothing really interesting.
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The interviewer quoted a line from a old philosophy text and asked me to identify it. I couldn't. He later said he had made up the quote and wanted to see if I would lie.
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A question regarding a sentence in my personal statement.
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What was the most important information you learned about Ladakhi medicine during your time spent studying in India?
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Why would I want to return to school after being a professional
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You made some grandiose statements in your personal statement (then proceeded to quote a line and asked me how I would back it up?)
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You went on a mission trip, do you plan to do missions as a doctor? If so where?
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Tell me about the D.O that wrote your letter of recommendation?
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If I was about to perform an OMM procedure on the lower back of a man who was laying prostrate in front of me and he happened to reach over with his hand and grab my behind, what would I do?
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If you could do anything besides going to medical school, what would it be?
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Question about healthcare.
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Why did you not pursue veterinary medicine instead? (This was asked because I did research in a veterinary medical center)
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Why DO? (Seriously, nothing particularly interesting)
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I was asked about a specific situational is which students made huge mistakes on a microbiology exam clearly demonstrated they did not understand the material. They wanted to know how I thought the instructor should handle these students and what advice I had for the instructor to keep these students from getting into TUCOM.
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I am not sure if it was an interesting question, but I was asked how as a physician I was going to be able to keep my patients coming back for treatment. I thought this question was weird.
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Why was I changing careers.
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n/a
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The ethical questions(abortion, physician assisted suicide, organ doning), I had 3 and was the only one who received any ethical questions out of my interview group.
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What do you believe is the largest challenge facing health care in developing countries?
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My opinion regarding how a patient is supposed to go about getting a prescription they need immediately when their insurance company won't pay up front because they require approval which can take a couple of days to a week. The interviewer who asked this question had actually just had this happen to her and she ended up charging the $2000 prescription on her credit card until the insurance company could reimburse her, but her concern was for those who had no other means of purchasing the prescription.
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What is the difference between healthcare in Japan and US?
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no really interesting questions - i felt prepared. it was a great interview.
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Elaborate on how you came to be involved with the skatepark you mention in your application.
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Did you make horseradish peroxidase?
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nothing interesting in particular.
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You are an ER physician. Mother with an infant is entering your ER, screaming and saying the child has been abused by baby sitter. Baby is badly bruised and minimally responsive? What is the first thing you do?
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Nothing in particular
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Explain to me what does Louis Pasteur means when he says "chance favors only the prepared mind"?
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What will I do if I don't get into medical school
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What are the medical symptoms of a certain disease.
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tell us about your international experience?
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Why osteopathic medicine, considering your background?
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I was asked about different treatment modalities.
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from file
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If you were the dean of the school with unlimited funds, what would be the first thing you would implement? (was asked this regarding incorporating technology into medicine)
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none really.
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What is the biggest challenge facing a physician in the modern world?
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Why women's studies and then medical school?
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if a man really wanted to have a baby, do you think it would be ethically right to transplant a uterus into him to do so?
-
Why will a surgeon do surgery for someone who is convinced they are the opposite sex, but not add a beak on someone convinced they are a bird?
-
An ethical question regarding a doctor lying to a patient which ultimately resulted in a postive outcome.
-
You just had a baby and spoke much about the beauty of seeing life brought into the world. How would you react to a patient who wanted an abortion?
-
When creating a public health intervention, what are the two most important things you need to know or do as a physician?
-
Given my advanced pharmacology degree and current clinical position, why pursue medicine at this point?
-
How do you expect to handle the heavy science load as a psychology major?
-
"Can there be joy in death?
-
How will your past work experiences in dentistry and veterinary medicine contribute to you being a good physician? And, you described (in your personal statement) a situation in which you worked with children who spoke a different language than you and you felt that you were still able to communicate with them by holding their hand and speaking softly; do you believe animals respond to this type of communication as well?
-
Tell me about your study abroad experience in Mexico.
-
About my undergraduate school. This wasn't so much interesting as it was the least stressful of the questions posed.
-
which superhero will you choose to be if you have a chance??
-
What is your definition of health?
-
How my English major relates to medicine.
-
When answering a question in research, is it better to achieve this answer by a 5 minute experiment or by a 5 year experiment?
-
describe the political condition of MLK hospital where you have shadowed and how it affects the physicians and patients
-
What is the best revenge?
-
The question about the city I was born in. I mentioned it in my personal statement.
-
Which scientist said .....
-
What is the biggest challenge facing the AIDS community in America?
-
If you were president and aliens asked you to sacrifice a number of people or they would blow up the earth, would you do it?
-
I was asked to talk about the most difficult obstacle I had overcome.
-
How I came to be in my current line of work (Finances).
-
What are the negatives of osteopathy?
-
Father is an M.D., why do u want to become a D.O.?
-
What do you see the place of advertising (cognition) and the pharmaceutical industry?
-
I wrote in my essay about preventive medicine and encouraging lifestyle changes, as they are cheap and effective. The interviewer asked me how I would implement these changes.
-
You volunteered at UCSF. Didn't that intimidate you?
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What was the most disturbing experience you during your clinical experience in a hospital?
-
Why do I think people tend to be more compassionate towards animals than they are to other people or themselves? (I used to be pre-vet)
-
If you received a grant from the Gates Foundation, would you give the money to an income-generating program, a clinic, or a school in Senegal (where I studied abroad), and why?
-
I didnt really get an interesting one, but someone in my group got "what is vioxx?"
-
regarding a comment I had made in my personal statement
-
Tell us more about U.S.-Japanese relations/Japanese history.
-
What is a vedic healer (referencing my essay)?
-
Question that pertained to my personal statement
-
What would you do if you could not ever apply to medical school?
-
there were many (i was impressed by the interviewers and their questions)
-
Pretty much all of they questions they asked me and the other interviewees came from our applications, personal statement, experiences/research. Know these and you'll be fine.
-
In terms of the D.O. philosophy, what is the difference between treating a patient who is in an inpatient facility versus a patient who is in an outpatient facility?
-
They did not ask any interesting questions.
-
a question about my research
-
unfortunately , this is why I was stressed out.. I didn't really receive any interesting questions, except one about my personal statement (but it won't help you if I post it, so I won't waste the space)
-
what is the future of OMM in children?
-
I was asked to elaborate on a question I posed in my personal statement. This revealed to me that the interviewer read my statement thoroughly and he asked several follow up questions after my answer.
-
I was a bit surprised they will ask me questions about my hobbies, but I was glad to answer them. The questions were I see you are a world war II buff, what do you take from it? Also what is your favorite song to play on a violin?
-
If you had a patient that had Type 2 Diabetes and was not literate and could not speak English how would you explain a diet plan for them?
-
I don't remember.
-
Nothing, just know what is in your file and why you want to be a DO
-
The Nevada campus is a new school and will have many obstacles along the way. What will you do to handle these?
-
I was asked what I though was "a weakness in our national Healthcare system?".
-
What is the dumbest thing you have done?
-
Describe your junior college experience.
-
Do you have any reservation moving to Nevada or Henderson/Las Vegas?
-
all questions were basic
-
How would you help your patients make health related decisions?
-
None really interesting. Just basic stuff
-
What do your allopathic parents think of you becoming a D.O.?
-
What have we lost by losing horses (I ride)- this was a very strange question! I answered it more like what is better without us using them (less animal abuse, unfit owners, etc)
-
About the my family's business
-
Your dad is an MD; have you been able to work with him?
-
Why do you enjoy rockclimbing, and will you continue to climb once in med school?
-
What is the most important thing to know in medicine: Anatomy, Physiology or Biochemistry?
-
This question flowed from another interviewee's response because my personal statement addressed what he was talking about. BL: Listen attentively to the others answer----the next question could be directed to you and stem from their response.
-
If you could change anything about your file, what would it be?
-
how is medicine an art form?
-
See below
-
What did you learn from your Health Information major?
-
Tell us about your research in detail.
-
What question would you like us to ask you
-
specific to my file
-
What will you do if you don't get into medical school?
-
All questions were straight forward from my application.
-
What would I tell a patient who wanted to take shark cartilage as a possible cure or preventative measure against cancer?
-
Tell me about an experience at the hospital you work at (as a radiology tech) that influenced your decision to become a physician.
-
explain causality-inference-effect (I have a background in public health)
-
Describe your graduate research as if you were talking to someone who had no background in science or medicine.
-
Most were very personalized questions. It's easy to talk about yourself.
-
None. My questions were specific to my application.
-
Because my dad is an MD, what he thinks of my choice to go DO, and how I would approach it differently in treating patients than he would
-
They were all questions about me. Nothing really interesting or challenging, but having 4 people make an evaluation based on each answer added a lot of pressure
-
Most of the questions are based on your application. Anything is free game. There were some questions about health insurance and potential solutions.
-
Since you come from an MD family...what would you say to your family and other MDs about the DO philosophy to help them in their practices?
-
I was asked mostly questions that had to do with my clinical experience. Probably no one other than myself would find that very interesting. I was glad they asked me questions specific to me. The read my file which is more than I can say at other interviews I've been on
-
What is your favorite place to road trip (one of my listed hobbies)
-
What I thought about a headline that was posted on the web that day.
-
Tell me about your research and how that will affect your view/ability as an osteopathic physician. (research on health promotion)
-
If you are not accepted to medical school, what plans do you have for the near and long term?
-
None. But other students were asked questions that I and other students felt were irrelevant.
-
What are some similarities between Eastern Medicine and DO?
-
About my research paper in detail.
-
Do you think as an English major you will be at a disadvantage, or the flip side, do you think it offers an advantage over other students? I think this is a bit tricky since there are other students in the room, and I don't want to start criticizing science majors in comparison to my own.
-
Nothing interesting.
-
Nothing interesting
-
What should Touro look for in a medical school student?
-
Nothing really interesting
-
Seeing as how most of the other interviewees at this table have had other jobs and various life experiences, do you think by entering medical school after completing your undergraduate years would cause you to miss out on life experiences?
-
I was asked a very specific question about my research
-
none, though the other interviewees got some tough questions.
-
"If you were given unlimited resources, what movie would you make?" (I was a film major in college) "What is one thing you would do differently than your father, as a phsyician?" (my dad is an MD) Both questions were asked by the great Dr. Schwartz
-
about my travel experiences
-
nothing interesting, just questions about extra-curricular activities
-
What are the positive and negative aspects of your personality?
-
What would I do if I saw a classmate cheating on a test?
-
In your personal statement, you refer to your desire to practive emergency medicine, as well as the importance of viewing your patients "wholistically." Do you feel it is poosible to practice emergency medicine "wholisitically"?
-
Compare your experiences working as a medical technologist in a disadvantaged community with working here in the United States. I focused on the fact that despite the limited resources, the work I performed was comparable in quality. In fact, my ability to deal with limited resources and still perform quality work will be extremely beneficial when I become a physician. This is especially true in this day and age where resources are quite limited in the United States.
-
What do you think about herbal remedies not being regulated by the FDA?
-
Do you plan on practicing OMM? If you are in a practice and you perform OMM on a patient and file a claim with the insurance company and they say that they are not covering OMM, what would you do?
-
Nothing extraordinary. We had one guy from the boonies that was asked what he learned from farming and how those experiences translate into being a doctor.
-
Medical school students are very busy. How do you plan to take time to care for your health (exercise, eat well, sleep) as a medical school student?
-
How does golf soothe your soul? (it was on my personal statement)
-
A specific question about my research (all of the interviewers KNOW your application)
-
You are a with we to buy a car at a dealership. A salesperson walks up. As he walks up, what three things can you quickly tell me I should look for in the salesperson to help me decide if I want to buy a car from him? (I am a sales manager at a Honda Dealership)
-
How did the death of my sister to gang violence affect me?
-
"What was the most interesting thing that you learned in you World Religions course?"
-
Given your marketing background, how would you recommend marketing osteopathic medicine to the public?
-
Why D.O?
-
What is a good restaurant to eat around your undergrad. college?
-
with your high MCAT and GPA, why DO?
-
If I recieved a B with a 79%, and my classmate recieved an A with an 80%, how would I react?
-
What's the best dish that you cook?
-
One of the biggest problems in healthcare is the lack of physicians in underserved areas, how would you intice/attract physicians to move to these areas and practice primary care, seeing as how most want to move to Beverly Hills making millions as plastic surgeons?
-
I am a literature minor and was asked if I knew the novel written by Mary Shelley and who Lord Byron was.
-
Do your best impersonation for us?
-
Why I chose osteopathic medicine after pursuing a graduate degree.
-
All questions from submitted secondary and application. Know yourself and your file!
-
What do you think about African countries refusing genetically altered food aid?
-
What is your idea of the perfect wedding?
-
I have written a book, so they asked me about my book quite a bit
-
Since I am from a small town, the student interviewer asked if I was on a panel to figure out how to get doctors to practice in small towns and large cities, what programs would I implement to encourage this.
-
Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
-
What makes a good teacher?
-
How would I explain to a child why Barry Bonds and Jeff Kent fight, being that they are teamates.
-
"You state that you have played in opera orchestras, what is your favorite opera and what character do you like the most and what do you see in him/her that you see in yourself?"
-
Given Emergency Room experience, can you describe anything that you saw/witnessed in the ER that was wrong?
-
Do I prefer black and white or color photography and why?
-
I was asked that after working as a paramedic for 12 years, why I decided to change careers.
-
The interview said, ". . . I watched Miss Congeniality the other night. You know the scene where Sandra Bullock is performing her talent? That made me think 'what would my talent be?'. What is your talent?"
What was the most difficult question?
Students said most difficult question asked at Touro University College of Osteopathic Medicine - California discussed a wide range of topics such as leadership experiences, ethical responsibilities in blogging, and motivations for pursuing medicine. The interview format may have been an MMI (Multiple Mini Interview) as some responses hinted at nondisclosure agreements, with questions varying from hypothetical scenarios to personal reflections on career choices.
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What does leadership mean to you and how has that been seen in your experiences?
-
Something about comparative literature and how it can relate to my career.
-
Can you talk about a strength and a weakness of your role as a team player?
-
They looked through my application activities and noticed a general theme: They asked me to relate that interest/theme to the treatment of a patient as a DO.
-
If you had a time machine, what item would you bring back to the past with you?
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What was a time when your motivation to pursue medicine was tested
-
Describe a time you made a mistake, preferably while at work and recently.
-
How would you handle the corona virus crisis, what does 2019 nCov stand for, details of reverse transcriptase PCR (what the hell)
-
Discuss the idea of single payer healthcare/medicare for all
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How do your experiences help you become a compassionate physician
-
On your resume you mentioned that you blog. Given the amount of misinformation on the internet, what do you think is your ethical responsibility when blogging? How do you avoid spreading misinformation?
-
I was asked about being a re-applicant and what I did to improve my application since then. Not necessarily a difficult question, but it may have been a bit uncomfortable to do so in front of other applicants.
-
Your dog turns to you and says "No one will ever believe you". What do you say?
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None
-
None were extremely difficult
-
They asked if I had heard of something related to my line of work which I had never heard of before. I had to basically say...uhhh i have no idea what that is. luckily I still got in :)
-
Tell me one thing you want us to know that is not in your file.
-
comparing allopathic medicine with osteopathic medicine
-
None of them were really hard. They were pretty predictable. They just want to see if you lose your cool.
-
Do you think it is ethical for exhausted doctors to be in charge of patients in critical condition? Tell me what you learned about sleep deprivation in your research study.
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How would you comfort or help a patient who is afraid of dying?
-
"What is the difference between your x experience and your y experience?" This was difficult because the interviewer misinterpreted my previous research experiences to be different from each other when really it was all the same. I had to correct him and say "Actually, all of my work involved bla bla bla, but the real difference was what I learned, etc." It's good to prepare yourself in thinking about the ways in which your experiences were different from each other-- I didn't expect that kind of question.
-
Ha, well, in speaking I lost track of what exactly the question was in my mind, so I ended an answer abruptly... don't do that.
-
No difficult questions.
-
None were too difficult, it was just hard when the person before had just answered the same exact question.
-
(Other people in my group got asked these questions) Suppose a dwarf family wanted a child to be dwarf so that they could share their experience with their child. As a doctor you would have to genetically modify the child to make it dwarf. Would you do this? Why choose Touro over Western?
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None - all the questions were very straightforward and oriented towards the applicant's file and experiences.
-
(to another student) (Quote from a scientist stating that in the future, sex would be purely recreational, conception would occur in the laboratory, and reproduction without prior genetic testing would be considered reckless) What do you think? Is this a feasible prediction?
-
the one about community-based medicine
-
How do you keep yourself from crossing the line and caring for a patient too much?
-
Character...
-
Tell me about osteopathy.
-
tell me what u know about osteopathic medicine
-
He asked me this really vague question specific to my app. If this ever happens to you, ask for clarification rather than what I did of answering it in a vague way.
-
(something specific to my research experience - question was very ambiguous and, therefore, difficult to answer)
-
What class did you take as an undergraduate that best describes the theory of medicine?
-
scenarios
-
Nothing. I was expecting questions about the research I did because they ask the first two people questions about their research. All the sudden, they ask me about the inspiration I learn from a doctor, bummer!
-
none really
-
What are the two greatest disparities you find with health care in ethnic communities?
-
If someone who knew nothing about osteopathic medicine asked you to explain what a D.O. is, what would you say?
-
Medical instrument question.
-
We were asked a lot of questions aimed at gleaning why we were specifically interested in D.O. rather than M.D. This may have been due to our having capabilities in both camps...
-
Connect the dots for us to get us up to why you are just now applying?
-
What else would you do if you did not enter medicine? I said I would keep applying, which made the panel laugh. Then I said research, psychology or public health.
-
none, they were all pretty straightforward.
-
If you could change one thing in your file, what would it be?
-
same as above
-
all other questions were application specific
-
Tell me more about your research.
-
A question about something I wrote in my essay. It wasn't a hard question but worded in a confusing way that caught me off guard.
-
What life experiences would you say is the defining moment in your life.
-
Same
-
''What do you think about the rise of HMOs?
-
none were really difficult...just remember to take a second to breathe and THINK about a response..you dont want to babble
-
Above
-
I do computational research that has no direct practicality: if I were to write a grant for my research what would I write to persuade granters to give me funding.
-
Nothing really hard.
-
how would you use your talents to promote the osteopathic profession
-
Assuming you've done the research, why do you want to come to school at Touro?
-
How could I assure them that I would stick with a career in Medicine
-
None.
-
No particular question was hard
-
Specific to my application. What was the worst part about working with _____?
-
Nothing really.
-
The club question.
-
How would you increase a clinician's time with patients?
-
Why are so many students applying to medical school getting their degree in psychology?
-
A question regarding a sentence in my personal statement.
-
Why did not make any specific mention of osteopathic medicine in your personal statement?
-
What strengths will you bring to this school
-
You have shadowed a D.O and an M.D., what did you find was the difference
-
Do you think the MCAT predicts how well of a physician the student taking it will be?
-
When was the moment you decided to pursue a career in medicine?
-
Question about healthcare.
-
Nothing really
-
Why DO? (Again...pretty much all basic questions)
-
None of the questions were difficult per say, however, the interviews especially one of the PhD interviewers seemed cold and not that interested in what we were telling them.
-
None were difficult.
-
I was asked a question comparing Osteopathy where I live (where Osteopaths aren't physicians-outside the US) to that in the US. Then I was asked where Chiropractics and PT fit into the scheme. I didn't really know what to say, so I just told them I couldn't properly answer the question. He seemed to be asking more out of curiousity than anything.
-
n/a
-
As a physician's child do you feel you have an advantage when applying to medical school?
-
Is biology destiny?
-
Why apply to medical school when I spend a year abroad doing business-related internship?
-
no difficult questions for me, yay
-
How would your friends describe you
-
I was asked something about eating horseradish and St. Patricks Day.
-
none of it was difficult
-
How was you personal trauma affected your choice to become physician? Do you plan to return to you homeland to do volunteer medical work?
-
What is your exposure to DO medicine?
-
See above. I really want to go to medical school.
-
See above.
-
none. however, another student was asked why medicine was considered to be a manipulative science.
-
Specific questions about activities that I was involved in a long time ago and largely irrelevant to my motivation for becoming a doctor.
-
An ethical question
-
nothing was particularly difficult, all was from my file.
-
from file
-
Please explain the descrepancy between some of your lower grades and your competitive MCAT scores.
-
none really.
-
Same as above...
-
You went to a very small undergraduate college. Do you think you will have a sense of entitlement to extra attention from professors?
-
the uterus one and if you could be a superhero, which one would you be
-
see above
-
An ethics question.
-
You have a miracle pill that will cure cancer but you only have enough to give to half of your patients. How do you decide who gets the pill and how do you maintain your positive attitude and optimism in this situation?
-
They were all boring and uninteresting
-
If I was a patient who knew nothing about cancer, but was scared because of a family history of cancer, what would you tell me?
-
Given that you have lived in Africa for the last two years, and that there are many needy people in the US, do you plan to practice medicine here or over there?
-
You are a physician and you tell your patient that they have a serious illness, such as lupus. They don't know anything about the disease, how will you help them understand their situation? This question does not seem that bad, but this interviewer was not happy with any response I gave and kept challenging my answers with more questions. This was in the last few minutes of an interview that had gone really well.
-
You said in your application that creativity is an important asset to have as a physician. What is another?
-
Why would a patient want to come see you? (Honestly, the questions weren't hard for my group)
-
Hypothetical: You have a patient with uterine cancer who does not want to take chemotherapy or get a hysterectomy. She is only interested in 'alternative' medicine. How would you interact with this patient?
-
watch out for tons of hard questions from arrogant interviewers
-
Your in biotech making money why would you choose to become a doctor? - Not really difficult but interesting choice of asking it.
-
You're interested in becoming a surgeon. What is your opinion on operating on children with ambiguous genitalia?
-
Explain the whole transition between medical school into residency... just talk about it. (Not mine)
-
how has being involved in music and the arts helped you to be a better physician
-
You have a patient/friend with ovarian and cervical cancer. She does not want a historectomy or chemo to prolong her life. What do you do?
-
Your GPA is high. Why your MCAT score is not as good as it can be expected?
-
Which scientist said .....
-
What is the biggest challenge you have faced in your advocacy in Washington?
-
I was asked to explain how being an English major would be an advantage in practicing medicine.
-
nothing too difficult
-
If not humans or animals, what do you propose we use for research experimentation?
-
Why did you have no gainful work experience after receiving your undergraduate degree (BA-Communications)? My answer dealt with the concerns of financial need that was necessary for financial aid. They asked the question in a way that made me question what they meant by gainful...
-
Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
-
You're PS isn't an osteopathic personal statement, do you want to be a osteopathic physician? (My AACOMAS PS was osteopathic, my Touro wasn't.)
-
How will you help international health?
-
None were super difficult. They did ask me how I would use osteopathy in psychiatry.
-
because I had not taken human anatomy/physiology in undergrad, I was asked if I would be able to handle the volume of information in the first year
-
What is your definition of health?
-
How would you counsel a patient who desires only alternative treatment (I could see the bias for traditional chemo/surgury)?
-
Question that pertained to my MCAT score
-
nothing difficult
-
-
-
You have worked in an allopatric environment. When you become a D.O., how will you hope to change the department you are working in to accept the D.O. philosophy?
-
"I love trivia pursuit. Let's play. Who is...?" He continued to spout out lots of names.
-
why do i have to study medicine to help people
-
I was asked all the 'general' vague questions like why medicine? tell me about your volunteer experience.... What will be your greatest challenge in medicine.. these were difficult, because they weren't too specific so I felt like I was being vague as well.
-
Explain cause and effect (not really difficult, but I was unsure as to what type of answer was expected.)
-
The questions I was asked were not difficult. However other members in the group received difficult questions such as: How does the MCAT reflect one's capacity to be a good doctor; How would you advise Ariel Sharon on acheiving peace in the Middle East (yeah, that one was really tough)
-
That building right over there is where they did the cryptology, right? (and no, I didn't know the answer and I said so)
-
Nothing
-
No difficult questions, however the above question made me think.
-
what was a weakness in our national healthcare system
-
Describe the qualities of osteopathic medicine that interest you.
-
No questions were difficult! Just know your applications (primary and secondary), your motivations for osteopathic medicine, the differences b/t DO and MD.
-
How would you help your patients make health related decisions?
-
All were expected...nothing really hard.
-
What have you seen as connections between your public health training and osteopathic principles? (Uh oh...)
-
How would I help serve rural areas? (or something like that)
-
none, really- the above one was weird though!
-
How would I apply Music to my operating room or waiting room.
-
MCAT - related. phooey!!
-
What is your position on animal testing in research?
-
How will you give the necessary time to your family and school if you were to be accepted?
-
see above. all my questions referred to my personal statement and application.
-
Explain in detail the difference between osteopathic medicine and allopathic medicine. Why are you applying to MD and DO schools?
-
about 75% of the physicians who graduate osteopathic school, don't continue to practice osteopathy afterwards. What do you have to say about that? How do you explain that?
-
See Question 2
-
How did your degree in economics prepare you for medicine?
-
same as interesting
-
specific to my file
-
what is osteopathic medicine? does anyone really know
-
All questions were straight forward from my application.
-
Same as above
-
What do think physicians should do to minimize malpractice issues.
-
Define professionalism
-
They gave me a hypothetical situation which the interviewer knew was against my ethics. Be prepared.
-
None. They were all questions from my file. Because I have applied to other schools, including MD schools, I was hoping they wouldn't ask which ones. They didn't.
-
You said a doctor must be both honest and diplomatic...these words contradict...explain.
-
What would I do if I couldn't get into medical school. It was difficult because I rarely allow such negative thoughts creep into my thinking. I probably sounded studpid in answering it.
-
You have been at your current job (in clinical research) for 5 years, so clearly you like what you are doing. Whay would you give that up to go $200,000 in debt, and have no life for the next several years?
-
To explain as a Political Science major why the headline noted above was important.
-
What type of photography (one of my hobbies) do you enjoy most? I wasn't expecting such a directed question about one of my hobbies. Overall, this isn't that tough of a question...some of my fellow interviewees had some difficult questions though.
-
If you were all-powerful, what you do to change the we deliver medical care in the U.S. today?
-
None. One question asked by one of the interviewer was a bone-headed question.
-
What do you think are the differences between DO and MD?
-
Why do you want to be a DO and what is the difference between a DO and MD? One interviewer made it hard because he kept asking me follow up questions about MD vs. DO. Personally I thought I more than adequately answered the question, i suppose he was looking for something or maybe he was trying to fluster me. In any case, he was just staring me down the whole time I was gicing my DO speech.
-
How do you deal with stress? (I guess- I don't think I got any difficult questions, though I think others in the room did.). One girl was asked what other schools she had applied to and if she would prefer MD over DO. They also asked the same person to name a major problem in medicine today.
-
This weird question (can't remember what it was exactly) that the interviewer couldn't even phrase it clearly. Not a really fair question when I didn't understand what he was getting at.
-
Asked to explain a very specific sentence in my personal statement
-
If accepted into a DO and MD school, which would you attend?
-
Lots of experience in PT-why medicine and not PT
-
Why do you think the allopathic philosophy and osteopathic philosophies have diverged to where they are today?
-
none. asked me about community college coursework.
-
questions about my research
-
See above. Also, "How does your dad feel about you going to DO school when he's an MD?"
-
respond to an inappropriate AIDS comment by a famous person
-
What was my most enjoyable military duty station and why? (Difficult to explain b/c my job was Top Secret)
-
What would I do to slove the problems in healthcare?
-
How do you feel about the current situation of America? (referring to possibility/probability of war in the near future)
-
"In your essay you stated that you liked to do desktop publishing (invitations, posters, etc.). How would you advertise Touro University to the public?" I believe my answer to this question was pretty weak b/c I stated that I would focus on the people and the positive camraderie I observed. Dr. Haight is a great ambassador. Although I did not include this in the interview, I was not impressed by the campus or the facilities, so I felt that I could not focus on that.
-
What do you think about direct consumer advertising by Pharmaceutical companies? (I work for a pharmaceutical company, so they asked me a lot of related questions)
-
The typical, "What are your strengths/weaknesses?"
-
All the questions were very straightforward and from my file. There weren't any "difficult" questions.
-
A bioethics question in response to a class I had taken
-
You look like a traditional MD candidate, so why did you apply to a DO school.
-
I understand you grew up in Vallejo. Since Osteopathic Medicine is a growing profession, advertising can be important to let people know what it's all about. How would you advertise Osteopathic Medicine in the Vallejo community?
-
What is the single biggest problem affecting medicine today, specifically osteopathic medicine?
-
"What one question should I ask to learn the most about you?"
-
How would you handle a moral or ethical situation, especially given our location in the San Franciso Bay area? (this was a very open ended question that I think they wanted me to bite on...my answer was that every patient deserves respect and confidentiality regardless of their life choices)
-
Why not M.D?
-
What does osteopathy mean to you?
-
Why DO?
-
Why Touro?
-
How I thought that all of my experiences would contribute to my being a better osteopathic physician.
-
Same as above, and I was a Business major, the medical student asked me how he should pay off is $200,000 debt after medical school if he wants to move to underserved area to practice primary care?
-
I really did not have any difficult questions, I guess it would be how I intend to make a difference in the lives of those with whom I practice medicine ( I mentioned that in my essay )
-
If a family member came to you for care, how would you as a physician handle that situation?
-
How my academic experiences have prepared me for DO school.
-
None, everything was straight from my file
-
what is the biggest problem in health care today and how would u solve it
-
See previous one
-
This one was the most difficult.
-
Explain the research you participated in and how you believe it applies to your future medical career.
-
How do you treat terminally ill patients differently than other patients?
-
How do you know that you are a good teacher?
-
How would I juggle a family life with a professional life? Specifically, how would I draw the line between tending to my patients and tending to family needs.
-
None for me, although some people in my group got some harder questions. Some delt with caparing the use of manipulation in chiropractic vs' osteopathic medicine and someone in another group got a hard one on cloning.
-
None were very difficult
-
None really. The most interesting question above was the most difficult.
-
It was about a philosphy course I took - Kant. This was quite a few years ago, and I don't think I recalled 'the categories' as well as I should have.
-
Another interviewee had to act like I didn't know what osteopathy was and explain to me what it was.
✅ Interview Preparation and Impressions ▼
How long was the interview?
Most respondents had an interview of more than 50 minutes.
How did the interview impress you?
Most respondents felt positively about their interview.
How many people interviewed you?
Most respondents were interviewed by 3 people.
What was the stress level of the interview?
Most respondents rated their interview as average stress.
How you think you did?
Most respondents thought they performed well at the interview.
What was the style of the interview?
Most respondents had a in a group interview.
What type of interview was it?
Most respondents had an open file interview.
Was this interview in-person or virtual?
Most respondents had a virtual interview.
Data includes both pre- and post-COVID interviews.
Where did the interview take place?
Most respondents were interviewed at the school.
How did you prepare for the interview?
Applicants commonly prepared for the interview by practicing with mock interviews, reviewing their application materials, researching the school and its website, and utilizing resources like SDN forums and interview feedback. Suggestions include familiarizing oneself with personal statements and experiences, practicing answers to potential questions out loud, and seeking advice from current students or alumni to better understand the school and its mission.
-
Practiced common sense questions
-
I did not prepare further than I did for previous interviews.
-
mock interviews and free writing to practice answering questions.
-
I looked up interview question banks and practiced mock interviews with others.
-
Reading SDN interview prompts and performing a mock interview
-
Practiced with family and friends, reviewed SDN, researched the school.
-
through other interviews
-
read forums, re-read my application, discussed questions
-
Practice questions
-
Reviewed my application materials, made a list of questions
-
Mock interview, researching the school, reviewing my app
-
Mock interview with advisor, read website, memorized tenants of Osteopathic medicine, practice questions and ethical scenarios
-
I went over the questions found on the SDN Interview Feedback page. I also went over my primary + secondary applications.
-
SDN interview feedback. Reciting in the mirror like and idiot.
-
Reviewing my app, SDN Interview Feedback
-
Read my file, practiced possible interview questions
-
Reviewing my application and their website
-
Reading my file
-
SDN forum, book called "The Medical School Interview" by Jeremiah Fleenor (highly recommended), and practicing with other pre-med students.
-
really refined my why do/why medicine answers by speaking them aloud dozens of times over.
-
SDN, looked over secondary/primary
-
SDN
-
Two mock interviews
-
SDN, read the school website, wrote to current students
-
Practice answering questions in front of a mirror and reviewed my file.
-
Practice with friends review everything in my file and go over every med-school interview question I could find.
-
Looked THOROUGHLY over my application to make sure I could answer anything about it
-
I looked at previous answers on this survey.
-
Came up with all possible questions and answers. SDN.
-
Student doc and articulating my goals and plans in the medical field to friends.
-
SDN forums, reading school mission statements, reviewing all application materials I sent (AACOMAS, essays), speaking out loud to myself about certain experiences, why I want to be a doctor, etc.
-
SDN, student catalog, their website
-
Studied my own file and the Touro website.
-
Read SDN & my file, mock interview at undergrad school
-
sdn, my other interviews, my application
-
Read SDN interview feedback; Review my files (this is a must!)
-
SDN, reviewed my application
-
sdn, read over apps, cib of school
-
SDN, Dr. Haight.
-
Going though questions on here, reading my profile, researching the school.
-
SDN, mock interviews
-
SDN, mock interview, reading information about the school, talking to a current student
-
Obviously here on the forum, and I found this book quite helpful: The Medical School Interview: Secrets and a System for Success http://www.amazon.com/Medical-School-Interview-Secrets-Success/dp/0977955907
-
read school website, perused sdn
-
read sdn, previewed touro website.
-
SDN, mock interview, and website
-
mock interviews, studentdoctor, researched and answered questions online, practiced daily
-
Friend's advice who interviewed at Touro last year, online sample questions (from UCD and Stanford), practice outloud and into a tape recorder.
-
sdn, school's website and catalog, books on osteopathic medicine, read primary and secondary application because they ask specific questions pertaining to yr file
-
SDN, Touro Website
-
SDN, Medical School Confidential. In-laws and friend assisted me by providing me with several mock interviews.
-
SDN, News websites
-
Review file. Toured school. Spoke to first year student I knew about what he liked and didn't like.
-
SDN, School website
-
I didn't. If you live for this, you don't even need to re-read your app, now do you? Just be yourself.
-
Relaxed and read the entire catalog of the school (except the international student stuff)
-
Student Doctor Network, Practice questions, mock interview, read personal statement and application, spoke to previously interviewed students, and internet
-
Relaxed and laughed as much as possible. Visited the campus a couple times. Read the Weekly World News the nite before to loosen up.
-
SDN, re-read my secondary and my primary application.
-
Student Doctor Network website, school's website, looked over application and personal statements
-
SDN, tucom website, The Medical School Interview (book) really helped
-
sdn, other interviews
-
Nothing really.
-
Read Opportunities in Osteopathic Medicine Careers (Paperback) by Terence J. Sacks which was great and got me really excited about Osteopathy/gave me some good stuff to think about. Read through all of my essays and answered the questions from the interview advice given on here.
-
re-read primary, secondary, read school website, spoke with current students and alumni
-
the norm
-
reading old SDN questions + touro website
-
SDN, mock interview, school website
-
I didnt
-
SDN, my application, websites and books regarding osteopathic medicine
-
Mock interview with an unknown faculty member at my university, this website, interview question packet from my committee adviser, The DO's book (but it wasn't that helpful), Opportunities in Osteopathic Medicine (this book was very helpful).
-
SDN feedback, schools website, my file
-
well
-
other interviews
-
Relax and read over some of their mission statements.
-
Reviewed my primary, secondary, school website, Kaplan material, Interview Feedback on SDN
-
SDN, touro website, reviewed my file
-
This website
-
SDN,Ethical issues, AACOMAS applications, my publications and research.
-
My app, Touro website, SDN
-
Went through SDN, my research,primary and secondary apps, thought of answers for potential typical questions.
-
Read Interview feedback on SDN, Went over Primary and Secondary applications, Looked over school's website.
-
Review my application, SDN, Andrew Still biography.
-
SDN, read my app
-
read over my application and secondary, SDN
-
SDN, Touro website, Mock-Interviews, Job-Interviews, interview books
-
SD, applications
-
Reviewed my application, the school website and tried to relax.
-
School's website, SDN
-
SDN, read my application, personal statement, etc.
-
Read over questions from my school website, looked at the questions on SDN, and read my application
-
SDN interview feedback, typed up questions and reviewed them in mock interviews, Said answers aloud rather than just thinking about them in my head, Touro website, talked with previous Touro students now in their clerkships.
-
Read SDN forums, interview feeedback, reviewed my own file, read TUCOM catalog.
-
I choose not to prepare for this interview and to go in with just goals of being myself and confident.
-
SDN Interview Feedback
-
Read SDN, school's website.
-
SDN, my application and essays, mock interviews, schools website
-
SDN, read over my file, read over their website
-
Printed out everything from the TUCOM website and read it on the plane; read a bunch of TUCOM threads on Studentdoctor.
-
SDN, school's website, review of my application
-
my file, school website, SDN forums
-
practice out loud questions from SDN
-
read over sdn
-
Mock Interview, SDN, Read up on the school and my applications
-
Read over my application, browsed Touro website, good night sleep.
-
website, SDN, application
-
scoured the website, SDN, rested
-
Read this website got a good nights rest and ate a decent breakfast
-
read through the school's website, SDN, my application etc.
-
i didn't.
-
Reviewed my application, read JAMA and other med journals, especially medical ethics and case studies on it. Read the SDN feedback and forums.
-
SDN, other interview, review my app
-
SDN, mock interview
-
I reviewed other postings on this site
-
Went over app, thought about the typical q's. I have already gotten into a higher choice school so I was laidback and relaxed.
-
SDN, read my application materials.
-
sdn, personal statement, secondary application
-
I looked over the questions on SDN to see if there were any interesting questions I should be ready for. This was my 10th interview.
-
SDN, school's catalog and website
-
read my file, and student doctor net
-
from file
-
Mock interviews, practice questions, research the schools interests, location, research opportunities, etc.
-
student-doctor, mock interviews, and school website
-
Student Doctor.net
-
Nothing really. I already had two acceptances, so this was just gravy.
-
this website, touro's website, reviewed my information and AACOMAS application
-
SDN, read personal statement, the school's website, etc...
-
SDN, reviewing my applications, thinking up answers to possible questions.
-
read TUCOM's online catalog, read SDN interview feedback/forums, mock interviews
-
Mock interview, SDN, reading about the school, other interviews
-
read SDN, researched school and stayed calm!
-
School website, SDN, reviewed essays
-
mock interview, SDN
-
SDN, mock interviews, portfolio creation, practice questions
-
SDN, TUCOM catalog and website, primary and secondary applications, practice interview questions with friends, read Dr. Fulford's "Touch of Life" about being a D.O., interview workshops at my undergraduate campus, had lunch with a current TUCOM student
-
SDN, read over my file, tried to answer in my head the questions I thought might come about.
-
Read SDN, thought of answers to ethical questions, looked at the website, etc
-
Reviewed school information and read over essays.
-
application, SDN
-
SDN and school website and my application info.
-
Re-read my application, read feedback on SDN.
-
read over application, sdn questions, mock interview with friends, research my interviewers
-
my own prepared questions and answers
-
SDN, primary app and secondary essays
-
my application, this website, practicing with someone
-
SDN feedback, read over primary essay and secondary app.
-
SDN, lots of mock interviews, read application
-
-
-
This was my 4th interview, so I've got it down already.
-
read this website, talked to other students, looked over application
-
Read interview feedback, went over my application materials
-
SDN, mock interview, sample questions
-
SDN website, Touro website, previous interviews.
-
Read student doctor website, lookec at Touro's website
-
I read my secondaries, read more on the school with regard to clinicals, affiliated hospitals, matches, and rotations
-
Read my personal statement, reviewed the brochure and website, SDN
-
SDN, read my personal statement, should have mentally prepared more.
-
read all secondaries and applications I have written, read SDN
-
reading school website and pamphlets sent to me, reading interview tips in book on applying to med school
-
SDN, read app, read touro's website
-
SDN, "The DO's" by Norman Gevitz, Touro's website, other websites describing osteopathy, reviewed applications
-
Mock interviews, Touro website, SDN website, read “The D.O.’sâ€Â, reviewed primary and secondary applications,…
-
Reading on SDN, reading DO resources, drfreely.com
-
SDN, touro's website, various osteopathic sites
-
Looked at SDN, looked over secondary and AACOMAS applications, kept up with current events
-
secondary, practice typical questions out loud, talked to previously interviewed students
-
sdn, The DOs, tucom.edu, etc.
-
Reviewed primary and secondary apps, SDN, mock interviews. (read the previous entry to get a good idea of the school).
-
SDN, mock interviews, read through primary and secondary apps.
-
sdn, school website, secondary
-
this site
-
SDN, school website, read the news, practiced outloud
-
Read my file and personal statements, read through SDN, talked with a Touro student, meditation!
-
Review SDN (very helpful). Review my personal statements form both primary and secondary applications. Read "The DOs: Osteopathic Medicine in America" by Norman Gevitz.
-
Read my application, read SDN, go over all possible questions they will ask me, go through each question in a mock interview session in my head over and over again.
-
went over my secondary, studentdoctor website
-
I didn't
-
Read SDN and the schools website
-
This website, read over application, mock interviews
-
Reviewed the website, looked on here for help, and looked over my application
-
Read my application, spoke to other DO's in my community.
-
Know your file
-
Internet, mock interview, five past interviews, etc.
-
I read "Osteopathic Medicine: A Reformation in Progress," "Epidemic of Care," Reread my applications and talked to current med students and DO's.
-
Praye, read this site, looked over AACOMAS and secondary applications, and looked over topics such as: American healthcare system, and stem cell research. (Both useless, all questions asked of my peers and me were based on applications)
-
Read the DOs: Osteopathic Medicine in America, looked over the website and my application.
-
SDN, read about the school (history, curriculum, programs), previous interview experiences, etc.
-
SDN, practice questions, reading over application and essays, school's website, articles on school, mock interview
-
SDN, school website, read my secondary
-
Read my application over. Look at the schools website
-
reviewed my secondary application, studentdoctor.net, previous interviews
-
sdn, personal file , read a book on osteopathy
-
SDN, Website, Catalog, Reviewed Application and Research.
-
read this website
-
Read over secondary, TOURO website, and mock interviews.
-
SDN, princeton book that lists all medical colleges, my file
-
Read my essays, read studendoctor reviews
-
Read this website, became very familiar with TUCOM, was sure to be comfortable in my clothes, researched osteopathic philosophy
-
Studentdoctor.net; my applications;Touro's catalog;reading Galvitz's DOs in America Book
-
They will ask you questions about particular parts of your essays and statement. Read over your application and be prepared to tell them why you want to be a DO instead of an MD.
-
Reviewed this site, AOA website, TUCOM website, and my MD & DO applications
-
reviewed my app
-
TUCOM website, SDN and reviewed personal essays
-
Read this website, and looked over my application.
-
Reviewed info on the school, info on osteopathic medicine, looked at this site.
-
read brochure, read my apps
-
I didn't, I just relaxed and was going to try my best
-
Review primary and secondary. Most all questions are based on what you've written.
-
Interview feedback, SDN, school website, my applications
-
Read secondary, primary, looked at TUCOM's web-site. Ask a lot of questions!!!
-
Reread my secondary application material because I read on this sight that they ask specific questions from your file.
-
File overview and book on osteopathy.
-
re-read primary and secondary applications, TUCOM website, SDN, reviewed current medical issues and ethical situations
-
Re-read my secondary application and some of the postings on this site.
-
This site and reviewed my application
-
Read up here on SDN and remembered that this was a panel interview, and that their would be other interviewees with me at the same time.
-
Read over SDN, my application, osteopathic websites, and touro's website. Most of the questions will be directly related to your application so know it well.
-
Read this site and went over my secondary application just in case they asked me a question from my file.
-
SDN, read over primary and secondary application
-
Reading over my application. Researching about the differences between DO and MD.
-
sdn.com
-
Read SDN, my application, mock interviews, reviewed typical interview questions
-
SDN, undergrad's interview feedback forms, school's website
-
SDN, interview feedback, mock interviews
-
Website, my application, studentdoctor.net
-
Mock interview, new my file.
-
I familiarized myself with the philosophy behind Osteopathic Medicine, read through my application, and browsed SDN.
-
read their website. DO's by Gevitz.
-
read SDN, talked to people who had interviewed
-
read interview feedback, read the website, talked to other students
-
student doctor, talked to students
-
Ensured that I knew my application and secondary.
-
SDN, application, college website.
-
SDN, dinner with current TUCOM students, dinner with acceptees, dinner with fellow applicants, "Complications" by Atul Gawande, "The D.O.s" by Gevitz, mock interviews, went over primary and secondary over and over....
-
Touro website, review of my app
-
Read SDN, read Gevitz DO book, dinner w/ Touro student and fellow interviewees
-
Read "The D.O.'s", reviewed my application, their website, spoke with a current student
-
read sdn, my file, and listened to some tapes
-
Went over my secondary . . . all the interviewers quoted sections of my personal statements and asked me to broaden my views.
-
Read this website, knew my file well, went to the hotel breakfast, made up my mind to enjoy the experience...after all, how many of these opportunities does one get in a life?!
-
Knew my application, SDN feedback, Touro webpage
-
Read up on osteopathic medicine..reviewed my file
-
The usual---SDN, read over my own app.... Watched SATC the night before =)
-
SDN, interview workshops at my school, and practice interviews with friends who are student interviewers.
-
SDN, read AACOMAS and secondary applications, read catalog sent to me by Touro and looked at tucom.edu website
-
SDN, TUCOM website, application
-
TUCOM website, SDN interview feedback, read a book on osteopathic medicine (The DO's by Norman Gevitz).
-
Talked to other students and read comments on SDN
-
Read D.O's in America - tells you the history and all the stuff you can potentially plug in for the interview
-
SDN, read up on my apps and school.
-
Read my application (98% of the qestions asked of me and the other interviewees came from our applications), and the school website.
-
SDN network
-
Read SDN, asked friends that are Medical students, KNOW your applications, essays and profile they WILL ask you about it indefinetly!
-
I read SDN feedback and the threads and I read about the school.
-
SDN, Knew my supplemental application
-
SDN, and reading my file.
-
SDN, read my file, talked to friends
-
Read my secondary application, Read interview feedback
-
Read interview feedback, and knew my file thoroughly.
-
Got all the info on web about TUCOM, knew my file well, lots of practice with mock interviews
-
Read through my application (both the secondary and AACOM). They like to ask questions directly (verbatim) from your application. Also read the feedback on SDN.
-
Knew my application thoroughly, school's history.
-
Read the website.
-
I had already had an interview elsewhere - I just drew on that experience
-
Read questions previously downloaded from IF.com, read SDN feedback, and the forums. I really new my file well!
-
Reviewed file, read books on osteopathy, practiced interviewing with others, research as much about school on internet as possible and read school catalog.
-
Looked on their webiste, reviewed by application, and activity list/resume, etc.
-
Read The DOs by Gevitz, Osteopathic Med:Reformation, went to interview.com - which has been down for a long time.
-
Read other interview feedback sites. Knew my personal files and secondaries very very well. Than will pull most of the questions directly from stuff that was on your file.
What impressed you positively?
Applicants were overwhelmingly impressed by the friendliness of the staff, faculty, and students at the school, particularly highlighting the welcoming nature of Dr. Haight, the Dean of Admissions. The state-of-the-art anatomy lab, the collaborative and supportive environment, and the emphasis on public health and team-based learning were also major positive factors noted by applicants.
-
The faculty were all very friendly
-
I was impressed by Dr. Hartwig. He was very genuine and sweet and I found his presentation to be very helpful.
-
The interviewers did a good job of appearing nonjudgmental and facilitating conversation. The long interview day allowed for interviewees to learn a lot about the school and Q&As BEFORE the panel interview.
-
The interviewers seemed interested in each of our applications and asked us personable questions from our applications.
-
Campus seemed beautiful, seemed like a very collaborative environment
-
Friendliness of staff and students, emphasis on public health and team based learning.
-
Student tour guides
-
They seem to value public health issues. Also, the interviewers seemed to spend a great deal of time reviewing our applications and asking us each questions specific to our application
-
The sense of community and the warmth of everyone I met
-
The curriculum, the student community aka team-based learning, pass/fail, the really read your application to ask you questions.
-
I liked the unpretentiousness of the campus, public health focus, and flexible policies around dress and attending class
-
The general area was nicer than I expected
-
Faculty seem very easy for students to contact
-
The faculty and staff were very welcoming and seem to care about the students. In particular, the Associate Dean did a great job of answering all of our questions and was very open about the mission/direction of the school and the type of student/physician they wanted to train. Current students that we met during the tour were also very friendly and wished us good luck (Not sure if they were medical students or other health professions).
-
How comfortable they made us feel in the group interview.
-
Great curriculum and program
-
Everyone was really nice and engaging.
-
The campus was absolutely beautiful and you can tell that they really care about their students. You can really tell that the students genuinely enjoy going to this school. The campus community seemed very supportive of one another and our student ambassador talked about how everyone is friendly and works together to get good grades. The admins who spoke to us were much friendlier and more articulate than other admins who I had spoken to on other interviews. TU also has many amazing opportunities for research and to do rotations and volunteer work abroad. Overall, I had a really positive experience at this school.
-
The students and other applicants were amazing
-
Campus was nicer than expected.
-
The MPH dual degree and small class size
-
I was impressed by the camaraderie within the student body. Seemed like everyone got along and really tried to help one another.
-
The location, staff, and the student body.
-
The level of respect paid to the cadavers, anatomy labs and dedicated OMM faculty.
-
Our tourguide's honesty and how the faculty described their relationship with students and other faculty.
-
The facilities.
-
Dean Haight
-
anatomy lab is huge
-
Dr. Haight.
-
Everyone that talked to us that day from the school, including the interviewers, was very nice and welcoming.
-
Students, OMM class, staff, dean
-
The location really can't be beat! The cost of living on the island is reasonable ($500 split between some people in a big house) and the weather is great! If you are looking for a dual degree, this is a perfect set up to achieve it and not pay more. Also, the curriculum focuses on being a team member with the PAs, PharmDs, MPH students, etc. The school got back to me as promised with the decision, too.
-
Nice location, sounds like they have a great global health curriculum for DO/MPH students, which is what I'm interested in. Facilities technologically advanced.
-
I thought the school grounds were nice, actually. It is a coastal area, so if you aren't used to that, then it may be surprising. However, it is very green on campus. Dr. Haight was encouraging and this is the first school that I have interacted with the Dean of Students/Admissions this much. This school is perfect for the person that wants to do international medical aide. They have a global health program and the MPH would mean you could make a difference even after you came back to the states. The students didn't seem as stressed as they were at some of the more competitive schools.
-
I really liked the students and faculty member I met. Loved the anatomy lab and OMM room. Campus was beautiful on a sunny day.
-
Read SDN, reread my primary and secondary applications.
-
They said that the classes coordinated with each other so that you learn about each system in each course at the same time. & there was more group work than lectures.
-
dual mph program, integrative cirriculum, smaller class size relative to other do schools i've interviewed at, students seemed happy there, it's an hour away from sf, Dr. Haight
-
The well ventilated anatomy lab; It did not have the strong odor as in other labs i've visited.
-
The facilities of the school itself were nicer than I expected. The students we met seemed happy.
-
they're very personable. they memorized your file and you feel really unique. OMM & anatomy lab. the admissions dean!
-
Dr. Haight - Dean of Admissions was awesome & inspiring. The anatomy lab is fantastic. The school has an opportunity to earn an MPH w/ the DO which I really liked. The students I met seemed happy & confident that they were receiving a top notch education.
-
School location, buildings, and esp students.
-
They took the time to really read my application and come up with focused and specific questions.
-
The students at the school seemed to enjoy it there. The school is very near san fran and the town had a generally good feeling to it. The OMM lab is a great facility.
-
Friendliness of students & staff
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The area is NOT AS BAD as you think. Sure, some of the buildings are a bit old, but you're on an island, there are tons of eucalyptus trees, grass, etc. I like having green on a campus, so I like it. Also, the admissions director was really nice, and the interviewers were more laid back than at other schools. Also the anatomy lab is nice - second floor, windows, light.
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Dr. Haight's assurances were quite comforting, as was the friendly demeanor of all the students we spoke with. The community spirit impressed me as a strong asset of the school. I also got the impression that they are, as a professional school, quite competent at producing quality clinicians, which counts, obviously, for quite a lot. On the other hand, this is not a research institution, there is no associated hospital, and it didn't appear that many faculty were full-time, as has historically been the case at most all D.O. schools. There are trade-off's at any school, so just know what you want and what you're getting into.
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nothing at all.
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Relatively good rotations available in CA. Anatomy is dissection. Dr. Haight is great and helpful, too bad its not for a better school.
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San Fran, school's future plans, anatomy room, and Donald Haight! He is such a great guy and give the best and most honest advice you'll ever get.
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students, Dr. Haight, facilities, proximity to SF, future development plans including the nation's first heavy ion cancer treatment center
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The friendly staff, welcoming students, AMAZING OMM room, lecture halls, and really cool segregated anatomy room to ensure Jewish tradition for those in the attached building.
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Don Haight was adorable
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Potential of the school If you would like to stay in the North Bay of CA, many options in the future.
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See above
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The facilities inside were very nice. From the outside they may seem drab but the anatomy lab and OMM tables were really new and well maintained.
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The Campus. It does not look so great on the outside, but when you walk in, it's a different story. Everything is updated and renovated. The Anatomy lab is awesome, and the lecture halls are well laid out for the students with plenty of leg room, table space allows for laptops and note pads for each student. Library is pretty nice also.
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the area around the school
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The anatomy lab. We got to watch 2nd years disecting. SF is a great place to live and be a medical student. Close to my family and friends. Vallejo isn't as bad as I thought it would be.
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anatomy lab, systems based curriculum
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The student gave the tour was very honest and gave me a good idea of what the school is really like.
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Dr. Haight is a riot, and his experience and honesty make for a great impression. The students are uniformly enthusiastic and straightforward about how changes in the curriculum are shaping the Touro education. It is a small program that seems very open, with plenty of help available and an eye toward the future. Lunch was tasty, too. The weather can't be beat.
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not much
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Students dissect whole cadavers rather than viewing pre-dissected prosections. There is alot of research going on that students can participate in. The campus is tucked away and remote, very quiet and charming. The students all seemed happy and enthusiastic. Dr. Haight was incredibly insightful and commiserated with our plights this late in the cycle. He offered email notification. The school has so much potential for growth. The group interview was wonderful because they had taken the time to find out about you and ask directed questions they had prepared. They had examined our applications for one week prior. Very impressive school altogether.
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The anatomy lab. It smelled fabulous! You could eat in there if they would let you. Dr. Haight's very candid in answering any and all questions.
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In my several visits...the anatomy lab has fresh air. The students look healthy and happy despite the constant onslaught of info. The faculty is very available.
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the friendliness of the staff and students, the campus was pretty neat and not too far from the bay, and I got pretty lucky with the group of people I interviewed with. We all got a long really well and it made things go much smoother.
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the location of the school (San Francisco Bay Area); the school did a very good job of presenting itself positively; director of admissions as well as staff are very friendly as are the students; how well qualified all the other interviewees were
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How nice everybody was
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the faculty and administration
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people there are nice.
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All of the people I met with were great. The students seem really happy and supportive of each other.
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Really great campus. A bit dismal on the outside, but inside, the facilities are great. VERY BIG future plans. They offer an OMM fellowship which is major points for me. They spun their lack of local rotations into a positive (kind of have to). Also they have international rotations available. This school in 10 years will be a serious contender in facilities and will be a very nice campus.
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Don Haight, what a stud. I don't care what you think of the school or the facilities, that man will make you feel good about yourself. He was a stud.
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I actually really liked the location, while it is kind of isolated it's still pretty and not creepy looking (to me anyway)
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I loved the fact that the students LOVED their school. Many students would randomly come up to us and wish us good luck, and helped prepare us for the interview. DEFINITELYY a supportive student community. I also appreciated the fact that the faculty was extremely supportive, and have an open door policy.
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nothing
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The anatomy lab is fantastic. The air is turned over 22x per hour and hardly smelled. The students were friendly.
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The school didn't seem as bad at the rating had suggested however this was my first interview. The place was small but the facilities were very new. The school is very progressive and they had a nice cadaver lab. Dr. Haight does a good job on preparing you for the interview, he even did mini mock interviews with our group.
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Touro's focus on continual improvement. The anatomy lab was awesome. A lot of new things coming for future students to take advantage of. Faculty's open door policy. I actually liked the island...very nice.
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program director
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The anatomy lab was nice. Very little fumes. The administration was very nice.
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It is in the Bay area
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The facilities
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the interviewers were very nice. Dr. Haight was very helpful.
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The location. I can imagine myself going into SF to get away from school. I don't know if I'll have time but whatever little free time it'll be quality in SF.
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The school is going to be great...the dean and facilities are going to be first class.
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Dr. Haight, director of admissions, the anatomy lab, the faculty, the students, the gym, the beautiful location.
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The close proximity to San Francisco. The dual degree D.O./MPH program. Electives and opportunities in medical spanish, global health, and global internships.
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Touro has an MPH-DO program which sounds interesting, but since its a newer program it does have some accreditation issues which might prevent you from getting a few jobs(mainly government jobs). Overall student's seemed happy and friendly. I thought the faculty and staff were also friendly throughout the day.
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Dr. Haight, OMM lab, anatomy lab, unbelievable sense of community.
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Nothing, maybe the sun?
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The office staff was friendly, and the student tourguide gave honest opinions about the school.
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The camaraderie amongst students and faculty, the research opportunities, the DO/MPH program, the student-planned events, and the OMM lab.
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Overall attitude on campus, anatomy lab, OMM facility, sunshine
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The admissions director was outstanding. One thing he said I will never forget - you are in charge of the perception today - what ever impression you want to give is completely in your control.
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The anatomy lab is amazing (looks and smells). The students seemed enthusiastic. Most interviewers were down-to-earth and sympathetic toward students (i.e. looking for the good in you) rather than hostile or skeptical. Dr. Haight genuinely cares about enrolling quality students and especially those who have something unique to bring to the school (and he's good at it). The school absolutely has a campus feel to it.
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The great faculty and staff. The interviewers were incredibly nice and layed back. Dr. Haight is hilarious.
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The anatomy lab was really nice. They were setting up for their anatomy test and it didn't smell that bad.
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Small school, more one-on-one time with professors, the fact that students have a voice, and that the school is trying to expand, which means that if I want to start an organization, or do research the profs and deans are more readily accepting of those opportunities. Small school means very family oriented, and encouraging, and supportive . Outside the city of Vallejo, is San Francisco, which is an amazingly diverse place. Don't have to go far for excitement.
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My interviewers, Dr. Hartwig especially, made it clear that the faculty are a tight-knit group who are dedicated to teaching. Very good OMM instruction is available for those who wish to pursue it, but specialized training is not forced on students. Options in roation sites. Quiet campus with a certain charm.
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The part when Dr. Haight spoke to us about our applications and how we were already screened pretty well prior to being invited to interview. He stated that even if we are not accepted at TUCOM-MI we will be accepted elsewhere eventually. And even though this is hard to believe if you have not been accepted into a medical school yet, his words are true. The anatomy lab was impressive and the student guide was able to show us a cadaver. Students may choose to do their 3rd + 4th year rotations almost anywhere in the U.S. although they are pushing for more students to stay in the Bay area in the future. Also there is a new Genesis curriculum that sounded very promising.
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Well ventilated anatomy room, the weather was awesome, the facilities are nice, new and clean. Dr. Haight was really nice and gave us unbaised answers about the school which was very appreciated.
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The anatomy lab was nice. It even had windows. That was about the only part of the campus I liked!
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Dr. Haight is very funny and spent some time with us explaining the interview process (although very little time compared to the past). I thought the group interview with my peers would be intimidating but it actually went well and was fun to hear about what some of the other candidates had been up to. I was also happy to hear they are switching to an integrated curriculum.
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The student that gave us the tour was very encouraging. Dr. Haight is very nice, the dean of the med school was very very nice and informative.
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Nice, friendly staff and laid back atmosphere. California's beautiful, even the ramshackle town of Vallejo. The facilities seemed adequate if not state of the art.
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I was impressed by the student tour guide...she had a lot of good things to say about the school and didn't shy away from saying what she didn't like (school is a bit disorganized at times). Overall she was happy with her choice there. Anatomy lab seemed good too. Also, I liked the fact that the interviews were done in a group and open-file. This allowed them to ask specific questions about you that you were probably more prepared to answer (I felt). And with other applicants there, it took the focus off of me some. I felt pretty comfortable by the end of the hour. All of the staff seemed friendly and approachable. Also, there's a two-week turnaround on your application status. That's fantastic.
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Dean of admissions, the interview panel
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Nothing impressed me positively.
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Dr.Haight, he is very encouraging and is just so nice! I really enjoyed him, he has an awesome personality.
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All of the people we met were really friendly and honest when you asked them about the program. Dr. Haight is great and my interviewers were really laid back and seemed interested in what we were saying.
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Dr. Haight made the experience very pleasant and had some great advice for each of us prior to going to interview.
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the day was organized, the facilities not as bad as i was expecting, based on SDN... faculty seem to be very caring... i thought the campus was fairly pretty actually - it's where "patch adams" was filmed. and i loved that there were grass and trees! (i am from a city)
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Location, Anatomy lab, growth potential of the site, plenty of parking, it was a nice day, new curriculum that will involve 2 years of anatomy, the old theater, the whole island kind of has a pioneer feel to it
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The camaraderie between administration, faculty, and students.
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disection, not prosection. not a bad commute from oakland/berkeley or the city, so not far from a great area.
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Students' enthusiasm about the school, how nice Dr. Height was, how nice professors were to us - they all seemed very interested in me and very encouraging during the interview. Also, I love San Francisco and the c ultural life it has to offer.
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Facilities, the way the students love the school, cohesiveness of the student body
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The state of art anatomy lab, helpful faculty and students, research opportuninties
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I could disagree with an earlier positing more. I know who posted that impression. He was a complete jerk. He was negative from the moment he sat down. On the tour he embarassed all of us with his negativity. Dr. Haight saw what was going on before any of us. He just didn't want to be there. He had already interviewed at several schools. He says 10. Who knows. All I know is that he acted like a he was doing us a favor by being there. I was unsure if Dr. Haight would call him on it. All of us really liked each other and we all felt connected. Dr. Haight told him that he should not take that attitude into the interview and he still did it. What a waste of everyone's time. OK, I will buy that the Island isn't what I expected. There is a lot of construction going on. The campus was nice though. The anatomy lab was the best I ever saw. The students were all positive. I didn't get accepted, but if offered a chance to go I would take it. I heard some rumors about the curriculum changing and that concerns me, but only because they have such a good reputation as is.
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Dr. Haight is everything students say he is. If you go to this school based on him then I can say that is a fair judgement.
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the people were unbelievably kind and friendly. dr. haight is an excellent representative of the school and was cordial and professional with all the interviewees. he wants to make you feel comfortable so you can be yourself during the interview. i can't say that about most admissions directors.
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1) It's near SF. 2) The anatomy lab is really nice.
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Dr. Haight was great all around. The anatomy professors were extremely nice and welcoming.
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the quality of the school and the people I met. Faculty seemd genuine, people seemd happy to be there.
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The anatomy lab was in tip top shape, state of the art. Great ventilation and very new. Possibly the best I've seen.
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I was incredibly impressed with the state of the art anatomy lab and that the student/cadaver ratio is only 4-5 students per body. I was also impressed with how friendly and family-like the students were on campus. They all were so friendly!
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its close to san francisco driving-wise
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Proximity of San Francisco
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The students were very friendly and laid back. The island is very pretty, and being close to all the good things in the bay area is always a good thing.
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the anatomy lab, dr. haight was very straightforward and friendly, the student tour guide liked her school very much, which was nice. i also liked the research opportunities that are available if you want to get involved
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The anatomy lab is incredible and seemed much better ventilated than other schools.
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Dr. Haight was very welcoming and encouraging. I liked his straight-forward approach and ability to put us all at ease prior to the actual interview. The campus is small and very tucked away on the island but the anatomy lab is amazing. Our student guides seemed very happy at the school and tried hard to answer our questions. The faculty that interviewed us were firm believers in the benefits of osteopathic medicine. The admin staff even seemed happy and relaxed. Folks I told about the interview were impressed they fed us lunch. :)
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Dr. Haight epotomizes what an Admissions Director should be. He lays everything on the table and answers any questions. His openness makes you feel comfortable with the school and really boosts its image. Also, the anatomy lab is all that it's cracked up to be, truly wonderful!
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The proximity to San Fran.
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The genuine camaraderie among students and how courteous Dr. Haight, my interviewers and staff was.
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Dr. Haight is absolutely amazing. I guarantee any stress you felt walking in will be relieved in the first 10 minutes of meeting with him. Very clean (odorless)anatomy lab and block exam schedule. This depends on student preference, some schools give exams every week. Also,the schedule is great for even the most reformed/conservative of Jews (classes end early on Fridays and all holidays off). Also housing off campus seems affordable. Oh yes, one more thing....you will have a decision within 2 weeks. In fact I received notice of acceptance the Friday after my interview.
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Dr. Haight is just as good, or better, than everyone says. If I was to go to this school it would because of the things he said. He really makes you feel good about being selected for an interview. The others I interviewed with were absolutely amazing and talented people. Dr. Haight knows how to pick 'em, I felt good knowing I was selected among such amazing people.
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Dr. Haight is a blast. He is very honest and I frankly learned a lot about the admissions process. All the other interviewees got along and talked the whole time.
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This is old news...but Dr. Haight really is a sincere man who just wants the students to do their best in the interview and he did an amazing job talking with all of us before the interview; he has a great sense of humor and we laughed a lot, so that helped most of us relax. He had us each talk about ourselves with the whole group of 12 students so we could get comfortable with each other since we would have to speak in front of each other during the actual interview (there were 2 groups of 6 people being interviewed that day). This was really helpful; I felt like I knew enough about the other applicants and they knew enough about me that when questions were asked during the interview I was completely comfortable speaking honestly in front of everyone. Also, the anatomy lab is really nice, the odor is tolerable and there's a great view of trees and buildings and some old Navy ships on the water. The lecture halls are nice with comfortable seats. The library was packed with students studying for their block exams this week; there are plenty of chairs and sofas for everyone to find a comfortable spot to study; the library has all of the books that are needed for a great education at TUCOM, and if you need a book that's not there, they will get it for you. All of the staff and students I met were really friendly.
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Dr. Haight, as has been said time and again, is wonderful. He really makes you feel good about yourself, and is open about where the school is in terms of # of seats available, etc.
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The new curriculum allows the students to take advantage of more early clinical experiences. I did not rent a car, so I took the ferry into SF. It was definitely worth the $17 round trip ticket. I was bummed when I found out the tours to Alcatraz were booked until the next day. If you are interested in going to Alcatraz, I think you can purchase tickets online before you visit SF. After the interview, a few of us went to the wine vineyards (in Napa), Benicia (where a lot of students live), and downtown Berkeley before taking a flight out of Oakland. I had so much fun touring the area with the other applicants! I am thrilled that TUCOM attracts such fun and interesting applicants, and would be ecstatic to spend the next few years studying with them. Also, I was surprised that one of the faculty members made a joke about the quality of TUCOM’s website. I was actually really pleased by his comment because it showed me that the faculty truly cares about their reputation and strives for continual improvement.
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Facilities seemed good and the classes we went by seemed to hold student attention.
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good physical location (island), nice facility
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Dr. Haight! He was extremely helpful and really tried to prep us for the interview portion of the day. He helped warm us up and he really made the day less stressful.
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The campus facilities. Mr. Haight, the Admissions Director, was also very encouraging and friendly.
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Dr. Haight was enthusiastic, funny, and approachable. The anatomy lab was amazing as expected. It seems that the students are a very close knit group, and the faculty are involved with student life.
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the students, the campus, the faculty, the residency matches of the students
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Dr. Haight, OMM lab, Anatnomy lab
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Anatomy and OMM labs
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enthusiasm of the student guide, the extracurricular activities offered on campus.
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Interviewing proffesors were diverse (a native Spanish speaker, a Dead-head) and interesting. Mare Island is actualy very pretty.
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The staff and faculty were amazing! The were bright, enthusiastic, and genuinely interested in getting to know me. The interview was more like a discussion with fellow students. The anatomy lab was odorless. They have a nice basketball court with the Touro emblem at center court.
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The anatomy lab was really well lit with natural light and had great air circulation. That's about it.
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The admissions director and his speach. Students were nice.
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The facilities were not that bad, the area is OK, and Dr. Haight was really nice. He's a very genuine person.
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California?? Dr. Haight is really nice and straightforward. I really appreciated his honesty about how the interview panel works and how Touro is. He didn't say anything bad about the school, but he didn't hype it up like other schools do.
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The student-guided tour, pre-lecture notes, and anatomy lab.
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I like the campus, it has a new Basic sciences building. The area that the school is much nicer than most of Mare Island. The students were friendly, they were studying for tests, but took the time to say hi and tell us how great the school is. They also have a mentoring program for first year students. The anatomy lab is really nice. And of course Dr. Haight is great.
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I love the proximity of the school to some great cities, and the especially opportunities to work in the bay area. The students seemed friendly and relatively laid back. The famous anatomy lab.
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The openness of the community. Even though the students were studying for finals, they all took the time to wish up luck and the teachers seemed welcoming.
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Small, community atmosphere. Openess of students and staff. Students seemed fun, sane, intelligent, relaxed. You obviously get to know everyone. Dr. Haight. The Mare Island Campus is fine. If you can look past some stuff, it's pretty cool actually. I'm definetly excited about going to this school after visting.
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The professionalism of the school, the course we watched for a few minutes, and the overall vibe of the school. The interviewers also had our file for a week, so they really knew each of us. Great interview.
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observing an OMM class for a few minutes
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everyone was nice, as were the facilities
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campus isn't as ugly as everyone says on SDN; Dr. Haight really makes you feel good about yourself, your application and your chances of acceptance; anatomy lab was impressive
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The faculty and students. The non-competitive, supportive atmosphere of the school. The anatomy lab.
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Admissions director was great! The students and staff were very friendly.
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The auditoriums are pretty nice.
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Dr. Haight was great. He was very informative and helpful. Explained everything clearly and tried to make sure we went into the interview stress free. Also it only takes a few days to find out if you got accepted compared with other schools
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friendliness of students, Dr. Haight, location
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professors and anatomy lab, residency matches in many UC med centers and Yale
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Dr. Haight's fatherliness towards the interviewees.
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Anatomy lab- they have a really good anatomy lab and air circulation system. They had all the bodies out and yet I couldn't smell anything.
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Dr. Haight, the students, and surprisingly the facilities.
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I was in California!?
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everything..friendly students and faculty..amazing anatomy lab (MUCH better than nova). free parking :) don't buy into all the negative comments posted here on the school
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The anatomy lab is awesome, Dr. Haight is obviously amazing as well. The students are so friendly and seem really happy . I liked the lecture halls and the fact that it's near the bay.. I love the school. (the OMM tables were brand new.. so that was kinda cool too)
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Everything! Group was really accomplished and personable, of course Dr. Haight was the epitomy of a great admissions director, interviewing faculty were warm and very welcoming
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Simply put, Dr. Haight. He spent an our with us at the hotel and about two hours with us in the conference room at the school. This time afforded us the opportunity to get to know each other and ask questions without fear of affecting the outcome of our application. Dr. Haight doesn't vote, so you an ask whatever you want (no matter how dumb or embarassing). You basically get a 3 hour warm-up for your 1 hour interview. I interviewed for the Las Vegas campus so there was no need for a site visit at the Mare Island interview. However, the staff at the Las Vegas campus was great about making time on a weekend to give me a tour of the new campus during my last trip to Las Vegas. The Henderson location is great. Affordable housing, lots to do and great weather. The facility is also brand spankin' new! Stadium seating in the classrooms, brand new anatomy and OMM lab and 10,000 square foot exercise facility. Having come from a major university with a huge campus, I like the idea of everything being inside a single building.
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One person, Dr. Haight. He made the interview process very smooth for me. I didn't sleep well the night before and was a bit nervous, but his hospitality and advice helped me relaxed and gave me last minute preparation.
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Dr. Haight, the program, going to a medical school in an area where there is a lack of good doctors.
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The staff and Dr. Haight and Brian (a soon to be student at the new branch who came down to talk to us all). They were all very helpful and kind and really open. It made the day so much better. Also, all the financial aid and information about the school was all done BEFORE the interviews. Recently interviewed at another school where all the information was being given out as applicants were being pulled for their interviews, so I missed some information on the school and its dress code because of it. They also had an awesom anatomy lab at the mare island campus. TUCOM is definitly my first choice school.
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The time that Dr. Haight spent with us
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Dr. Haight, meeting and getting to know my fellow interviewees, the previously accepted student who came to meet us at the Best Western in the morning
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Dr. Haight was really nice and very informative
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The enthusiam of the Director of Admission Donald Haight, and the admissions staff.
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Dr. Haight, Dr. Haight , Dr. Haight , Dr. Haight
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Clinicals, location (NV), staff.
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I was interviewing for the Nevada campus but the Mare Island campus is not as bad people say it is. People make it out to be a hole in the ground, deserted, military base. It's quite nice actually but doesn't compare to some other schools I've been to but it was decent.
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The students, we were able to meet w/a few post interview, and I instantly felt a genuine camraderie; they were the best (Our meeting them was NOT part of the interview/tour). The legendary Dr. Haight (Height, not Hate for those who will be interviewing soon) the hype is justified; the guy truly cares for the applicants, and tells us exactly what to expect during the admissions process.
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nice interviewers
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Dr. Haight! He is the best! He is very personable and did everything possible to alleviate our anxiety about the interviews. Also, very straightforward about the admission process and what we should expect. A great man! Stressed several times that we would not be there if HE didn't think we weren't great potential doctors.
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Dr. Haight is wonderful and helpful, gives a nice ego boost before the interview. Faculty were nice along with the interviewers.
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Dr Haight was awesome and funny! The student we met was sooo enthusiastic about the school (as was the dean) - it was contagious.
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The new campus in Las Vegas.
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The facilities are much nicer than I had expected. Those of us staying at the Best Western were welcomed to the Mare Island campus by Steve Davis, the Assistant Director of Admissions. He did a wonderful job of calming our nerves prior to the interview. Incredibly nice guy!!
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the campus, the admission staff, the anatomy lab
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LV is very excited about a med school coming to town and is doing a lot for the school. i.e. giving money.
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comaraderie amongst the interviewees for that day. i honestly can't think of anything positive for touro.
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anatomy lab and director of admissions
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Dr. Haight; community of students- everyone was so nice! ; Anatomy lab- so clean! good vents!
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Dr. Haight shared some useful information about the admissions process, and his views on the admissions process.
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campus, program,
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Students are dedicated to the school and teachers seem friednly and accessible.
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nice gross anatomy lab, some of the faculty seemed intellegent and were doing some interesting work.
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The way the interview is conducted. Although the group setting is a little intimidating, you have the opportunity to learn about your fellow candidates and their experiences. Dr. Haight makes this venue a reassuring atmosphere for everyone.
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other applicants at the interview
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The students are awesome (as well as the staff!). I would advice anyone who is going out to Touro to stay an extra day (or even after the interview) to go to classes/labs with the students. You really get a taste of what the school is like and you get to meet the students and get their feedback about the school. The facilities are very nice too- the labs and even the classrooms.
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the dean seemed real nice, they are opening a branch in LAS VEGAS
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I was impressed by the cordiality and respect that Dr. Haight, the interviewers and staff extended to each candidate. It was obvious that they had a genuine interest in each of us. The campus was nicely kept. The classrooms and facilities were nice.
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Dean was extremely nice, prepare us for the interview.
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The campus was not nearly as bad as people make it out to be. I pictured an abandoned island with sparce vegetation and ugly buildings everywhere. There were actually many trees and the campus looked fine. Dr. Haight was awesome...very helpful and reasuring.
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dr.haight is straight with you and has breakfast with you at your hotel and then takes you to the interview (stay at Best western) and he hang with you the WHOLE day, students seem very into the school, family oriented, school is developing so opportunities can be created (however also means that some things are lacking like research)
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I enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere of the interview, the great anatomy and OMM lab, and the proximity to San Francisco and Napa Valley
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Dr. Haight
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They were upfront with us, I did not get the vibe that they were trying to b.s. us. Reading the interview experiences had me more stressed than what the actual experience. I liked the school.
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The nature of the interviewers, and of course, Dr. Haight. He was pretty laid back, quite informative, and anxious to answer any questions. He has a great sense of humor and made the day enjoyable. The student giving the tour was pretty cool as well, scenery was nice. They were able to answer specific questions I had quite well. Contrary to a couple of posts, the interviewers were nothing but respectful- I also interviewed with two other applicants-they were awesome! Get to know each other, it makes the process much easier!
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It has been said before, and I need to say it too, Dr. Haight is a jem. The students were incredible who showed us around the campus and even invited us to stay in touch by email. The faculty acted friendly and one walked us back to Admissions. That was a nice thing to do.
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Anatomy lab was great. Hardly a scent of preservative. Pleasant interview, although some thought otherwise. The admissions director is wonderfully informative and very open.
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The anatomy lab was completely odor-free and had windows. That was nice. Also, to me, the campus itself is not as bad as many say it is. It was nice of Dr. Haight to offer to change the day's schedule to accomodate us. The students that we did meet seemed somewhat happy. I liked the program, where the students got matched up with a pregnant woman and followed her throughout her pregnancy. That was pretty cool. Admissions staff were nice.
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Dr. Haight, current students, anatomy lab, and even though I thought I would hate it the group interview was really good. When the interviewers put you on the spot, the other interviewees are the ones cheering you on. It really chills out the whole process.
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From the moment Dr. Haight, Dean of Admissions, met us at the hotel until at the very end when we walked us to the shuttle to take us back, I felt that he really wanted me and the others to do well. He is so refreshingly honest. No BS and I love that. One of the people interviewing with my group brought her father. Dr. Haight couldn't have been more hospitable. He invited him to tour with our group and even join us for when we had lunch. I overheard the father tell Dr. Haight how much it meant to him to be included. He wasn't my dad, but I almost cried when I heard what he said.
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The students all seems to really like the school and the helpfulness of the faculty.
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Honestly, only Dr. Haight. He meets you in the morning and accompanies you around the whole day. I appreciated his honesty and intergrity about the admissions process. He really makes you feel welcome. The actual school is a whole other story.
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Dr. Haight is a very nice person. There was somethings he said that I did not know or think about before about medical school admissions...but at the same time I think he may be overrated by many of the people who post their interview experience here. The anatomy lab is also great.
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Dr. Haight, the Director of Admissions, spent probably the entire day with us making sure that we got all our questions answered in a straight forward way and to make sure that the entire experience went smoothly. I knew how they interview and that it was different than I had done in the past and was anxious. He relieved the vast majority of my anxiety. I've been to schools where I haven't even met the Dean of Admissions, and he spent the entire day with us. I couldn't have been more impressed by his honesty and the way he sincerely cares. If I get accepted, and I accept their offer, it will be mostly because of him.
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TUCOM has the best anatomy lab I have seen anywhere! The lighting in the lab is bright, not so bright that it blinds you, but excellent. You can barely detect the smell in there. Plenty of space in the lab. TUCOM is located in the Bay Area, which contains cities (SF, San Jose) where there's a lot to do. But the city of Vallejo does not represent the Bay Area at all. There's on-campus housing close to lecture halls, but is up on the hill. One student told me there's a cafeteria - meal plans...but I'm still not sure about this.
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The students seem to genuinely help each other. Also, Dr. Haight explained the admission TUCOM's philosophy very well.
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the students and staff
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I was actually impressed by the campus. I was expecting "deserted military base" to mean cold, sterile buildings on a barren, windswept island. I found the initial parts of the island to be a bit run-down, but the area where the campus was located was historical and stately, but modern inside. The campus area was rennovated, and I thought the buildings were attractive. The campus is surrounded by green lawns, trees, and the bay- I think it was very attractive, and actually is the selling point for me for the school- when we were outside it was so quiet, you could only hear the sound of the sprinklers. I thought it was really peaceful. You can also live on the island and walk less than a block to class. There are no security issues because it is a small community and the island has a security check-point to enter. Just my opinion though.
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Well, the anatomy lab is well-ventilated. That's about it. The travel accomodations are nice. Stay at the Best Western, it'll make your life easier.
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Dr. Haight is wonderful, he is very honest and upfront, he made me feel very relaxed and optimistic about the day, before we got to the school. Plus, the anatomy lab is great, the students generally seemed happy, one of my interviewers was very friendly and enthusiastic about the interview.
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The students seemed genuinely happy to be there and the facilities were great. Also, Dr. Haight is the best.
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As mentioned by others, Dr. Haight is a great resource. The have great plans for improving the school and the campus.
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The nice gym and entertainment facilities.
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The students were really warm and friendly. Also, Dr. Haight is a great resource! Plus, the San Francisco Bay Area is awesome (aside from Vallejo).
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Dr. Haight, of course. He let us go to the bathroom alot! :) Also, I really liked everyone (the faculty)on my interview panel. I enjoyed the group interview; it was interesting to listen to everyone's answers
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the school looks like it has a great OMM program, a high degree of student satisfaction, and a good overall program. Financial aid presentation was quick
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friendliness of staff & students and how they work together, the tranquility, the centralization of everything, such as offices, gym, class rooms, library, and of course there is an open door policy!
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Opportunities to study and train at several respected city hospitals. Dr. Haight was really nice and tried to make it as easy as possible.
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Although it has been expressed over and over, you don't understand how helpful Dr. Haight is until you experience it first hand. His candor, comfort, and compassion was unbelievable. He is truthful, but not blunt, reassuring, but will not lead you on. The caliber of the other applicants was amazing. I could not imagine being on the admissions committee and have the responsibility of decide who gets in and who doesnt... The anatomy lab and OMM lab is spacious... Cool electronic paper towel dispensers... Wireless internet in the works... Happy students!
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Dr. Haight, the interview panel
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Dr. Haight is the best! His candid comments about the campus and his willingness to answer any and all questions contributed to the great experience. I appreciated the fact that Touro does its best to respect the medical school applicant, unlike other schools that make you feel like beggars in the street asking for handouts. I also like that they provide students the opportunity to do international rotations.
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The staff seemed very friendly and approachable, students seemed happy. Dr. Haight was very open and honest at breakfast and thoughout the entire day. Although the outside of the TUCOM buildings aren't very pretty, the insides have been totally renovated. The anatomy lab was beautiful--lots of natural light.
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As has been said here numerous times, Dr. Haight is great and really does put you at ease. Although the facilites weren't the best, the students did seem very happy there.
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The group dynamic was great. Whenever the interviewers faces were "unfriendly" I could always turn to my peers and see their encouraging faces.
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I loved the city of San Francisco. It's such an awesome place to be. And Dean H was great. He was so nice, honest, and reassuring. The school treated you very respectfully, and I liked that. The goal was not to intimidate us. And I loved the interviews being conducted in a group format.
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The friendliness of the admissions staff, in particular Dr. Haight. The anatomy lab, nice peaceful location, close to the water. I was very impressed by the caliber of the students I interviewed with - they were very accomplished and friendly.
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Dr. Haight is a valuable resource...not intimidating and really wants to be a source of information for you, not a critic or judge.
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The students were surprising satisfied with their experience.
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Dean of Admissions was very supportive through the interview day and the 98% first and second choice residency match rate.
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The friendliness of Dr. Haight and the student tour guide. T
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The interior of a number of the buildings had recently been remodeled. Dr. Haight was extremely friendly, positive, and helpful. The happiness of the students that I talked to. The professors seemed to love teaching and had close relationships with the students. The warm weather of California.
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Dr. Haight, the admissions director. He was very amiable, respectful, and straightforward. Overall, the TUCOM admissions process the most humanized you will find at any school.
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Friendly students
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It is a new school
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sanfrancisco
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Anatomy lab, new lecture halls.(huge with great a/v) Honesty of Dr. Haight-great dean.
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The facilities were very nice and the faculty is very proud of their school. The Dean of Admissions, Dr. Haight, is the best admissions staff representative that I have met from any of the schools I have interviewed at.
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How nice Dr. Haight was throughout the day. The happiness of the students at the school
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Dr. Haight was way cool, he gave us all confidence in that if not accepted here we would be somewhere....being with the other interviewees really helped relax the mood, gave us someone to talk to that was going through the same thing you were.
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Everyone was extrememly friendly and nice and the anatomy lab truly is well ventilated... we were in there for about 15 minutes and did not leave smelling at all :)
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Parts of the movie Patch Adams was filmed on that campus and the anatomy lab was the BEST SMELLING anatomy lab of any school I had visited thus far!
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Dr. Haight is a wonderful man. Very straightforward and no-nonsense.
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The new lecture halls were cool. In ten years, this will be a great campus.
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students seemed happy
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The faculty and students
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Dr. Haight was wonderful, really made me feel comfortable. It seems he truly cares about his candidates
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Dr. Haight was great and made you feel at ease. When you meet him in the morning before the interview (GO TO THE HOTEL FOR THE BREAKFAST) ask him lots of questions about the interview. He will tell if you ask--but only if you ask. Don't be shy. The campus was okay, but the anatomy lab was pretty impressive (no smell whatsoever).
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The dean, Dr. Haight was very personable and was the host for the day.
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The dean was incredible. He came out to the suggested hotel and greeted us. He was very honest and genuine. He understood all the crap students have to put up with (wait lists etc.) and promised us that he does not run things that way. He respects students a lot. Apparently the school matches well.
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The respect the faculty has for the students, and the happiness of the students
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The students and their view of the faculty!
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Openess and welcomeness by staff and faculty. Anatomy lab, golf course.
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The anatomy lab was new.
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How the students and facutly seemed to genuinely like each other. Being a bit of a Trekkie, the cooperative, positive vibe I got from the school, coupled with the location - San Francisco, made me comment to an interviewer that this was what Starfleet Academy must be like - lots of people working cooperatively towards a common goal. I wasn't so much of a dork - I waited 'til after the interview.
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The dean of admissions (dr haight) was very personal and candid about the school, which spoke miles about what kind of program they want to build. Also, the interviewers had one week to really go through the files. The interviewers really knew your files and it wasn't akward at all, in fact the interview (which was panel format) was actually quite fun.
What impressed you negatively?
Applicants expressed negative feedback about the difficulty of the questions during the interviews, the unpreparedness and lack of enthusiasm of interviewers, the lengthy and awkward interview format, the campus facilities being run down or inadequate, the lack of information provided about the curriculum and clinical rotations, the unattractive location of the school on an old naval base, the limited access to amenities and food, the lack of student engagement, and concerns about the school's organization and future plans. Suggestions included improving the interview format, providing more detailed information about the school, enhancing campus facilities, increasing student engagement, and addressing concerns about the school's location and surroundings.
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Some interviewees got some questions that were pretty difficult to answer on the spot
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The panel interview and how unprepared the faculty interviewers seemed. It really felt like they were just sheparding students in and out. A 3 person on 5 candidates interview format is super awkward and although my interview was offered in July, it made me feel like they don't actually care about me, just that they're trying to get students in the door. None of the medical students who spoke seemed happy either.
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The interview day was very long (5.5 hours including breaks). Mine was 8:45am - 2:15pm. The panel interview style was awkward and stressful because answering questions in front of other interviewees made it feel more intense.
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We only had 5 questions each. I felt there was not enough time to fully elaborate on why the school should pick you.
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Was not a fan of the group interview format; there is very little on-campus housing available, the nearest houses are a 5 minute drive from campus
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Nothing. I really love this area of the school. Some people do not like the way this campus looks/the surrounding area. But I actually really don't mind the campus and love the area.
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Interview format, interviewers
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I thought the group interview was very weird and didn't give each person a lot of time to express who they are. Also, I didn't like that at the beginning of the day, someone asked what colleges we went to and everyone seemed to be from a big name school (Cal, UCLA, Stanford). I, coming from a small liberal arts college, felt a little intimidated by that and wished they didn't ask about that.
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The outside of the buildings are a little shabby but the insides are great
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I did not vibe well with the campus. Lots of abandoned buildings.
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I don't think they have a simulation lab, which was disappointing. The facilities are humble but I wish they were in a little better shape.
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Parts of their facilities were a little run down
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Current students flippant about attending class, MPH representative presentation too long
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Old facilities.
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Since the school is located on a closed Naval base/shipyard, the campus and building aesthetics were not the best. The same can also be said of some parts of Mare Island/Vallejo. The gym and workout facilities were fairly small compared to other schools. The anatomy lab is decent, nothing too fancy. Their simulation center was slated to be ready by early 2018 but forgot to ask about that.
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nothing
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Facilities and Mare Island in general
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It seemed like they were avoiding answers about why their students were below average on COMLEX/USMLE and why they keep restructuring their curriculum.
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n/a- this interview was amazing
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The facilities are less than ideal
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Very high cost of attendance, you have to find your own clinical rotation sites for year 4
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Old buildings, but whatever, I can deal.
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The area was awful, car got broken into, offered drugs. Will NEVER go back
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Some of the facilities are older and they dont' have as much room as some of the other schools I have visited
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Some of the facilities seemed dated.
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The remaining naval shipyard that surrounds the campus.
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The campus and the buildings.
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looks like you're driving into a ghost town when you drive to campus
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Pretty much everything except Dr. Haight.
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The school is a little depressing looking since it's on an old naval base. Also they are updating Farrigut Inn so it was a little messy due to the construction, but that's understandable!
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The school seemed a little run down
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You have anatomy for 2 full years... and the lab is not as wonderful as everyone says... very primitive. The school closes 3pm Friday until sundown Saturday for Jewish holiday and there is limited/no access to library, labs, etc. All food on campus must be Kosher = expensive! Exposure to clinical opportunites is not overly encouraged in the first 2yrs. There are no cafes, stores, etc on the island - you MUST have a car or take a long ferry ride to downtown. The classes are strictly graded and 88-90% pass rate for boards. The biggest turn-off: NO current students besides our tour guides even said hello, good luck, or ANYTHING! There were students looking super stressed and telling us how hard it is at Touro... ummmm ok...
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Although technologically advanced, minimal amount of facilities. Campus still in development. Ambiguity about clinical rotations and how they are organized.
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Nothing really stood out as bad, but I'd say look at the next section (know ahead of time).
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Mare Island is not very nice, is isolated and needs some coffee shops or restaurants. Anything.
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Nothing really.
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They said it was hard to get residency matches because of the competition with allopathic med schools in the bay area
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the facilities were not as nice as the other places i've been to, clinical rotations seemed scattered
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The fact that it's on Mare island and the back yard is essentially an abandoned shipyard. The island has no food/groceries/amenities. You would have to drive off the island, which is only about 20 mins but there is no time for that when school starts. Also, the gym is the size of my bedroom with 2 treadmills. literally.
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They're still working out their clinical rotations. Their assertion that their curriculum is "seven or eight years ahead of the boards" just didn't fly with me as justification for why their board pass rates weren't better than average. The area is an abandoned naval base.
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nothing really.. maybe how old the buildings look from outside. doesn't look like a campus
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I won't lie - the interview style is abrasive and difficult. I did not particularly like that.
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Nothing.
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Some of the quesions seemed personal and not so appropriate for a group setting. Especially stuff about family issues
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The professors seemed somewhat pretentious. Although I understood why they did the interview in the manner that they did, I really felt that it didn't allow much personal time to sit with faculty so that they could truly get to know your character. I think that this could have been incorporated into the interview day, but that a personal interview would have been nice too. I really didn't feel that it was worth the trip to just let someone see 8 minutes (one hour of interviews with 6 other people in the room leaves VERY little personal time) of your personality.
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There's no cafe near the campus
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Well, the buildings ARE old, and the area off of Mare Island isn't the best...the student wasn't particularly enthusiastic touring us
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I understand the rationale behind why they interview this way now, but I still personally believe that it's not the best way to get to know an applicant. Then again, the personal interview has repeatedly been shown in research to be a miserable indicator of future performance, so who knows, maybe they're onto something!? At any rate, it's not a terribly pleasant experience.
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crappy facilities. they'll be great in 10 years but they suck now. fact that school (all buildings) is closed at 3pm and firdays and all day saturdays. how can u call urself a serious academic institution when there is no real library and no place to study on campus 24 hours a day or even after 11pm?
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Terrible school facilities. Total lack of an actual campus. Area is run down, derelict. School has NO facilities for studying at night and IS CLOSED Fridays at 3pm and all day Saturdays. This is in observance of Jewish law but Einstein in NYC has 24 hour study areas and they are a Jewish school as well. FYI, hospitals and patients do not adhere to Jewish/Catholic/Hindu/Muslim religious calendars, you will have to go to work. Not a strong academic environment, bad facilities, not even cheap.
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School isn't pretty
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ambiguous interview questions were pretty frustrating
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The area (Mare Island seems so secluded), the library has few tangible books (most material is online).
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the school and facilities are not pretty. vallejo looks scary. But the towns surrounding vallejo (benicia etc..) are gorgeous!
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out of no where No D.O. interviewer!
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See above
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The area around the school is kinda bland. You can see the construction equip from the school and hear ships coming in from time to time. Driving in was a little deserted feeling but they are developing things in the area to bring more people there.
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You have to drive through the whole island to get to the campus.
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the lack of information the school gives about their program
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Lack of presentation and organization. I wanted to know more about the school from the dean and from students about Complex pass rates, curriculum specifics, etc. It sounds like it will be difficult to get rotations and a residency I want.
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lack of clinical exposure in 1st 2 yrs, mare island is not pretty
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The campus looks rundown. Lack of food on campus.
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This place is in Vallejo, a city that has great potential but is currently an industrial and socio-economically disadvantaged area. However, if you are in the DO business, you probably want to serve as a primary care physician, anyway, so imagine the opportunities to help in the area. The facilities are a mix. The classrooms are great and high-tech, but the campus IS an old Navy base with lots of history, but a very dilapidated look in an industrial area. Google map it - take a look at the satellite view. It gives a good impression.
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I promised I would not say directly what was said, but during the interview day some extremely inappropriate comments were made to me personally and I felt like I was a trooper for brushing them aside on such a stressful day. These comments were made in front of the group I was with, and was directed towards me from one of the admissions staff. I felt these comments were hurtful and should be frowned upon by any institution, especially a medicial school with a holistic mission.
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Nothing. All positive, even the high security. I arrived two hours early and the campus was closed. I was swarmed by NICE security guys telling me where to park and wait.
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Although I appreciated all of the statistical information given by Dr. Haight, I was really tired of talking about the interview and just wanted to get it over with already. We spent nearly four hours talking about what our chances of getting in were. It was just a little too late to bring forth any doubts about continuing with the interview.
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I totally can't stand Vallejo, and I hate driving cuz i think it's wasteful. I'll either have to live in vallejo (gulp), or drive A LOT! So maybe i'll get a biodiesel car...
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that the school is not associated with an undergraduate facility
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lack of discussion of curriculum or clinical rotations; MPH program is still not fully accredited (probably will be by mid-2009)
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the area the campus was in
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not much...it's a fine school.
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Facilities = B-
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The facilities weren't the best but they were good enough and the university has a lot of room to grow.
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The fact that I'm applying now. Again, the particle lab will probably change a lot of what the school is doing/able to do.
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Eh, I could be picky and say ''lack of info on rotations, match lists, etc..but honestly, they had the info i wanted and you can find/talk to others to get what you need. Most students sound like they need their hand held while interviewing. Don't be a baby.
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There was absolutely no mention of the curriculum. No information given about basic science classes/clinical rotations, aside from mentioning that they were switching to a systems-based curriculum (and that info was given by the student tour guide when asked)
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I wish it were NOT located on mare island!! The area is not quite where I would picture a medical school
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everything. There is a level of professionalism that is expected from a school when the student is to be paying upwards of 40k a year in tuition. The facilities were horrible in comparison to other schools with equivalent tuition. The faculty seemed indifferent during the interview, and the students when asked questions were not able to answer them, and even went on to say they felt as if they were being kept in the dark about many things. The expansion will not help anyone who is applying within the next 2-4 years. The 3 buildings are subpar at best. It did not feel like a medical school at all. There was no effort by the staff to sell the school they just seemed like robots going about sticking to the schedule, and that was their main concern throughout the day.
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There are some spooky looking buildings on Mare Island. They're historical landmarks from the navy base so they can't do that much about them.
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The school was really small, but it didn't bother me that much since I go to a small university for my undergrad, it was kind of too bad that it was winter break for them so no students were around and there were no classes to sit in on.
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Cost of living in the Bay area. A lot of bugs to be worked out in their new curriculum, so I would probably be a guinea pig. Tuition is expensive. $2,000 nonrefundable deposit to hold your spot.
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The interviewers and campus feel. Also the research tour and MPH sales pitch.
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The facilities. Workout room on a racquetball court!
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The lack of discussion on the service aspect of medicine. Everyone seemed focused on remuneration. Also, that no one would frankly discuss the curriculum changes.
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The school is located in an abandoned shipyard. the place is dirty and sketchy. I was surprised there was a medical school located here.
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Dr. Haight is nice but he has a very diplomatic way at answering/avoiding questions. It seems like the school is very secretive about its clinical 3rd and 4th years which are the MOST IMPORTANT years of med school. I don't really care about its campus, but I needed answers on its rotations and board scores but were not answered. The school also has no real tangible plans for the future that they could show us. Students also seemed secretive and protective of what they know very little of what their school is up to.
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Nothing, but I have a huge bias.
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The complete lack of student interaction... my student tour guide couldn't answer many questions. The lack of discussion on the curriculum and rotations... all conversation was about the new MPH program.
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The entire interview day felt unorganized and they did very little to try and impress me about their school. The scheduled presenters such as the Director of Admissions and Financial Aid person were all unavailable durign our interview day. We spent most of the time discussing the MPH-DO program and then they showed us their research facilities, while trying to scramble and get some students to take us on a tour. Very little was discussed about their new curriculum for next year and people didn't seem to know much about. People in my interview group kept asking questions about the new curriculum and everyone always got a very general response. The school is also in a pretty run down old shipping yard.
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The smell of my own fear.
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Everything.
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There was no mention of the curriculum or any information on the 3rd and 4th year rotation sites!! I was totally floored at the complete lack of information about the education that the school is supposed to provide. I also had to listen to an extremely boring, hour-long discussion about the DO/MPH program.
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The interview format, the wasted time during the orientation, the negative interviewers
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Nothing... I had a great time.
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My hotel room burned down and I lost my dress shoes and ties.
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I wish that we were able to see more of the campus while there.
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sincerely nothing.
-
The Halloween feel of an abandoned Naval base.
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The campus and Mares Island is not that bad. Its a work in progress. They are trying to revitalize the city because it was formerly a naval base. In a few years it will look nice. Although some people liked the set up of the interview, I was not fond of it. It made me a bit more nervous
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There is not much city life in Vallejo, no public transport, not many restaurants/fast food near by. But this can be seen as an advantage b/c then all you do is study, learn, and stay in that environment.
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lack of intramurals, campus felt a bit dead, lack of nearby restaurants... but SF and Berkeley are nearby!
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The community just outside of Mare Island, the abandoned military buildings on Mare Island and the campus itself seems a little dated. Now this is an issue because it seems that one may have to live relatively farther away from this school than others to be in a better looking neighborhood. Personally I do wish to live very close to the school I will be attending to minimize travelling times. I was told the campus and the area will be significantly renovated and relandscaped in the next 5-10 years, but as I won't be around then that didn't excite me. Also renovation is slow because the buildings are considered historic, these are just a few things to consider.
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the school is located in what use to be a navy yard. A lot of the old navy buildings are still around. The guide said that they are not taken down because they are regard as historical sites since Ab Lincoln had once visited it. I heard from the student that the food is not good but its Kosher so that can be a plus.
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Mare Island - shudder. It was creepy. Also, we only got to really interact with one student, the tour guide. Would have preferred lunch with students rather than with the admissions department.
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I did not care for the facilities. I was a little small, and run down looking. The students had just started the block exam week so the tour guide was extremely stressed and basically knew nothing about the school. He kept asking if we had questions but could not answer any of them? Mare island is a little creepy and Vallejo is not the nicest area. Esthetics aside I am sure the education is good but I know I would not be happy there.
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I visited the school last year and nothing much has changed despite all the talk from the faculty that they are working on all sorts of projects with the school. The interviews are open file and we are told in the preinterview that the interviewers have had our files for a week and have been studying them. However, they seemed like they were just glancing at our files during the interview and making up questions. For example, one of the candidates I was interviewing was asked what her parent who was an M.D. thought of him going into D.O. medicine. He politely told the interviewer that his father was dececed and then answered the question. After talking to him after the interview he said he was confused because it was all over his application that his father was dececed. This among other little things makes me think that they were not giving out files as much attention that we are told they are. I also don't feel like the group interview is a very good way to get to know the candidates.
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The dean of the school along with a lot of the faculty were away at the AOA conference, so in his place the dean of the school of public health spoke to us for 45 minutes and we learned more than most of us wanted to know about the DO/MPH dual degree option. Also, because of the group interview approach, there wasn't much of a chance to converse with the interviewers. I would rather have a more personal and less structured interview. The student tour guide was nice and frank about the school but failed to show us the student housing and cafeteria facilities even though it was on the schedule. Touro is a kosher Jewish campus yet the student seemed to know very little about Judaism, and no one else mentioned it all day, almost as though they were embarrassed about it. The facilities appear to be converted from the old naval facilities and not designed from the ground up as a medical school.
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Mare Island isn't really that nice looking. Driving into the place is a little creepy. I think that things will start to look better though when the construction gets closer to being finished.
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the campus and Vallejo
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Inferior facilities. No bookstore!! Have to order all books and supplies online. Interview is from 12 PM to 1 PM...not a good time...panel looked hungry and did not want to be there. That they are going to open another campus in las vegas..i think they should close the campus in vallejo and concentrate in las vegas...land in vegas cheaper (anything's better than mare island)...but i don't think this is going to happen...library has so little books...i feel they r in it 4 the money...during the interview process, i was wondering "am i willing to spend so much money and time on a school that does not really care about its students, that's in it for the money, has little to offer... made me think a lot...if no do schools accept me, i have no other choice...but if i have options, i prefer not to go here
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location of school, small library.
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Location-the school is super isolated and is about 60 minutes from SF
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The town of Vallejo didn't seem that safe.
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There are letter grades and there are even percentiles for each course completed.
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the community was alright - the guide didn't seem to know THAT many people at the school... you really have to drive for a while on mare island before getting to campus
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Apathetic tour guide, but helk he had exams that day
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The location is a bit desolate and eerie.
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technology a bit lacking. no decent dining facilities on campus (only a little room with some kosher-only food).
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They ask a lot of difficult questions, and they pick one person ( in this case, myself) and ask disproportional number of questions of one applicant comparing to the rest of the group.
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The location is not pretty--lots of construction and potholes
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None
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I only wish I wouln't have had to interview with the guy who was so negative. He tried to dominate the entire interview, and it was all negative.
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Everything that is not Dr. Haight. The group interview was crap and a waste of time. The facilities are subpar to every school I have seen. Underground OMM lab, unimpressive anatomy lab, LOCATION. I don't know why they built a school on Mare Island but it is an abandoned, desolate area with no life in the immediate area. No food or social activity you must leave the island for everything.. it is the midst of construction everywhere and the sight of an abandoned naval yard is depressing.
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See my explanation, it's rather detailed.
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at first glance, touro isn't the most beautiful school on the outside. but, it grows on you and the inside of the buildings are remodeled and modern.
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1) The judgemental director of admissions. 2) The interview itself was weird. 3) The school is a dump.
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The school seemed very disorganized...it is changing its curriculum next year, yet no one had any concrete information on the changes. The location is awful: one of my tour guides actually said that she is scared to walk from the library to her dorm at night because the island is deserted and scary. Also, the facilities were old and the classroom was dark. I was not happy to hear about the block exam schedule: one student said that she once had 13 exams in one week!
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Dr. Haight kept on talking about how Touro only invites qualified students and doesn't want to waste their money. However, the $2,000 deposit 2 weeks after acceptance is ridiculous. Also, he talked mostly about how good of a chance interviewers had in being accepted, much less was talked about board scores, matches, and financial aid. The school's location on Mare Island stinks, there is no source of food beside a tiny fruit shack. Campus is smaller than my high school, school library is a joke as was the gym. Only had what, one new lecture hall. While Vallejo is in the bay area, it is nothing like San Fransisco, the area is pretty stale. Without a car then you would be stuck in Mare Island without food, and the city of Vallejo is nothing to sing about. Furthermore, when entering Mare Island there is a warning sign about enter at own discretion, chemicals due to abandoned naval yard may cause health risks. The schools poor appearance, location, and overall lack of communication about academics make you wonder where they spend the money? On opening new schools like pharmacy? Lastly, the students I asked why they were there said that they were not accepted anywhere else. I think just the overall school will not be a pleasurable experience. It is a medical school in California. However, it is a shoddy one at the least.
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The imediate surrounding area in Vallejo is a little run down. But most students I talked to live in the next town over, Benicia, which I'm told is much nicer anyway.
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vallejo isn't too spectacular
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The area of vallejo.
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The campus buildings are old and unnattractive. At the same time, they have some pretty neat history.
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the location-i did not expect where it was at all. it is definitely not what you think an "island" to be. the campus is not very attractive, no hospital nearby-just a lot of old naval buildings not functioning right now.
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The location. If I wouldn't have gone with the hotel driver, there's no way I would have found this place on time. Also, unfortunately the students were testing so I didn't get to talk to many of them.
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Mare Island is certainly an interesting place! It is like something out of a movie. Construction is everywhere. I wonder how safe it would be at night and on weekends. Except the anatomy lab, the facilities aren't great but I think they are evolving.
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Mare Island is to put it best a work in progress. There is a golf course there, but not a whole lot else. No family housing on the island
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Everything. The walls were dirty and had holes in them, it was located on an old abandoned naval base. When I asked students why they were there they said they didn't get in anywhere else. No cafeteria. After the day was over I realized that I had not heard anything about the program other than how they go through their admissions process and the waitlist policy.
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The tour guide did not take us to the residence hall, we could not sit in on any classes due to timing.
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Owning a car is a MUST (coming from a large, metropolitan city this is unique for me). There is nothing on the island and no real cafeteria on campus.
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Facilities are not near as good as other DO schools, except the anat. lab. Everything else had an old and run down feel, the workout room was a joke.
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No student ambassadors, no information packets, no curriculum overview. Maybe just a busy day?
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I had a really great time at TUCOM until that one interviewer asked me the question that I already described. I survived. So, really, I do not have any negative thoughts about TUCOM.
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Driving up to the campus is every bit as ugly as some make it out to be, but once you hit campus, you forget all that.
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The student guide explained that most of the buildings were not able to be renovated because of historical significance. The school does not have a real cafeteria, so you have to bring lunch and snacks. The gym was not very impressive.
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Location. Drove around in Vallejo for twenty minutes looking for a coffee shop. Also the route to the school is a mess of construction.
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panel interview...sucks... feels like you're competing with your fellow applicants in the same room
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There is a lot of construction going on but that can only mean more growth in the future.
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The atmosphere at TUCOM seemed a little impersonal. My tour guide wasn't eager to answer my questions (especially when I asked him if they have wireless connection, which they don't). I didn't feel particularly enthused to be there (especially considering how excited I was to interview at the location in NV)
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The campus was quite small, and the remaining industrial and military buildings are not attractive. I didn't get to tour the student housing.
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the school does very little research
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The city of Vallejo itself. Alot of students live in outlying cities.
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There was no school representatives present at the orientation except Dr. Haight. It was unclear where students have their rotations on the 3rd and 4th year.
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the campus is very isolated and there is just about nothing nearby.
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Depressing rotations. Uninformed tour guide and interviewers. Lecture hall, gym and food facilites. Confusing, contridicary presentation by Dr Haight.
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nothing. I can't figure out where the negative Touro sentiment comes from. This seemed like a great school. Sure Mare Island was a naval shipyard, and it's not very developed but the medical school itself has nice new facilities! As for location--you can't beat Bay Area weather, and it's not like you're going to have time to "hang out" and do a lot of "city-life stuff" during medical school.
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The director of admissions, Dr. Haight, spent at least 2 and a half hours talking about the admissions process instead of about the school. At other schools, usually faculty and students talk about the curriculum, rotations, etc., but at TUCOM, the only information we got about the school itself was from our student guide. At other schools I've been able to talk to at leat 5 or 10 students, but at TUCOM, it was just Dr. Haight talking about medical school admissions and not medical education. It was a real turn off that they didn't make any attempt to present anything about TUCOM.
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Campus not the most asthetically pleasing. Not wireless internet wired. Campus kind of in the middle of nowhere.
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Almost everything else. The tour guides were unprepared, didn't know much about their own facilities, we couldn't see half of the things (ie. lecture halls), the students seemed like they were separated into groups (similar to high school days). There's no wireless access on campus, and apparently many professors require the books as assigned reading (ie. they test out them rather than the lecture notes).
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not as close to San Francisco as I hoped.
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The location, limited computer labs, and the questions asked during the interview.
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I thought the tour was really rushed. I would look inside places and have to run to catch up with the group again. There doesn't seem to be much housing near the campus or on the island right now.
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The lack of "tech", having to organize most clinical experience on your own, 3 weeks to prepare for boards (apparently that's enough, though)
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The location of the school.
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The buildings are shabby and there's no wireless internet access. But the schools attitude and professionalism impressed me enough to not care about external appearances.
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the drawn-out welcome session, the drabness of the campus buildings, not feeling a sense of community
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the surrouding area. Mare Island is a dump.
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nothing really on Mare Island; have to pay a 3.00 toll everytime you want to go to San Francisco
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No wireless internet. The School is VERY ugly. No real campus feel. Student center is pretty non-existant.
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the lack of knowledge by the students about the program and the poor facilities except the next lecture halls
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campus is very industrial looking, cost of living here
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student tour was horrible. They did not really know too much about the school and were kind of hiding something
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1. The disorganization of the interview day. 2. The short/unorganized/uninformative tour of the campus. 3. Lack of a clinical/basic sciences education presentation. 4. The cafeteria or lack of. 5. Lack of wireless internet/integration of technology into the curriculum. etc etc
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Most students lived off campus, which is a good 10-15+ minute drive away...so you definitely need a car.
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The library is way too small.
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The interview format. Although it was an hour, since they were interviewing 5 of us at once, you only got about 10 min. to let them get to know you. The questions did not seem relevant to anything important at all.
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the size of the school...its smaller than my local junior college...let alone being called a university. With the tuition so high..i would like to see what is the money spent on??? only two weeks to reserve your seat, $2000 payment required, all at once
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Not a whole lot, except the obvious.. you're kinda far away from Starbucks, etc... but whatever... that's not even a big deal.
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Didn't get a thorough tour and since we were in the middle of midterms, students seemed grumpy and sort of rude to us, like we were new freshmen in high school.
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The only negative comment I have is that the interview was held at Mare Island rather than Las Vegas. However I beleive this was due to the fact that the Las Vegas campus wasn't ready. Starting next year I think everything will be done at Las Vegas.
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Dr Haight wont be going to Tucom-LV. He will definitely be a great addition to the school.
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Mare Island campus but I am not going there so I am not worried.
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Nothing. I loved it.
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The time that Dr. Haight spent with us
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I really wish they didn't try to squeeze so many applicants into one interview day. When they have to interview five applicants within one hour, there's just not enough time for you to really let the interviewers know all the things you want to get across to them. Each interviewer asked each applicant two questions (as time ran out, some applicants were only asked one), and I didn't think that was sufficient to really let them learn who you are.
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There was a fellow student previously accepted for the Vegas campus who was there to guide us, but it acutally proved more annoying than helpful. I wanted to get to know more about the people I was interviewing with and Dr. Haight, but this student seemed to want to dominate every conversation and made it hard for us to follow. I know he had good intentions, but I would have preferred to have had a current medical student to guide us. He just talked too much about random stuff.
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I wish we would have longer times during the interview to present ourselves.
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Mare Island
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The Mare Island Campus.
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Although the MI campus is on an island and it was quite pleasant and quiet, there is no coffee shop or restaurants around. It didn't matter to me since I was applying for TUCOM-Nevada. I wished they would have had a better presentation of the curriculum considering I've been accepted to another school and I wanted to compare them. Anyways, I am impressed with the match list and entrance requirements as well, so TUCOM was always in the running. One point I do have to make is that the Best Western is NOT across the street from the Holiday Inn like the guy from Evans shuttle told me. It was about a 5 minute walk under the overpass. I also did not know that I could have called the van from the Best Western to pick me up at the Holiday Inn. Oh well, I wasn't in the best of moods when I arrived there (delayed flight, late shuttle, didn't eat dinner, etc.). It was late when I arrived.