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Touro University College of Osteopathic Medicine - California

Vallejo, CA

Osteopathic Medical Schools | Private Non-Profit

📚 General Info

What graduating class are you in?

2014

Are you pursuing any joint degrees (MD/PhD, MD/MPH, etc.)?

No

Are you considered in-state or out-of-state for tuition purposes?

in-state

What is your race/ethnic background?

Caucasian

Overall, how would you rate this medical program?

7 out of 10

What is the reputation of the school in the medical community?

7 out of 10

What is the reputation of the research that goes on at this school?

5 out of 10

What was your MCAT score?

505

What was your undergrad GPA?

3.4

What was your undergrad science GPA?

3.3

What was the zip code of your residence in high school?

91108

What do you like most about this school?

Small, the faculty is available, and the administration is open to change.

What do you like least about this school?

Medical school is hard so any complaints about it would be because it is hard.

Please provide any other general comments on your school

For a small school, there is quite a lot of research that happens. Our professors and our students publish quite a bit.
Curriculum

How is the curriculum structured?

Systems-based

How many courses are taken at a given time?

3

How long are you typically in class per day?

5-6 hours

Are courses recorded for medical students?

Powerpoint slides provided only

How many days per week is anatomy lab?

1

How many students per cadaver?

5-6

How long (in months) do you have anatomy?

24 months

Is the curriculum lecture-centric or small-group centric?

3 out of 10

Are standardized patients used?

yes

How much patient interaction is there in the pre-clinical years?

5 out of 10

Are syllabi provided for the student?

yes

How frequently do pre-clinical medical school activities have mandatory attendance?

If this is about attendance for class, then it is only required for labs (OMM, Doctoring and sometimes histo/pathology). Lectures are 99% voluntary.

What books are necessary?

Tough question. Each student is different and if I were to do it over again, I would not have purchased most of them and used library copies.

What books are unnecessary?

Most of them.

Is the curriculum designed to promote a specialty? If so, which specialty?

The mission of Touro is focused on creating primary care doctors in Northern California. You could say that the school is pushing primary care, but with nothing to compare it to, I would have to say no specialty is being promoted.
Location & Housing

How do you feel about the location of the school?

6 out of 10

Do you feel safe on campus?

10 out of 10

How available and convenient is public transportation?

0 out of 10

Is a car necessary at any point during your education here?

All years

If a car is required for education, how available and convenient is the parking provided to students?

8 out of 10

Is on-campus housing available?

no

What is the quality of available on-campus housing?

5 out of 10

What percentage of your medical school classmates would you estimate live on campus, if on-campus housing is available?

0 out of 10

Is couples housing available?

no

Is nearby off-campus housing available?

yes

How expensive is nearby off-campus housing?

8 out of 10

Please describe the on-campus housing if available (i.e., cost, type - studios, 1-br, 2-br, etc.)?

People don't live on-campus, per se. Some live about 1-2 miles away in newly built homes with affordable rent ($700/mo - give or take)
Cost/Financial Aid

Are fees/tuition expensive?

5 out of 10

How is the cost of living (rent, food, bills, etc.)?

3 out of 10

Are many institutional scholarships/grants available?

3 out of 10

Is institutional aid need-based or merit-based?

Need-based
Faculty/Grades

Are faculty members very open to students during office hours?

10 out of 10

Are faculty members very available to students via email/message board?

10 out of 10

Are there many opportunities to shadow/work with clinical faculty?

7 out of 10

Are the faculty willing to mentor students in regards to career guidance?

10 out of 10

Is the class ranked?

no

How is the instructional faculty during pre-clinical years?

Faculty consists of a wide range of PhD and MD/DO. Some speak English well, some not so much. Some give great lectures and some not so much.

How is the instructional faculty during clinical years?

Do not know yet. It will also very because we use many different sites for rotations.

What is the grading scale used during pre-clinical years?

Grades are not curved.

What is the grading scale used during clinical years?

Do not know yet.
Clinical Rotations

Are the desired rotation sites easy to obtain?

5 out of 10

Is desired rotation order easy to obtain?

5 out of 10

Are the elective rotations easy to obtain?

5 out of 10

Is there substantial hands-on experience for medical students?

8 out of 10

Are the rotation sites conveniently accessible for medical students?

3 out of 10

How far are the clinical sites from the main campus?

2 out of 10

How are clinical rotations scheduled? What are the required rotations?

It's not so much the scheduling but the location that is the issue. We rotate at various locations throughout California (and a few rotation sites in NY and PA but those are all inclusive rotations meaning you stay there for about 1 year).

What responsibility do med students have on the wards?

Depends on the preceptor and the location.

What is the status/condition of the affiliated hospital(s)?

Too many different hospitals to comment.

What is the typical patient population medical students work with?

Varies from each location.
Social Environment

Do students do a lot of activities outside of school together?

8 out of 10

How would you rank student involvement in extracurricular clubs?

10 out of 10

What is the range of extracurricular clubs available?

10 out of 10

Is the student body cooperative or competitive?

10 out of 10

Is the environment supportive for underrepresented minorities?

7 out of 10

Is the environment supportive for lesbian/gay/bisexual/transsexual students?

9 out of 10

Is the environment supportive for students with disabilities?

6 out of 10

Is the environment supportive for married students?

7 out of 10

Is the environment supportive for older/non-traditional students?

10 out of 10

What do the students typically like to do in the area?

In the immediate area, nothing. A lot of students enjoy going to San Francisco to study, hang out, eat, and party.
Post Graduation

How do graduates from this school fare in residency and clinical practice?

Unofficially, we have the highest placement into California residencies of any school in the nation.

Is this school known for producing physicians strong in a certain area? If so, which area?

Yes, primary care, as this is the goal for most osteopathic medical schools.

What do you believe residency directors think about graduates from this program?

Do not know at this time.