Touro University College of Osteopathic Medicine: How to Get In

Mission Statement

“TUCOM prepares students to become outstanding osteopathic physicians who uphold the values, philosophy and practice of osteopathic medicine and who are committed to primary care and the holistic approach to the patient. The College advances the profession and serves its students and society through innovative education, research and community service.”

Admissions Statistics

• Overall acceptance rate: 5%
• In-state acceptance rate: 81%
• Out-of-state acceptance rate: 19%
• Average Cumulative GPA: 3.56
• Average Science GPA: 3.53
• Average MCAT: 509

Eligibility

Touro University College of Osteopathic Medicine (TUCOM) in California accepts students from across the US, although the vast majority of accepted students come from California schools. In particular, most accepted students have undergraduate degrees from UC schools such as UC Davis, UC Berkeley and UC San Diego. Out-of-state students do not have a significant disadvantage when applying to TUCOM, and the school has a relatively high out-of-state acceptance rate compared to other medical schools. The top feeder schools for TUCOM out-of-state are the University of Texas and Boston University.

TUCOM does not accept international students, including Canadian applicants who are not US citizens or permanently residing in the US. To apply to TUCOM, applicants must be US citizens or permanent residents of the US.

Want to know how to get into DO schools? Watch this video!

Technical standards for admission

Touro University in California lists several key technical standards applicants must possess in order to be admitted to the program. These qualities and skills can be highlighted in your AACOMAS personal statement, your AACOMAS Experiences section, and during your medical school interview.

Review these technical standards for TUCOM carefully before submitting your application to ensure you meet the standards. If you have questions, you can contact the TUCOM admissions office.

1. Observation

You must be able to observe demonstrations, experiments, and laboratory exercises in the basic sciences. You must be able to observe a patient accurately at a distance and close at hand.

2. Communication

You must be able to elicit information, examine patients, describe changes in mood, activity, and posture, and perceive non-verbal communication. You must also be able to communicate effectively and efficiently in oral and written form with all members of the health care team.

3. Motor Function

You must have sufficient motor function to execute movements reasonably required to provide general care and emergency treatment to patients.

4. Sensory

You must have intact sensory skills, including tactile and proprioceptive abilities.

5. Strength and Mobility

Osteopathic manipulative medical (OMM) treatment often requires sufficient upper extremity and body strength. Mobility to attend to emergencies and to perform such maneuvers as CPR is also required.

6. Visual Integration

Consistent with ability to assess asymmetry, range of motion, and tissue color and texture changes, it is essential for you to have adequate visual capabilities for the integration of evaluation and treatment of the patient.

7. Intellectual, Conceptual, Integrative, and Quantitative Abilities

You must be able to demonstrate ability in measurement, calculation, reasoning, comparison and contrast, analysis and synthesis, and problem solving. You must demonstrate ability to comprehend three-dimensional relationships, and to understand spatial relationships of structures.

8. Behavioral and Social Abilities

You must possess the emotional health required for full utilization of your intellectual abilities, the exercise of good judgment, the prompt completion of all responsibilities attendant to the diagnosis and care of patients, and the development of mature, sensitive relationships with patients and co-workers. You must be able to tolerate physically and mentally taxing workloads, adapt to changing environments, display flexibility, and learn to function in the face of uncertainties inherent in treating the problems of patients. Compassion, integrity, concern for others, interpersonal skills, interest, and motivation are personal qualities that will be assessed during the admissions and education process.

9. Participation in Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine Laboratories

Active participation in Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine laboratories is an admission, matriculation and graduation requirement. The development of manipulative medicine palpatory skills is taught in all four years of the curriculum. This learning requires active participation in all laboratory sessions.

Selection Factors

Touro University College of Osteopathic Medicine uses the AACOMAS application in its admissions process. TUCOM uses rolling admissions and begins conducting interviews as early as September before matriculation, so it is wise to submit your application as soon as possible after the AAOMCAS system opens for the year’s admissions cycle.

Touro University COM uses the following criteria to evaluate all applicants:

• Academic competence
• Personal/professional achievements
• Demonstrated leadership skills
• Creative abilities
• Experience in health care
• Likelihood to practice in underserved primary care areas

MCAT and GPA

Applicants must have a minimum undergraduate GPA of 3.0 or higher. Successful applicants tend to have a GPA above 3.3.

Applicants need to have an MCAT score above 500 to apply. Scores older than 3 years old will not be accepted.

Coursework and Undergrad

Applicants to TUCOM must have completed a bachelor’s degree prior to matriculating. There is no requirement for degree major.

If you’ve completed IB or AP coursework, TUCOM will accept an AP credit as long as it appears on your undergraduate transcripts and indicates the specific course or subject credit.

Prerequisites and Recommended Coursework

Prerequisites for TUCOM include:

AACOMAS Experiences

Research, community health, education, service and leadership are all important values at TUCOM. The school’s core values are encapsulated by the acronym WE SCORE, as illustrated below:

1. Wellness = promoting humanity in medical education and prioritizing the social, emotional, and physical wellness of our learners.
2. Empathy = the ability to understand and share the feelings of patients, teammates, and colleagues.
3. Social Justice = promoting equal access to and fairness in healthcare, wealth, opportunities, and privileges.
4. Community Health = community service through global health experiences, Student Run Free Clinic, Mobile Diabetes Van and more.
5. Osteopathic Distinction = extra skill and experience with four years of OMM training and a humanistic approach.
6. Research = numerous research opportunities that provide for professional and personal growth.
7. Education = innovative techniques from medical school through residency and fellowship training mean an excellent education and exceptional match rates.

When choosing your extracurriculars for medical school, highlight the experiences you have which demonstrate these core values and be specific in how those experiences have shaped these qualities in you. For instance, if you have community volunteering experience or enrolled in a leadership program, discuss in your AACOMAS Experiences section how those opportunities instilled a sense of community-mindedness in you or taught you the ideal qualities of a leader.

Research and clinical experience, while not explicitly required, will give you a serious leg up when applying. Look into premed research opportunities and premed jobs to gain some valuable experiences to add to your resume and application documents. If you’re not sure where to start searching, check out some of the best companies for premeds.

Not familiar with the AACOMAS application? Here's a complete guide:

Personal Statement

Your personal statement is your chance to demonstrate that you possess the skills, qualities and values that TUCOM represents. Use the school’s core values and technical standard requirements we’ve outlined above as a guide on choosing which experiences to highlight in your statement.

Volunteering, clinical work, service work and extracurriculars in which you demonstrated compassion, leadership, good judgment and strong communication are all excellent things to focus on. You should also be able to point to why you want to study osteopathic medicine in particular, and what drew you to the discipline.

In your statement, you can discuss how TUCOM’s unique facilities, location and curriculum will help you become an outstanding DO practitioner. Diversity, inclusion and healthcare equity are vitally important values at TUCOM, so demonstrating how you share these values can help you stand out. Talk about any volunteering or work you’ve done in disadvantaged communities or any efforts you’ve made to improve diversity and access to healthcare for disadvantaged groups. In your AACOMAS application, it’s a good chance to include a diversity essay to help distinguish your application from the crowd.

Secondary Essays

The secondary application should be completed only if you have passed the initial screening with your AACOMAS application and have received an email from the school inviting you to do so.

You will need to fill out personal and program information, as well as answer short-answer and short essay questions as part of the secondary application. Your short-answer and medical school secondary essays should be no longer than 3,000 characters.

The secondary essay prompts are:

• Please describe the personal characteristics you possess, and the life experiences you have had that would contribute to your success at becoming an outstanding Osteopathic Physician. Please include information that will enable the Admissions Committee to understand your unique qualities.
• Please describe your exposure to and understanding of Osteopathic Medicine. Content may include your initial introduction to the profession, its history, use in medical practice today, or any other aspects that may highlight Osteopathic Medicine’s uniqueness and synergy with your envisioned future practice of medicine

Recommendation letters

For medical school recommendation letters, applicants at TUCOM need to submit one letter from a pre-professional advisory committee or two letters from biological or physical sciences faculty members at their university. The faculty members must be familiar with you and have taught you in class. Letters from graduate teaching assistants who have instructed you in class are also acceptable.

A letter from a DO or MD physician is highly recommended, but not required.

Letters can be submitted through the AACOMAS system or in the secondary application. Letters can also be submitted directly to the school via Interfolio or by the letter writer. Note that TUCOM does not use the Virtual Evals service and does not accept letters of recommendation from family members.

Interview Formats

Interviews at TUCOM are held in a traditional panel format, and typically held from September through April. Interview invitations are extended to students who show the highest probability of success at TUCOM as a student and future physician. Invitations are sent out on a rolling basis.

Acceptance and Waitlist Information

Touro University College of Osteopathic Medicine uses a medical school waitlist in its admissions process. Applicants can still be offered acceptance if they are waitlisted, since admissions may have spots open in the program before the official start date. You can write a letter of intent for medical school to help convince the admissions committee that TUCOM is your first choice of school and that you would accept an offer of admission.

The admissions committee at TUCOM meets once every two weeks during the application cycle to review applicants and make decisions. Offers of acceptance are then sent out by mail. Successful interview applicants may receive a secondary application or an offer of admission 1-2 months following their interview. Waitlisted applicants may not hear back about offers of admission until the summer before matriculation.

Here's a guide to preparing for your DO school interview!

Application Timeline

Tuition and Debt

Medical school tuition at TUCOM is $30,465 for year one and two, and $20,310 for years three and four. Students will also need to pay an annual student fee of $300 and student technology fees each semester. The total estimated cost of attendance at TUCOM is between $87,880-$106,112.

Funding Opportunities

Applicants can apply for federal and private loans as well as medical school scholarships to help fund their education at Touro University. Students who are applying for financial aid must be US citizens or permanent residents, and can apply through the university’s financial aid program website.

Residency Match Rates

For the past several years, students at TUCOM have had a 100% match rate to residency programs in the US. Some of the residency specialties TUCOM students match to are:

1. Anesthesiology
2. Dermatology
3. General Surgery
4. Family Medicine
5. Emergency Medicine
6. Internal Medicine

TUCOM students also show high board exam pass rates, typically over 90%. The most recent graduating classes had a pass score over 95% on the COMLEX 1, COMLEX 2 CE and COMLEX 2 PE. Students taking the COMLEX 3 showed a pass rate of 90.7%.

Available Programs

Along with the Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO) program, TUCOM offers the following programs and dual degrees:

• DO/MPH
• Master of Science in Medical Health Sciences
• Pharmacy
• Nursing
• Physician Assistant/Public Health

Research Fields

TUCOM has a robust research division which currently has interest in a variety of fields, including HIV treatment, metabolism, lipid disorders, treatment of neurological and chronic diseases, and more.

The key areas of research interest at TUCOM are:

1. Research into nutrition and human metabolism
2. Lipidology – biochemistry and cell biology of diabetes mellitus
3. NMR and drug design for HIV prevention

Researchers at TUCOM are also exploring OMM, aging, immunology, biophysics, medical education and clinical trials.

Opportunities for Students

Students are encouraged to participate in research at the local and international level at TUCOM, through partnerships with medical schools in California including UC Davis, UC Berkeley, and abroad at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and the Tokyo Medical Center in Japan. On campus, they also have access to state-of-the-art labs and facilities, including a mass spectrometry lab, a metabolic research center, lipidology and drug design labs, and a core microscope facility.

Touro University is also deeply involved with student outreach, especially in disadvantaged communities. Students can participate in the diabetes prevention and education program, or join the student-run free clinic to gain experience in working with disadvantaged communities. TUCOM also has opportunities for students to engage in youth health initiatives locally and global health initiatives abroad.

Campus Location

Located in Vallejo, California, the Touro University College of Osteopathic Medicine is just outside San Francisco and San Jose.

Notable Faculty

• Walter Hartwig
• Jean-Marc Schwarz

Not sure a DO school is right for you? Check out this infographic:

Contact Information

Website: https://tu.edu/programs/osteopathic-medicine/admissions/

Address: 1310 Club Drive, Mare Island, Vallejo, CA 94592

Phone: 707-638-5200

Email: [email protected]

FAQs

To your success,

Your friends at BeMo

BeMo Academic Consulting

Disclaimer: BeMo does not endorse or affiliate with any universities, colleges, or official test administrators. The content has been developed based on the most recent publicly available data provided from the official university website. However, you should always check the statistics/requirements with the official school website for the most up to date information. You are responsible for your own results. 

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