Question for TUCOM Students

[ccnaualhl]

Hi TUCOM Students,
I have a few questions before I can feel comfortable putting down my deposit at TUCOM.

1. Are you happy with housing options around school? I hear there's a lot of construction on Mare Island these days. Is very noisy and dusty? I'm not from the area.

2. Do you believe it will be a challenge as a DO in California to establish yourself? I have heard the west coast isn't osteopathic friendly, and I understand that TUCOM is still establishing itself.

3. Does TUCOM's religious affiliation greatly affect its programs and such? I'm not religious and concerned about whether this will impact my studies.

4. Are you satisfied with the OMM program?

5. Are you concerned about Touro's plan to expand the school and its effect on the DO school's ability to improve itself and its facilities?

Thank you very much for your time and advice. Please feel free to answer any to all questions.

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[maysqrd]

I have been accepted in the Class of 2007 and will be attending TUCOM. I can't answer all of your questions but being from the bay area, I can maybe help with some of your questions.

The main type of construction that will be on the island hasn't really even started yet. The city of Vallejo controls the land development and they were entertaining offers from several different developers for ideas. My understanding is that they want a sort of business district/office professional type of environment with some small types of retail And the area around the actual campus buildings are going to be part of the larger university so the noise factor, dust, etc. does not seem like it will affect students during the next two years that much. Just getting some thing thru the planning stages for development could take the city years!

The MSII lecture hall was under construction when I was interviewing and to be honest, I hardly noticed any noise of any kind when I was on campus.

As fo the DO being tough to do in California, NOT TRUE. I have been a California resident all my life and we are very open people when it comes to different kinds of healthcare. I even saw a patient in the ER accept accupunture to treat a migraine. Patients may be ignorant of the DO degree but that doesn't mean they will refuse treatment if they knew you were a DO.

If you want proof, look at the allopathic residency match list for the class of 2002. I counted 19 out of 33 of those matches to a California hospital. AND 14 out of 34 for 2001. I would say that is pretty California pro!

The religious affiliation does not interfere with studies other than I think we get some good holidays! This question came up during my tour and the student guide said that it was not a problem what so ever.

Can't answer your questions about OMM since I am not in that yet.

As for expanding the university, I think it will only help the medical school and strengthen the programs that they offer. The PA program starts next week. The law school starts in the fall and the undergrads won't start until 2004. These will all be small classes to start so we won't even be around when the majority of the programs start to fill up to capacity. The first PA class is only 10 people! I am hoping that the school will eventually be able to expand the research that they are doing and get a DO/PhD program or a DO/JD. I know some other students are checking to see if they can use the new MPH program and get a DO/MPH now that the second program is up and running.

Good luck in making your decision!

 

[DrZippy2b]

To the OP, one of the things that the religious affiliation changes is the hours the campus is open on Fridays (I think I remember my tour guide telling us 1st years go until noon on Friday and 2nd years get out at 3pm, did they tell anyone else that?) . I see this as a good thing, because I plan to use it as built in study time.

maysqrd-- you always have such great, well-thought out answers. I have a question for you. What do you think about the library? Also about the campus being closed on the weekends. During my undergrad, I studied a lot at the library on the weekends. Have you heard that we will be getting the passwords for all the online journals, etc? Just wondering what you thought.

Thanks,
Nikki

 

[maysqrd]

I did know about the Friday schedule and I couldn't be happier to get out before rush hour traffic. That means I can still play on my softball team the next two years!! WAAAH HOO!! Countdown to spring training!!!!!

I will be living on campus during the week but going home on the weekends so having a closed campus wasn't really something I gave much thought about. I love where I live so weekends will be like mini vacations for me. I'm renting out my guest room to fellow students that want to take a wine country get-away for the weekends (just kidding!!).

As for the library, I feel better going to all online journals and using the computer to do most of my research and study (less money out of pocket for books) but I come from one of the first universities in the country to go to manditory computers, internet access, etc. I think my expectations for the library and the stacks is not as high as others due to my background. My current university has a proxy server system where we can have remote access to all journals that the university has online. I love it, so I am a big supporter of the online system. But maybe I should tell people that I used to work in the software industry and was a product manager for online software applications so I am probably a little biased about online access.

 

[maysqrd]

Side note: Don't you just hate that when you type too fast you miss spell words and you look back over your own posts and think "What an idiot!"

 

[Dr Sum Day]

Originally posted by maysqrd
Side note: Don't you just hate that when you type too fast you miss spell words and you look back over your own posts and think "What an idiot!"

I hate that too. That's why I love the edit button below the post! You like softball I see; I played left field when I was stationed in Hawaii. I loved gunning people out at home plate! I may be moving to Vallejo area in March.

 

[maysqrd]

I am a softball/baseball addict. We have season tickets for the Oakland A's and my husband has a coed team. I played first base all my life until last season. I had to have ankle reconstruction and wasn't able to play most of the year. IT NEARLY KILLED ME!!! We are looking for more outfielders to finish the roster. We have a hard time finding people that LIKE the outfield.