Touro University - Nevada (TUNCOM) Discussion Thread 2013 - 2014

[ChaseJ]

Received the ii yesterday! Booyaa! Was complete 9/12 with sGPA 3.55 cGPA 3.55 MCAT 28. Hope I can schedule an interview sometime in December or sooner...

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[Waggles]

II yesterday as well. Was complete on 9/8 w/ ~3.5, 31. Really excited to check this school out!

 

[ChaseJ]

II yesterday as well. Was complete on 9/8 w/ ~3.5, 31. Really excited to check this school out!

What date did you pick to interview? I chose Dec. 16.

 

[Waggles]

What date did you pick to interview? I chose Dec. 16.

When I called this morning they only had January 13 and 27th available. I picked the 13th. With that information I might shoot them an email to keep me updated for sooner dates.

Good luck!

 

[hemlocktree]

group testing vs. single class testing, does this mean the test material encompasses material from all the classes? Are these multiple choice?

 

[JonnyQuiznos]

group testing vs. single class testing, does this mean the test material encompasses material from all the classes? Are these multiple choice?

We have a program called Examsoft...its basically a program in which we take 6-9 multiple choice tests every block...depending on the number of classes we have each semester.

 

[brianphu53]

.

 

[ClinPathDO]

group testing vs. single class testing, does this mean the test material encompasses material from all the classes? Are these multiple choice?

Yes we have about 5 test per block, the exams are a mixture questions from all our courses and the questions are randomly ordered. It prevents cramming before a single exam but is good for preparing for boards.

 

[sdfoijffdso]

Hey everyone, congrats to all the interview invites and acceptances! To comfirm, the afternoon session starts at 1245? And what time does it go til? Some details as to the schedule would be much appreciated. Thanks

 

[sdfoijffdso]

Hey everyone, congrats to all the interview invites and acceptances! To comfirm, the afternoon session starts at 1245? And what time does it go til? Some details as to the schedule would be much appreciated. Thanks

 

[ToKingdomCome]

Has anyone with a 25 mcat got accepted? I have a 25 and was invited for an interview. I'm aware of their 25 cutoff and noticed that quite a few people above got rejected post interview for 25-26 Mcats which make me nervous

 

[ClinPathDO]

Has anyone with a 25 mcat got accepted? I have a 25 and was invited for an interview. I'm aware of their 25 cutoff and noticed that quite a few people above got rejected post interview for 25-26 Mcats which make me nervous

I got accepted last year with a 25, if the rest of your application is good and you do well in your interview you have as good a chance as anyone.

 

[postbac87]

Got my official acceptance letter in the mail today wooohoo!

Now to fork over $2000 in the next 9 days for my deposit

When did you interview if you do not mind me asking?

 

[Hayden19]

How long after you guys/gals were verified did you receive a secondary? It's been almost two weeks and I haven't heard a word from them...

 

[Canyptian]

.

 

[Dohctor]

I was waitlisted, interviewed 11/6. Does anyone know when they start reviewing/pulling people off the wait list?

 

[Bobkar]

I was waitlisted, interviewed 11/6. Does anyone know when they start reviewing/pulling people off the wait list?

Does the waitlist consist of high, medium or low alternate or is it just one big waitlist?

 

[ClinPathDO]

Does the waitlist consist of high, medium or low alternate or is it just one big waitlist?

last year they ranked everyone and pulled from the top, but they don't tell you where your name is on the list.

 

[JonnyQuiznos]

last year they ranked everyone and pulled from the top, but they don't tell you where your name is on the list.

I was off the "high" list.

 

[Bobkar]

I was off the "high" list.

When during the cycle were you taken off? Did you send updates, letter of intent etc?

 

[JonnyQuiznos]

When during the cycle were you taken off? Did you send up.dates, letter of intent etc?

Around april...I sent a letter of intent the week after my interview and typed and signed thank you letters to my interviewers

 

[NiceMustacheBRO]

Hey guys! I'll be interviewing on Dec 3rd, and it'd be great if one of you guys that have already interviewed at TUNCOM could kindly elaborate what interview day was like? Do we interview first and then get info sessions + tour?

Thanks!

 

[Congo]

Hey guys! I'll be interviewing on Dec 3rd, and it'd be great if one of you guys that have already interviewed at TUNCOM could kindly elaborate what interview day was like? Do we interview first and then get info sessions + tour?

Thanks!

Beginning of day is info, overview of the school and then split into groups for interview and tours and then financial aid talk and finally lunch with students. I was in the morning group

 

[Sdsu1990]

Interviewing here December 3rd as well. Super excited!!!

 

[Wipeout416]

Anyone on the 11th?

 

[brianphu53]

.

 

[Bill Brasky]

Does anyone know if lunch is given?

Yes. It was Pizza, pop, water, and some other snacks when I was there. It's all kosher so no meat and dairy can be mixed, i.e. no meat on the pizza.

 

[hemlocktree]

Does anyone know if lunch is given?

Yes, when I interviewed there they served Pizza and Salad (all kosher food).

 

[UMD13]

Withdrew my acceptance here - hope it goes to one of you! Good luck!

 

[moto_za]

It's been close to a month and I still haven't received a secondary! Is this abnormal?

 

[Sdsu1990]

The interview here today was pretty amazing! Really excited about this school.

 

[ToKingdomCome]

The interview here today was pretty amazing! Really excited about this school.

agreed. this school probably skyrocketed to one of my top choices. it would be a heck of a decision to make between here and marian (finding out 12/6). great academics at tuncom

 

[memberover9000]

Ahh I interviewed here today as well and it really amazed me! The faculty, the admissions counselor, the curriculum - everything was way better than I anticipated (even though I already had high expectations for this school). If I get in here, it's going to be a really tough decision choosing between here and Western :/

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

Can any of you guys tell me anything specific about the school? Anything unique?

 

[ToKingdomCome]

I'd like to second zero chaosx's reasons and I would just like to elaborate a few more things.
- Research opportunities are large here. You typically don't get that from a DO school.
- I thought the faculty was impressive. If you ever get a chance, go on the TUN site and you'll see the credentials.
- Class size of 135, I would say that's smaller than most DO class sizes which is a huge draw for me.
- I thought they're match list was above average for a DO school FWIW.

The only real con for me is the facilities. These were the least impressive out of any of the schools I interviewed at. With that said, I think I could get over these cosmetic issues especially with the pretty good match list they churn out. I'd hope TUN will funnel some more money into the facilities in the near future?

I'm really hoping to hear around 12/19 rather than having to wait until after the New Year's which they said they may be able to squeeze us in for consideration then.

Hoping to get an acceptance here

 

[Bill Brasky]

Another great thing about Henderson is that rent is dirt cheap, and the market has a lot of houses for rent. You could get a whole house for under $1000 a month or a 1 bedroom apartment for less than $600.

As far as facilities go, I thought they were the same as everywhere else - the library was too small to be a good study space (it's almost entirely digital) but there are tons of study rooms available throughout the building. The anatomy lab is also excellent. Some people are turned off by it being one huge building that looks like a warehouse from the outside, but you won't be when you start class in August and it's 115 degrees outside. That was an important practical consideration given the local climate.

The big hang-up I have over TUNCOM is that they don't have any opportunities for international rotations. That's kind of a big deal for me, but others may not care.

 

[Canyptian]

.

 

[ToKingdomCome]

Can you elaborate on what they told you about research opportunities? They didn't really talk about them when I interviewed.

It just seemed like a lot of professors were heavily invested in research.

This page has a lot about Touro NV's research opportunities:
http://tun.touro.edu/facultystaff/research/

Also, per wikipedia:

Touro University Nevada faculty specialize in a wide range of basic and applied research in fields including: autism, cardiovascular physiology, cell biology, evolutionary biology, infectious diseases, neuroscience,osteopathic manipulative medicine, oncology, regenerative medicine, and women's health.[16] Research conducted at Touro University Nevada has been funded by grants from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the Schultz Engel Purpose Trust.[17]

 

[bankaix808]

same here

i think that they receive a lot of primaries, and also pre-screen, heavily. TUNCOM also had some major religious holidays that may have backed up the process. it took me a while to get a secondary, and then an ii:

aacomas release: 8.1
secondary received: 8.15
secondary processed: 8.20
interview invite: 9.11
interview: 11.18

i really enjoyed my interview here for all the reasons previous posters have mentioned, and is one of my top choices. so hang in there, and good luck!

 

[ClinPathDO]

Can you elaborate on what they told you about research opportunities? They didn't really talk about them when I interviewed.

Most of our basic science faculty do bench work research, you can get paid 15 bucks an hour if you get a FWS grant. You can do a good amount of studying while getting paid and increasing your CV. I currently have a position doing cardiac stem cell research. There are also opportunities in clinical years.

 

[MayorMcCheese]

So, I just received the secondary (got all my others over a month ago...) should I send it in or would that be a waste of time and money?
I'm a pretty average applicant 28, 3.4sgpa 3.55cgpa, good/avg ECs/shadowing
Think my chances are too slim to bother or naw?

 

[JonnyQuiznos]

It just seemed like a lot of professors were heavily invested in research.

This page has a lot about Touro NV's research opportunities:
http://tun.touro.edu/facultystaff/research/

Also, per wikipedia:

Touro University Nevada faculty specialize in a wide range of basic and applied research in fields including: autism, cardiovascular physiology, cell biology, evolutionary biology, infectious diseases, neuroscience,osteopathic manipulative medicine, oncology, regenerative medicine, and women's health.[16] Research conducted at Touro University Nevada has been funded by grants from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the Schultz Engel Purpose Trust.[17]

The thing with that comment is that you can also come up with your own research projects. I have a project I am presenting this Friday and its...kind of new to the medical sciences.

 

[JonnyQuiznos]

Most of our basic science faculty do bench work research, you can get paid 15 bucks an hour if you get a FWS grant. You can do a good amount of studying while getting paid and increasing your CV. I currently have a position doing cardiac stem cell research. There are also opportunities in clinical years.

You work with Dr. Roque I assume?

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

So I got an e-mail today saying I was incomplete because I missed a page. Not only did I send it originally but had already sent it again in October. Now I'm sending it for a 3rd time. I'm really interested in this school. I hope I'm not put on the back of the pile because of this error.

 

[ClinPathDO]

So, I just received the secondary (got all my others over a month ago...) should I send it in or would that be a waste of time and money?
I'm a pretty average applicant 28, 3.4sgpa 3.55cgpa, good/avg ECs/shadowing
Think my chances are too slim to bother or naw?

yea many applicants that interviewed late last year were accepted.

 

[JonnyQuiznos]

yea many applicants that interviewed late last year were accepted.

So, I just received the secondary (got all my others over a month ago...) should I send it in or would that be a waste of time and money?
I'm a pretty average applicant 28, 3.4sgpa 3.55cgpa, good/avg ECs/shadowing
Think my chances are too slim to bother or naw?

My stats were 26 MCAT, 3.65 science, 3.68 cgpa, a lot of shadowing and ECs.

 

[ToKingdomCome]

Core rotations for 3rd/4th year are determined via lottery correct? Is this common amongst DO schools?

 

[AkGrown84]

Core rotations for 3rd/4th year are determined via lottery correct? Is this common amongst DO schools?

I haven't looked into this at Touro NV, but both PCOM and LMU-DCOM are types of lottery systems (each student ranks the sites-or the schedule wanted in the case of PCOM, and then lottery). I'm not a huge fan of this.....with a family that includes two kids in elementary school, I'd like to move them as little as possible and be able to be at rotations close to home so I can maximize my time with them! I'm a bit nervous how rotations will end up panning out for me!

 

[hemlocktree]

Here is a post I found in the 2012-2013 TUNCOM discussion thread.
I know it's only one opinion, but the points I have bolded below raise some red flags as I am currently deciding between this school and another one.
Can any current students comment on the following?

1.) Is the pathology really that self-directed? If so, does this pose any kind of problems for you?
2.)Do you find adequate time to prepare for boards?

Hey everyone. I am a second year student at Touro. I have a friend that is starting here this next year, and he asked my advice about a few things and recommended that I post it here for people trying to decide where to go. Kind of a "here is my honest opinion, the good and the bad" type thing for those of you that have been accepted to multiple schools and are trying to make the decision. I know when I was trying to decide, it was difficult to find somebody to give an honest opinion that wasn't somehow part of the admissions process.

I think people are going to find things to complain about no matter where they go to school, so take any complaints you read about with a grain of salt. I have overall been fairly happy with Touro. As a school, TUN is fairly responsive to student needs. Overall, the teachers are good. Some are really good, some aren't. I didn't really have any major complaints about academics the first year other than the common "I can't really understand that teacher," or whatever. You are going to find that type of thing wherever you go.

As a second year, I have two things that bother me, and I think they are significant enough that I'm not sure I would come here again if I had to do it over again. First, the pathology at TUN is only partially "taught." We have several pathology professors, and the main one really doesn't teach path. He gives a huge single spaced word document (with no pictures) that you are supposed to learn from (like 200 pages long per lecture), and then class is pretty much just spent doing review questions. That type of learning works for some people, but it doesn't work for me and the vast majority of my classmates that I have talked to. So, pathology ends up being almost a self taught course at TUN. That might be appealing to some people, but it worries me that the single most heavily tested subject on boards is self-taught. We have brought this up to administration, and there seems to be no interest in changing how things are done. TUN has traditionally done fairly well in the path section of boards, but I think that is because we are so worried about the class (his tests are REALLY hard) that we almost neglect other subjects to teach ourselves path.

Secondly, most other schools realize that the second semester of your second year is a time most people use to prepare for boards, so that semester is purposely light. At TUN it has been the busiest semester so far. I had planned on studying for boards a lot more than I have, but classes have been so busy that there really hasn't been time to do too much. Again, this might not bother some people, but boards scores are ridiculously important (much more so than class grades) so I would appreciate if this semester were lighter to allow for studying, like most other schools do.

Those two complaints might not be a big deal to some people, but I feel like they directly affect how I will do on the boards, so it bothers me. The rest of our faculty is actually pretty good. I really like our pharm department, and I think the micro department does a really good job getting us ready for boards. I'm not just looking to complain, because most things are really good at TUN, I just don't know if those two complaints are acceptable to me or not.



Edit: Forgot to add something I really like about TUN- the students aren't out to get each other. At least in the 2nd year (do14 class) it seems like everyone is more than happy to help out classmates--sharing notes, helping study, etc. I always heard before med school that it was so cutthroat that people would purposely try and hurt classmates' chances, but I haven't seen any of that here. Not sure if that is unique to my class, or unique to TUN, or what, but there you go.

 

[TUN15]

The only real con for me is the facilities. These were the least impressive out of any of the schools I interviewed at. With that said, I think I could get over these cosmetic issues especially with the pretty good match list they churn out. I'd hope TUN will funnel some more money into the facilities in the near future?

I'm a DPT student at TUN and I will say at first I was bothered by the facilities but in the grand scheme of things it really doesn't matter because you are there for an education and not to sit in a cool chair. However, with that being said, they could improve the chairs... My recommendation to anyone who comes to TUN is to take advantage of the resources in the city. For me, that includes studying at UNLV which is only located 15 minutes away from TUN. They have an amazing library with study rooms, quiet areas, coffee shop, etc.