How to Get Into Touro University California College of Osteopathic Medicine: The Definitive Guide (2026-2027 Cycle)

Touro University California College of Osteopathic Medicine (TUCOM, also called TUCOM California) is a private, nonprofit osteopathic medical school that grants the Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO) degree. It sits on Mare Island in Vallejo, in the northern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, roughly halfway between San Francisco and Sacramento. The college was established in 1997 and is known for its holistic approach to medicine, its focus on primary care and community health, and a curriculum that teaches students to look at the social and economic conditions behind a patient’s illness.

This guide covers the 2026-2027 application cycle, which is for students who want to start in August 2027 as the Class of 2031. It explains who can apply, what the latest class statistics mean, what TUCOM costs in 2026-2027, how the curriculum and clinical years work, and how to answer each of the five current secondary questions, with a full illustrative example and analysis for each. It also covers the virtual panel-style interview, the DO/MPH dual degree and the people who lead the school. Facts were checked on October 17, 2026.

Key Takeaways

• Eligibility: you must permanently reside in the United States when you apply. TUCOM does not accept international students, so Canadian and other international applicants are not eligible. DACA recipients may apply. Federal financial aid is limited to U.S. citizens and permanent residents.
• Screening before the secondary: only applicants with at least a 3.0 science GPA, a 3.0 cumulative GPA and an MCAT score of 500 or higher receive the secondary. For this cycle, only MCAT scores earned after January 1, 2023 count.
• Class profile: the Class of 2030, which started in August 2026, had an average cumulative GPA of 3.58, an average science GPA of 3.49 and an average MCAT of 507. TUCOM does not publish an acceptance rate.
• Deadlines: AACOMAS by March 15, 2027 and the supplemental application by April 15, 2027. Admissions are rolling, so apply early.
• Cost: 2026-2027 tuition is $72,120 a year ($36,060 per semester in years 1 and 2) for every student. California residents and out-of-state students pay the same.
• Mission: TUCOM trains osteopathic physicians committed to primary care and a holistic approach to the patient. The school reviews applicants partly on their likelihood to practice in underserved primary care areas.
• Distinctive training: structural competency is a program learning outcome, osteopathic manipulative medicine starts in year one, and core clinical training happens mostly in California.
• Next step: confirm your prerequisites, line up a committee letter or two science faculty letters, and start drafting the five 3,000-character secondary answers before your invitation arrives.

Key Statistics About Touro University California College of Osteopathic Medicine

The snapshot below pulls together the figures applicants ask about first. GPA, MCAT and residency figures describe the Class of 2030, the class that entered in August 2026. The first-year matriculant count is for the 2024-2025 academic year, the newest year with a published count, and tuition is for 2026-2027. The table gives the source of each figure.

Because TUCOM does not publish how many people apply, interview or receive offers, there is no reliable TUCOM acceptance rate. A figure you see elsewhere is an estimate. The useful numbers are the ones the school does publish: its minimums (3.0 GPA and 500 MCAT to receive a secondary), its note that successful candidates typically have a GPA of 3.3 or higher, and the class averages above. Averages are not cutoffs. Roughly half of a class sits below each average.

The class mix also tells you something. In the Class of 2030, 107 students came from the University of California system, 13 from the California State University system and 69 from other California and out-of-state schools. The top feeder schools were UC Davis (31), UC Berkeley (15), UC Irvine (15), UC San Diego (14) and UCLA (10). Outside California, Nova Southeastern University and the University of Washington each sent four students. Out-of-state applicants are considered and pay the same tuition, but most of the class comes from California.

Mission and Educational Priorities

TUCOM’s mission statement reads:

“The Mission of Touro University Osteopathic Medicine Program is to prepare 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 program advances the profession and serves its students and society through innovative pre-doctoral and post-doctoral education, research, community service, and multidisciplinary and osteopathic clinical services.”

Three ideas in that statement shape what the school looks for.

Osteopathic identity. The mission is about osteopathic physicians specifically. In the school’s admissions video, Director of Admissions Steven Davis says applicants should be able to answer two questions in the primary application, the secondary and the interview: why do you want to become a physician generally, and why do you want to become an osteopathic physician specifically? Associate Dean of Academic Affairs Alesia Wagner adds that applicants often cannot say much about osteopathic medicine beyond what they read online. TUCOM’s review criteria include “exposure to, experience with, and/or knowledge of Osteopathic Medicine.”

Primary care and the whole patient. TUCOM describes itself as one of the nation’s top 10 medical schools for placing graduates into primary care residencies, and its graduates divide almost equally between primary care and specialty careers. The school says it focuses on primary care but is “not defined by it.” One of its listed review criteria is “likelihood to practice in underserved primary care areas.” You do not need to promise a primary care career, but you should be able to show real interest in the kind of medicine the school was built to teach.

Community and social justice. Dr. Wagner describes the mission as being “about social justice and primary care” and says applicants need “an interest in the community and social justice.” That is reflected in the curriculum’s emphasis on structural competency, the Student-Run Free Clinic, the Mobile Diabetes Education Center and community electives such as Project HAPPY and the Interprofessional Elective in Street Medicine.

Core values and osteopathic tenets

The College of Osteopathic Medicine organizes its core values under the acronym WE SCORE: Wellness, Engagement, Service, Community Health, Osteopathic Distinction, Research and Education. The school also teaches the four osteopathic tenets, which it says are “at the heart of everything we teach”:

1. The body is a unit; the person is a unit of body, mind, and spirit.
2. The body is capable of self-regulation, self-healing, and health maintenance.
3. Structure and function are reciprocally interrelated.
4. Treatment should be based on an understanding of the principles of body unity, self-regulation, and the interrelationship of structure and function.

These tenets matter for your application because the first secondary question asks you to pick one and connect it to your own life. TUCOM’s mission also lines up with its 2023-2028 Strategic Plan, which centers on educational excellence, the student experience, infrastructure, the faculty and staff experience, research and community health, and community engagement.

What the mission means for your application

Read the mission as a description of the students TUCOM wants to graduate, then check your application against it. Can a reader see that you understand what a DO does and why you chose that path? Have you spent time with patients who face barriers to care? Have you served a community over time rather than for a single weekend? Applicants who have built that record, through clinical work, community service or experience abroad such as medical internships abroad, can point to specific moments rather than general statements. TUCOM’s own words, “competent, qualified, caring osteopathic physicians,” are a good test for every paragraph you write.

Accreditation and Institutional Identity

DO program accreditation. The Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine program is accredited by the American Osteopathic Association’s Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation (COCA), which the U.S. Department of Education recognizes as the accreditor of osteopathic medical schools. The AOA first granted the college full accreditation in April 2001. On May 7, 2022, TUCOM finalized its most recent comprehensive review, and COCA awarded it 10-year accreditation status of “Accreditation with Exceptional Outcome.” In 2015, COCA’s review commended the college’s strong research programs.

Institutional accreditation. Touro University California is accredited by the WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC). Its next WSCUC review is scheduled for Spring 2034. Accreditation means the program meets national standards and allows students to receive federal and state financial aid. It is a baseline, not a ranking.

Institutional identity. Touro University California is a separately accredited institution within the larger Touro University system, which also runs programs in New York, Montana and Illinois. Two points prevent common mix-ups:

• Touro University Nevada College of Osteopathic Medicine (TUNCOM) in Henderson is a branch campus that falls under TUCOM’s COCA accreditation, but it has its own application, admissions office and class. Apply to it separately.
• Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine (TouroCOM) in New York, with campuses in Harlem and Middletown, is a different college in the Touro system. Its mission, statistics, curriculum and secondary questions are not TUCOM’s. If you are researching Touro’s New York school, use our separate guide to the TOURO College of Osteopathic Medicine.

TUCOM California itself has one campus, on Mare Island in Vallejo. Students complete the first two years there and then train at clinical sites, mostly in California.

The school also offers postgraduate programs and continuing education. Its Office of Continuing Medical Education regularly offers CME courses, and the college supports graduate medical education development through the Associate Dean of Graduate Medical Education, Technology and Program Development. These activities are separate from your DO application.

Medical Programs and Affiliations

TUCOM offers one entry-level medical degree, the four-year DO, plus options that let students add depth within or beyond the four years. The College of Osteopathic Medicine describes its curriculum as integrating “basic science and clinical medicine concepts with an osteopathic focus using an inter-professional, community-centered model.”

The Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO)

The DO is a four-year program. Students spend the first two years on campus in integrated science, osteopathic doctoring and osteopathic manipulative medicine courses, then complete clinical rotations in years three and four. The program emphasizes a whole-person approach to medicine and community health, and it includes early clinical experience with real and simulated patients. You apply through AACOMAS. Details on the curriculum are in the next section.

DO/MPH dual degree

The DO/MPH lets DO students earn a Master of Public Health from Touro University California’s Public Health Program within the four-year medical school window. The full MPH is 42 units, but DO/MPH students complete 30 units in the Public Health Program and transfer 12 units of related content from the DO curriculum. Students choose one of three concentrations: Community Action for Health, Global Health, or Criminal Justice and Health. The MPH program is accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH).

There are two ways to complete it. Most students begin public health courses in the summer before starting the COM and finish the didactic work in the summer after the first year, then complete a public health field study during six-week blocks set aside for public health rotations. A fifth-year option is available on a case-by-case basis with approval from MPH and COM leadership. All MPH students complete a field study, which may involve research with a nonprofit, work inside a correctional facility or hospital, or fieldwork in places such as Bolivia, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Nepal or Uganda. Students choose between preparing for the Certified in Public Health (CPH) exam and completing a capstone with a faculty mentor.

How to apply. You first apply to the DO program through AACOMAS. The AACOMAS application asks whether you want to be considered for the DO/MPH. If you answer yes, you answer a few short public health essays, which the school says “do not influence your medical school application in any way.” If you are accepted to the COM, your application is forwarded automatically, with no extra fee. If you did not opt in on AACOMAS, you can apply after acceptance through the Touro application system at apply.tu.edu/oc. DO/MPH essay responses should be 2,000 characters or less.

What a DO/MPH is for. An MPH focuses on the health of populations: disease prevention, health policy, community programs and the social and environmental factors that drive health. The DO prepares you to treat individual patients. Together, the two prepare graduates to work as physicians with a strong grasp of the social determinants of health, to lead public health programs, to conduct population health research, or to work in health departments, government agencies and health systems. TUCOM’s alumni with the dual degree describe it as changing how they see their role, not just as clinicians but as people who can shape the systems that affect a community’s health. The path suits applicants who care about both holistic patient care and preventing illness at the population level.

Certificates and fellowships

• Global Health Pathway (certificate): students complete global health work at sites in Africa, India, Mexico, Taiwan and Israel. The Helping Babies Breathe elective prepares students to teach newborn resuscitation during the Global Health summer internship and is mandatory for students going to the Africa sites.
• Diabetes Certificate: training with a team of diabetes specialists in research and treatment.
• Culinary Medicine: listed among the college’s academic offerings.
• Fellowships that add a year: the OMM Fellowship (extra clinical, teaching and research work in osteopathic manipulative medicine), the Primary Care (Clinical Sciences) Teaching Fellowship for students interested in teaching and academic medicine, the Anatomy Fellowship and the Predoctoral Research Fellowship.
• Diabetology Fellowship: a year-long postgraduate program for primary care physicians, coordinated by TUC.

Preparatory program: MS in Medical Health Science

The 12-month Master of Science in Medical Health Science (MSMHS) is a graduate program in the basic medical sciences with a semester-long research internship. TUCOM presents it as a way to become a stronger medical school candidate. It does not guarantee admission to the DO program, and you apply to the DO separately. Some current DO students are MSMHS graduates.

Other health professions programs at Touro University California

Touro University California, the parent institution, also runs programs in pharmacy, nursing, public health, sonography and radiography, a dual Physician Assistant/MPH program in Vallejo and a PA program in Los Angeles. These are separate programs with separate admissions. They matter to DO students mainly because TUCOM teaches through an interprofessional model, and several electives, such as the Interprofessional Elective in Street Medicine and Science-based Reproductive Health Care, mix students from different programs. If you are still deciding between medicine and the physician assistant route, pre-PA internships can help you see the PA role up close before you choose.

Clinical affiliations

TUCOM says it provides “longitudinal core site and regional clerkships predominantly in California and New York.” Kaiser Permanente Northern California invites Touro University medical students to apply for a year-long third-year longitudinal program at Kaiser Permanente Santa Rosa or Napa, and Kaiser’s Napa-Solano service takes third-year family medicine students. TUCOM does not publish a full list of core rotation hospitals, so ask current students and the clinical education office about site assignment during your interview day.

Residency results show where many students end up training afterward. In 2024, TUCOM graduates matched at programs including UC Davis Medical Center, Kaiser Permanente sites in Napa-Solano, Sacramento, San Jose, Oakland and San Diego, Sutter Health, John Muir Health, Alameda Health System-Highland Hospital, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and UCSF Fresno, as well as programs in other states.

Curriculum Overview

TUCOM’s curriculum is integrated, organized by body system and built around osteopathic principles. In the school’s words, students “engage in a hands-on approach from day one.” The curriculum also includes the WARM framework, Wellness, Academics, Resilience and Mindfulness, which the school says “balances your development as a physician and a person.”

Years 1 and 2: three tracks each semester

In the preclinical years, each semester runs on three tracks:

• Integrated sciences, organized by body system. You learn everything you need about one system, such as cardiovascular, before moving to the next. Physiology, anatomy, pathology, pharmacology, microbiology and clinical science are taught together.
• Osteopathic doctoring, which covers clinical skills (interviewing and the physical exam), clinical reasoning, professionalism, ethics, humanities and early clinical experience with real and simulated patients.
• Osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMM), which develops osteopathic thinking by integrating osteopathic manipulative treatment into diagnosis and care.

The first year includes Fundamentals of Osteopathic Medicine (13 units), which covers the biochemistry, anatomy, physiology, histology, embryology, genetics, pharmacology, pathology, microbiology and immunology needed before the organ systems; Osteopathic Doctoring 1 and 2; Osteopathic Principles and Practices 1 and 2; and Integrated Systems: Cardiovascular, Respiratory and Renal (14.5 units). The second year includes Integrated Systems: Neurology/Musculoskeletal (12.5 units); Integrated Systems: Gastrointestinal, Endocrinology, Reproduction and Dermatology (13 units); Osteopathic Doctoring 3 and 4; and Osteopathic Principles and Practices 3 and 4.

A simulated patient lab lets students practice with actors who portray real patient scenarios. The anatomy program uses cadaver-based learning, and the Life-Saving Hospital Procedures elective adds cadaveric procedure labs for second-year students.

Osteopathic manipulative medicine and OMT

Osteopathic medicine is a full scope of modern medicine. DOs prescribe medication, perform surgery and use the same diagnostic technology as MDs. What sets osteopathic training apart is its emphasis on the whole person and on the musculoskeletal system’s role in health. Osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) is a set of hands-on techniques, such as stretching, gentle pressure and resistance, that DOs use to diagnose and treat patients. It is often used for back and neck pain and other musculoskeletal problems. The profession traces its history to Dr. Andrew Taylor Still, whose principles are still reflected in the four tenets TUCOM teaches.

At TUCOM, OMM begins in the first year and continues across all four years. The four-semester Osteopathic Principles and Practices sequence builds the theory and the psychomotor skills to integrate osteopathic diagnosis and treatment into patient care. A summer OMT Lab elective lets students serve as OMT demonstration providers under a faculty preceptor, and the Year 4 curriculum includes an OMM rotation. Faculty research also studies OMT in pediatric conditions, including collaborations with UC San Diego and UCSF.

Structural competency

TUCOM says it is “the only medical school that has structural competency as one of our program learning outcomes.” Structural competency means understanding how housing, food access, health care deserts, income and policy shape a patient’s health, often more than genetics. The school uses pediatric diabetes as an example: students are encouraged to ask why the disease is more common in some groups and to learn about the housing and food conditions behind it. The program learning outcomes are Osteopathic Principles and Practices, Medical Knowledge, Patient Care, Interpersonal Communication Skills, Professionalism, Practice-Based Learning and Improvement, Systems-Based Practice and Structural Competency.

Preclinical electives

Preclinical electives let you explore interests early. Current options include Global Wellness; Helping Babies Breathe; the Interprofessional Elective in Street Medicine, which works with unhoused patients in Vallejo; LGBTQIA+ Considerations in Healthcare; Life-Saving Hospital Procedures; Medical Spanish; OMT Lab; Pathways to Success, on study strategies and well-being; the Pediatric Obesity Prevention Program (Project HAPPY); the Summer Clinical Preceptorship between the first and second years; The Healer’s Art; Wilderness Medicine: Mountain Medicine; and Science-based Reproductive Health Care.

Years 3 and 4: clinical education

Third-year rotations are Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Surgery, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Pediatrics and Psychiatry, organized as 13 four-week blocks with some elective time. The required Year 3 Clinical Distinction course, designed by Dr. Jennifer Weiss, is a self-directed course that won the AACOM Marguerite Ellison Prize for Innovations in Clinical Education in 2017.

Fourth-year rotations are Primary Care, Critical Care, Emergency Medicine, Pediatrics, OB-GYN and OMM. Students also have elective time for sub-internships and audition rotations in their chosen specialty anywhere in the United States, and the school builds in blocks for research, board study and global health. Students take COMLEX-USA Level 1 between the second and third years.

Curricular awards

The curriculum has earned several national recognitions: the AACOM Innovation in the Development of Enduring Educational Materials Award for Dr. Tami Hendriksz’s Patient Perspectives curriculum (2018) and for Glenn Davis’s SCOR osteopathic core competency assessment system (2021); the Marguerite Ellison Prize for Dr. Weiss’s Clinical Distinction program (2017); and an AACOM award in 2016 for the COAR curriculum, which combines clinical skills, OMM, anatomy and radiology.

How tracks change the curriculum

DO/MPH students add public health coursework in the summers, or in a fifth year, and complete their field study during public health rotation blocks. Global Health Pathway students add global health coursework and a summer internship. Fellowship students extend medical school by a year to teach, research or deepen their OMM skills.

What the curriculum means for your application

The curriculum rewards students who are comfortable learning by doing and who can connect science to a patient’s life. Show that you have done both. Clinical work where you took vitals, did intake or helped with patient care, and service where you saw the social side of illness, give you material for every secondary question. If you want comparison points with other system-based curricula, our guides to Western schools such as the UC Davis School of Medicine can help you see the differences.

Admissions Requirements and Application Process

TUCOM uses a selective, rolling admissions process. Candidates are screened several times. The first screening checks that you meet the published minimums. Later screenings look at holistic criteria to decide who is invited to interview and, finally, who is accepted. The school says it receives “far more applications than we have seats for,” and Director of Admissions Steven Davis is direct about it: “Requirements do not get waived.”

Who can apply: citizenship and residency

Applicants who have met all requirements and permanently reside in the United States at the time of application may apply and matriculate. TUCOM does not accept international students. That rules out Canadian applicants and other international applicants who do not permanently reside in the U.S. DACA recipients are eligible to apply. Federal financial aid is limited to U.S. citizens and permanent residents, so if you apply without citizenship or permanent residency, the school strongly encourages you to arrange financing before you apply.

There is no in-state requirement, and California residents and nonresidents pay the same tuition. In practice, 89% of the Class of 2030 came from California.

Degree and prerequisite coursework

You need a bachelor’s degree, and all required coursework must be finished before the first day of mandatory orientation. Courses must be completed with a grade of C or higher. A C- does not count. “Pass” or “Credit” grades satisfy the requirement, and online coursework from regionally accredited institutions is accepted, including online labs.

Advanced placement credit counts only if your transcript shows specific subject credit (for example, General Chemistry, 4 units) or specific course credit (for example, Chem 101, 4 units). Coursework and degrees must come from an institution accredited by one of seven institutional accreditors that TUC recognizes, including WSCUC, the Higher Learning Commission and the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.

Foreign coursework. Coursework completed outside the United States, unless the institution is accredited by one of those agencies, must be evaluated course by course by World Education Services (the school’s preferred agency), the International Education Research Foundation, or Josef Silny and Associates. The evaluation must be sent directly to [email protected] and must include units, grades, a cumulative GPA and a statement of degree equivalency.

GPA and MCAT policy

• GPA: minimum 3.0 science GPA and 3.0 cumulative GPA. Successful candidates typically have 3.3 or higher. The Class of 2030 averaged 3.58 cumulative and 3.49 science.
• MCAT: a total score of 500 or better is required. For the 2026-2027 cycle (Class of 2031), only scores earned after January 1, 2023 are considered. TUCOM does not waive the MCAT. The Class of 2030 averaged 507.
• Situational judgment tests: TUCOM does not list Casper, PREview or any other situational judgment test among its requirements.

Meeting the minimums gets you a secondary, not an interview. Applicants near the minimums should use the secondary, letters and experiences to show readiness. Upward grade trends and strong upper-division science work help explain an early rough patch.

Experience: health care, shadowing and service

TUCOM evaluates applicants on academic competence; exposure to, experience with and/or knowledge of osteopathic medicine; personal and professional achievements; leadership; creative abilities; experience in health care; and likelihood to practice in underserved primary care areas. Beyond academic readiness, the school says it selects students based on their understanding of and commitment to osteopathic medicine, verbal and nonverbal communication skills, reasoned judgment and fit with the mission.

TUCOM does not require a set number of shadowing hours, but it clearly values knowing what a DO does. Shadowing a DO, or attending the student-run ShaDO Experience, gives you concrete material. In the ShaDO Experience, current students host pre-medical students for a day in their OMM and Osteopathic Doctoring labs and give a campus tour. Space is limited, and the school says participating “does not grant special consideration for admission.”

Health care experience is where many applicants separate themselves. Work or volunteer roles where you interact directly with patients, such as medical assistant, EMT, scribe, caregiver or clinical internships for pre-med students, show that you understand patient care from the inside. Long-term community service, especially with underserved groups, speaks directly to the mission.

Letters of recommendation

You must submit either one letter from a pre-professional advisory committee or two letters from biological or physical science faculty members who taught you in class. Letters from graduate teaching assistants are acceptable. Letters must be on formal letterhead and signed. A letter from a physician, DO or MD, is recommended but not required.

TUCOM strongly recommends sending letters through the AACOMAS letter service or through the TUC supplemental application system. If needed, letters may also come through Interfolio or directly from the letter writer. Letters cannot come from you, letters from family members are not considered, and TUCOM does not use Virtual Evals.

Step 1: The AACOMAS primary application

Apply through AACOMAS, the centralized application service for osteopathic medical schools, and select Touro University California. For this cycle, the earliest AACOMAS submission date was May 4, 2026, and the primary deadline is March 15, 2027. For a full walkthrough of the primary application, see our guide to the AACOMAS application.

On AACOMAS you will also be asked whether you want to be considered for the DO/MPH program. Answering yes adds a few short public health essays that do not affect your DO review.

Step 2: Screening and the supplemental (secondary) application

After your primary application is submitted, TUCOM checks that you meet the minimum GPA and MCAT requirements and that you are on track to finish the prerequisites. Only applicants who meet the posted minimums are invited to submit the supplemental application.

• Where: the Touro system application portal at apply.tu.edu/oc. Choose Touro University California, College of Osteopathic Medicine, and “TUCOM Supplemental Application – Invited to Apply (TUC).”
• Fee: $100, nonrefundable. If you received an AACOMAS fee waiver, forward the waiver email to [email protected] to receive a waiver code. The waiver is not automatic.
• Timing: the earliest supplemental submission date was June 1, 2026, and the supplemental deadline is April 15, 2027. The school notes that many applicants start filling out the application early so they can submit as soon as they are invited.
• Essays: five current questions. Short answers and essays are limited to 3,000 characters (600 words). Full examples are in the secondary section below.
• Terms and Conditions: a separate page of required questions that you must answer before submitting.

Step 3: Interview

The Admissions and Standards Committee reviews complete files and sends interview invitations on a rolling basis to the candidates who show the highest potential. Interviews run from late September through April or early May and use a virtual, panel-style group format. See the interview section for details.

Step 4: Decisions, deposits and deferrals

The committee meets regularly, generally every other week, to make recommendations to the dean. Decisions are emailed within a few days of each meeting, and candidates may be accepted, waitlisted or denied.

Accepted students submit a required response form and a $2,000 nonrefundable acceptance deposit, due within two weeks of the acceptance date. A second, $1,000 deposit is due later, before May 15, for applicants accepted before a set date. Both deposits are credited toward tuition. Only the $1,000 additional deposit is refundable, and only if you withdraw before the first day of mandatory orientation.

If you hold deposits at more than one program in the Touro system, you must choose one by June 1 for fall starts and withdraw from the others. Deferral requests are reviewed case by case and approved only for very limited reasons. TUCOM does not offer an Early Decision Program. Incoming students may need to pass a background check, and applicants who were dismissed from another medical school for academic or professional reasons are not considered.

Timeline for the 2026-2027 cycle

The deadlines are late in the cycle, but because review is rolling, waiting until spring puts you behind. Mr. Davis warns that applicants who wait until the last minute often get “left out in the cold” when something goes wrong at the end of the cycle. A practical target is to submit AACOMAS in May or June and return the secondary within two weeks of the invitation.

Tuition, Cost of Attendance and Financial Aid

TUCOM charges the same tuition to every DO student, whether you come from California or another state. The figures below come from the College of Osteopathic Medicine’s Tuition and Aid page.

Tuition and fees, 2026-2027

Tuition and fees are due the first week of classes. Any amount not covered by financial aid must be paid in full unless you enroll in the online payment plan. Tuition and fees are set by the university’s Board of Trustees and can change from year to year. Student accounts are handled by the Office of the Bursar on Mare Island.

Cost of attendance

Your cost of attendance (COA), or student budget, adds indirect costs to tuition and fees: books and supplies, food and housing, transportation, personal costs and health insurance. TUC requires students to enroll in Touro’s Student Health Insurance Plan (SHIP) unless they are approved for a waiver. The COA also sets the maximum aid you can receive.

TUCOM publishes a sample DO budget by class year. The sample was built on a tuition figure of $69,300, so expect 2026-2027 budgets to run about $2,820 higher on tuition alone.

Adding the four sample years gives about $449,200 for the full DO program before 2026-2027 tuition increases. Years 3 and 4 cost more because they run 12 months and include more travel and board exam costs. Treat these as planning numbers. Your actual budget depends on your housing, how far you travel to rotations and whether you waive SHIP.

Financial aid and scholarships

Touro University California’s financial aid office packages federal, state and private aid, including federal and private loans, several federal scholarship programs and the Federal Work-Study Program. To receive federal aid you must be a U.S. citizen or eligible noncitizen, be enrolled in an eligible program and maintain satisfactory academic progress. The financial aid office also has policies on satisfactory academic progress and loan counseling, and support for veterans and military students.

The College of Osteopathic Medicine has its own scholarships page, and the university’s annual Mosaic Gala raises money for student scholarships. Scholarship amounts and eligibility vary by year, so ask the financial aid office what is available for incoming students. You can review Touro Financial Aid and Scholarships at Touro for current details.

National programs can also reduce your costs. The Health Professions Scholarship Program (HPSP) for the armed forces and the National Health Service Corps scholarship pay tuition in exchange for service. Several of the TUCOM faculty and alumni profiled below have served in the military.

Debt after graduation

The average student loan debt for 2024 TUCOM graduates was $297,691, and 86.21% of graduates borrowed. That figure includes loans for both direct and indirect costs. Earlier years were $309,582 (2023), $236,269 (2022) and $277,896 (2021). The cohort default rate for Touro University California and Touro University Nevada was 0.00% for FY2021.

A cost of about $105,000 to $121,000 a year means most students borrow heavily. Before you accept a seat, compare full four-year budgets, not just tuition, across the schools that admit you, and think about how your specialty choice and any service commitments fit your repayment plan.

Campus Facilities and Student Life

The Mare Island campus

TUCOM’s campus is on Mare Island in Vallejo, a suburban setting surrounded by hiking, walking and biking trails and within reach of the cultural life of the San Francisco Bay Area. Campus fitness facilities include a full-size gymnasium, racquetball and handball courts, weight rooms, outdoor exercise areas and a meditation garden. Teaching space includes the renovated Truett Hall, with classrooms dedicated to health professions education, and the Lander Hall auditorium and gym, where the White Coat Ceremony is held. The university library and study spaces support coursework and research, and the anatomy, OMM and Osteopathic Doctoring labs host the hands-on parts of the curriculum.

Housing

Touro University California does not provide university-subsidized housing. The university employs a housing specialist to help students find housing, and most students live in Vallejo or nearby communities within a short drive of campus. Because third- and fourth-year rotations can be far from Vallejo, plan for a car and for the possibility of moving or commuting during the clinical years.

Student support

• Office of Student Activities (OSA): supports student leadership and organizes events on and off campus.
• Office of Academic Services and Institutional Support (OASIS): peer tutors, study skills workshops and academic coaching.
• Office of Student Health Services: confidential access to licensed health and mental health professionals.
• WARM curriculum and wellness electives: Global Wellness, Pathways to Success and The Healer’s Art build study skills, resilience and meaning in medicine.

Retention is high. The school reports cohort retention rates of 95% to 98% for cohorts entering from 2019-2020 to 2022-2023.

Student organizations and service

Touro is home to dozens of student groups, from professional clubs to recreational ones. The COM Student Executive Council leads student government. Osteopathic medical schools usually host chapters of national groups such as the Student Osteopathic Medical Association (SOMA) and the American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA), as well as specialty interest clubs in fields like orthopedic surgery and emergency medicine, and global health outreach groups. Check the current club list during your interview day, because student groups change from year to year.

Service is central to student life. Students give about 1,300 volunteer hours a year at the Student-Run Free Clinic. Other programs include the Mobile Diabetes Education Center, vaccination events, community education, mentoring local youth and the Ambassador HP Connect program, in which TUC students mentor disadvantaged high school and college students pursuing health careers. The Global Health Pathway takes students to sites in Africa, India, Mexico, Taiwan and Israel. Students who want to build Spanish skills before matriculating sometimes look for experience such as a medical internship in Peru, and TUCOM offers a Medical Spanish elective in the second year.

The Bay Area setting

Vallejo puts students within driving distance of San Francisco, Napa, Sacramento and the coast. The location gives access to a patient population that is diverse in culture, language and income, which fits the school’s focus on structural competency. It also means Bay Area living costs. Budget carefully, and talk with current students about which nearby towns they choose for rent and commute.

Clinical Rotations and Research Opportunities

Core rotations and sites

Year 3 includes all required core rotations: Internal Medicine, Family Medicine, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Pediatrics, General Surgery and Psychiatry, in 13 four-week blocks with some electives. TUCOM provides longitudinal core sites and regional clerkships mostly in California and New York. Students in Kaiser Permanente Northern California’s longitudinal program spend their third year at Kaiser Permanente Santa Rosa or Napa, and Kaiser’s Napa-Solano service hosts third-year family medicine students.

Year 4 lets students plan their own schedule. Required rotations are Primary Care, Critical Care, Emergency Medicine, Pediatrics, OB-GYN and OMM, and the rest of the year is elective time for sub-internships and audition rotations anywhere in the United States, plus blocks for research, board study, global health experiences or other projects. Many students also explore related fields, for example a future family physician taking a radiology or dermatology elective.

Because core sites vary, ask about how students are assigned, how far sites are from Vallejo, and whether housing is provided at distant sites. These details affect your cost of attendance.

Board performance and residency match

TUCOM publishes board and match outcomes from the National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners (NBOME):

• COMLEX-USA Level 1 first-time pass rate: 85.19% in 2024-2025 (national 90.25%); 92.91% in 2023-2024 (national 93.18%).
• COMLEX-USA Level 2-CE: 84.92% in 2024-2025 (national 91.33%).
• COMLEX-USA Level 3: 98.1% in 2025 (national 97.09%).
• Residency match: 100% every year from 2017 to 2025, including 129 students in 2025.
• Graduation: 85% of the cohort entering in 2019-2020 graduated in four years; for the 2017-2018 cohort, 81% graduated in four years, 93% in five and 96% in six.

The recent Level 1 and Level 2-CE rates are below the national averages, so ask current students how the school supports board preparation. The match record is strong, and 2024 matches included anesthesiology, emergency medicine, family medicine, general surgery, internal medicine, interventional radiology, neurological surgery, neurology, OB-GYN, orthopaedic surgery, otolaryngology, pathology, pediatrics, physical medicine and rehabilitation, psychiatry and transitional year programs.

Research

TUCOM does not require research for graduation, but research opportunities are substantial for a DO school. COCA commended the college’s research programs in 2015. The Metabolic Research Center studies diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease. Faculty research areas listed by the college include:

• Metabolic disease, nutrition and lipid disorders: carbohydrate and lipid metabolism, dietary fructose, mitochondrial effects of new compounds.
• Diabetes: prevention and early treatment of type 2 diabetes and metabolic liver disease, including fasting and low-calorie diet interventions and trials in diabetic kidney disease.
• Cardiovascular disease: electrolyte imbalances and Long QT syndrome, including analysis of a database of more than a million ECGs.
• Osteopathic manipulative medicine: OMT in breastfeeding infants (with UC San Diego), in autism spectrum disorder (with UCSF) and in plagiocephaly.
• Global health: cancer screening and management in low- and middle-income countries.
• Medical education, immunology and drug design: K-12 neuroscience outreach, tobacco mosaic virus as a vaccine candidate and HIV entry inhibitors.

Students can join faculty labs, take the Predoctoral Research Fellowship, which adds a year, and present at the university’s Research Day. Associate Dean Alesia Wagner tells the story of a student who emailed six faculty members about a summer research project and heard yes from five of them within 12 hours.

Service clinics and community programs

Outside required rotations, students can work in the Student-Run Free Clinic, the Mobile Diabetes Education Center and community programs in Vallejo, including Project HAPPY, a family-based pediatric obesity prevention program that pairs Vallejo families with Touro student health navigators. The Interprofessional Elective in Street Medicine combines online sessions, group work and hands-on time with the unhoused community in Vallejo.

If you want to build similar experience before medical school, clinical service abroad can help. In pre-med internships abroad, students work alongside local clinicians in communities with limited resources, which gives you real examples of the barriers to care that TUCOM’s structural competency curriculum teaches.

Notable Alumni, Faculty, Leadership and Admissions Staff

TUCOM’s faculty, leaders and graduates show what the school values in practice. The profiles below are based on official Touro University California biographies and news stories, checked October 17, 2026. They describe public professional roles only.

School leadership

Tami Hendriksz, DO, FACOP, FAAP, Dean of the College of Osteopathic Medicine, Campus Provost and Chief Academic Officer. Dr. Hendriksz is a TUCOM graduate, DO Class of 2006, who earned her bachelor’s degree at UCLA and completed her pediatric internship and residency at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. She returned to Touro as faculty in 2009 while continuing to care for underserved children in the local community, and she has served as Vice Chair of Primary Care, Assistant Dean of Clinical Integration, Associate Dean of Clinical Education and Associate Dean of Academic Affairs. She became dean in August 2021. She is a Professor of Pediatrics, a five-time TUCOM Teacher of the Year and the designer of the Patient Perspectives curriculum, which won an AACOM innovation award in 2018. For applicants, her path from TUCOM student to dean shows how closely the school ties its leadership to its own graduates and to primary care.

Alesia Wagner, DO, FACOFP, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Associate Professor. Dr. Wagner appears in the school’s admissions video explaining what TUCOM looks for: students who fit the mission, who truly want to be DOs, who have an interest in primary care, and who care about the community and social justice. Her advice to applicants is practical: proofread, never write “MD” in a DO application, and explain your real reason for choosing medicine rather than retelling a family illness.

David L. Coffman, DO, Associate Dean of Clinical Education and Associate Professor. Dr. Coffman is a board-certified general surgeon with fellowship training in trauma surgery and surgical critical care at Yale and 30 years of clinical experience. He trained at Des Moines University College of Osteopathic Medicine and practiced rurally in the Midwest before his fellowships. He has served as chief of surgery and medical staff president, and he writes exam items for the NBOME. As the leader of clinical education, he oversees the third- and fourth-year rotations that will shape your clinical training.

Natalie Nevins, DO, MSHPE, MSS, FACOFP, FS, COL USAR, Associate Dean of Graduate Medical Education, Technology and Program Development; Professor of Family Medicine and Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine. Dr. Nevins is an internationally recognized physician, educator, author and researcher in nonprofit health care, humanitarian aid, medical simulation, disaster medicine and aviation medicine. She is a colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve and Command Flight Surgeon for the Army Reserve Aviation Command, an adjunct professor of family medicine at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, and a graduate of the U.S. Army War College. She has had three combat deployments. Her honors include the Army AMEDD “9A” Proficiency Designator, the highest recognition for professional excellence in the Army Medical Department, and the Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award in 2018 and 2026. Her work in graduate medical education matters to students because new residency programs expand where graduates can train.

Jennifer Weiss, DO, Associate Dean of Faculty Development, Director of Clinical Distinction and Associate Professor. Dr. Weiss is a TUCOM alumna and a board-certified family physician who has taught at TUCOM since finishing her family medicine residency at Sutter Santa Rosa/UCSF. She designed the required Year 3 Clinical Distinction course, which earned the AACOM Marguerite Ellison Prize for Innovations in Clinical Education in 2017, and she leads faculty development through the TUCOM Teaching Physician Series. She practices with a biodynamic model of osteopathy.

Walter Hartwig, PhD, Professor and Director of Enrollment Management and Student Success. Dr. Hartwig is a professor whose role covers enrollment management and student success in the College of Osteopathic Medicine, the office that supports students’ progress once they enroll.

Faculty

Jay Shubrook, DO, FACOFP, FAAFP, Professor, Director of the Diabetes Institute and Medical Director of the Metabolic Research Center. Dr. Shubrook is a board-certified family physician and fellowship-trained diabetologist who has published hundreds of articles on diabetes. He is Deputy Editor of the American Diabetes Association journal Diabetes, Obesity, and Cardiometabolic Care and was founding chair of the executive board of the American College of Diabetology. He received the ADCES Lifetime Achievement Award in 2026. His research on early intervention and diabetes remission shows the depth of TUCOM’s diabetes work, which connects to the Diabetes Certificate and the Mobile Diabetes Education Center.

Admissions staff

Steven Davis, Director of Admissions, Touro University California. Mr. Davis explains the application process in the school’s official admissions video. His key points: TUCOM screens applicants before sending the secondary, requirements do not get waived, applicants should not wait for the deadlines, and you should be ready to say why you want to be a physician and why you want to be an osteopathic physician.

Lynn Huckle, Senior Admissions Coordinator. Ms. Huckle is the College of Osteopathic Medicine’s admissions contact and the person the school lists for questions about the status of your secondary application ([email protected]). General admissions questions go to [email protected].

Alumni

Faisal Qazi, DO, Founding Class of 2001. Dr. Qazi, a neurologist from Fullerton, was appointed to the Osteopathic Medical Board of California by Governor Gavin Newsom in March 2026. He co-founded The Neurology Group in 2012, serves as designated institutional official for the TNG Neurology Residency Program in Pomona, and earlier served on the California Commission on Aging. He also founded a nonprofit that provided free medical care and later supported medical education.

Kamal Kalsi, DO, 2005. Dr. Kalsi, an emergency physician, joined the U.S. Army during his first year at TUCOM. In 2009 he received the first religious accommodation for a Sikh in the military in nearly a generation, which opened a path for service members who wear articles of faith. He earned a Bronze Star Medal in Afghanistan, directed EMS at Fort Bragg, founded the Sikh American Veterans Alliance and is a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve. A 2024 university story also described him as a White House commissioner for Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities.

Jonathan Revels, DO, Class of 2012. Dr. Revels is an associate professor of radiology at New York University and the first recipient of Touro University California’s Alumni Researcher of the Year award, presented at Research Day in 2025. He has authored more than 60 peer-reviewed publications and received the Radiological Society of North America’s Honored Educator Award. His advice to students: choose research projects you care about, and build on your earlier work.

Together, these profiles show three things that matter for applicants: TUCOM promotes its own graduates into leadership, it values service in the military and in underserved communities, and its graduates reach both primary care and specialty careers. Faculty listed here may change, so check the college’s faculty directory for current roles, such as Associate Dean of Graduate Medical Education Natalie Nevins and Associate Professor David Coffman, and the full faculty list.

Admissions Statistics and Class Profile

TUCOM publishes profiles of its recent entering classes and annual enrollment counts. Here is what the numbers show and what they do not.

Class of 2030 (entered August 2026)

• GPA and MCAT: average cumulative GPA 3.58; average science GPA 3.49; average MCAT 507.
• Age: average 24; range 20 to 40.
• Gender: 36% male, 63% female, 1% declined to state.
• Race and ethnicity: Asian 54%, White 22%, Hispanic 9%, two or more races 6%, unknown 6%, Black 2%, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander 1%, American Indian/Alaska Native 0%.
• Where students are from: 89% in-state and 11% out-of-state. 107 students from the University of California system, 13 from the California State University system, 69 from other California and out-of-state schools.
• Top feeder schools in California: UC Davis (31), UC Berkeley (15), UC Irvine (15), UC San Diego (14), UCLA (10), UC Riverside (8), UC Santa Barbara (6), UC Santa Cruz (5), Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (4).
• Top feeder schools outside California: Nova Southeastern University (4) and the University of Washington (4).

At the August 30, 2026 White Coat Ceremony, the school described the Class of 2030 as “some 200 strong.”

Class of 2028 (entered 2024)

• GPA and MCAT: average cumulative GPA 3.58; average science GPA 3.53; average MCAT 506.
• Age: average 24.5; range 20 to 41.
• Gender: 42% male, 57% female, 1% declined to state.
• Race and ethnicity: Asian 57%, White 23%, Hispanic 9%, unknown 5%, two or more races 4%, Black 2%.
• Where students are from: 86% in-state; 111 from the UC system, 17 from the CSU system, 61 from other schools. Top feeders: UC Davis (36), UC Berkeley (20), UCLA (13), UC San Diego (13); outside California, the University of Texas (3), Arizona State, NYU, Ohio State, the University of Nevada and the University of Virginia (2 each).

Enrollment and matriculant data, 2024-2025

In the 2024-2025 academic year, TUCOM enrolled 601 students (267 male, 325 female) and 188 first-year matriculants (80 male, 107 female, 1 other), with 163 in-state and 25 out-of-state matriculants. Of those first-year students, 84.6% were science majors, 15.4% non-science majors, and 14.9% held graduate degrees. For the 2026-2027 cycle, the school also reports a mean MCAT of 506.1 and an average cumulative undergraduate GPA of 3.59 for its students, with no cohort year attached.

Trends across recent classes

Recent TUCOM classes have been consistent. Average cumulative GPAs have stayed in the mid-3.5 range, from 3.50 for the Class of 2024 to 3.58 for the Classes of 2028 and 2030, and average MCAT scores have stayed between 506 and 509. Earlier classes looked similar. The school’s class statistics for the Class of 2025 showed an average cumulative GPA of 3.56, science GPA of 3.53 and MCAT of 509, with 81% in-state students and an age range of 19 to 54. The Class of 2024 averaged 3.50, 3.44 and 507, with 85% in-state. The Class of 2023 averaged 3.51, 3.45 and 509, with 83% in-state. Those three classes each listed 135 students by undergraduate system, compared with 189 for the Classes of 2028 and 2030, so the entering class has grown. UC Davis has been the top feeder school for many years, and the share of California residents has stayed above 80%.

How to read these numbers

• Averages are not minimums. The minimums are 3.0 and 500. Successful candidates typically have a GPA of 3.3 or higher.
• There is no published acceptance rate. TUCOM does not report applicant, interview or offer counts. Do not divide matriculants by applicants from another source and call it an acceptance rate.
• Cohorts differ. The GPA and MCAT figures describe students who enrolled, not everyone who was admitted.
• California dominates, but is not required. About one in ten students comes from outside California.

For a broader view of where TUCOM fits among osteopathic programs, see our DO school rankings guide.

Tips and Strategies for Admission

TUCOM’s process rewards applicants who meet the academic bar, know exactly why they want to be osteopathic physicians and can show a record of service. These strategies turn the school’s stated priorities into practical steps.

1. Clear the screen with room to spare

The 3.0 GPA and 500 MCAT minimums decide who gets a secondary, and every applicant you compete with has cleared them. Successful candidates typically have a GPA of 3.3 or higher, and recent classes have averaged about 3.58 and 506 to 507. If your numbers are near the minimums, strengthen them before you apply: retake the MCAT if your practice scores support a higher result, take upper-division science courses, or consider a postbaccalaureate or master’s program such as TUC’s MS in Medical Health Science. Remember that MCAT scores from before January 1, 2023 do not count this cycle.

2. Learn osteopathic medicine first-hand

TUCOM explicitly reviews your “exposure to, experience with, and/or knowledge of Osteopathic Medicine.” Shadow a DO, ideally one who uses OMT, and write down what you saw. If you live near Vallejo, request a spot in the student-run ShaDO Experience, and attend a virtual Touro Talks Q&A session or an open house. Be ready to explain the four tenets in your own words and to give one example of how a DO approached a patient differently.

3. Build real clinical experience

The school values experience in health care and the communication skills it builds. Roles where you interact with patients, such as medical assistant, EMT, CNA, scribe or hospice volunteer, give you stories you can use in every essay. Structured pre-med internships can add hands-on work such as taking vitals and doing patient intake under supervision. What matters most is what you learned about patients, not the number of hours.

4. Show service, especially in underserved communities

“Likelihood to practice in underserved primary care areas” is one of TUCOM’s listed review criteria. Long-term service with one community, such as a free clinic, a food bank or a youth program, carries more weight than a long list of one-day events. Reflect on what you learned about the barriers people face. This is the raw material for an essay about structural competency.

5. Connect your story to primary care, honestly

Dr. Wagner says over half of TUCOM classes go into primary care. You do not need to commit to family medicine, but you should be able to explain what draws you to the kind of care the school teaches. If you are interested in a specialty, explain how a whole-person, community-focused approach would still shape your practice.

6. Write for this school, not every school

Admissions leaders say they often see copied statements, including applicants who write “MD” in a DO application. Proofread every essay, name TUCOM’s actual programs where they fit, and explain your real reason for medicine. Dr. Wagner points out that many personal statements retell a loved one’s illness, which may have sparked an interest but rarely explains a lasting commitment.

7. Plan your letters early

You need a committee letter or two science faculty letters. Ask professors who know you well at least two months before you plan to submit, and consider adding a DO letter, which TUCOM recommends. Make sure letters are signed and on letterhead, and send them through AACOMAS or the TUC system rather than Virtual Evals.

8. Use your summers well

The months before you apply are your best chance to fill gaps. If you need more patient contact, pre-med summer internships or a summer clinical job can give you fresh experiences to write about. If you need research, ask faculty early; at TUCOM itself, students report quick responses from faculty about summer projects.

9. Apply early and answer the secondary fast

Admissions are rolling, and decisions come out about every two weeks. Submit AACOMAS early in the cycle and return the secondary within about two weeks of your invitation. Because you can start the supplemental application before you are invited, draft your answers in advance.

10. Reapplying? Show what changed

If you applied before, especially if you interviewed, the committee will want to see clear growth. Identify the weak points in your last application, fix them and say so plainly. Common improvements include a stronger MCAT, upper-division science grades or a graduate program, more direct patient care, deeper community service and better interview preparation. Some reapplicants use a year off for clinical work or pre-med gap year programs that add hands-on patient experience. Ask a mentor, ideally a DO, to review your new application before you submit it.

Secondary Application Questions, Example Responses and Analysis

Applicants who meet TUCOM’s minimums are invited to complete the supplemental application at apply.tu.edu/oc. For the 2026-2027 cycle, the supplemental application includes five questions. TUCOM’s instructions say short answers and essays “should be limited to no more than 3,000 characters (600 words).” Write each answer to 3,000 characters or fewer, including spaces, and treat that as a hard limit. The examples below follow that limit.

TUCOM shows its secondary questions only inside the applicant portal, so confirm the wording there before you write.

The $100 secondary fee is waived on request for AACOMAS fee waiver recipients. The supplemental deadline is April 15, 2027.

Every example below is labeled “Illustrative example, not an actual applicant essay.” These are teaching examples written for this guide. Do not copy them. Your answers must come from your own experiences.

Question 1: Osteopathic tenet and lived experience (3,000 characters)

Prompt: “Please select one of the tenets of Osteopathic Medicine and explain how it might relate to one or more of your lived experiences”

Who answers: all invited applicants.

What it asks. This prompt tests the thing TUCOM says it reviews most closely after academics: whether you understand osteopathic medicine. You need to (1) choose one tenet, (2) show that you understand what it means, and (3) connect it to something you lived, not something you read. The four tenets TUCOM teaches are:

1. The body is a unit; the person is a unit of body, mind, and spirit.
2. The body is capable of self-regulation, self-healing, and health maintenance.
3. Structure and function are reciprocally interrelated.
4. Treatment should be based on an understanding of the principles of body unity, self-regulation, and the interrelationship of structure and function.

Approach. Pick the tenet that fits your strongest patient or personal story. Name it early. Spend most of your characters on a specific experience, then explain how it changed your thinking. Close with how you would use that lesson at TUCOM and as a physician. A good answer often shows a moment when the obvious explanation was incomplete.

Illustrative example, not an actual applicant essay

I chose the first tenet, that the person is a unit of body, mind and spirit, because a patient taught it to me before I knew it had a name.

For two years I worked as a rehabilitation aide at a skilled nursing facility in Sacramento. On paper my job was simple: walk patients to therapy, count repetitions and record distances. One of my regular patients was a retired truck driver I will call Mr. Alvarez, who was recovering from a hip replacement. By his third week his incision had healed and his strength scores were rising, but he still stopped after a few steps. The team charted it as low motivation.

I walked with him more than anyone else, mostly because I walked slowly. On one of those walks he told me his wife had died the year before, and that he did not see the point of going home to an empty second-floor apartment with no elevator. His problem was not only his hip. It was grief, fear of falling on stairs he would face alone, and a home that no longer fit his body.

With his permission, I shared what he told me with his physical therapist and the social worker. The plan changed. The social worker set up a grief support visit and started looking at ground-floor housing with his son. The therapist added stair training and let him choose his own daily goal. Within two weeks he was walking the full hallway and joking with the nurses. Nothing about his surgery had changed. What changed was that the team finally treated the whole person.

That experience taught me three things. A physical finding can carry a story the chart does not show. The place a patient returns to matters as much as the treatment he receives. And listening is a clinical skill, not a courtesy.

This is why the osteopathic tenets read to me as practical rather than abstract. Body unity explained why his mood and his mobility moved together. The link between structure and function applied not only to his joint but also to the stairs and the building he lived in. I see the same idea in TUCOM’s focus on structural competency, which asks students to look at housing, food access and the other conditions that shape health. I want to learn to ask those questions on purpose, not by accident on a slow walk down a hallway.

I also want the hands-on skills to act on what I notice. Starting osteopathic manipulative medicine in the first year, next to Osteopathic Doctoring courses with real and simulated patients, would let me practice examining structure while still asking about the rest of a patient’s life. As a physician, I hope to remember that the patient who “won’t walk” may be telling me something about his mind and his home, and that my job is to keep listening until I understand.

Why this example works.

• It names one tenet in the first sentence and uses the school’s own wording, so the reader knows the answer is on topic.
• The experience is specific and lived. A rehabilitation aide job, one patient, a clear turning point. The applicant does not claim to have treated anyone, and the patient is protected with a changed name and permission is noted.
• It shows understanding, not definitions. The essay explains body unity through what happened, then links it to structure and function and to the stairs in the patient’s building. That links the tenet to TUCOM’s structural competency outcome without forcing it.
• It connects to verified TUCOM training. First-year OMM and Osteopathic Doctoring courses with real and simulated patients are part of the actual curriculum.
• It ends with a lesson for the future physician, which answers the “how it might relate” part of the prompt.

Mistakes to avoid. Listing all four tenets, writing a history of osteopathy instead of a personal answer, claiming to know OMT techniques you have not been trained in, or choosing a family illness story without showing what you learned. Do not stretch a tenet to fit a story that does not support it.

Question 2: Information session attendance (3,000 characters)

Prompt: “Have you attended any TUCOM information sessions on campus, at another location, or virtually? If yes, please list the event(s) in which you participated.”

Who answers: all invited applicants. This is a short factual question.

What it asks. Whether you have engaged with TUCOM directly, and if so, which events. It does not ask for an essay. List each event with its name, format and date.

Approach. Be accurate. Use the event name exactly as it appeared, add the format (virtual, on campus or at another location) and the date. One short sentence on what you learned can help if it is real, but keep it brief. If you have not attended an event, say so plainly. TUCOM’s current College of Osteopathic Medicine events include virtual “Touro Talks Q&A: Osteopathic Medicine” sessions, and the school’s admissions page links to information sessions.

Illustrative example, not an actual applicant essay (worked response pattern)

Yes. I have attended the following TUCOM events:

1. Touro Talks Q&A: Osteopathic Medicine, virtual session, [month day, year]. I asked how first-year students balance the osteopathic manipulative medicine labs with the integrated science courses, and learned that the curriculum runs on three tracks each semester.

2. TUCOM fall open house, on campus at Mare Island, Vallejo, [month day, year]. I toured the campus and spoke with second-year students about the Student-Run Free Clinic.

3. Touro University California recruitment table at [conference name], [city], [month day, year]. I spoke with an admissions representative about the DO/MPH dual degree.

If you have not attended an event, a short, direct answer works:

No. I have not attended a TUCOM information session. I have reviewed the College of Osteopathic Medicine admissions, curriculum and class statistics pages, and I have registered for the next Touro Talks Q&A: Osteopathic Medicine session on [date].

Why this pattern works.

• It answers yes or no first, then lists events in a format a reader can scan.
• Each event has a name, format and date, which is what the prompt asks for.
• The optional notes are short and specific, showing genuine engagement without turning a factual question into an essay.
• The “No” version is honest and shows research without inventing attendance.

Mistakes to avoid. Listing events you did not attend, padding the answer with a long essay, or confusing a TUCOM event with a Touro Nevada or Touro New York event. The ShaDO Experience is a shadowing program rather than an information session; if you attended it, you can mention it briefly, labeled accurately. Replace every bracket in the pattern with your real details.

Question 3: Hobbies and non-academic pursuits (3,000 characters)

Prompt: “Please describe your hobbies (or non-academic pursuits) and how they will influence your success as an Osteopathic medical student and/or Osteopathic physician in the future.”

Who answers: all invited applicants.

What it asks. Two parts: (1) describe what you do outside academics, and (2) explain how it will help you succeed as an osteopathic student or physician. TUCOM’s WARM curriculum and its interest in “creative abilities” make this a real chance to show who you are.

Approach. Choose one or two pursuits you have kept up over time. Describe them concretely, then draw specific, believable links to medicine: a skill, a habit of mind, a way of coping or a connection to patients. Avoid stretching. One honest connection is worth more than five forced ones.

Illustrative example, not an actual applicant essay

Most of my free time goes to two things: throwing pottery on a wheel and teaching kids to grow vegetables at a community garden in Oakland. Both started as ways to get away from studying. Both have shaped how I want to practice medicine.

I started ceramics in a community college night class four years ago. On the wheel, my hands have to feel what the clay is doing before my eyes can see it. Too much pressure and the wall collapses. Too little and the piece wobbles off center. I learned to read small changes in resistance through my fingertips and to adjust slowly. When I watched a DO treat a patient’s low back pain during shadowing, I recognized the same kind of attention: light contact, careful feedback, small changes. I know clay is not a patient, but I believe the habit of patient, tactile listening will help me learn the palpation skills that osteopathic manipulative medicine asks of students from the first year.

Ceramics also taught me how to fail. Roughly half of what I throw ends up back in the reclaim bucket. At first that frustrated me. Now I see each collapse as information about what went wrong. Medical school will bring exams and practicals that do not go as planned, and I expect to approach them the same way: figure out what happened, change one thing and try again.

The garden is where I learned about health outside a clinic. Every Saturday I lead a group of eight to twelve children, ages seven to eleven, in planting, harvesting and cooking a simple snack. Many of them live in apartments near freeways, with corner stores closer than grocery stores. One boy told me he had never eaten a fresh pea. Watching him eat a handful straight from the vine, I understood that food habits depend on access as much as on choice.

That lesson connects directly to medicine. A doctor can tell a family to eat more vegetables, but the advice means little if the nearest produce is two bus rides away. TUCOM’s emphasis on structural competency, and its community work such as Project HAPPY, which pairs Vallejo families with student health navigators, describe the kind of prevention I have tried to practice on a small scale in the garden. I hope to bring my experience teaching children and talking with their parents to that kind of work as a student.

These pursuits will also keep me balanced. Pottery is the one place where I cannot think about anything else, and the garden reminds me every week why I want to be a physician. I plan to keep both in medical school, because a rested, grounded student is more likely to become a steady and present doctor.

Why this example works.

• Both parts of the prompt are answered. The applicant describes two specific pursuits and explains how each will shape their success.
• The links to osteopathic medicine are careful. The essay connects tactile attention on the wheel to learning palpation, but admits that clay is not a patient. That honesty reads as maturity.
• It shows resilience through a real habit, learning from failed pieces, which connects to the pressure of exams.
• It ties a hobby to structural competency. The garden story about food access mirrors what TUCOM teaches, and Project HAPPY is a real TUCOM program that pairs Vallejo families with student health navigators.
• It addresses wellness, which fits the school’s WARM curriculum.

Mistakes to avoid. Listing hobbies without explaining their effect, claiming a hobby will make you a better surgeon or OMT practitioner without explaining why, or choosing a pursuit you dropped years ago. Do not repeat your activities list from AACOMAS; add depth.

Question 4: Life experiences and personal characteristics (3,000 characters)

Prompt: “Please discuss how your life experiences and personal characteristics will contribute to your future success as an outstanding osteopathic physician.”

Who answers: all invited applicants.

What it asks. Which experiences and which traits will help you become an outstanding osteopathic physician, and how. The phrase “outstanding osteopathic physicians” comes straight from TUCOM’s mission statement, so this question is really asking how you fit the mission.

Approach. Choose two or three characteristics and support each with a specific experience. Show the trait in action, not as a label. Then connect the traits to osteopathic practice and, if it is true for you, to primary care or underserved communities. This is also a good place to add something your primary application did not cover, such as context for a weak semester.

Illustrative example, not an actual applicant essay

I have been interpreting in clinics since I was eleven. My parents came to Stockton from Vietnam with limited English, and as the oldest child I went to their appointments. I translated words like “cholesterol” and “biopsy” before I understood them. I also learned that a patient can nod at everything a doctor says and still leave the room confused and afraid.

Those years gave me the first characteristic I will bring to medicine: I notice when someone does not understand. In my current job as a medical assistant at a community health center in Stockton, I room about twenty patients a day, take vital signs and complete intake. Many are older Vietnamese and Spanish-speaking patients. When a patient says “yes” too quickly, I slow down and ask them to show me how they will take a new medication. More than once, that question has caught a mistake before it reached the pharmacy counter.

The second characteristic is reliability under pressure. During college I worked twenty hours a week, helped my younger brother with his homework and kept my grades up. It was not always smooth. My sophomore organic chemistry grade shows a semester when I was overextended. I learned to plan my weeks, ask for help early and protect time for sleep. Those habits carried me through my upper-division sciences with stronger grades, and I expect them to carry me through medical school.

The third is a sense of responsibility toward communities like mine. Many of the patients I room have diabetes or high blood pressure, and the reasons often have as much to do with work schedules, food costs and transportation as with genetics. I have started asking about those factors during intake so the provider can address them. This is what I understand TUCOM to mean by structural competency, and it is a large part of why I am drawn to osteopathic medicine. The tenet that the person is a unit of body, mind and spirit matches what I saw as a child: my father’s blood pressure rose and fell with the stress of his work, not just with his medication.

I want to practice primary care in California’s Central Valley, where I grew up and where many patients still need someone who will explain things in their own language. At TUCOM I hope to volunteer at the Student-Run Free Clinic and keep practicing the habits I have already built: slowing down, checking understanding and asking about a patient’s life outside the exam room.

My life has prepared me to be a translator in the broadest sense, between languages, between cultures and between a doctor’s plan and a patient’s reality. I believe that skill, along with the discipline I built as a working student, will help me become the kind of osteopathic physician my parents needed when they first arrived.

Why this example works.

• Each characteristic is backed by evidence. Noticing confusion comes from years of interpreting and from medical assistant work. Reliability comes from working while in college.
• It addresses a weakness directly and briefly. A low organic chemistry grade is explained and followed by what changed, without excuses.
• It ties experience to the mission. Primary care in the Central Valley, underserved patients and structural competency all reflect TUCOM’s stated priorities.
• It uses a tenet naturally, showing understanding of osteopathic philosophy without turning into a definition.
• It names one specific TUCOM opportunity, the Student-Run Free Clinic, which is real and fits the applicant’s history.

Mistakes to avoid. Listing adjectives without stories, repeating your personal statement word for word, or making the essay entirely about hardship without showing what you do with it. If you mention a hardship, focus on what you learned and how it will help patients.

Question 5: School selection criteria and TUCOM fit (3,000 characters)

Prompt: “When considering medical schools, what criteria are important to you and how does TUCOM align with those criteria?”

Who answers: all invited applicants.

What it asks. Two things: your criteria for choosing a medical school, and specific ways TUCOM meets them. Generic praise does not answer the second half.

Approach. Start with three or four criteria that come from your own experience. For each, name a verified TUCOM program, policy or outcome that meets it, and explain why it matters to you. Good options include structural competency, OMM from year one, the three-track preclinical curriculum, the Clinical Distinction course, the DO/MPH, the Global Health Pathway, the Student-Run Free Clinic, the Street Medicine elective, the WARM curriculum, California-based core sites and the Kaiser Permanente longitudinal program.

Illustrative example, not an actual applicant essay

When I built my school list, I used four criteria: training in the causes of illness outside the body, early and hands-on clinical skills, a strong record in primary care, and a culture that takes student well-being seriously. TUCOM meets each one in a specific way.

First, I want to learn why disease clusters in certain communities. As a volunteer at a free clinic in Fresno, I saw how often a patient’s diabetes was tied to shift work, food costs or a missed bus. TUCOM lists structural competency as a program learning outcome, and its curriculum asks students to study housing, food access and health care deserts alongside physiology. That is the training I want. I am also interested in the DO/MPH dual degree, because the 30-unit format would let me study public health within the four-year window rather than adding years to my education.

Second, I learn best by doing. TUCOM starts osteopathic manipulative medicine in the first year and teaches clinical skills through Osteopathic Doctoring courses that use real and simulated patients. I also value the Year 3 Clinical Distinction course, which asks students to take more ownership of their own clinical growth. A curriculum built on three tracks each semester, integrated sciences, osteopathic doctoring and OMM, would let me connect what I learn in the classroom to a patient in front of me.

Third, I plan to practice primary care in Northern California. TUCOM describes itself as one of the nation’s top 10 medical schools for placing graduates into primary care residencies, and its core clerkships are mostly in California. The chance to apply for a year-long third-year longitudinal program at Kaiser Permanente Santa Rosa or Napa is especially appealing to me, because continuity with the same patients and preceptors is how I want to learn primary care. At the same time, I appreciate that TUCOM graduates enter both primary care and specialties, so I would have room to explore.

Fourth, I want a school that treats wellness as part of becoming a physician. TUCOM’s WARM curriculum, which stands for Wellness, Academics, Resilience and Mindfulness, and electives such as The Healer’s Art tell me the school expects students to stay human through training.

Finally, service matters to me. Students give about 1,300 volunteer hours a year at TUCOM’s Student-Run Free Clinic, and the Interprofessional Elective in Street Medicine works with unhoused patients in Vallejo. After three years of free clinic work, I would want to keep serving patients while I train, not wait until residency.

For these reasons, TUCOM is not simply a school I could attend. It is the school whose priorities, from structural competency to primary care, most closely match the physician I am working to become.

Why this example works.

• Each criterion comes from the applicant’s experience, such as free clinic work in Fresno, before it is matched to TUCOM.
• Every TUCOM detail is real and specific: structural competency as a learning outcome, the 30-unit DO/MPH, OMM in year one, the three tracks, Clinical Distinction, the primary care placement claim, California core sites, the Kaiser longitudinal program, WARM, The Healer’s Art, the Student-Run Free Clinic and the Street Medicine elective.
• It is balanced. The applicant wants primary care but notes that TUCOM graduates enter specialties too, which avoids sounding scripted.
• It closes with fit, not flattery.

Mistakes to avoid. Praising the Bay Area weather, listing features any school has, confusing TUCOM with Touro’s Nevada or New York schools, or citing a program you have not checked. Make sure every detail you name is current.

Other items on the supplemental application

The supplemental application also includes an Applicant Information page, an Additional Information page with the essays above, and a Terms and Conditions page with required questions that you must answer before you can submit. After you click Next on the final review step, you cannot go back to make corrections, so review every page first.

Answer every yes-or-no and disclosure question truthfully and consistently with your AACOMAS application. If a disclosure question applies to you, for example about past legal or institutional actions, give a short, factual explanation: what happened, when, what responsibility you took and what you have done since. Avoid blaming others. Incoming students may need to pass a background check, and facts found later that you did not disclose can affect your enrollment.

DO/MPH essays. If you opted into the DO/MPH program on AACOMAS, you will answer a few short public health essays. Responses should be 2,000 characters or less. The school says these essays do not affect your medical school application.

Reapplicants. A separate reapplicant question was part of earlier TUCOM secondaries but does not appear in the 2026-2027 set reported this cycle. If your portal shows one, answer it directly: state whether you interviewed and what the outcome was, name the specific weaknesses you addressed and give evidence of each improvement. The reapplicant tips in the previous section apply.

Interview Format and Preparation

How TUCOM interviews in 2026-2027

• Format: a panel-style group interview. Up to five candidates are interviewed together by a panel of three: one clinician, one basic science faculty member and one current medical student. It is not a one-on-one interview and not a Multiple Mini Interview (MMI).
• Modality: virtual interviews only for this cycle.
• Length: about one hour.
• Open file, with limits: interviewers can see all materials you submitted except your grades and MCAT scores, at least five days before the interview.
• Timing: interviews are typically held from late September through April or early May. Invitations go out on a rolling basis to the candidates the committee sees as most likely to succeed.
• Accommodations: if you need disability accommodations, contact [email protected] at least three days before your interview.

Applicants this cycle report that the interview day also includes informational sessions, such as financial aid and a student Q&A, before the panel interview. Treat the whole day as part of the visit.

What the group format means for you

In a group panel, you answer questions in front of other applicants, and you may hear their answers first. That tests listening and communication as much as content. A few practical points:

• Listen to others. If someone else gives a strong answer, build on it rather than repeating it. Acknowledging a peer’s point shows the teamwork TUCOM values.
• Be concise. With up to five candidates and one hour, long answers take time from others. Aim for clear answers of about one to two minutes.
• Stay yourself. Do not compete to speak first or loudest. Thoughtful, calm answers stand out in a group.
• Know your file. Because interviewers have read your essays and activities, they may ask about any of them. Since they do not see your grades or MCAT, the conversation focuses on your experiences and judgment.
• Look the part on camera. Test your camera, audio and lighting, choose a quiet room and look at the camera when you speak.

What TUCOM wants to hear

The school’s stated selection factors are understanding of and commitment to osteopathic medicine, verbal and nonverbal communication, reasoned judgment and fit with the mission. Mr. Davis says interviewers want to see your passion for the profession and your answers to two questions: why a physician, and why an osteopathic physician.

Common question types include:

• Motivation and fit: Why medicine? Why osteopathic medicine? Why TUCOM?
• Career goals: What specialty interests you? What are your career goals? How do you think about primary care?
• Osteopathic understanding: What do you know about OMT? Which tenet means the most to you?
• Experiences: Tell us about your clinical work, research or service. What did you learn?
• Judgment and ethics: How would you handle a classmate who is struggling, or a patient who refuses treatment?
• Discovery questions: questions designed to learn more about your personality, values and life experiences.
• Your questions: Do you have any questions for us? Prepare two or three genuine questions about the curriculum, clinical sites or student life.

How to prepare (general guidance)

• Review your application. Reread your AACOMAS application and secondary answers. Be ready to discuss anything, including areas that might raise questions.
• Practice your motivation. Prepare a clear, personal answer to “Why medicine?” and “Why a DO?” with one or two concrete stories.
• Align with osteopathic medicine. Show how your background and interests fit the principles of osteopathic education.
• Practice in a group. Rehearse with two or three friends taking turns answering, so you get used to listening and building on others.
• Know TUCOM’s specifics. Structural competency, OMM from year one, the WARM curriculum, the Student-Run Free Clinic and California-based clinical training are all fair game.

These two guides can help you practice: Most Common Medical School Interview Questions and 320 Common Medical School Interview Questions & Answers (2024). If you want structured mock interviews and feedback, IMA’s specialized medical school admission consulting includes interview practice.

Why the interview matters

The interview is not a formality. Feedback from the panel is weighed alongside your academic record and experiences, and an interview does not guarantee acceptance. It is also your chance to judge whether TUCOM fits you. After the interview, the Admissions and Standards Committee meets about every two weeks, and decisions are emailed within a few days of each meeting. You may be accepted, waitlisted or denied.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Touro University California College of Osteopathic Medicine a good school?

TUCOM is a well-established DO school with strengths that matter to many applicants. It has held COCA accreditation since 2001 and earned a 10-year “Accreditation with Exceptional Outcome” in 2022. Every graduating class from 2017 to 2025 matched to residency at 100%, and the school says it is among the nation’s top 10 for placing graduates in primary care residencies. Its curriculum is distinctive for teaching structural competency and for starting OMM in year one, and its research programs, including the Metabolic Research Center, were commended by COCA. There are trade-offs. Recent first-time pass rates on COMLEX Level 1 (85.19% in 2024-2025) and Level 2-CE (84.92%) were below the national averages, tuition is high and no housing is provided. Whether it is a good school for you depends on how much you value primary care, community service and Bay Area training.

What is the average MCAT score for Touro University California?

The Class of 2030, which entered in August 2026, had an average MCAT of 507. The Class of 2028 averaged 506. The minimum to receive a secondary is 500, and only scores earned after January 1, 2023 count for the 2026-2027 cycle. If your score is below about 505, focus on strengthening other parts of your application or consider retaking the exam.

What is the acceptance rate for Touro University California College of Osteopathic Medicine?

TUCOM does not publish an acceptance rate, and it does not report how many people apply, interview or receive offers. Any rate you see elsewhere is an estimate. What the school does publish is more useful: the 3.0 GPA and 500 MCAT minimums for a secondary, the note that successful candidates typically have a 3.3 GPA or higher, and recent class averages of about 3.58 and 507. TUCOM receives far more applications than it has seats, so treat it as a competitive school and apply early.

What GPA do you need for Touro University California?

You need at least a 3.0 science GPA and a 3.0 cumulative GPA to receive a secondary. The school says successful candidates are typically 3.3 or higher. The Class of 2030 averaged 3.58 cumulative and 3.49 science. If your GPA is close to the minimum, an upward trend, strong upper-division science grades or a graduate program can help.

Does TUCOM accept Canadian or international applicants?

No. TUCOM does not accept international students, including Canadian applicants. You must permanently reside in the United States when you apply. DACA recipients are eligible to apply. Federal financial aid is limited to U.S. citizens and permanent residents, so applicants without either status should plan financing before applying.

Does TUCOM prefer California residents?

There is no in-state requirement, and everyone pays the same tuition. In practice, most students are Californians: 89% of the Class of 2030 was in-state. Out-of-state applicants are admitted every year, so if you have a real connection to the mission, apply, but explain why you want to train in California.

How many secondary essays does TUCOM have, and how long are they?

There are five secondary questions in the 2026-2027 cycle: an osteopathic tenet essay, an information session question, a hobbies essay, a life experiences essay and a school selection essay. Each answer should be 3,000 characters (about 600 words) or fewer. The secondary is sent only to applicants who meet the minimum GPA and MCAT requirements, and it costs $100 unless you have an AACOMAS fee waiver.

When are the TUCOM deadlines?

The AACOMAS primary deadline is March 15, 2027, and the supplemental deadline is April 15, 2027. Classes for the Class of 2031 begin August 2, 2027. Because admissions are rolling and the committee meets about every two weeks, applying in late spring or early summer gives you the best chance.

What is the TUCOM interview like?

It is a virtual, panel-style group interview of about one hour. Up to five applicants are interviewed together by a clinician, a basic science faculty member and a current medical student. Interviewers see your application materials but not your grades or MCAT. It is not an MMI or a one-on-one interview. Practice answering in a group and keep your answers concise.

How much does TUCOM cost?

Tuition for 2026-2027 is $72,120 a year for all students ($36,060 per semester in years 1 and 2). Fees include a $360 student health fee, a technology fee and a one-time $1,500 equipment fee. The school’s sample budget puts the first-year cost of attendance at $107,870 and the four years at about $449,200, before current tuition increases. Graduates in 2024 had average debt of $297,691.

Does TUCOM require shadowing or a DO letter?

Shadowing is not required, and a physician letter is recommended but not required. Still, TUCOM reviews your exposure to and knowledge of osteopathic medicine, so shadowing a DO is strongly advised. If you can, get a letter from a DO who knows your work. You can also attend the student-run ShaDO Experience, though it does not give you an admissions advantage.

Does TUCOM require Casper or PREview?

TUCOM does not list Casper, PREview or any other situational judgment test among its requirements for the 2026-2027 cycle. Your required items are the AACOMAS application, the MCAT, letters and the invited supplemental application.

What is the DO/MPH, and how do I apply?

The DO/MPH lets you earn a Master of Public Health alongside your DO, usually within four years. You complete 30 MPH units, with 12 more transferred from the DO curriculum, and choose a concentration in Community Action for Health, Global Health, or Criminal Justice and Health. You can opt in on AACOMAS, which adds short public health essays that do not affect your DO review, or apply after you are accepted. There is no extra application fee.

Is TUCOM the same as Touro University Nevada or Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine in New York?

No. Touro University Nevada College of Osteopathic Medicine in Henderson is a branch campus under TUCOM’s accreditation, but it has its own application. Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine in New York, with campuses in Harlem and Middletown, is a separate college. Their missions, statistics and secondaries differ, so research each one separately.

Does clinical experience abroad help my TUCOM application?

It can, if it involves real patient contact and you reflect on what you learned. TUCOM values health care experience, service to underserved communities and global health, which it teaches through its Global Health Pathway. Programs such as medical internships for undergraduates let students take vitals, do intake and help with patient care under supervision. No program guarantees admission, but specific stories from direct care are useful in TUCOM’s secondary essays and interview.

Where do TUCOM students do their clinical rotations?

Core rotations happen mostly at sites in California, with some in New York. Kaiser Permanente Northern California offers Touro students a year-long third-year longitudinal program at Santa Rosa or Napa. The fourth year is mostly electives and audition rotations, which students can arrange anywhere in the United States.

Related Medical School Guides

If TUCOM is on your list, these guides cover other osteopathic schools worth comparing. They are grouped by geography, degree and pathway, not by selectivity.

• Touro University California COM admissions guide: a companion guide to this same school, with more examples and planning advice for TUCOM applicants.
• CHSU College of Osteopathic Medicine: a newer California DO school in Clovis, near Fresno, built to serve the Central Valley, a natural comparison for applicants interested in underserved California communities.
• Western University of Health Sciences (in California): the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific in Pomona, the other long-established California DO school, useful for comparing Northern and Southern California training.
• Touro University Nevada College of Osteopathic Medicine: TUCOM’s branch campus in Henderson, which shares its accreditation but has its own application, class and statistics.
• Rocky Vista University College of Osteopathic Medicine: a Western DO school with campuses in Colorado, Utah and Montana, for applicants willing to train outside California.
• Noorda College of Osteopathic Medicine: a newer DO school in Provo, Utah, another Western option to compare on curriculum and cost.
• Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine: a Mountain West DO school focused on the region’s physician shortage, a fit for applicants interested in primary care in underserved areas.

When you compare these schools, look past headline averages. Check each school’s residency mix, secondary questions, interview format and four-year cost for the same academic year. For a full list of California programs, see our guide to medical schools in California.

More medical school guides

As you research osteopathic and allopathic medical schools, compare each one’s strengths, community ties, research facilities, service opportunities and clinical rotation sites. Our definitive guides cover most U.S. medical schools.

• University of Massachusetts T.H. Chan School of Medicine
• Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
• Tufts University School of Medicine
• University of Louisville School of Medicine
• Michigan State University College of Human Medicine
• University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine
• University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine
• Carle Illinois College of Medicine
• Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
• Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University
• Southern Illinois University School of Medicine
• Rush Medical College of Rush University Medical Center
• Central Michigan University College of Medicine
• Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth
• University of Minnesota Medical School
• Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
• Oklahoma State University College of Osteopathic Medicine
• University of Oklahoma College of Medicine
• Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine
• Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University
• Georgetown University Medical School
• Yale School of Medicine
• West Virginia University School of Medicine
• West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine
• Indiana University School of Medicine
• Des Moines University College of Osteopathic Medicine
• University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine
• Marian University College of Osteopathic Medicine
• Meharry Medical College
• Howard University College of Medicine
• University of Kansas School of Medicine (KUMC)
• Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science College of Medicine
• Loma Linda University School of Medicine
• John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM)
• Kansas College of Osteopathic Medicine (KansasCOM)
• UC Irvine School of Medicine
• Nova Southeastern University College of Allopathic Medicine
• Florida Atlantic University Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine
• University of Miami Miller School of Medicine
• Arkansas College of Osteopathic Medicine (ARCOM)
• University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS)
• Tulane University School of Medicine
• LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine
• LSU Shreveport Medical School
• Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV
• University of Nevada Reno School of Medicine
• University of Arizona College of Medicine-Tucson
• University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix
• Burrell College of Osteopathic Medicine (BCOM)
• The University of New Mexico School of Medicine
• Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine (ACOM)
• University of South Alabama College of Medicine
• University of Alabama School of Medicine
• FIU College of Medicine
• UCF College of Medicine
• USF Morsani College of Medicine
• Florida State University College of Medicine
• Morehouse School of Medicine
• Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University
• Mercer University School of Medicine (MUSM)
• Campbell University School of Osteopathic Medicine (CUSOM)
• ECU Brody School of Medicine
• Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM)
• University of South Carolina Medical School
• Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC)
• Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University
• Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM)
• Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine (GCSOM)
• Penn State Medical School
• CUNY School of Medicine
• SUNY Downstate Medical School
• NYIT College of Osteopathic Medicine
• NYU Long Island School of Medicine
• Albany Medical College
• Norton College of Medicine at Upstate Medical University
• Jacobs School of Medicine at the University at Buffalo
• Hofstra Zucker School of Medicine
• Weill Medical College of Cornell University
• University of Rochester Medical School
• Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
• Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University
• Albert Einstein College of Medicine
• Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine
• Northeast Ohio Medical University (NEOMED)
• University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
• University of Toledo College of Medicine
• Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine
• Ohio State University College of Medicine
• Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine
• Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine (HMSOM)
• Rutgers New Jersey Medical School (NJMS)
• Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
• Cooper Medical School of Rowan University (CMSRU)
• A.T. Still University Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine
• Saint Louis University School of Medicine
• University of Missouri Medical School
• Kansas City University (KCU)
• UMKC School of Medicine
• New York Medical College
• University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
• University of Wisconsin Medical School
• VCU School of Medicine
• University of Maryland School of Medicine
• Case Western Medical School
• University of North Carolina Medical School
• University of Florida Medical School
• Emory University School of Medicine
• Boston University College of Medicine
• California University of Science and Medicine
• UC San Diego Medical School
• California Northstate University College of Medicine
• Harvard Medical School
• UC Riverside School of Medicine
• USC Keck School of Medicine
• UT Southwestern Medical School
• Long School of Medicine at UT Health San Antonio
• University of the Incarnate Word School of Osteopathic Medicine
• UT Austin’s Dell Medical School
• UTMB School of Medicine
• McGovern Medical School at UT Health
• The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine
• UNT Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine
• University of Houston College of Medicine
• Texas A&M College of Medicine
• Baylor College of Medicine
• George Washington University School of Medicine
• Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
• St. George’s University School of Medicine
• Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (in Pennsylvania)
• Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University
• Wake Forest University School of Medicine
• Drexel University College of Medicine
• Stritch School of Medicine at Loyola University Chicago
• Perelman School of Medicine
• UCLA Medical School
• NYU Medical School
• Washington University School of Medicine

California is only one part of the osteopathic landscape. If the best fit for you is outside the state, compare schools on mission, clinical sites, cost and verified eligibility rather than geography alone, and choose the places where your strengths and goals match what the school is built to do.

How International Medical Aid Can Help

TUCOM looks for applicants who understand osteopathic medicine, have real health care experience and care about communities that face barriers to care. International Medical Aid (IMA) helps pre-health students build that experience and present it clearly.

Clinical internships. IMA runs internships for pre-med students at clinics and hospitals in Kenya and at other IMA sites. Interns take vital signs, do patient intake and triage, and help with direct patient care under the supervision of local clinicians. Working in settings with limited resources gives you first-hand examples of how housing, income, distance and access shape health, the same ideas TUCOM teaches through structural competency. You can compare all of IMA’s international healthcare internships by field and location, including pre-health internships for students still choosing between medicine and other health careers. IMA also lists its global healthcare internships and community programs.

Admissions consulting. IMA’s medical school admissions consulting helps with school lists, personal statements, secondary essays such as TUCOM’s tenet question, and group interview practice. If you want one-on-one help, you can book an appointment with International Medical Aid.

If you are not sure which step comes first, look at your timeline. Applicants who still need direct patient contact usually benefit most from clinical experience first. Applicants applying this cycle usually benefit most from help with secondaries and interviews.

IMA is not affiliated with Touro University California, and no internship or consulting service can guarantee admission to any medical school. What IMA can do is help you gain real clinical experience and tell your story well.

Final Thoughts and Sources

Touro University California College of Osteopathic Medicine is a strong choice for applicants who want an osteopathic education grounded in primary care, community service and the social causes of illness, with clinical training mostly in California. To compete, clear the 3.0 GPA and 500 MCAT minimums with room to spare, learn what a DO does first-hand, build real patient care and service experience, and submit AACOMAS early so you can return the five secondary answers quickly. Prepare for a virtual group panel where listening matters as much as speaking. Then treat TUCOM as one strong option on a balanced list, and use the related guides above to build the rest of it. We wish you the best as you work toward a career in osteopathic medicine.

Source notes

All facts were checked on October 17, 2026. Cohort and year labels are given with each figure in the article.

• Touro University California College of Osteopathic Medicine, DO Admissions: citizenship requirement, minimum GPA and MCAT, MCAT date window for the 2026-27 cycle (Class of 2031), prerequisites, letters, review criteria, interview timing, decisions, deposits, multiple deposit policy, background checks and the admissions video with Steven Davis and Alesia Wagner.
• TUCOM, Supplemental Application instructions: portal steps, 3,000-character limit, Terms and Conditions page and the application status contact.
• TUCOM, Class Statistics: Classes of 2030 and 2028; earlier Classes of 2023 to 2025 from the same page as archived by the Internet Archive on December 6, 2023.
• TUCOM, Tuition and Aid: “Tuition 2026-2027” table, fees, sample cost of attendance, average indebtedness (2021-2024 graduates) and cohort default rates.
• TUCOM, About (mission, WE SCORE core values, osteopathic tenets, leadership, strategic plan), Accreditation and Program Outcomes (COMLEX pass rates, match results, retention and graduation rates).
• TUCOM, Academics (curriculum, electives, clinical education, curricular awards), College of Osteopathic Medicine home page, DO/MPH program, DO/MPH application instructions and Research.
• TUCOM faculty list and faculty biographies for Tami Hendriksz, David Coffman, Natalie Nevins, Jennifer Weiss and Jay Shubrook; Touro University California Admissions and Aid contacts.
• Touro University California news: White Coat Ceremony for the DO Class of 2030 (September 15, 2026); Kamal Kalsi (April 12, 2024); Faisal Qazi (March 26, 2026); Jonathan Revels Research Day talk (July 21, 2025).
• AACOM Choose DO Explorer, Touro University California College of Osteopathic Medicine profile: 2026-2027 cycle dates, supplemental fee and deadline, interview format, DACA eligibility, deposits, housing, facilities, 2024-2025 enrollment and matriculant data, and the mean MCAT and GPA.
• Kaiser Permanente Northern California, core clerkships for medical students: Touro third-year longitudinal program.
• Secondary question wording for 2026-2027: Student Doctor Network, 2026-2027 TUCOM-CA applicant thread (applicant post, June 26, 2026). TUCOM does not publish its secondary questions publicly.