Touro University California College of Osteopathic Medicine – TUCOM CA Secondary Essay Prompts

The 2026-2027 prompts

Want these drafted from your own story? Start with MedCoach

Collected from public applicant reports. Prompts occasionally change mid cycle, so confirm against your own secondary portal before you submit.

1. 01

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

   No stated limit
2. 02

   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.

   No stated limit
3. 03

   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.

   No stated limit
4. 04

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

   No stated limit
5. 05

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

   No stated limit

How to write these well

• Turn secondaries around within 7 to 14 days of receiving them. Schools read speed as interest, and slow essays land in a bigger pile.
• Pre-write the universal question types (diversity, challenge, why us) once, then adapt per school. Adapting is rewriting the school specific half, not swapping the name.
• Name real programs. A why us answer that cites a specific clinic, track, or community partnership reads ten times stronger than praise for reputation or location.
• Stay under the limit without padding to reach it. Readers are working through thousands of these; a tight answer is a kindness they remember.

More schools in CA