TouroCOM Montana Interview Prep Guide (2025-2026)

This guide provides a comprehensive overview of the Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine’s Montana campus in preparation for the 2025–2026 interview cycle. It covers the interview format (a remote, open-file panel interview) and the institution’s mission emphasizing service to rural and underserved communities. Key program features such as the new Great Falls campus facilities and the partnership with a regional health system are described, offering context for thoughtful questions during the interview. The guide also discusses relevant health policy issues for Montana and the nation, outlines the non-academic attributes and competencies (like empathy, service orientation, and osteopathic philosophy) that the school values, reviews common themes from past interview questions, and provides important application timelines and deadlines. Together, these sections equip applicants with a deeper understanding of how to align their preparation with TouroCOM Montana’s expectations and values.

The TouroCOM Montana program conducts a traditional interview rather than a multi-mini interview (MMI). During the 2025–2026 cycle, all interviews will be conducted remotely via video conference tourocom.touro.edu. Interviewees typically meet with a small panel of about two faculty interviewers studentdoctor.net, and the format is open-file (the interviewers have full access to the applicant’s file) tourocom.touro.edu. Interviews are generally around 20–30 minutes long and cover both personal and scenario-based topics, reflecting a mix of conversational and structured questions studentdoctor.net.

Candidates’ experiences with the interview style have varied. Some describe a relaxed, conversational tone, but others noted a faster-paced question-and-answer format with little back-and-forth. In fact, one report described the interview as tougher than expected, with interviewers quickly shifting topics in a rapid sequence of questions studentdoctor.net. Despite these differences in style, the content often includes common medical school interview questions (e.g. motivations for osteopathic medicine, “Why TouroCOM Montana?”, ethical scenarios) and follow-up questions on the applicant’s background. While exact post-interview acceptance rates are not published for this new campus, admissions remain competitive given a class size of around 125 seats thedo.osteopathic.org. Notably, the school typically notifies candidates of their admission decision within about two months of the interview tourocom.touro.edu.

TouroCOM Montana’s mission is centered on serving communities in need. The college is dedicated to training osteopathic physicians with a particular emphasis on practicing in underserved areas and increasing the number of underrepresented minorities in medicine touro.edu. This mission is directly reflected in the Montana campus’s goals: by establishing a medical school in Great Falls, Touro aims to address the state’s rural healthcare crisis and improve access to care for Montana’s tribal populations touro.edu. The institution also values public service, research, and community engagement as integral parts of its educational philosophy tourocom.touro.edu. These values signal that the school seeks students who are committed to improving community health outcomes – something the interview may probe by asking about an applicant’s service experience, interest in primary care, or motivation to work with underserved groups.

TouroCOM’s Montana campus in Great Falls is a newly built, 100,000 square-foot facility featuring state-of-the-art labs and a modern simulation center for clinical training thedo.osteopathic.org. The inaugural class enrolled in 2023 with 125 students, and the campus is designed to eventually host up to 500 medical students across all four years as it reaches full capacity thedo.osteopathic.org. Notably, TouroCOM Montana is the first non-profit medical school in the state thedo.osteopathic.org, extending Touro’s network of osteopathic medical programs (with established campuses in New York, Nevada, and California) to the Mountain West region touro.edu. The college has a formal partnership with Benefis Health System, a major regional hospital, which serves as its clinical affiliate and will provide students with local rotation sites and hands-on training opportunities news.mt.gov. These distinctive features of the program – from cutting-edge simulation facilities to community-focused clinical partnerships – offer applicants plenty of material to learn about and discuss during interviews.

• The role of Benefis Health System in providing clinical rotations and local healthcare exposure for students news.mt.gov.
• Integration of the new simulation labs and advanced technology into the medical curriculum and training thedo.osteopathic.org.
• Opportunities for students to engage with rural or underserved communities during their education, given the school’s mission to improve healthcare access in Montana thedo.osteopathic.org.

The establishment of TouroCOM Montana is closely tied to pressing healthcare needs and policies in the region. Montana has been facing a physician shortage: 11 of its 56 counties previously had no practicing physician, and 52 counties are designated as health professional shortage areas tourocom.touro.edu. Locating a medical school in the state is a strategic response to this crisis – historically, about 39% of physicians practice in the state where they attended medical school tourocom.touro.edu, so training doctors in Montana is expected to improve local physician retention. State leaders have explicitly supported this institution as part of a solution; for example, Montana’s governor welcomed TouroCOM as a means to build a homegrown pipeline of healthcare providers and to expand access to care in underserved communities news.mt.gov.

These local efforts connect to broader national healthcare challenges. The United States faces a nationwide physician workforce shortage, particularly in primary care and in rural areas thedo.osteopathic.org. Osteopathic medical schools like TouroCOM contribute to addressing this gap, as a disproportionately high percentage of DO graduates enter primary care fields and practice in smaller or underserved communities touro.edu. Additionally, TouroCOM’s focus on diversity in medicine aligns with national priorities: approximately 30% of Touro’s osteopathic medical student body comes from underrepresented minority groups, and over half of its graduates practice in high-need areas tourocom.touro.edu touro.edu. Policy discussions around rural healthcare access, improving Native American health services, incentives for primary care practice, and expanding residency training in frontier regions are all relevant to the school’s mission – and being aware of these topics can help candidates demonstrate informed interest during the interview.

In evaluating applicants, TouroCOM Montana employs a holistic review that looks beyond academics to personal qualities and experiences. As part of this process, the school requires applicants to complete the Casper and Duet assessments in the secondary application, which measure core personal characteristics such as professionalism, ethical grounding, empathy, compassion, and cultural sensitivity tourocom.touro.edu. TouroCOM explicitly emphasizes that these personal attributes are considered on equal footing with academic metrics in admissions decisions tourocom.touro.edu. This means that traits like integrity, interpersonal skills, cultural competence, and altruism carry significant weight. Experiences that reflect these qualities – for example, leadership roles, sustained community service (especially with underserved populations), clinical patient-care exposure, or research that aligns with improving community health – are highly valued in candidates tourocom.touro.edu. Furthermore, the school prefers to see that applicants understand osteopathic medicine: a letter of recommendation from an osteopathic physician is encouraged (and shadowing a DO is recommended) to demonstrate the applicant’s commitment to the osteopathic approach tourocom.touro.edu.

Because TouroCOM Montana is an osteopathic institution, its educational philosophy is guided by the core tenets of osteopathic medicine. The American Osteopathic Association’s tenets stress a holistic, patient-centered approach: the body is a unit (integrating body, mind, and spirit); the body has an inherent ability to self-regulate and heal; structure and function are reciprocally interrelated; and medical treatment should be based on understanding these principles of unity, self-healing, and structure–function interrelationship osteopathic.org. These principles underpin the training at TouroCOM, translating into an emphasis on whole-person care, preventive medicine, and the use of osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) in appropriate cases. An awareness of this osteopathic philosophy is important for interviewees, as they may be asked about their understanding of holistic care or why they are drawn to the DO approach in medicine.

In addition to osteopathic-specific philosophy, TouroCOM seeks the same general competencies expected of any incoming medical student. Admissions committees nationwide (including at DO schools) look for evidence of the AAMC’s core competencies beyond academic ability – qualities like service orientation, cultural humility, teamwork, resilience, and ethical responsibility students-residents.aamc.org. Many of these competencies overlap with attributes that TouroCOM evaluates through Casper (for example, empathy, communication, and ethics) tourocom.touro.edu. While the school doesn’t list a bespoke set of competencies, it implicitly values applicants who demonstrate well-rounded personal development. Understanding these frameworks helps applicants recognize that interview questions are often designed to reveal traits such as communication skills, problem-solving ability, adaptability, and dedication to serving others.

• Motivation for pursuing osteopathic medicine and interest in TouroCOM Montana (for example, explaining “Why DO?” and “Why our Montana campus?”) studentdoctor.net
• Personal background and journey to medicine (e.g. “Tell us about yourself” and discussions of the experiences that led you toward a medical career) studentdoctor.net
• Ethical or scenario-based questions that test your decision-making (for instance, how you would respond if you saw a resident physician falling asleep before a surgery, or other professionalism dilemmas) studentdoctor.net
• Community-oriented questions reflecting the school’s mission (such as being asked to describe a program you would design to help an underserved community) studentdoctor.net
• Application-specific follow-ups, where interviewers delve into details of an activity or experience listed in your file (“Tell me more about [specific activity]”) studentdoctor.net

• AACOMAS primary application opens in early May 2025, and the deadline to submit the primary application is March 1, 2026 tourocom.touro.edu. (Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis.)
• Secondary application (by invitation) must be completed online, along with a supplemental fee, and includes the required Casper and Duet assessments to evaluate an applicant’s personal attributes tourocom.touro.edu tourocom.touro.edu.
• Interviews are conducted on a rolling basis from September 2025 through May 2026, and for this cycle all interviews will be held virtually via video conference tourocom.touro.edu.
• Admissions decisions are typically released within approximately two months after the interview, in accordance with the school’s rolling admission process tourocom.touro.edu.

In summary, thorough knowledge of TouroCOM Montana’s interview format, mission, program features, and the wider healthcare context will allow you to approach the interview well-informed. This guide has synthesized key points about the school’s values and expectations – from its focus on serving underserved communities to the qualities it seeks in applicants – as well as what to anticipate in the interview itself. By understanding how your own experiences align with TouroCOM Montana’s mission and being mindful of important deadlines, you can confidently navigate the interview and application process for the 2025–2026 cycle.