University of Houston or Texas State for premed

stuckinlubbock said:

My brother is going to take premed classes in order to try to get into medical school. He already has a degree from Baylor, his wife has a nice job in Houston and they live close to U of Houston so it would be best if he stayed in Houston, but they might be able to move to Austin. I was wondering if anyone knew if the Univeristy of Houston is a decent school to take premed classes?

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I don't see why not.. do you have any more specific questions about UH that might make you question whether it's a good school to take prereqs at?

The campus is great, has a lot of good restaurants inside campus (tacobell,chikfile,pizzahut,wendys,chilis,starbucks,etc).. bowling/billiards/arcade to relax. There are plenty of places to study in peace. Also the Houston medical center is about 10 minutes away if for volunteering, shadowing, etc. Only downside is the immediate surrounding area isn't too great.. but once your in the campus it doesn't even matter nor are you really aware of it.

Tell him to take classes where it's most convenient. Grades matter much more than the institution where they're from. UH sounds great for convenience. Not to mention, Houston has great clinical/shadowing opportunities.

Btw, isn't Texas State in San Marcos, and about 30 miles away from Austin? Not exactly closeby.

TexanGirl said:

Tell him to take classes where it's most convenient. Grades matter much more than the institution where they're from. UH sounds great for convenience. Not to mention, Houston has great clinical/shadowing opportunities.

Btw, isn't Texas State in San Marcos, and about 30 miles away from Austin? Not exactly closeby.

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yes, it is, and if you haven't visited it's not exactly the most happening place. i think academically UofH is slightly better as well.

stuckinlubbock said:

My brother is going to take premed classes in order to try to get into medical school. He already has a degree from Baylor, his wife has a nice job in Houston and they live close to U of Houston so it would be best if he stayed in Houston, but they might be able to move to Austin. I was wondering if anyone knew if the Univeristy of Houston is a decent school to take premed classes?

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Stick to UH with his family.

This isn't directly related to this thread, but does concern houston, so I figured i'd post it here:

I have a question about how to shadow a doctor.

I graduated three years ago as an engineer, and am now thinking of switching careers to medicine. Before I start the process though I want to shadow a doctor, what I am particularly interested in is pediatric intensive care and neurosurgery.

I'm located in Houston, so there are plenty of hospitals, but I'm not sure how to arrange something -- the same way others here suggested even though i'm not a student (and didn't go to school in Houston)?

I have a doctor I used to see regularly in Houston, but he works in an office and is not in intensive care or neurosurgery so i'm not sure I could arrange anything through him.

thewalrus8 said:

This isn't directly related to this thread, but does concern houston, so I figured i'd post it here:

I have a question about how to shadow a doctor.

I graduated three years ago as an engineer, and am now thinking of switching careers to medicine. Before I start the process though I want to shadow a doctor, what I am particularly interested in is pediatric intensive care and neurosurgery.

I'm located in Houston, so there are plenty of hospitals, but I'm not sure how to arrange something -- the same way others here suggested even though i'm not a student (and didn't go to school in Houston)?

I have a doctor I used to see regularly in Houston, but he works in an office and is not in intensive care or neurosurgery so i'm not sure I could arrange anything through him.

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I bet your doc could help you out. Even though he/she may not have contacts that he/she uses for consults, there might be a few friends in the specialty. Also, you could contact UofH premed advising, whoever does that. I bet there are ways that they set up shadowing, or could at least help you get your foot in the door.

Also, remember that though it may help your application to eventually see doctors in your favorite specialties, most people just need to have general shadowing time. If you can't find a picu or neuro doc to shadow, you can always start with family practice to generate some contact info with someone else.

I'm currently in the UH-Baylor Bacc/M.D. program. UH is a pretty good school for pre-med. There is a wide variety of health-related courses available as well as a free HPAC service. I'm more than happy to give advice on particular courses/professors if PMed.

The new president of UH, btw, is working really hard to have the school labeled as a Tier One school. You can read about that here. Also, there are talks of opening a UH Med School (read about that here). However, I'm not sure which medical schools graduates of the University of Houston get into outside the Bacc/M.D. channel. I heard only about two UH students get into Baylor a year without the scholarship. Probably UT-Medical Branch in Galveston or the medical center.

As for shadowing in Houston - it shouldn't be a problem finding a doctor to shadow. Do it the old-fashioned way: email doctors who work in a field you're very interested in and ask. That's what I did before I shadowed a neurologist and then a pediatric oncologist. Most of them are very open to students, especially students who share their interests and enthusiasm for medicine.

Anyone have any info on UH-Downtown in regards to pre-med?

stuckinlubbock said:

My brother is going to take premed classes in order to try to get into medical school. He already has a degree from Baylor, his wife has a nice job in Houston and they live close to U of Houston so it would be best if he stayed in Houston, but they might be able to move to Austin. I was wondering if anyone knew if the Univeristy of Houston is a decent school to take premed classes?

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i know a few people at TX state, they have never heard of a single person there who is pre-med. not that they're the expert, but in general the atmosphere there seems to be centered not so much on science/medicine as business/psychology/humanities. in my friends' experience at least, the science courses there are lacking, so you would probably have to do a lot of extra work outside to prepare yourself well for the MCAT.

on the flip side, i know several happy and successful pre-meds at UH

emewe said:

i know a few people at TX state, they have never heard of a single person there who is pre-med. not that they're the expert, but in general the atmosphere there seems to be centered not so much on science/medicine as business/psychology/humanities. in my friends' experience at least, the science courses there are lacking, so you would probably have to do a lot of extra work outside to prepare yourself well for the MCAT.

on the flip side, i know several happy and successful pre-meds at UH

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I graduated from Texas State. I got a 33 on the MCAT and I have two acceptances so far. With a couple of exceptions, I think the science classes there prepared me pretty well for the MCAT and I didn't have to "do a lot of extra work" to study for it.

However, I definitely wouldn't make my wife quit her job to move to San Marcos. I'm sure U of H is comparable if not better.

AUS4 said:

Anyone have any info on UH-Downtown in regards to pre-med?

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I'd recommend you not settle for UHD. UHD still has a very small premed program in that their biology-related electives are limited. UHD also doesn't really conduct much research so the institution is not as well known among the medical/science community.

definitely UH, but not any of the satellite campuses.

Docere said:

I'd recommend you not settle for UHD. UHD still has a very small premed program in that their biology-related electives are limited. UHD also doesn't really conduct much research so the institution is not as well known among the medical/science community.

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I strongly agree with you. I am a current junior at UHD student. I am transferring to UH main campus next semester. UHD is not as good as I expected...not many UL science courses to choose from each semester...many courses are opened once a year and only one classe offered. Don't go there!

U of H all the way, pre-med is what they do...