2011-2012 University of Texas - San Antonio Application Thread

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hey guys i have been accepted here as well as to the School of Medicine @ UNM in Albuquerque. I am currently debating which school i will end up choosing, i am OOS but i know that it is not so hard to get in-state tuition in Texas. Still finances are a point i am considering in choosing my school.
Can any current students or people with some knowledge on the matter tell me about financial aid at San Antonio? how helpful is the financial aid office? I've heard good things but just want to hear any personal experiences that may help
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JcRa1d3r said:
hey guys i have been accepted here as well as to the School of Medicine @ UNM in Albuquerque. I am currently debating which school i will end up choosing, i am OOS but i know that it is not so hard to get in-state tuition in Texas. Still finances are a point i am considering in choosing my school.
Can any current students or people with some knowledge on the matter tell me about financial aid at San Antonio? how helpful is the financial aid office? I've heard good things but just want to hear any personal experiences that may help
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At my interview, they said that all OOS students get small scholarships that give you (by law) in-state tuition.
 
Flumba said:
Hey all, I have a fairly loaded question for the current students about what school I should attend. I am stuck between UTHSCSA and UT Houston, and I don't know which one I should rank higher. Here is my feelings on both schools.

The case for San Antonio:
I am graduating from Trinity in May and have a strong undergrad social support base. My fraternity brothers will still be here for me to have dinner with. I am already acknowledging that I won't have enough time to hang out with them on a regular basis, but I would be able to occasionally. I already know the city so I won't have to worry about that learning curve. Basically I have a great support system.

When I interviewed at San Antonio, on Halloween, it "felt right". I had the same feeling that made me choose Trinity over other schools. I liked the school, setting, and the people. I could see myself hanging out with these people and I could see myself working in the school. Also, I already prematched to San Antonio. The curriculum is exciting and I think it looks really cool. The current probation status doesn't worry me.

The case for Houston:
I interviewed on the 16th and it went pretty well, even though one of my interviewers said "are you wasting my time by interviewing here" after I was honest about my prematch status. I have friends from Houston and likely friends who will move to Houston after graduation. The cost of living in Houston and TMC is higher than cost of living in San Antonio and UTHSCSA. I really like facilities. All I could describe them as is beautiful and they look like they would be great to learn in. The curriculum is a little daunting but it is doable. The students and staff at Houston and San Antonio seem interchangeable. Again, I liked the atmosphere. I could see myself hanging out with the students and practicing. I didn't feel the "magic" that makes my hair stand up, but I still felt something. Either way I really like the school, and the more I think about it the more I could see myself at Houston!

So students of San Antonio. What do you think I should do? I am stuck at in impasse. Even if I rank Houston above San Antonio, and Houston doesn't accept me, I still have an acceptance somewhere.


Thoughts, questions, screams of angst?
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I had the exact same dilemma as you last year. I pre-matched to UTHSCSA. but not UTH and I was trying to figure out how to rank them. For me, the ultimate decision came down to which city/medical center I would be happier living in. I prefer smaller, less chaotic places, so San Antonio made more sense for me. Like someone said above, choose which school has the best environment and location for you. I ranked San Antonio number one and have yet to regret it. It is an incredible school, with amazing students and faculty.

Based on what you have written, it seems like you should rank San Antonio number 1. Go with your gut. The thing most people don't like about UTHSCSA is San Antonio itself, but you already know you don't mind the city, so it seems like a good match to me. But you won't go wrong with either school
 
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Morzh said:
It sounds like the schools themselves are the same as far as you're concerned, so it really comes down to your own personal preferences regarding city/atmosphere/cost of living/etc. Unfortunately, we can't help you much with that since the answer is will be different for everyone.

From your post is sounds like your heart is in San Antonio, but your brain is doing its due diligence in seriously considering all other alternatives. In the end, you'll be happy either way, but it sounds like your gut is saying SA... so maybe that's what you should do.


I totally appreciate your dilemma, though. I'm also from SA and it has always been my top choice "by default". I loved my interview day. I like the new curriculum, especially the fact that 2nd year ends so early (like a mini Baylor) and there's ample time to study for step 1. Parents are here, although I'm married and have a kid so my immediate "family" goes wherever I go. Houston was cool but it's got nothing for me that San Antonio doesn't except for more traffic and bigger parking headaches. The TMC is beautiful and giant, but I don't believe I will care much about that as a med student (it will be a much bigger selling point 4 years from now when deciding where to go for residency). After thoroughly investigating the probation issue I'm no longer worried about it in the slightest.

However I was really surprised by how "right" Tech Lubbock felt to me. I loved the city, culture, and overall feeling. As exciting as SA's new curriculum sounds, I'm sure there will be some significant wrinkles for the first class that goes through it. And I honestly think I'd prefer Tech's block-style schedule. I'm not super interested in doing tons of research, so the fact that their research programs (and hence their US News rankings) are smaller than SA's or Houston's are non-issues. And as inexpensive as SA is, Lubbock is even better. Plus I'd enjoy the smaller class size.

I've pre-matched Tech but not SA. I'm having a terribly hard time deciding how to rank them. Just to make sure I understand this correctly: If I rank UTHSCSA #1 and TTUHSC #2 and I successfully match San Antonio, I will automatically be withdrawn from TTUHSC, even though I pre-matched there...right?
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Honestly, just go with your gut. Tech sells their school really well, and it was probably my favorite school based on the interview day, but I was not willing to live in Lubbock. If you don't mind Lubbock, then Tech is a great school, as are all of the schools in Texas. The only thing I would take into consideration (which I am sure you are doing anyways) would be how easy life would be in Lubbock for your husband/wife (sorry, don't know your gender). If they work in a certain career field, it may be considerably harder to find a job in Lubbock, as opposed to other, larger cities. Also, just an FYI, our first year class at UTHSCSA has a large number of people who are married with children. I don't know how it is at Tech, but there are definitely people in the same family situation as you at UTHSCSA, which may possibly make the medical school transition easier.

And yes, if you rank UTHSCSA higher than Tech and you match at San Antonio, your offer to Tech will be rescinded.
 
Jan 10 is looming closer and soon we will have to officially decide where to rank our schools. I'm having a hard time deciding between UTHSCSA and TTUHSC-Lubbock. I keep going back and forth and am trying to learn a bit more about each school before I have to submit my rankings. I know that a lot of the details of the new curriculum are still unknown, particularly with regards to how 3rd/4th years is going to be changed, but I would still like to hear the experiences of current or former students on a few questions:

  1. How is 3rd year structured in general? What kind of roles does the average student have on the wards? I'm OK with doing my fair share of "scut" work if that's what it means to be a team player, but I also want to actually get my hands a little dirty and learn what I'm there to learn. Do students have a clear role and do most students feel that their evaluations are fair and objective?
  2. What's the time balance between primary-care focus and surgery/ER/neuro/ICU/etc focus during MS3/MS4? I'm still undecided about what I want to do and want a well-rounded experience.
  3. Do you get to choose or compete for clinical locations during 3rd year? I've heard some hospitals and clinics are preferable to others for certain rotations. Is it fairly easy to get into electives of your choice during 4th year, or is there competition?
  4. How are the research opportunities? I'm planning on having a career that revolves primarily around direct patient care, but I could see myself going into academic medicine down the road. Is there enough research to be done (and is it easy enough to get into) to make me competitive for bigger academic programs if I someday choose that route?
 
Ok, so since oos ppl don't match, I assume that we don't have to rank the schools either right?
 
jarkmones said:
Ok, so since oos ppl don't match, I assume that we don't have to rank the schools either right?
Click to expand...

For OOS, just pretend like it's any other school in the country. They accept you, you can hold multiple acceptances until May before you have to pare it down to one.
 
I know prematch offers are over now but I couldn't help but get a little excited when I got the email today. Needless to say, my joy was short lived: it was just an update email:oops:
 
naija4life said:
I know prematch offers are over now but I couldn't help but get a little excited when I got the email today. Needless to say, my joy was short lived: it was just an update email:oops:
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I wonder if everyone got that email o_O
 
Well, good luck guys. I wish all of you the best as match day approaches. I wish I'd gotten the chance to interview at UTHSCSA since I'm from the area, but it all worked out in the end.


Sent from my medical tricorder using Tapatalk
 
I didn't get an email from UTHSCSA, but I got one from TMDSAS (it got me all excited). Maybe a reason I didn't get an email from UTHSCSA is because I already prematched with them.
 
PianoMajor said:
I wonder if everyone got that email o_O
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Well, it was nice of them to keep us in the loop over what they did with prematching this application season. But yeah, I got excited when I saw an email from Dr. Jones lol.
 
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DBDUTSA said:
Well, it was nice of them to keep us in the loop over what they did with prematching this application season. But yeah, I got excited when I saw an email from Dr. Jones lol.
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What did the email say? (As I said earlier I didn't get it)
 
Flumba said:
What did the email say? (As I said earlier I didn't get it)
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I hope you had peaceful and safe holidays and are looking forward to a wonderful 2012. I wanted to provide you with an update regarding the admissions process and also to provide you with a link to a video you might find helpful in your ranking of medical schools at which you interviewed. http://som.uthscsa.edu/admissions/video01.asp.


The Admissions Committee has carefully evaluated all our interviewed applicants and has purposefully limited the number of prematch offers of acceptance. As a result, we anticipate a significant number of acceptances to our school to be made through the TMDSAS match and we look forward to your success in this process. In the meantime if you have any questions, please feel free to email me.

I wish you the very best in your future career in medicine.

David J. Jones, Ph.D.
Senior Associate Dean for Admissions
Professor of Anesthesiology and Pharmacology
Distinguished Teaching Professor
Executive Director for Health Science Pipeline Programs

University of Texas School of Medicine at San Antonio
7703 Floyd Curl Dr.
San Antonio, TX 78229
Office: 210-567-6080 FAX: 210-567-6972
 
I hope you are enjoying the new year and looking forward to a successful 2012. I wanted to update you on your application status. While the TMDSAS is a separate application process, our acceptance guidelines for non-Texas residents are the same as the overall AMCAS acceptance guidelines. That is, we began accepting non-Texas residents on Oct. 15th, and will continue accepting non-Texas residents on a “rolling” basis to our matriculation date (July 23, 2012 for our school of medicine).

At this time our class is over-subscribed with non-Texas residents; however we anticipate this changing as non-Texas resident students choose to accept offers elsewhere. As with Texas residents, we will maintain an alternate “pool” of applicants from which the committee will accept applicants when positions become available. Typically this occurs sometime in March, and especially so May 15th when all applicants have to choose a single medical school. Your application has been added to this pool.

Please let me know if you have any questions. Best wishes, Dr. J.

David J. Jones, Ph.D.
Senior Associate Dean for Admissions
Professor of Anesthesiology and Pharmacology
Distinguished Teaching Professor
Executive Director for Health Science Pipeline Programs

University of Texas School of Medicine at San Antonio
7703 Floyd Curl Dr.
San Antonio, TX 78229
Office: 210-567-6080 FAX: 210-567-6972
 
bassvp said:
I hope you are enjoying the new year and looking forward to a successful 2012. I wanted to update you on your application status. While the TMDSAS is a separate application process, our acceptance guidelines for non-Texas residents are the same as the overall AMCAS acceptance guidelines. That is, we began accepting non-Texas residents on Oct. 15th, and will continue accepting non-Texas residents on a “rolling” basis to our matriculation date (July 23, 2012 for our school of medicine).

At this time our class is over-subscribed with non-Texas residents; however we anticipate this changing as non-Texas resident students choose to accept offers elsewhere. As with Texas residents, we will maintain an alternate “pool” of applicants from which the committee will accept applicants when positions become available. Typically this occurs sometime in March, and especially so May 15th when all applicants have to choose a single medical school. Your application has been added to this pool.

Please let me know if you have any questions. Best wishes, Dr. J.

David J. Jones, Ph.D.
Senior Associate Dean for Admissions
Professor of Anesthesiology and Pharmacology
Distinguished Teaching Professor
Executive Director for Health Science Pipeline Programs

University of Texas School of Medicine at San Antonio
7703 Floyd Curl Dr.
San Antonio, TX 78229
Office: 210-567-6080 FAX: 210-567-6972
Click to expand...

I got this email too.....does this mean we've been waitlisted?
 
Got it too. I assume it's the wait list equivalent. Ugh. More waiting.
 
i think that all OOS that they interviewed, and haven't been accepted, are on the waitlist. they don't interview too many OOS.
 
bassvp said:
I think that an alternate "pool" of applicants who are not yet accepted would qualify as a waitlist.
Click to expand...

Does anyone know how the waitlist works for OOS? Do they have us numbered or do they review the pool whenever space opens up?
 
Looking at years past it seems that ~21 oos ppl get accepted every yr. So, I guess when they lose acceptances to other schools they throw them out at the next oos on the list.
 
jarkmones said:
Looking at years past it seems that ~21 oos ppl get accepted every yr. So, I guess when they lose acceptances to other schools they throw them out at the next oos on the list.
Click to expand...

~21 out-of-staters matriculated (USNews says more like 13). Quite a few more were actually offered spots.

sanantoniocapture.JPG
 
Morzh said:
Jan 10 is looming closer and soon we will have to officially decide where to rank our schools. I'm having a hard time deciding between UTHSCSA and TTUHSC-Lubbock. I keep going back and forth and am trying to learn a bit more about each school before I have to submit my rankings. I know that a lot of the details of the new curriculum are still unknown, particularly with regards to how 3rd/4th years is going to be changed, but I would still like to hear the experiences of current or former students on a few questions:

  1. How is 3rd year structured in general? What kind of roles does the average student have on the wards? I'm OK with doing my fair share of "scut" work if that's what it means to be a team player, but I also want to actually get my hands a little dirty and learn what I'm there to learn. Do students have a clear role and do most students feel that their evaluations are fair and objective?
  2. What's the time balance between primary-care focus and surgery/ER/neuro/ICU/etc focus during MS3/MS4? I'm still undecided about what I want to do and want a well-rounded experience.
  3. Do you get to choose or compete for clinical locations during 3rd year? I've heard some hospitals and clinics are preferable to others for certain rotations. Is it fairly easy to get into electives of your choice during 4th year, or is there competition?
  4. How are the research opportunities? I'm planning on having a career that revolves primarily around direct patient care, but I could see myself going into academic medicine down the road. Is there enough research to be done (and is it easy enough to get into) to make me competitive for bigger academic programs if I someday choose that route?
Click to expand...

Great questions, i posted these on facebook and got the following answer from a current 3rd year, hope it helps you as well:
1.3rd yr: 12 wks of Internal Medicine, 12 wks of Surgery, 6 wks of Family Medicine, Psychiatry, Pediatrics, Ob/Gyn. For instance my schedule for third year was: Internal Medicine, Psychiatry, Ob/Gyn, Christmas Break, Pediatrics, Family Med, Surgery. Students for most rotations will play a large part of patient management. You become more comfortable and take on larger roles as the year progresses. Most rotations provide you with guidelines as to what your role should be in X rotation. As for "scut work", I think anywhere you go students will be asked to help out with what is traditionally known as "scut work". But, it does not take away from your ability to learn. Most rotations have clear/present goals they would like you to master before you leave the rotation. I think the attendings/residents here do a great job helping to educate you and prepare you for 4th yr and residency. I think overall, students feel like their evaluations are fair. The evaluation process makes third year challenging because it can be so subjective. The school is actually changing the evaluation process soon, in order that the evaluation system is equalized. Right now, the evaluations that attendings/residents fill out are different for every rotation. They are creating one evaluation that will actually used by all rotations.
2. Please see above for time distribution for third year. I feel like UTHSCSA gives you a well rounded experience your third year. When choosing your clinical locations for third year, you have the opportunity to choose from several different surgery electives (Urology/ENT/Plastic Surgery/Emergency Medicine/CT/etc) for part of their surgery rotation. Internal Medicine also gives you the opportunity to do a 4 wk outpatient medicine rotation or 4 wk Neurology rotation. So there is some variability to schedules within third year. Most students leave third year having an idea of what they would like to go into. For those that are still unsure, they will do subinternships their fourth year in the areas they are still interested to help them with the decision.
‎3. There is a computer system used to sign up for third year. Everyone will be on the program at the same time and select their rotations. Approximately 90% of the class was able to sign up for the locations that they wanted. As for fourth year, most people are able to sign up for the rotations they would like. It seems like a much easier system, because 200 people aren't competing for 20 spots.
‎4. There are ample research opportunities for those that would like to pursue it. Students during their first year will get emails from the research coordinator for opportunities throughout the year/summer. More information can be found here: http://som.uthscsa.edu/Research/stipendProgram.asp
 
Hi! First time poster! I pre-matched here and this school has always been among my top choices :) I was wondering if anyone knew if the school is getting rid of the "hell week" exam schedule as part of the new curriculum. I'd really appreciate anyone's input, thanks!
 
premed201301 said:
Hi! First time poster! I pre-matched here and this school has always been among my top choices :) I was wondering if anyone knew if the school is getting rid of the "hell week" exam schedule as part of the new curriculum. I'd really appreciate anyone's input, thanks!
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As far as I know, no one knows for sure just yet. However, my best guess is that they are indeed doing away with the hell week exam schedule since I can imagine it was one of the more complained about items in the old curriculum that caused them to revamp their curriculum. I could be wrong though.
 
After a lot of serious soul-searching and back-and-forth I did rank them #1, and am really hoping for a match here. I hope the hype about them filling a lot of their class through the match is actually true this year. Almost 2 weeks :xf:
 
I wonder when this school will get around to formally rejecting me :laugh:
 
For those that wanted to know:

1/19/2012
Unfortunately our interviews have been completed

David J. Jones, Ph.D.
Senior Associate Dean for Admissions
Professor of Anesthesiology and Pharmacology
Distinguished Teaching Professor
Executive Director for Health Science Pipeline Programs

University of Texas School of Medicine at San Antonio
7703 Floyd Curl Dr.
San Antonio, TX 78229
Office: 210-567-6080 FAX: 210-567-6972
 
UtahMD said:
For those that wanted to know:

1/19/2012
Unfortunately our interviews have been completed

David J. Jones, Ph.D.
Senior Associate Dean for Admissions
Professor of Anesthesiology and Pharmacology
Distinguished Teaching Professor
Executive Director for Health Science Pipeline Programs

University of Texas School of Medicine at San Antonio
7703 Floyd Curl Dr.
San Antonio, TX 78229
Office: 210-567-6080 FAX: 210-567-6972
Click to expand...

All Texas schools (except Baylor) participate in the TMDSAS Match Day (Feb 1st), so they HAD to finish interviews before Jan 10th, which was the deadline for students to submit their rank lists to TMDSAS for the match.
 
Anyone know how many people get in from the wait list after the match? I read that at TCOM you can find out what place you are on the wait list - is that true for UTHSCSA?
 
Congrats to all who matched! I am an MS-1 at UTHSCSA, so if you have any questions let me know! Also, y'all already have a Facebook group for your class and there are several members of our class and MS-2s who are in the group to answer any questions you have.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/134601819982168/
Welcome!
 
bsengel1 said:
Anyone know how many people get in from the wait list after the match? I read that at TCOM you can find out what place you are on the wait list - is that true for UTHSCSA?
Click to expand...

As someone who didn't match last year, but got in off of the wait list, let me try and answer this. UTHSCSA's wait list is unranked. I'm still not sure what that means, but that is the official word. I'm not sure about the total number that got on off of the wait list, but it's safe to say (I think), that at least 20-30 got in from the wait list. The best advice I can give is to sen periodic updates, and if you really want to go here, make that clear in as professional a manner as possible.

Good luck, and congrats to everyone that matched!
 
Bouddha said:
As someone who didn't match last year, but got in off of the wait list, let me try and answer this. UTHSCSA's wait list is unranked. I'm still not sure what that means, but that is the official word. I'm not sure about the total number that got on off of the wait list, but it's safe to say (I think), that at least 20-30 got in from the wait list. The best advice I can give is to sen periodic updates, and if you really want to go here, make that clear in as professional a manner as possible.

Good luck, and congrats to everyone that matched!
Click to expand...

How do we find out if we are on the waitlist? Will admissions contact us, or do we need to contact them first? Thank you in advance!
 
starstudent said:
How do we find out if we are on the waitlist? Will admissions contact us, or do we need to contact them first? Thank you in advance!
Click to expand...

I received an email on February 8 last year with the information.
 
So, welcome weekend. At this point, I'd rather not go -- another cross-country flight, more days taken off... Should I be convinced otherwise? What would I be missing out on?
 
kkuhn said:
So, welcome weekend. At this point, I'd rather not go -- another cross-country flight, more days taken off... Should I be convinced otherwise? What would I be missing out on?
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I wasn't in yet, but my classmates that went said it was an absolute blast. It's also a good time to look for a roommate.
 
Is there any idea of about how many students are admitted after match (from "rolling admissions")?
 
kkuhn said:
So, welcome weekend. At this point, I'd rather not go -- another cross-country flight, more days taken off... Should I be convinced otherwise? What would I be missing out on?
Click to expand...

It's during my finals week :(. And also a cross-country ~$400 flight.
 
So, this is my first post on SDN and I matched to San Antonio. Does anyone know if we need to do anything before our acceptance letter arrives? I know they gave us the email address to respond to, but they also said the instructions to accept will be in our letter (which is being mailed to us this week).
 
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