Hey I have been struggling over how to rank Texas tech and UTHSCSA for the match. My gut feeling is Texas tech because I liked the campus much more. I want to rank San Antonio higher because it is 1st off ranked higher, is in a big city (potentially train with better docs), and I feel it has a better reputation with residency programs. I was curious if anyone had any input on my dilemma. also if anyone understands what the new UTHSCSA curriculum is going to be like I would really appreciate any input. Thanks.
UTHSCSA vs. Texas Tech Lubbock
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There is a thread like this in the School Specific forums. Another poster (Morzh)and myself are both struggling with this decision as well.
FWIW, I'm leaning towards Tech also, loved it and wasn't too blown away by UTHSCSA.
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Haha I never imagined so many people would have the random problem with deciding between the exact same schools. There's already been a bit of discussion about this in the corresponding thread in the school-specifics forum (this thread will probably be merged with that one soon).
I just wish San Antonio would give us a lot more detailed information about the new curriculum. What we've been told is pretty generalized and doesn't really tell us what things will be like. But the faculty are great, so even though there will undoubtedly be some road-bumps for the first class or two that goes through it, I'm sure it will be fine. I honestly think that my learning personality is better suited for Tech's block-style curriculum, though.
Over the past few months I've read and researched everything I can get my hands on about both schools. In order to help organize my own thoughts and feelings about this decision I have written a fairly detailed description of both schools and their respective locations. It is the result of months of perusing school websites, published statistics, forums, and speaking with people I know who may have some insight.
Remember that these thoughts apply to me and my family (I'm married with a kid) specifically, so you might have different considerations than I do. I wrote this for myself but also for my parents in San Antonio, since I felt that they deserved to be privy to our thought process since we are leaning towards Tech, which means taking their grandson 8 hours away. Fortunately distances aren't what they used to be. For example, Southwest often has flights between Lubbock and SA for under $100 round-trip. Even though I'm copy/pasting from my personal analysis, I think a lot of this information that I've collected may also be useful to you.
UTHSCSA
Curriculum
Traditionally San Antonio has used a very conservative curriculum that consisted of basically all-day lectures every day during the preclinical years (MS1/MS2). They have been successful with this approach for decades, although students sometimes complained of "overkill" in the basic sciences on stuff that isn't very high-yield for step 1 of the USMLE. For several years now they have been working on a new curriculum that is supposed to offer a more balanced approach. Mornings will still be lectures but the afternoons will be reserved for a variety of other learning tools, such as group-based learning, learning patient examination skills on both standardized and real patients, special topics seminars, web-based learning, and self-directed learning. The curriculum will be organized into organ systems modules. For example, during the respiratory module we will study the anatomy, physiology, histology, biochemistry, etc. of the respiratory system. This coordination should help students from feeling like their concurrent courses are "all over the place" with seemingly little continuity of theme. MS2 will end in mid-March, giving students a full 8 weeks, including spring break, to study and take step 1. MS3 clerkships begin in early June (about a month earlier than most schools). There is supposedly going to be some restructuring of MS3/MS4, but no specifics have been given by the Office of Curriculum as of yet. So while there will undoubtedly be a lot of advantages to the new curriculum, there will also naturally be several wrinkles to be ironed out with its inaugural class.
Facilities and student body
The South Texas Medical Center is currently undergoing several major (needed) expansions. There will be a lot of nice new wings and buildings to use during my clinical years (MS3/MS4). The medical school is not attached to an undergraduate university so student facilities (like a lounge, workout facilities, and recreation areas) are somewhat limited compared to Tech. The medical center is huge and offers a very wide range of pathology to learn from during clinical years. Except for Santa Rosas Childrens, which is downtown, just about everything is within walking distance of the medical school. UTHSCSA has one of the largest medical student bodies in the nation with close to 250 students in each class. The medical school also sponsors many large residency programs. These are great aspects that have a lot of advantages, but one of the disadvantages to any large medical school in a crowded medical center is that medical students are always at the bottom of the totem pole. Residents will end up doing many of the basic procedures and workups since their educational needs trump medical students' needs. It's not a really big deal in the end, but I've heard a few students say that they wish their clinical years were a little more hands-on. They are still hands-on enough, especially if you are proactive about getting experience, but they just wished it was a little easier to get their hands dirty. This is not unique to UTHSCSA. Virtually any medical school in a very large city faces the same challenge.
Cost
San Antonio's tuition this year is $15,813. The estimated total cost of attendance is $40,615. The reported average indebtedness of graduates is $132,007.
Reputation and research
UTHSCSA, like all the Texas schools, is very well regarded nation-wide. Its USMLE pass rates, residency match rates, and student satisfaction scores are all above 95%. Its most recent average step 1 score was 225 (185 was passing, 221 is national mean with standard deviation of 23). Resident match lists from recent years show a balance of students entering primary care fields as well as more competitive specialties (53% to primary care residencies). UTHSCSA has a robust research presence, comparable to UT-Houston or UT-Galveston. But UT-Southwestern is Texas' flagship campus for research and their NIH funding far exceeds all of these schools. San Antonio purposefully maintains a balanced mission of having a strong research presence but not so much that it overshadows their equal emphasis on the need for more primary care physicians. Still, San Antonio's research opportunities are more than sufficient for my needs and career goals.
Location and other intangibles
This is naturally the most subjective and difficult aspect to assess. San Antonio's obvious advantage is proximity to family and friends. This is a major consideration for us, especially since we have a child and are likely to have another within the next four years. There will always be helping hands when we need them. A social support system is already in place. San Antonio, compared to Lubbock, is quite large and travel times will be more significant. But we are familiar with the geography of SA, which would be one less learning curve for us to endure.
TTUHSC-Lubbock
Curriculum
Texas Tech implemented a new curriculum several years ago that has been highly successful. The faculty at Tech are notorious for being very enthusiastic about teaching and bending over backwards to help students get competitive summer internships, etc. Their 2009 average step 1 score was 231 and it has been increasing every year since then. The curriculum utilizes a block schedule where students only take one class at a time, allowing time to become deeply engaged with each course, mastering it, and moving on to another course. The order of courses is meaningful as they do build on each other, but I will never be juggling half-a-dozen classes at once and having to decide which to study more for and which to neglect when things get busy (Tech's Curriculum Overview). Tech is well-known for its world-class medical educators. Several of the textbooks used by medical students everywhere are authored or co-authored by active Tech faculty. Tech uses half-days of instruction and limits contact-hours to 22 per week. The afternoons are reserved for students to use at their discretion, with the exception of early clinical experience activities which take place during selected afternoons. For the most part I'd be in class from 8 AM to noon and then be free, allowing me to customize my study schedule according to my personal circumstances. 4th year only has six weeks of required rotations (four week neurology rotation and two week geriatrics rotation). Then there are a plethora of electives from which to choose. Many schools do not give you anywhere close to this much elective time. Elective time is great because it means I can tailor my education to my residency goals (which should be clear by then). If I choose something competitive like neurosurgery I could take a neurosurgery elective rotation and a surgical-ICU sub-internship and anything else that is not "standard" for most students but would go a long way in making me more competitive. Also Tech requires a web-based medical Spanish course, which will be tremendously useful for me, but I doubt I'd force myself to take it if it were only an elective. By the end of MS2 I have to be able to examine a patient and take a history in Spanish.
Facilities and student body
Tech's facilities are the best of any school I've interviewed at. They have a new academic classroom building with state-of-the art technology integrated into it. They have a large student lounge only for HSC students with workout area/lockers/shower, TV room, pool/foosball, and lots study areas and couches for napping. This is open 24/7 (badge access) and is often used by students on overnight call during clinical years since it is connected to the hospital but offers a quiet place to read or sleep when there is nothing else to do. Being connected to Texas Tech means I have access to their recreational facilities, which are extensive and impressive. The University Medical Center Hospital is the only trauma 1 center in all of west Texas and eastern New Mexico. It serves 108 counties (area larger than most states). So while Lubbock itself is only 1/10th the size of San Antonio (~300,000), the medical center is still very busy and offers plenty of pathology. All the major stuff gets flown into Lubbock. Tech has some very reputable residency programs, although they are not nearly as large as those in big cities. One of the big selling points that the students told us is that the clinical experience is unparalleled to anywhere else in Texas. One resident who did medical school at Tech made it a point to tell me that "The faculty are more willing to allow you to perform procedures at Tech if you ask than other institutions. It is very teaching oriented. You won't take a back-seat like at crowded medical centers." The student body at Tech is about half the size of San Antonio's (~140 students per class). After MS2 the class is divided into thirds and one group stays in Lubbock while the others go to either the Permian Basin or Odessa. You get to rank where you'd prefer to be assigned, and if you have a family/children/own a home you're almost guaranteed your top choice, although there are real perks to going to the non-Lubbock campuses if you choose to do so. The students are notorious for being very laid-back and friendly. The average age is a little older and a higher percentage of students are married or come from non-traditional backgrounds.
Cost
Tuition: $14,471; Total estimated cost: $41,358; Average indebtedness: $124,466.
Reputation and Research
Texas Tech has some great research opportunities for students. In the spring of MS1 you get bombarded with emails from faculty looking for students to do a summer research program with them. Since it is a somewhat smaller school compared to the big city schools it naturally has fewer NIH dollars, but fewer residents and smaller class sizes means anyone who is interested can find something really meaningful. A large number of students actually get papers published, which is a huge advantage when applying to highly competitive residencies. Their match lists are equally as impressive as San Antonio's. Like UTHSCSA, 50-55% of their graduates go into a primary care field (family medicine, internal Medicine, OBGYN, pediatrics, psychiatry). When it comes to national reputation and ability to land top residency spots you can't go wrong with any of the Texas schools. Given Texas' major problems with physician shortages, the state legislature and Board of Education try to ensure that all of their medical schools are top-notch.
Location and other intangibles
When I first began this process Texas Tech was one of those schools that I knew very little about. I assumed it would merely be a "last-resort" type of school where I'd be happy going but only if nobody else accepted me. My interview really opened my eyes to both Lubbock and the school, which was pretty surprising. Since then I've researched everything about it, and the more I learn the more I like it. It is a very family friendly city. Traffic does not exist, crime is very low, the public schools are good, housing is super cheap, and there are a large number of family-oriented things to do. The infrastructure is such that I can easily bike to school from wherever we live, something that's just not possible or safe in San Antonio. We could remain a one-car family in Lubbock, whereas we'd have to get a second vehicle at most other places. None of these factors alone is a really compelling reason to choose Lubbock over San Antonio, especially since San Antonio is where family is at. But when we look at the big picture we just feel inexplicably "drawn" to this school and location. We feel we'd be a better "fit" here and I enjoyed the environment here somewhat better. With making a decision this big you don't want to discount those feelings, since more often than not your gut-instinct will be right about such things.
---
I tried to make these descriptions as fact-based as possible, but it's hard because so much of this stuff is anecdotal and subjective to begin with. I still think that overall this is a pretty decent big-picture assessment of both schools.
I just wish San Antonio would give us a lot more detailed information about the new curriculum. What we've been told is pretty generalized and doesn't really tell us what things will be like. But the faculty are great, so even though there will undoubtedly be some road-bumps for the first class or two that goes through it, I'm sure it will be fine. I honestly think that my learning personality is better suited for Tech's block-style curriculum, though.
Over the past few months I've read and researched everything I can get my hands on about both schools. In order to help organize my own thoughts and feelings about this decision I have written a fairly detailed description of both schools and their respective locations. It is the result of months of perusing school websites, published statistics, forums, and speaking with people I know who may have some insight.
Remember that these thoughts apply to me and my family (I'm married with a kid) specifically, so you might have different considerations than I do. I wrote this for myself but also for my parents in San Antonio, since I felt that they deserved to be privy to our thought process since we are leaning towards Tech, which means taking their grandson 8 hours away. Fortunately distances aren't what they used to be. For example, Southwest often has flights between Lubbock and SA for under $100 round-trip. Even though I'm copy/pasting from my personal analysis, I think a lot of this information that I've collected may also be useful to you.
UTHSCSA
Curriculum
Traditionally San Antonio has used a very conservative curriculum that consisted of basically all-day lectures every day during the preclinical years (MS1/MS2). They have been successful with this approach for decades, although students sometimes complained of "overkill" in the basic sciences on stuff that isn't very high-yield for step 1 of the USMLE. For several years now they have been working on a new curriculum that is supposed to offer a more balanced approach. Mornings will still be lectures but the afternoons will be reserved for a variety of other learning tools, such as group-based learning, learning patient examination skills on both standardized and real patients, special topics seminars, web-based learning, and self-directed learning. The curriculum will be organized into organ systems modules. For example, during the respiratory module we will study the anatomy, physiology, histology, biochemistry, etc. of the respiratory system. This coordination should help students from feeling like their concurrent courses are "all over the place" with seemingly little continuity of theme. MS2 will end in mid-March, giving students a full 8 weeks, including spring break, to study and take step 1. MS3 clerkships begin in early June (about a month earlier than most schools). There is supposedly going to be some restructuring of MS3/MS4, but no specifics have been given by the Office of Curriculum as of yet. So while there will undoubtedly be a lot of advantages to the new curriculum, there will also naturally be several wrinkles to be ironed out with its inaugural class.
Facilities and student body
The South Texas Medical Center is currently undergoing several major (needed) expansions. There will be a lot of nice new wings and buildings to use during my clinical years (MS3/MS4). The medical school is not attached to an undergraduate university so student facilities (like a lounge, workout facilities, and recreation areas) are somewhat limited compared to Tech. The medical center is huge and offers a very wide range of pathology to learn from during clinical years. Except for Santa Rosas Childrens, which is downtown, just about everything is within walking distance of the medical school. UTHSCSA has one of the largest medical student bodies in the nation with close to 250 students in each class. The medical school also sponsors many large residency programs. These are great aspects that have a lot of advantages, but one of the disadvantages to any large medical school in a crowded medical center is that medical students are always at the bottom of the totem pole. Residents will end up doing many of the basic procedures and workups since their educational needs trump medical students' needs. It's not a really big deal in the end, but I've heard a few students say that they wish their clinical years were a little more hands-on. They are still hands-on enough, especially if you are proactive about getting experience, but they just wished it was a little easier to get their hands dirty. This is not unique to UTHSCSA. Virtually any medical school in a very large city faces the same challenge.
Cost
San Antonio's tuition this year is $15,813. The estimated total cost of attendance is $40,615. The reported average indebtedness of graduates is $132,007.
Reputation and research
UTHSCSA, like all the Texas schools, is very well regarded nation-wide. Its USMLE pass rates, residency match rates, and student satisfaction scores are all above 95%. Its most recent average step 1 score was 225 (185 was passing, 221 is national mean with standard deviation of 23). Resident match lists from recent years show a balance of students entering primary care fields as well as more competitive specialties (53% to primary care residencies). UTHSCSA has a robust research presence, comparable to UT-Houston or UT-Galveston. But UT-Southwestern is Texas' flagship campus for research and their NIH funding far exceeds all of these schools. San Antonio purposefully maintains a balanced mission of having a strong research presence but not so much that it overshadows their equal emphasis on the need for more primary care physicians. Still, San Antonio's research opportunities are more than sufficient for my needs and career goals.
Location and other intangibles
This is naturally the most subjective and difficult aspect to assess. San Antonio's obvious advantage is proximity to family and friends. This is a major consideration for us, especially since we have a child and are likely to have another within the next four years. There will always be helping hands when we need them. A social support system is already in place. San Antonio, compared to Lubbock, is quite large and travel times will be more significant. But we are familiar with the geography of SA, which would be one less learning curve for us to endure.
TTUHSC-Lubbock
Curriculum
Texas Tech implemented a new curriculum several years ago that has been highly successful. The faculty at Tech are notorious for being very enthusiastic about teaching and bending over backwards to help students get competitive summer internships, etc. Their 2009 average step 1 score was 231 and it has been increasing every year since then. The curriculum utilizes a block schedule where students only take one class at a time, allowing time to become deeply engaged with each course, mastering it, and moving on to another course. The order of courses is meaningful as they do build on each other, but I will never be juggling half-a-dozen classes at once and having to decide which to study more for and which to neglect when things get busy (Tech's Curriculum Overview). Tech is well-known for its world-class medical educators. Several of the textbooks used by medical students everywhere are authored or co-authored by active Tech faculty. Tech uses half-days of instruction and limits contact-hours to 22 per week. The afternoons are reserved for students to use at their discretion, with the exception of early clinical experience activities which take place during selected afternoons. For the most part I'd be in class from 8 AM to noon and then be free, allowing me to customize my study schedule according to my personal circumstances. 4th year only has six weeks of required rotations (four week neurology rotation and two week geriatrics rotation). Then there are a plethora of electives from which to choose. Many schools do not give you anywhere close to this much elective time. Elective time is great because it means I can tailor my education to my residency goals (which should be clear by then). If I choose something competitive like neurosurgery I could take a neurosurgery elective rotation and a surgical-ICU sub-internship and anything else that is not "standard" for most students but would go a long way in making me more competitive. Also Tech requires a web-based medical Spanish course, which will be tremendously useful for me, but I doubt I'd force myself to take it if it were only an elective. By the end of MS2 I have to be able to examine a patient and take a history in Spanish.
Facilities and student body
Tech's facilities are the best of any school I've interviewed at. They have a new academic classroom building with state-of-the art technology integrated into it. They have a large student lounge only for HSC students with workout area/lockers/shower, TV room, pool/foosball, and lots study areas and couches for napping. This is open 24/7 (badge access) and is often used by students on overnight call during clinical years since it is connected to the hospital but offers a quiet place to read or sleep when there is nothing else to do. Being connected to Texas Tech means I have access to their recreational facilities, which are extensive and impressive. The University Medical Center Hospital is the only trauma 1 center in all of west Texas and eastern New Mexico. It serves 108 counties (area larger than most states). So while Lubbock itself is only 1/10th the size of San Antonio (~300,000), the medical center is still very busy and offers plenty of pathology. All the major stuff gets flown into Lubbock. Tech has some very reputable residency programs, although they are not nearly as large as those in big cities. One of the big selling points that the students told us is that the clinical experience is unparalleled to anywhere else in Texas. One resident who did medical school at Tech made it a point to tell me that "The faculty are more willing to allow you to perform procedures at Tech if you ask than other institutions. It is very teaching oriented. You won't take a back-seat like at crowded medical centers." The student body at Tech is about half the size of San Antonio's (~140 students per class). After MS2 the class is divided into thirds and one group stays in Lubbock while the others go to either the Permian Basin or Odessa. You get to rank where you'd prefer to be assigned, and if you have a family/children/own a home you're almost guaranteed your top choice, although there are real perks to going to the non-Lubbock campuses if you choose to do so. The students are notorious for being very laid-back and friendly. The average age is a little older and a higher percentage of students are married or come from non-traditional backgrounds.
Cost
Tuition: $14,471; Total estimated cost: $41,358; Average indebtedness: $124,466.
Reputation and Research
Texas Tech has some great research opportunities for students. In the spring of MS1 you get bombarded with emails from faculty looking for students to do a summer research program with them. Since it is a somewhat smaller school compared to the big city schools it naturally has fewer NIH dollars, but fewer residents and smaller class sizes means anyone who is interested can find something really meaningful. A large number of students actually get papers published, which is a huge advantage when applying to highly competitive residencies. Their match lists are equally as impressive as San Antonio's. Like UTHSCSA, 50-55% of their graduates go into a primary care field (family medicine, internal Medicine, OBGYN, pediatrics, psychiatry). When it comes to national reputation and ability to land top residency spots you can't go wrong with any of the Texas schools. Given Texas' major problems with physician shortages, the state legislature and Board of Education try to ensure that all of their medical schools are top-notch.
Location and other intangibles
When I first began this process Texas Tech was one of those schools that I knew very little about. I assumed it would merely be a "last-resort" type of school where I'd be happy going but only if nobody else accepted me. My interview really opened my eyes to both Lubbock and the school, which was pretty surprising. Since then I've researched everything about it, and the more I learn the more I like it. It is a very family friendly city. Traffic does not exist, crime is very low, the public schools are good, housing is super cheap, and there are a large number of family-oriented things to do. The infrastructure is such that I can easily bike to school from wherever we live, something that's just not possible or safe in San Antonio. We could remain a one-car family in Lubbock, whereas we'd have to get a second vehicle at most other places. None of these factors alone is a really compelling reason to choose Lubbock over San Antonio, especially since San Antonio is where family is at. But when we look at the big picture we just feel inexplicably "drawn" to this school and location. We feel we'd be a better "fit" here and I enjoyed the environment here somewhat better. With making a decision this big you don't want to discount those feelings, since more often than not your gut-instinct will be right about such things.
---
I tried to make these descriptions as fact-based as possible, but it's hard because so much of this stuff is anecdotal and subjective to begin with. I still think that overall this is a pretty decent big-picture assessment of both schools.
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I am a Tech student...
I wouldn't agree that we have world-class medical educators. We have a lot of bad ones and one person of note. I think you're talking about Dr. Pelley who writes Rapid Review Biochemistry. He teaches you for about 2 weeks out of the entire pre-clinical period, but he's quite a character. There really isn't anyone else of significance at this school. Although I'm probably sounding too negative. Every medical school has a lot of bad teachers. How well you do on your boards is really up to you. Medical school is a lot of self motivated learning. Although it would be nice if 4-5 hours of our day wasn't wasted on sub-par instruction.
Eh. I don't know. That number sounds awfully high. I think they're dishonestly tweaking that figure somehow. Tech is probably in the bottom third of medical schools. I highly doubt we're that far above average.
This is true. I really appreciate the block schedule and it retrospect it's probably the biggest advantage of our program. I'm able to put my whole effort into a given test and not worry that I'm going to do worse on another subject because of how I allocate my time.
This is not entirely true. You're in class for a lot longer than 22 hours per week in second year. This is probably true for first year.
I wouldn't agree that we have world-class medical educators. We have a lot of bad ones and one person of note. I think you're talking about Dr. Pelley who writes Rapid Review Biochemistry. He teaches you for about 2 weeks out of the entire pre-clinical period, but he's quite a character. There really isn't anyone else of significance at this school. Although I'm probably sounding too negative. Every medical school has a lot of bad teachers. How well you do on your boards is really up to you. Medical school is a lot of self motivated learning. Although it would be nice if 4-5 hours of our day wasn't wasted on sub-par instruction.
This is only true for first year. In second year you have classes generally 1-5, and quite a few days it's 10-5, 8-3, or some variant.
Wow. If they're selling the medical Spanish l "class" like that, they're straight up lieing to you. The entirety of the class consists of interviewing one patient with lines that you could memorize in an hour beforehand. You will NOT be able to examine and take a history in Spanish from that class.
The synergistic center (what you're referring to) is a huge plus, but a huge chunk of the class can't use it in the last two years because you're sent to Odessa/Midland and Amarillo. Looking back this is one of the things I dislike most about my choice. You get to know a lot of people in your class who are assigned to different campuses. I wish we all could stay in Lubbock.
This really isn't true. Certainly it's not hard to get a research position over the summer here at Texas Tech, but it isn't anything like you describe.
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Thanks for responding with honesty! Like I said, most of the stuff I said was what I had heard or read on their website, at interview, etc. Unfortunately that's about all we have to go by since there's no real way to magically look 4 years down the road.
At this point I'm still likely ranking Tech first because of some of the other, more important (to me), reasons I talked about. Like you said, curriculum-wise the biggest attraction to me is the block schedule. Everything else is gravy. But I'll still straight up ask ya: Despite some of your dissatisfactions would you still choose Tech again?
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I'd recommend Tech to anyone. I'm grateful for the opportunity they gave me. They weren't my first choice but I don't regret coming here for a second. The atmosphere among the students is really laid back and the facilities for the students are top of the line. I probably come off as down on the school. I just don't like seeing them oversell it.
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I am a prior Texas Tech Lubbock medical student and now work at the affiliated hospital in Lubbock...
I think TTUHSC prepared me WELL for residency; many of my classmates who were interested in 'super competitive' programs were able to gain them as long as they did well on their step exams. The school you go to has little to do with your step score; those numbers are increased by self studying and good test takers. I doubt TTUHSC has as high as a Step 1 average simply because its HARD to attract people to West Texas. We end up with top notch people who choose to come here, and the some who ended up here as their second choice.. they self selected as poor test takers as their MCATs were probably not as high.
Within Texas the rankings will never change... Baylor/Southwester/Houston will always be above A&M Temple/San Antonio/Texas Tech which tend to be above TT El Paso/UNT Ft Worth. Ft Worth gets put low because of some false stigma that DOs are different (I disagree with that stigma; thats another subject). 8 out of 10 random people would rather live in Dallas/Houston than El Paso/Lubbock/San Antonio...thats just how it is..
With that said, I think Lubbock offers some unique experiences. I would view the split campus as a good thing. That means SMALL class sizes at these different hospitals. To put it in persepective, I put my first chest tube and did my first intubation during the first semester of my first year of medical school (I was just hanging out/shadowing in the Emergency Department). I interviewed residency applicants to EM last year who had never done a chest tube.... I had several by the time I was applying to residency, had done more suturing than I can count, had performed open cardiac massage, and had been first assist on several general surgeries...
On top of all that, Lubbock has a Tier 1 university and all that comes with that. We have dozens of 'bars' and hang outs around town. We have many restaurants and places to shop. We have an airport with CHEAP flights (I just booked a flight to Dallas... 55 minute flight, 39 bucks each way)...and I booked one to Austin for a meeting... 55 minute flight and 51 each way). We also have non stop to Las Vegas and Denver... of course you can then connect anywhere.
I wont disagree that Houston or Dallas has more to do and more places to eat and easy access to go places... I would argue that you will be in line behind an attending, a couple fellows, senior residents, 5 interns a pharmacy resident, the charge floor nurse.. then the medical students. Also, you will live in half the size house/apartment for twice the costs. You will also spend literally months in traffic if you were to add it up over 4 years... Did I mention that you could throw a baseball through the academic building window from where you park each morning?
Lubbock has been good to me. Cost of living is CHEAP. I bought a home when I was a student, sold it for a NICE profit 4 years later (almost 30k profit!). I am not from Lubbock but enjoyed it so much that I came back... I live in a home on 10 acres and a 10 minute commute to a Level 1 trauma center. I can leave my house less than an hour before a flight and get to many places. I can watch tier 1 football in person; we have many entertainers visit here (George Strait was here recently).... we have decent skiing and mountains 230ish miles away in New Mexico...
I think TTUHSC prepared me WELL for residency; many of my classmates who were interested in 'super competitive' programs were able to gain them as long as they did well on their step exams. The school you go to has little to do with your step score; those numbers are increased by self studying and good test takers. I doubt TTUHSC has as high as a Step 1 average simply because its HARD to attract people to West Texas. We end up with top notch people who choose to come here, and the some who ended up here as their second choice.. they self selected as poor test takers as their MCATs were probably not as high.
Within Texas the rankings will never change... Baylor/Southwester/Houston will always be above A&M Temple/San Antonio/Texas Tech which tend to be above TT El Paso/UNT Ft Worth. Ft Worth gets put low because of some false stigma that DOs are different (I disagree with that stigma; thats another subject). 8 out of 10 random people would rather live in Dallas/Houston than El Paso/Lubbock/San Antonio...thats just how it is..
With that said, I think Lubbock offers some unique experiences. I would view the split campus as a good thing. That means SMALL class sizes at these different hospitals. To put it in persepective, I put my first chest tube and did my first intubation during the first semester of my first year of medical school (I was just hanging out/shadowing in the Emergency Department). I interviewed residency applicants to EM last year who had never done a chest tube.... I had several by the time I was applying to residency, had done more suturing than I can count, had performed open cardiac massage, and had been first assist on several general surgeries...
On top of all that, Lubbock has a Tier 1 university and all that comes with that. We have dozens of 'bars' and hang outs around town. We have many restaurants and places to shop. We have an airport with CHEAP flights (I just booked a flight to Dallas... 55 minute flight, 39 bucks each way)...and I booked one to Austin for a meeting... 55 minute flight and 51 each way). We also have non stop to Las Vegas and Denver... of course you can then connect anywhere.
I wont disagree that Houston or Dallas has more to do and more places to eat and easy access to go places... I would argue that you will be in line behind an attending, a couple fellows, senior residents, 5 interns a pharmacy resident, the charge floor nurse.. then the medical students. Also, you will live in half the size house/apartment for twice the costs. You will also spend literally months in traffic if you were to add it up over 4 years... Did I mention that you could throw a baseball through the academic building window from where you park each morning?
Lubbock has been good to me. Cost of living is CHEAP. I bought a home when I was a student, sold it for a NICE profit 4 years later (almost 30k profit!). I am not from Lubbock but enjoyed it so much that I came back... I live in a home on 10 acres and a 10 minute commute to a Level 1 trauma center. I can leave my house less than an hour before a flight and get to many places. I can watch tier 1 football in person; we have many entertainers visit here (George Strait was here recently).... we have decent skiing and mountains 230ish miles away in New Mexico...
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I know this thread is old, but I wanted to thank you for this amazing comparison of these schools. I just interviewed at UTHSCSA on Monday and I'm flying out to TTUHSC tomorrow, so this is invaluable!!!!
