Baylor CM 2008 Applicants Thread

Thanks guys for both your viewpoints; like Jolie said, it's good to get other (anecdotal) opinions if only to show that the viewpoint I got wasn't completely representative.

I didn't know that not all med schools make their students go on call...I kinda wanted to experience what it'll be like when I'm an intern/resident. Is it more of a "you have the choice of taking call" vs "you must take call" or do schools preclude med students from taking call?

Jolie South said:

i wasn't legitimizing anything. just trying to synopsize (is that a word?) what was said in the other thread. all this is anecdotal. i just thought it might be useful to throw up a counterpoint as the poster presented the opinion of one 3rd year they'd met.

both schools are great. no doubt. you'll become an excellent doctor at either. i just didn't want the poster to only have that one viewpoint as a point of reference.

Click to expand...

I'm sorry if you felt I was attacking you. It's just that I've witnesses this vicious cycle over and over again (including my brother 12-years older than me) and I feel that should try and steer the conversation towards facts rather than biased opinions.

You cannot go wrong with either!

Norua said:

Thanks guys for both your viewpoints; like Jolie said, it's good to get other (anecdotal) opinions if only to show that the viewpoint I got wasn't completely representative.

I didn't know that not all med schools make their students go on call...I kinda wanted to experience what it'll be like when I'm an intern/resident. Is it more of a "you have the choice of taking call" vs "you must take call" or do schools preclude med students from taking call?

Click to expand...

i think it's highly school dependent. i didn't look into it that much though because it didn't seem like an important criterion for me personally.

for me, it seems like taking call would prepare me for intern year. not taking call would give me a little bit more of a "vacation" so to speak before the hell of intern year. either way, intern year is coming. from what i've read on the residency boards little can be done to prepare.

Norua said:

Thanks guys for both your viewpoints; like Jolie said, it's good to get other (anecdotal) opinions if only to show that the viewpoint I got wasn't completely representative.

I didn't know that not all med schools make their students go on call...I kinda wanted to experience what it'll be like when I'm an intern/resident. Is it more of a "you have the choice of taking call" vs "you must take call" or do schools preclude med students from taking call?

Click to expand...

At UTSW, it is "you must take call". Not sure how Baylor does it. And I was really, really surprised myself. I almost am counting it as a negative. I do not want to suicide myself into my intern year.

TheRealMD said:

At UTSW, it is "you must take call". Not sure how Baylor does it. And I was really, really surprised myself. I almost am counting it as a negative. I do not want to suicide myself into my intern year.

Click to expand...

i doubt that you would be prohibited from taking call if you wanted.

also, on sub-Is aren't you supposed to be functioning at intern level? i would think that would include call.

As was mentioned on the class of 2012, the Financial aid office screwed up and sent us an email with all of our current classmates listed in the "To:" line. Privacy matters aside, this may be useful for those of you still waiting because this email was sent to 208 people. Take this for what its worth, but the class still appears to be overbooked.

Bowtie said:

As was mentioned on the class of 2012, the Financial aid office screwed up and sent us an email with all of our current classmates listed in the "To:" line. Privacy matters aside, this may be useful for those of you still waiting because this email was sent to 208 people. Take this for what its worth, but the class still appears to be overbooked.

Click to expand...

I never got that e-mail either.

TheRealMD said:

I never got that e-mail either.

Click to expand...

don't worry. there's myself and another dude on the 2012 thread that didn't get it either.

i wonder what THAT means.

Jolie South said:

don't worry. there's myself and another dude on the 2012 thread that didn't get it either.

i wonder what THAT means.

Click to expand...

We're special!

TheRealMD said:

At UTSW, it is "you must take call". Not sure how Baylor does it. And I was really, really surprised myself. I almost am counting it as a negative. I do not want to suicide myself into my intern year.

Click to expand...

Better than suiciding in intern year when your suicide also means the suicide of your patients!

allright, i give up on baylor. i am not waiting anymore.

Let's start our own medical school in Houston and ask if Baylor would like to be a part of it...Looking back, it is rediculous to wait this long (I do not think we are being unreasonable). I interviewed in September. September!

Just reject or accept me all ready to give me some closure!

That may be true, but I'd still drop everything and go to Baylor if they called me now/later.. haha.. how sad. :|

isitoveryet said:

Let's start our own medical school in Houston and ask if Baylor would like to be a part of it...Looking back, it is rediculous to wait this long (I do not think we are being unreasonable). I interviewed in September. September!

Just reject or accept me all ready to give me some closure!

Click to expand...

I know how you feel. I interviewed in November and thought that was bad. I really think we deserve some kind of decision within a couple of months at worst, definitely not 5 to 7 months later! Although, based on the e-mail they sent a couple of weeks ago, the waitlist should be formed by tomorrow! Woohoo, I think...

To address the call issue, Baylor doesn't make med students take overnight call during core rotations. The latest they'd make you stay on a call night is 10 or 11 pm. The latest I've stayed was 1am on Medicine at the VA, but that was because I wanted to finish a writeup before leaving. (Medicine H&Ps at the VA can be mindnumbingly, droneworthily long. I ended up staying up all night editing the dang thing and didn't bother sleeping because I was going back at 530am to pre-round anyway.) You can voluntarily take call if you wanted (really, no med student in their right mind would unless they were dying for the experience) but there are no call rooms specifically for med students, so you couldn't get some shut eye if there was any downtime on a call night.

During your sub-i, you get to do q4 call with your team and/or your upper level. You still might not get a call room, but most call nights depending on the service would probably keep you up all night anyway. So don't fret, there're plenty of chances for you to take call and you could even be a masochist and take on more than necessary if you wanted (e.g. by taking SICU electives - their calls are notoriously brutal and were recommended to me by an intern to prepare for intern year.) But trust me, by the time you get to clinics, you may be singing a different tune as to "wanting to prepare for intern year." And I think no matter how many calls you do as a med student, that first night on call as an intern with real responsibility is still going to be bone-chillingly terrifying and will still require a steep learning curve.

My take has always been, I'll learn what I need to learn during intern year. That's what it's for. You'll have plenty of call to figure it out then. Intern year is already going to be dogged and will induce chronic fatigue, so why extend that misery to med school? Med student rotations should be about learning as much subject material as you can and for that to happen, you need time to read, digest, and absorb. While practical knowledge is important, there's only so much pathophys and clinical management you can properly learn and understand by just admitting and following patients. Not to mention the shelf exams at the end of the rotation that test your book knowledge, not how well you are able to stay awake all night to admit patients and write orders. Attendings will also make you read up on patients or a topic of their fancy on your own time. It's very hard to have energy to read when you don't get any sleep every four nights. In that scenario, all I would wanna do when I got home would be sleep. Even without having to take call, it was hard to be motivated to read because every day was so tiring in and of itself.

I feel everyone's pain. Earlier this week I received a call from an unknown number and almost had a heart attack, but my phone was being stupid and I couldn't hear anything. Needless to say, whoever it was hung up and now I think I'm suffering from hallucinations.

I'm sorry guys. Baylor is a fantastic school, but the waiting is NOT designed well. I've told them time and again and I agree with you - they should at least make decisions on your application one way or another. I can't come up with a rhyme or reason for why they don't just reject or officially waitlist (esp with tiers).

Hang in there though. The pride is wounded, but obviously, the admissions office has little to do with your experience during medical school. I say this not to just shill for Baylor, but because whatever decision you make should be based on curriculum / cost / location / etc, not how rude the admissions office was (unless admissions was going to affect your med school existence).

Still - much, much apologies!

juicymonster said:

I feel everyone's pain. Earlier this week I received a call from an unknown number and almost had a heart attack, but my phone was being stupid and I couldn't hear anything. Needless to say, whoever it was hung up and now I think I'm suffering from hallucinations.

Click to expand...

Haha, that's happened to my twice already... but I seriously doubt it was Baylor.

BTW guys, I called this morning and apparently the waitlist is not ready yet, so the admissions office suggested calling next week.... so more waiting.

Ok this is actually ridiculous. This is the LAST school I'm waiting to hear from. I just want to know so I can lay everything out and make a decision already! There is no reason that you can't give someone a decision 2 or 3 months after interviewing.

Jaymz said:

Haha, that's happened to my twice already... but I seriously doubt it was Baylor.

BTW guys, I called this morning and apparently the waitlist is not ready yet, so the admissions office suggested calling next week.... so more waiting.

Click to expand...

lol I'm sorry you had to go through that too! I can't believe they're making us wait even longer because I really need to start looking for housing if I don't want to end up living in a cardboard box!

.

I just called admissions. They told me that the Deans are scrambling and putting together the list right now. They're supposed to send out letters this afternoon so look forward to getting letters early next week. It definitely seemed like that if you were not accepted already, then you are destined for the waitlist.

Man, I was really hoping to hear today. I'm not holding out hope for an acceptance, but it would be nice to know that it's not a rejection... If that's the case.

So, basically, it sounded like they were done with acceptances and rejections, and if you haven't heard, you can assume a waitlist safely?

DoctorDreamer said:

Man, I was really hoping to hear today. I'm not holding out hope for an acceptance, but it would be nice to know that it's not a rejection... If that's the case.

So, basically, it sounded like they were done with acceptances and rejections, and if you haven't heard, you can assume a waitlist safely?

Click to expand...

That's definitely the impression I got from the admissions lady.

juicymonster said:

lol I'm sorry you had to go through that too! I can't believe they're making us wait even longer because I really need to start looking for housing if I don't want to end up living in a cardboard box!

Click to expand...

I KNOW! I keep telling myself I should start looking for housing at the school I am currently accepted at, but I still have hope in Baylor... I think by May it will be time to give in, unfortunately. Still, I hear people get off the waitlist in May and June, but waiting until then to get housing is a horrible idea, I think.

got waiting list e-mail...does anyone know how many people are placed on the waitlist? or is it for everyone who didn't get accepted??

Richard8794 said:

got waiting list e-mail...does anyone know how many people are placed on the waitlist? or is it for everyone who didn't get accepted??

Click to expand...

That's what we think... I didn't get an e-mail... Anyone else? Let the freaking out commence...

Finally! Got the waitlist e-mail. Withdrawing!

Happy to finally be done with the application process!

Waitlisted...

waitlisted

also waitlisted x_x

Waitlisted... Glad to have an answer, thrilled it's not a rejection.

On the waitlist. I think I can wait it out with the best of them.

waitlisted... i'm committed to utmb as of now but i'm gonna be pulling for baylor to the bitter end .

yup...just like everyone else. This must be what purgatory feels like.

Waitlisted.... oh how waiting sucks.

waitlisted too

LOL, were any of us really expecting anything other than a waitlist at this point?

I personally know a few people with multiple acceptances and am currently beating them with a wooden stick to decide so you people can have a shot.

TheRealMD said:

I personally know a few people with multiple acceptances and am currently beating them with a wooden stick to decide so you people can have a shot.

Click to expand...

If your stick breaks, I have a few you can borrow.

DoctorDreamer said:

LOL, were any of us really expecting anything other than a waitlist at this point?

Click to expand...

nope and thanks TheRealMD

isitoveryet said:

Let's start our own medical school in Houston and ask if Baylor would like to be a part of it...Looking back, it is rediculous to wait this long (I do not think we are being unreasonable). I interviewed in September. September!

Just reject or accept me all ready to give me some closure!

Click to expand...

I interviewed in September and feel the same way sometimes. I don't know what I want more, closure or a BCM acceptance...

Rexasaurus said:

I interviewed in September and feel the same way sometimes. I don't know what I want more, closure or a BCM acceptance...

Click to expand...

You haven't gotten a waitlist e-mail or other notice? I'd call in on Monday if I were you.

Rex mentioned he was waitlisted earlier... I am pretty sure everyone who interviewed and was not accepted was waitlisted (it seems like).

Jaymz said:

Rex mentioned he was waitlisted earlier... I am pretty sure everyone who interviewed and was not accepted was waitlisted (it seems like).

Click to expand...

I talked to some students at baylor and that seems to be the case. Most people don't get rejected until they are told the class is full sometime in june. I've also heard that the waitlist has a high turnover rate, but even so it has to be a very big list. Surely they must know that beyond a certain point there are people who are too far down and don't have a chance. At least those people should be notified!

Rexasaurus said:

I've also heard that the waitlist has a high turnover rate, but even so it has to be a very big list. Surely they must know that beyond a certain point there are people who are too far down and don't have a chance. At least those people should be notified!

Click to expand...

Completely agree.... sigh. Why they don't is beyond me

I called BCM admissions asking if they could tell me where my approximate position on the waitlist is, but they told me that they do not reveal that information. Maybe I should have worded the question differently and asked if my chances were good or not. Anybody have any luck with this?

Rexasaurus said:

I called BCM admissions asking if they could tell me where my approximate position on the waitlist is, but they told me that they do not reveal that information. Maybe I should have worded the question differently and asked if my chances were good or not. Anybody have any luck with this?

Click to expand...

Your waitlist position (and thus your overall "score") is one of the most closely guarded secrets at Baylor. Sadly, even when you're accepted, they'll never let you know where you were on the list.

Just got the call today off of the waitlist. I was waitlisted on 4/18.

hrw212 said:

Just got the call today off of the waitlist. I was waitlisted on 4/18.

Click to expand...

And you had given up hope too!

Remember, don't drink too much this weekend!