2009-2010 Texas Tech El Paso (Paul L. Foster) Application Thread

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...my interview day went great!

Thank you for the feedback! 🙂

Any insight into possible scholarships? I've read that 20/40 of the first year class got full rides? BTW, I brought up that topic to preempt a potential digression that proved more subjective than substantive in the previous thread. Of course, specific insights are always valuable. 👍
 
You heard correctly about the first class. The other half of the class got a scholarship for a computer allowance, as I understood it. It was worth $3k I believe. Everybody buys the school-supported Dell, as it is 100% covered by your $3k fee for the 4 years you're there. At least that's what I got from the students.

Sorry, I didn't ask about scholarships for the Class of '14. I suppose that since the faculty didn't bring it up as a 'selling point', they won't have anything similar to last year. That's just speculation though. As for El Paso the city, I was pleasantly surprised. I stayed with a physician friend, who lives on the west side. He was very positive about the safety of the community, and he has no reason to sugar coat it (he's not involved in the medical school at all). Also, one of my interviewers said he was putting his kindergartners in public school (his older kids were private school kids, having lived in Dallas and Houston). So, this was a positive indicator for me (I have kids).

My best advice is just to go with an open mind about the city, and to enjoy yourself at the interview. IMO, PLFSOM is a quality institution and has a bright future.
 
Just to say hi to everyone who interviewed yesterday! (I felt like it just happened like a few hours ago)!🙂
 
Everyone in this school says that its pretty safe in El Paso ( they said its ranked the 5th safest city in the US), but its kinda messed up across the borderline. I guess if you stay in the US side you should be safe.
 
Just got an interview for October the 8th. I'll be interested to see what the school and area is like. Guess I need to read through this thread now.

Anyone else going to be there on the 8th?
 
7star,
Enjoy your interviews, they should be pretty low stress. Soak up the simulation center tour, and try your luck doing the lap chole simulator...just don't hit the liver.
 
Hey everyone, I'm one of the First Years at PLFSOM and we are starting Unit 2 today, so if you have any questions about the school or the curriculum or anything like that, I would be happy to help any way I can.

Good Luck on all of your interviews!!
 
Interview tomorrow
I am getting so restless
I have been imagining every possible question they might ask....
 
What are the main difference between TX Tech Lubbock and TX Tech El Paso, besides the sec application/fee?

Thanks for the help!
 
What are the main difference between TX Tech Lubbock and TX Tech El Paso, besides the sec application/fee?

Thanks for the help!

They are different schools--just like the different UT schools. It's not like a satellite campus that is dependent on big brother for help. El Paso has a different curriculum, although Lubbock's is fairly modern as well. The 2010 entering class size will be 60 in El Paso and 150ish for Lubbock. El Paso does their Spanish class differently, yada, yada...you get the idea. Just remember, El Paso is a completely independent entity really...in the same way that UT Southwestern, UTMB, UTHSC-Houston, UTHSC-San Antonio are each separate institutions. If you get interviews at both places, you'll see the differences in the basic science curriculum portions of the brochure.

Oh yeah, El Paso is pass/fail for the first two years! 👍 Lubbock is H, HP, P, MP, F...I believe.
 
Anyone know of any good airfare deals from Dallas to El Paso? It's about a 10 hour drive, but every airline ticket costs around $300, unless I'm not looking correctly................
 
Anyone know of any good airfare deals from Dallas to El Paso? It's about a 10 hour drive, but every airline ticket costs around $300, unless I'm not looking correctly................

Did you look at southwest? I don't know your interview date, but if you buy the ticket 2weeks ahead, you can get the get-away price, which is about 200 something round trip. And that's the cheapest I found when I had my interview. I checked travelocity and expedia.
Hope this helps
 
Unfortunately, my int is oct 1. I was carpooling, but what do you know, things happen...

I guess I'll be making the long drive there after all! I checked southwest and because its so soon, i'll be spending 330 just for the ticket 😱
 
Anyone know of any good airfare deals from Dallas to El Paso? It's about a 10 hour drive, but every airline ticket costs around $300, unless I'm not looking correctly................

I was thinking about applying for a continental airlines credit card to get the 25,000 miles and get the plane ticket. although annual fee is about $85

..............................................................................................

On a side note... I am actually debating whether or not I should go to the interview as I am now realizing from making a Pro/Con list that I cannot find a single PRO for TT-El Paso over any of the other 7 schools in Texas.

Am I missing something?

My pro list:
- someone better tell me one, cuz I am running a total blank... I am
now wondering why I checked this school for TMDSAS...

My con list is:
- Far as hell... essentially stuck till breaks ... I guess this could be a potential good for those who need to study...

- The whole drug cartel deal... yeah yeah.... El Paso is the 3rd safest large city in the US... but when that list places NYC as #4!! I kind of wonder about the validity of the statistics...
http://www.morganquitno.com/cit07pop.htm#25

- The school is new. When I tell most people about Texas Tech, they are thinking Lubbock.

- El Paso. I've been there 4 times. Honestly, there isn't much there.... and it's 12 hours from my home. I can drive 5 states over from where I live in that time.

- Essentially no alumni and few upperclassmen. Equating to poorly organized organizations.

- PBL.... a con for me. I think it's inefficient.

......

I think many will argue that the staff/faculty is really caring and that one will be able to see cases that generally one would not see, etc... etc...
But I think the staff at most medical schools in Texas are pretty good and caring. If a small class room setting is what one is looking for, why not choose Texas A&M over TT-El Paso. And by being at a hospital where you see the not-norm, you miss out on the norm.

I would like a good Pro, for which I cannot find a good one.
 
- No Research, pwsh... except maybe for the lady that used the mouse version of the human HIV then used a CD3 Ab fused to anti-HIV RNAi to kill the HIV virus... but seriously.... BCM, UTSW, UT-Houston, UTMB, UTSA are research powerhouses....

- The Special Thesis or project that one has to complete to graduate.... or Texas Tech - El Paso wanting to imitate Harvard. Hmmm.... waste of time in my opinion.

- School starts in July!

- They make you purchase a $1600 dollar computer that you do not get to keep! 😱

- highest tuition of all the Texas medical schools even more expensive than Baylor which is a private school!! 😱

- Class Attendance is required.... - so I hear....

Note: I am not trying to be a TT-El Paso hater, though it sounds this way, but I am seriously pondering the Pros/Cons...
 
- No Research, pwsh... except maybe for the lady that used the mouse version of the human HIV then used a CD3 Ab fused to anti-HIV RNAi to kill the HIV virus... but seriously.... BCM, UTSW, UT-Houston, UTMB, UTSA are research powerhouses....
- The Special Thesis or project that one has to complete to graduate.... or Texas Tech - El Paso wanting to imitate Harvard. Hmmm.... waste of time in my opinion.
- School starts in July!
- They make you purchase a $1600 dollar computer that you do not get to keep! 😱
- highest tuition of all the Texas medical schools even more expensive than Baylor which is a private school!! 😱
- Class Attendance is required.... - so I hear....
Note: I am not trying to be a TT-El Paso hater, though it sounds this way, but I am seriously pondering the Pros/Cons...

It seems like you have already made up your mind about TTU-El Paso, so I doubt that anything anyone says here will make a difference, but I will take a shot.

It is ironic to me that in subsequent points you say that a place not having enough research is a con, indicating that research is something that is important to you and then the very next point you make is to say that the school requiring a research project is also a con. That doesn't seem to make sense to me. University Medical Center has been around for ages and there is all kinds of research being done over there. I don't know what kind of research specifically you are interested in, but odds are it's happeneing over there. The reason it hasn't gotten a lot of publicity is because there was not a medical school associated with it, and now that there is, I expect that a lot of the research recognition will take off. There is also a whole building next to the Medical Education Building called the Medical Sciences Building, which you will tour at your interview, wherer they are developing four National Centers of Excellence. One in Infectious Diseases, Breast Cancer, Diabetes, and another one that I can't remember. There is a certain level of productivity you have to maintain to reach Center of Excellence Standards, so should be able to find something that interests you.

I disagree with your assessment that being at a place where you see strange cases somehow excludes you from seeing normal cases. The cases wouldn't be normal if you didn't see them everywhere, so the great thing about UMC is that you see BOTH the normal and the strange cases.

It is going to take a special group of people to take the chance on the school, some people put more value in upper classmen and history than what the curriculum and the faculty have to offer them, so those people immediately decide not to come out here. That's something that you have to decide on your own.

The other thing you will find at different interviews is that you get a different feeling at each place and you really don't know if you belong some place until you actually go there. I had some of the same feelings you do. I grew up in Dallas and moving out here was the last thing I ever thought I would do, but then I came out here and the faculty was great (I know that doesn't count as a PRO, but it's true), the curriculum was the best of all the places I'd been to (Except maybe BCM's 1.5 year basic science, but they don't really have a teaching hospital right now, so who knows what's up there), and I just felt really at home here. You won't know unless you come out here, so I hope you will at least give it a chance unless you have major financial or time reasons not to. You won't know unless you come to the interview.

The curriculum and the faculty are the two big reasons I came out here. I know you arbitrarily decided these don't count, but I will expand on them just a little to offer what, in my opinion, are the biggest Pros to come out here. The curriculum is designed to provide you with clinical applications from Day 1. It helps you connect what you are learning in your basic science classes to the work you do in the clinic, OR, etc. from the very beginning. Learning all of the Biochem, Microbiology, Immunology, Anatomy associated with a presentation makes it very easy to make connections between the subjects. The lectured are coordinated to build on one another from subject to subject and the faculty are ALWAYS available for questions and extra study sessions and any kind of help you may need.

You will see on your interview, which I sincerely hope you take the time to attend, the awesome Simulation Center and Standarized Patient facility which is better than any other school in the state of Texas, because it is brand new. We have a class in the facility every week where we learn what takes place in a clinical or surgical setting with either standardized patients (actors who help us learn the ins and outs of providing clinical care) or the simulators.

We also do a lot of work in the community where we go out to the community clinics to get hands on interaction with real doctors and real patients once a month. This is a great experience and most of the doctors are really interested in being a part of our education.

That's all I want to say right now, but if you have questions, I'll be happy to answer them.
 
Have you attended any interviews, Lovastatin? If so, I would think you would have learned to go into these things with an open mind. If not, I would advise that you don't prejudge schools. I had done some prejudging, although not with the harshness you have apparently done. As I've traveled the state visiting various schools, I've been very surprised by some of my experiences. The places I thought I'd least like have actually been quite appealing to me. In fact, I viewed my first interview of the season as 'practice' since I didn't think I'd be going there. Once I saw what this particular school had to offer, I came to the realization that my decision will not be as cut-and-dried as I had thought it would be.

If you choose to be so judgmental of a place before you go there, I guess that's your prerogative...but I believe you do yourself a disservice. And I agree with my fellow North Texas Mean Green dude, your statements regarding research are very contradictory. I hope you don't get caught up in self-contradictions wherever you do interview. BTW, many schools are incorporating PBL into their curricula to some degree.
 
My pro list:
- someone better tell me one, cuz I am running a total blank...

M.D.

Seriously I think you do yourself a great disservice by prejudging without even going to an interview. I've had the same experiences canjosh mentioned where I found some schools I had prejudged in my mind were very appealing to me after the interview. You bring up some good points but why not attend the interview and ask them about those questions rather than making your own assumptions about them.

I have no vested interest in your attending or not attending your interview, actually if you don't maybe that could help me but I think you ought to not prejudge so harshly.
 
Has anyone that interviewed checked their applicant status review on Merlin after interviewing? I just interviewed yesterday, and today it says "Your current status is: Rejected after Interview." 😱
 
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Has anyone that interviewed checked their applicant status review on Merlin after interviewing? I just interviewed yesterday, and today it says "Your current status is: Rejected after Interview." 😱

Hey craming,

Does it say that under the application status review or admissions offer tab for you? I wouldn't read too much into it. My status under the application status review tab says: "interviewed, acceptable". Not accepted, so who knows. It is still a long time till pre-match and match.
 
Hey craming,

Does it say that under the application status review or admissions offer tab for you? I wouldn't read too much into it. My status under the application status review tab says: "interviewed, acceptable". Not accepted, so who knows. It is still a long time till pre-match and match.

It says it under "applicant status review." It says I have no status under "admissions offer." I hope it's just a bug in the system.
 
Unfortunately the status is correct. As I mentioned at yesterday's orientation, the admissions committee meets after each interview session to evaluate that day's interviewed applicants and make a decision regarding each one. I do apologize that you found out that way. I did not realize that the Merlin system was allowing applicants to see admissions committee decisions prior to us making offers or developing the match list.

I guess they didn't like me. 🙁

It seems as though they fixed the status being displayed now. Mine no longer says that I got rejected. It just says nothing.

I then asked if that meant that I shouldn't bother listing the school in my match list, and they said yes.
 
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Unfortunately the status is correct. As I mentioned at yesterday’s orientation, the admissions committee meets after each interview session to evaluate that day’s interviewed applicants and make a decision regarding each one. I do apologize that you found out that way. I did not realize that the Merlin system was allowing applicants to see admissions committee decisions prior to us making offers or developing the match list.

I guess they didn't like me. 🙁

It seems as though they fixed the status being displayed now. Mine no longer says that I got rejected. It just says nothing.

I then asked if that meant that I shouldn't bother listing the school in my match list, and they said yes.

Oh, wow 😱. I am sorry. That is awful and unfortunate. They did fix their status, mine says nothing now. I wish you luck craming, you are getting interviews so I'm sure you will be okay. 🙂
 
- No Research, pwsh... except maybe for the lady that used the mouse version of the human HIV then used a CD3 Ab fused to anti-HIV RNAi to kill the HIV virus... but seriously.... BCM, UTSW, UT-Houston, UTMB, UTSA are research powerhouses....

- The Special Thesis or project that one has to complete to graduate.... or Texas Tech - El Paso wanting to imitate Harvard. Hmmm.... waste of time in my opinion.

- School starts in July!

- They make you purchase a $1600 dollar computer that you do not get to keep! 😱

- highest tuition of all the Texas medical schools even more expensive than Baylor which is a private school!! 😱

- Class Attendance is required.... - so I hear....

Note: I am not trying to be a TT-El Paso hater, though it sounds this way, but I am seriously pondering the Pros/Cons...

I hope you realize what an honor it is to be considered for an interview at any medical school (regardless of your stats). Literally thousands of applicants would die for your spot. I hope since you aren't considering the school you cancel your interview to give another fine applicant a shot.

To everybody else, I personally enjoyed the school very much. Brand new facilities and equipment and arguably the most interesting curriculum of any school I have interviewed at.

Small class size, pass fail grading, cultural/patient immersion during first year, research requirement... all HUGE pluses!

El Paso is a relatively large city and there is a lot to do there. It is also a drive or short flight to Cali. Also, the weather is hard to beat.

It's new, so the only con I can think of is it might take some time to work out some wrinkles. BTW, a lot of schools require you to 'buy' a computer... Especially if you are a current mac user.

good luck to everyone!
 
It says it under "applicant status review." It says I have no status under "admissions offer." I hope it's just a bug in the system.

where are you guys seeing admissions offer? all i have under applicant status review is a table with mcat, sat/act, and application fee on it (for some reason, even though i have already interviewed there, all it has is my SAT score...).
 
where are you guys seeing admissions offer? all i have under applicant status review is a table with mcat, sat/act, and application fee on it (for some reason, even though i have already interviewed there, all it has is my SAT score...).

Apparently they fixed it this evening. I had a status there but it is gone when I check now.
 
It seems like you have already made up your mind about TTU-El Paso, so I doubt that anything anyone says here will make a difference, but I will take a shot.

It is ironic to me that in subsequent points you say that a place not having enough research is a con, indicating that research is something that is important to you and then the very next point you make is to say that the school requiring a research project is also a con. That doesn't seem to make sense to me. University Medical Center has been around for ages and there is all kinds of research being done over there. I don't know what kind of research specifically you are interested in, but odds are it's happeneing over there. The reason it hasn't gotten a lot of publicity is because there was not a medical school associated with it, and now that there is, I expect that a lot of the research recognition will take off. There is also a whole building next to the Medical Education Building called the Medical Sciences Building, which you will tour at your interview, wherer they are developing four National Centers of Excellence. One in Infectious Diseases, Breast Cancer, Diabetes, and another one that I can't remember. There is a certain level of productivity you have to maintain to reach Center of Excellence Standards, so should be able to find something that interests you.

I disagree with your assessment that being at a place where you see strange cases somehow excludes you from seeing normal cases. The cases wouldn't be normal if you didn't see them everywhere, so the great thing about UMC is that you see BOTH the normal and the strange cases.

It is going to take a special group of people to take the chance on the school, some people put more value in upper classmen and history than what the curriculum and the faculty have to offer them, so those people immediately decide not to come out here. That's something that you have to decide on your own.

The other thing you will find at different interviews is that you get a different feeling at each place and you really don't know if you belong some place until you actually go there. I had some of the same feelings you do. I grew up in Dallas and moving out here was the last thing I ever thought I would do, but then I came out here and the faculty was great (I know that doesn't count as a PRO, but it's true), the curriculum was the best of all the places I'd been to (Except maybe BCM's 1.5 year basic science, but they don't really have a teaching hospital right now, so who knows what's up there), and I just felt really at home here. You won't know unless you come out here, so I hope you will at least give it a chance unless you have major financial or time reasons not to. You won't know unless you come to the interview.

The curriculum and the faculty are the two big reasons I came out here. I know you arbitrarily decided these don't count, but I will expand on them just a little to offer what, in my opinion, are the biggest Pros to come out here. The curriculum is designed to provide you with clinical applications from Day 1. It helps you connect what you are learning in your basic science classes to the work you do in the clinic, OR, etc. from the very beginning. Learning all of the Biochem, Microbiology, Immunology, Anatomy associated with a presentation makes it very easy to make connections between the subjects. The lectured are coordinated to build on one another from subject to subject and the faculty are ALWAYS available for questions and extra study sessions and any kind of help you may need.

You will see on your interview, which I sincerely hope you take the time to attend, the awesome Simulation Center and Standarized Patient facility which is better than any other school in the state of Texas, because it is brand new. We have a class in the facility every week where we learn what takes place in a clinical or surgical setting with either standardized patients (actors who help us learn the ins and outs of providing clinical care) or the simulators.

We also do a lot of work in the community where we go out to the community clinics to get hands on interaction with real doctors and real patients once a month. This is a great experience and most of the doctors are really interested in being a part of our education.

That's all I want to say right now, but if you have questions, I'll be happy to answer them.

Either ways, now that I have interviewed... I know a little bit more and can say a little bit more. I also interviewed at some other places as well, so I can compare... but no expert!
- Yes, getting the interview is an Honor, I never said it wasn't, but I am poor... and I suppose I was trying to find an excuse which at the moment, finances overruled going, but later... realized the stupidity.

*Disclaimer blurb - Being new to this forum, I did not think every nitty-gritty detail of how I phrased anything would be taken in to consideration... considering i wrote the cons list pretty quickly. So, I have to put a disclaimer now, that what I write is MY opinion... I previously asked for PROs for the school, I really wanted to see what other people thought. Maybe I should have left out the whole interview thing, etc... etc... and I was being harsh, because I was playing devil's advocate.

Yes, now that I look at the cons list... I can see the "Irony" or contradiction as stated by canjosh...

Of course, what I meant was:
- The Research is not as well developed there... Their Centers for Excellence is not by any means a Center as I would have seen as in a whole accumulation of several departments with hundreds of faculty. But this is understandable as the school is new! There is certainly a lot of potential! But it is not UTSW, UTH, UTSA, or BCM YET.... so that's the thing... YET, I am going NOW and I do consider Research important. Sure, the school has Much Much potential, no denying.

- The special project.... from what I understood from the interview, I could be Wrong. Is basically anything you want. It just has to be a project! It could be a book, etc.... So it's not a research project, unless you want it to be. Either ways, I want to do research... but I do not want to be forced. UTSA has the MD with focus on research, it's optional.

- Hmmm... the El Paso, TX population is not the norm. Yes, you will see norm patients.

- Regarding BCM and the teaching hospital issue. BCM and Methodist had their fallout, true... I am hearing that they are getting remarried because Cornell is just too far away, etc etc... and BCM building their own teaching hospital might not have worked out so well, but saying BCM doesn't have a teaching hospital is definitely misleading. BCM students go to Ben Taub, St Lukes, Meninger, Hermann (even though it's UT-H's "Teaching hospital"), and tons of other hospitals.

- Regarding the simulation center, you should tell that to a UTSA med student and I highly doubt they will agree to TT-El Paso's sim center to be Texas' best.

- PBL, just not for me... But great for others!

- But after the interview, Yes... the environment was very nice. The mood was good and the faculty/students were very enthusiastic! It was a very optimistic and positive mood! Which I did like. Obviously, the student to faculty ratio is a Big Plus. The faculty seem to be very friendly.

- But all in all, most of my cons, even after the interview still stand... objectively, this will be the last medical school in the match list in Texas, "IF accepted Anywhere. Not because the school doesn't have the potential to be great nor because it's a bad school or anything, it's just not there Yet. It's a good school no doubt. I think it's far better than some out of state schools I have interviewed thus far. But the Texas medical schools are just overwhelmingly all very good.
 
At least you gave it a shot and went to the interview with an open mind. It is all about finding a school that is a fit for you and I don't think anyone can object to your reasoning.

The only disagreement I have is that you seem to be comparing El Paso to Baylor. I don't think many would disagree that a (any) top 20 school will top the charts in just about every category. Even UTSW and UT-H are waaaay up there in the stats so naturally it is going to be hard to use these schools as a measuring stick for a brand new program.

That being said, with the limited number of schools I have seen, El Paso is a competitor. When it comes down to it, they aren't going to have a problem filling their class. With 60 seats they can probably afford to be a little stingy to find exactly the type of student they are looking for.

For me, El Paso is definitely not going to be last in the match list. Then again I haven't had the opportunity to see UTSW or Baylor among others.

Thank you for clarifying your objections lovastatin, IMHO it is important that these threads remain fair and balanced so your critique should be appreciated by all.
 
😀😀😀 HI everyone!!~!!

I recently received an invitation to interview at Foster!~~!!!!!
I'm a Pre-med Bio major with 10 Bio 11 Verbal and 8 Physics meaning 29!
Thus, far this is my only Interview offer and I am very Overjoyed!!~~!!!!

I'm hearing that this cycle will most likely be the one of the most competitive ~~Ever!
 
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I was late getting my app in too. Verified 9/15. Foster is the only school I've heard back from, but I've got an interview scheduled for 10/22. I was worried that I wouldn't get any interviews, so now I'm pretty excited.

What is PBL?
 
😀😀
I was late getting my app in too. Verified 9/15. Foster is the only school I've heard back from, but I've got an interview scheduled for 10/22. I was worried that I wouldn't get any interviews, so now I'm pretty excited.

What is PBL?

Yay!!!'

PBL is Problem based learning,and it's like where you see cases and stuff to learn!! Instead of the regular courses:laugh:
 
Congratulations on the interview invites!!! El Paso curriculum is really interesting. I am not even sure if you would classify it as a traditional problem based learning approach. It is sort of an integrated systems approach with clinical cases presented throughout to help tie the information together....at least that is what I gathered from the interview. Maybe MeanGreenMD can help us out with a better explanation???
 
Congratulations on the interview invites!!! El Paso curriculum is really interesting. I am not even sure if you would classify it as a traditional problem based learning approach. It is sort of an integrated systems approach with clinical cases presented throughout to help tie the information together....at least that is what I gathered from the interview. Maybe MeanGreenMD can help us out with a better explanation???

Hey everyone, it's been a crazy few days and I've been off in Neuro-world. I'm back. Sorry to leave you hanging.

There are only a couple aspects of the Foster Curriculum that could really be considered Problem-Based Learning. I think the best way to really go about explaining this is by walking you through what a typical week in our Scientific Principles of Medicine Course looks like.

Every Monday we have one of our formative quizzes (for those of you who haven't interviewed yet, formative quizzes don't count for a grade, they are designed to help us as students see what material from the previous week we are doing well with and what material we need to spend more time with. It also gives the professors an idea of what principles the class is struggling with so they can go back and revisit them...these are GOOD things, I promise)

Then we usually have what we call a scheme presentation. Last week we were learning about Bone Fractures and Dislocations Scheme. They brought in an orthopedic surgeon from University Medical Center and he walks through how you determine what caused the problem (e.g. high energy or low energy, fracture vs. dislocation, etc.) He walks through what is actually done in the emergency room when they have a case come in (usually it includes a lot of cool pics too)

Then we spend the rest of Monday - Thursday going through all of the anatomy, physiology, pathology, pharmacology, biochem, histology, etc. associated with that particular scheme. These courses are traditional lectures about "the biochemical make up of collagen" or "the pathology of osteochondromas" just like you would have in a regular pathology block. The best thing about it is, we get to learn the normal and the abnormal together so we can compare them side by side. These classes normally end by noon each day so that we have time in the afternoons to study. Monday is generally the only day we have lectures after noon because Tuesday and Wednesday we are going into the community clinics to start working with clinicians and taking vital signs and stuff. Eventually we will be taking patient histories and making diagnoses, I'm excited.

Thursday afternoon is our Medical Skills Course. This is when we are in the Simulation Center either seeing standarized patients and getting our hands dirty and learning the basics of the patient-doctor encounter. This is where we learn the hands on stuff. Last week we learned the tests for Deep Tendon Reflexes and Muscle Strength when doing a full neuromuscular exam.

Then Friday morning we have what everyone would probably call "Problem-Based Learning." We call it Work Case Examples. We are divided into four groups and they put two MDs in the room with us and they have four cases that we walk through. The way my group always does it (and since they rotate the MDs I imagine this is pretty consistent, but I will let my classmates on here confirm that) is that one of the people in my room gets up and walks through the case on the SMART Board reading through the History and Physical Exam and we point out what we think is important and the MDs talk about things we miss and ask questions about what different points in the history orr physical might indicate. If there are tests that need to be run, cultures taken or histomorphology or radiographs for the case, those are included in the powerpoint and based on all of the information we have we walk through the scheme in the hopes of figuring out what is wrong with the patient. Obviously the scope of the cases at this point is pretty limited, but the goal of the session is to develop the mindset of what the process is like when a doctor tries to diagnose a patient. This is honestly one of my favorite sessions that we have every week. It is a good way to take ALL of the information that we learn during the week and see how it directly applies to what we want to do "when we grow up."

I hope that sheds some light on what we do here. It is not really a Problem Based Learning curriculum per se, but there are some aspects of it that use a team-based approach to learning the material. If you have any further questions, I would be happy to answer them.

Good Luck with your interviews and I hope to see all of you in the Sun City soon.

Back to Anatomy and Action Potentials...YAY!!!

MGMD
 
I couldn't have said any better than MGMD, I have also very excited about how the curriculum is going, especially when we get to practice the clinical skills we have learned during each week on actual standardized patients. PBL is the best part of the week as it helps us make connections and integrate the information presented during the entire week.

Don't hesitate to ask any questions, I am sure MGMD and I will be very happy to answer them!

Best of luck.
 
😛 So... the rumours, I am hearing are regarding pureplay on...
Getting into medical school!

Texas Tech Foster School of Medicine is no safety school and should not be ranked very high, post match.

With 60 slots, actually 57 so I hear (TODAY 😱 It's no even November and seats are taken)!!
Then 20 full-ride scholarships!!! which who on earth would reject...
Leaves behind, 37 slots!!! yikes...

What do you think?

:xf::xf::xf:
 
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Not sure I get your point/question...some schools do fill most of their seats during the prematch...some carry a lot of seats into the match. Playing the whole funny psychology/math game when it comes to the match is probably not advisable. You just rank your top choice first...it should be a dream list. At least that's what the dean of admissions at UT-Houston says. You have to remember that schools with smaller class sizes will interview fewer prospects, so big deal if (by your funny math) there are only 37 slots at PLFSOM. If you get the interview, you're competitive.

IMO, there is no such thing as a 'safety school' in Texas.
 
😛 So... the rumours, I am hearing are regarding pureplay on...
Getting into medical school!

Texas Tech Foster School of Medicine is no safety school and should not be ranked very high, post match.

With 60 slots, actually 57 so I hear (TODAY 😱 It's no even November and seats are taken)!!
Then 20 full-ride scholarships!!! which who on earth would reject...
Leaves behind, 37 slots!!! yikes...

What do you think?

:xf::xf::xf:

I don't know if this helps or not, but I think those spots you heard were already were taken are taken by some people in our class who differed a year for personal reasons and were originally supposed to be part of our class, but for whatever reason were unable to do so. These aren't your colleagues who interviewed this year and were so great they got early offers (as far as I know, I don't think that's legal in the TMDSAS system anyway)

I don't understand what all of that stuff at the beginning means, but I don't know how pre-match heavy Paul L. Foster will be this year. I agree that there is no such thing as a safety school in Texas. They are all very competitive and you shouldn't assume that you are getting into any of them. You should take the advice that you will get on this and countless other forums that you should preference the schools in the order that you would want to attend them. The match is designed to favor the student and everyone gets their highest choice possible. The schools don't know whether you prefed them first or last, so you shouldn't let that affect the way you order them or list certain ones higher or lower because you have a better or worse chance of getting into them. If you really really want to go to Foster (and who could blame you, really?!?! lol) then pref them first, if you hated your interview here then pref Foster last. Order them the way you want them. Don't try to put too much strategy into that process...

Good Luck everyone who has interviews this week, here or anywhere else.

MGMD 😀
 
I don't know if this helps or not, but I think those spots you heard were already were taken are taken by some people in our class who differed a year for personal reasons and were originally supposed to be part of our class, but for whatever reason were unable to do so. These aren't your colleagues who interviewed this year and were so great they got early offers (as far as I know, I don't think that's legal in the TMDSAS system anyway)

I don't understand what all of that stuff at the beginning means, but I don't know how pre-match heavy Paul L. Foster will be this year. I agree that there is no such thing as a safety school in Texas. They are all very competitive and you shouldn't assume that you are getting into any of them. You should take the advice that you will get on this and countless other forums that you should preference the schools in the order that you would want to attend them. The match is designed to favor the student and everyone gets their highest choice possible. The schools don't know whether you prefed them first or last, so you shouldn't let that affect the way you order them or list certain ones higher or lower because you have a better or worse chance of getting into them. If you really really want to go to Foster (and who could blame you, really?!?! lol) then pref them first, if you hated your interview here then pref Foster last. Order them the way you want them. Don't try to put too much strategy into that process...

Good Luck everyone who has interviews this week, here or anywhere else.

MGMD 😀

😕😕😕 So, You're not allowed to defer in TMDSAS??
😱😱😱 But, Foster allows deferrals??
😡😡😡 So, one can also get early offers pre-pre-Match??
 
😕😕😕 So, You're not allowed to defer in TMDSAS??
😱😱😱 But, Foster allows deferrals??
😡😡😡 So, one can also get early offers pre-pre-Match??

He actually just explained the opposite to your questions there. I believe most med schools allow one to defer admission for a year. Some people do overseas service, some get a master's degree, etc. etc. Of course you can't get pre-pre-match offers...do you think that they could get away with this?? He said that those spots that are 'filled' are by people who deferred admission from last year. It seems that you're analyzing this whole process too closely. Just do the best you can at interviews, and you will do fine. Since you got an interview, you've already been deemed a competitive applicant.
 
He actually just explained the opposite to your questions there. I believe most med schools allow one to defer admission for a year. Some people do overseas service, some get a master's degree, etc. etc. Of course you can't get pre-pre-match offers...do you think that they could get away with this?? He said that those spots that are 'filled' are by people who deferred admission from last year. It seems that you're analyzing this whole process too closely. Just do the best you can at interviews, and you will do fine. Since you got an interview, you've already been deemed a competitive applicant.

I apologize ally, I feel like we are somehow speaking different languages. What I meant to say is exactly what canjosh has stated above. You ARE allowed to defer, and people who deferred last year are the people who have "taken" the first couple spots for the class you would be in. You CANNOT have pre-pre-match offers, so you should not feel like seats are currently being filled, because they are not.
 
Do MS-Is take Basic Science Shelf exams at TT-El Paso?
Seems those in TT-Lubbock are.
 
Do MS-Is take Basic Science Shelf exams at TT-El Paso?
Seems those in TT-Lubbock are.

I don't think so. Because of the more longitudinal nature of our curriculum, we are going to be learning anatomy and biochem and everything else piece by piece over the next two years based on their applicability to the clinical presentations we are studying. So we won't know everything that would be on a shelf exam until the end of next year. I haven't heard that we will have to take those, but I'll ask around and let you know if that is the case. The summative exams that we take at the end of each unit are written by our professors based on model questions from the USMLE Step 1. They ask the same level of questions that are on the shelf exams and the Step 1 but limit the overal scope to the large amount of material covered in each unit. That is my understanding, at least.

I want to encourage you not to assume things about the TTUHSC schools based on the other. The schools are completely different and as I have learned from talking to people, have very little in common except that graduates both get MDs. I think that we are obviously a bit of an odd ball because we do EVERYTHING a little different than EVERYONE else. I tried to make similar comparisons as I was going through this process last year and in trying to help people this year, and I have learned just how different the two TTUHSC schools are

Hope that helps...MGMD
 
I want to encourage you not to assume things about the TTUHSC schools based on the other. The schools are completely different and as I have learned from talking to people, have very little in common except that graduates both get MDs. I think that we are obviously a bit of an odd ball because we do EVERYTHING a little different than EVERYONE else. I tried to make similar comparisons as I was going through this process last year and in trying to help people this year, and I have learned just how different the two TTUHSC schools are

Hope that helps...MGMD

Yup, TTU Lubbock does things totally different than El Paso. It is no more similar than UTSA and UTMB....two totally different schools.

And to the person is making judgements without seeing the school - they probably don't want you there anyway if you're that closed-minded. When I interviewed there I LOVED the school, I was floored. Y'all have an awesome school and staff. Your cons don't make sense anyway, angry there's not enough research and then mad because you have to do research?? :smack:

How are you liking their curriculum format there, meangreen??
 
Yup, TTU Lubbock does things totally different than El Paso. It is no more similar than UTSA and UTMB....two totally different schools.

And to the person is making judgements without seeing the school - they probably don't want you there anyway if you're that closed-minded. When I interviewed there I LOVED the school, I was floored. Y'all have an awesome school and staff. Your cons don't make sense anyway, angry there's not enough research and then mad because you have to do research?? :smack:

How are you liking their curriculum format there, meangreen??

Get a chill pill, Aggie08, geez.
We'll let the schools decide.

How do my cons not make sense, if you are bashing a person, give a decent rebuff on the cons.

Do you feel like a superior being because you matched at Texas Tech and I am just applying right now??
 
😕😕So, You're not allowed to defer in TMDSAS??
😱😱😱 But, Foster allows deferrals??
😡😡😡 So, one can also get early offers pre-pre-Match??

😱: Yes, they allow you to defer
😡: Yes, they can take OOS applicants starting on Oct. 15.
 
Get a chill pill, Aggie08, geez.
We'll let the schools decide.

How do my cons not make sense, if you are bashing a person, give a decent rebuff on the cons.

Do you feel like a superior being because you matched at Texas Tech and I am just applying right now??

LOL

No, I don't feel superior to you?? What??

They don't make sense for the reason I gave, how is it a con that there isn't enough research and that you have to do a research project? It just seems like either you don't want research so you don't care what research they have there and then it's a con that they make you do it or you like research and you want more of it and you should be happy you can create your own project.

I just genuinely don't understand.

And I just read back and wasn't even the first to ask you this....so obviously I'm not the only one who is confused by your statements.
 
LOL

No, I don't feel superior to you?? What??

They don't make sense for the reason I gave, how is it a con that there isn't enough research and that you have to do a research project? It just seems like either you don't want research so you don't care what research they have there and then it's a con that they make you do it or you like research and you want more of it and you should be happy you can create your own project.

I just genuinely don't understand.

And I just read back and wasn't even the first to ask you this....so obviously I'm not the only one who is confused by your statements.

Posted September 27, 2009... by lovastatin

Yes, now that I look at the cons list... I can see the "Irony" or contradiction as stated by canjosh...

Of course, what I meant was:
- The Research is not as well developed there... Their Centers for Excellence is not by any means a Center as I would have seen as in a whole accumulation of several departments with hundreds of faculty. But this is understandable as the school is new! There is certainly a lot of potential! But it is not UTSW, UTH, UTSA, or BCM YET.... so that's the thing... YET, I am going NOW and I do consider Research important. Sure, the school has Much Much potential, no denying.

- The special project.... from what I understood from the interview, I could be Wrong. Is basically anything you want. It just has to be a project! It could be a book, etc.... So it's not a research project, unless you want it to be. Either ways, I want to do research... but I do not want to be forced. UTSA has the MD with focus on research, it's optional.

... I reiterate that I made a mistake in the post prior... and already did a mea culpa post... and still getting gee whiz remarks about it...

The whole point of the post has been lost by people being petty about a silly error.

- Want to do research.. don't want to be forced to do it.
 
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... I reiterate that I made a mistake in the post prior... and already did a mea culpa post... and still getting gee whiz remarks about it...

The whole point of the post has been lost by people being petty about a silly error.

- Want to do research.. don't want to be forced to do it.

Sorry didn't see that response, thanks.
 
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