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

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fiat said:
Thanks, you too! from the look of it we interviewed the same day too. Yeah, hopefully that will be their point of view too.

I got an offer from TCOM, but i'm leaning way more towards El Paso. what about you?
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yeah i have tcom
also, i have a utmb interview coming up soon
Def. leaning toward tech over tcom
i was really impressed! such a nice school!

good luck :luck: :luck:
 
Annabananas said:
If you go on the Merlin Website you can accept there! I just did 🙂
I will probably email too
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On Merlin, when I go to admissions offer tab, it just says Congratulations but there is no button to accept/decline. Where did you find yours? Also, who did you guys email? Can you give me the email address? Thanks!
 
longhorn475 said:
On Merlin, when I go to admissions offer tab, it just says Congratulations but there is no button to accept/decline. Where did you find yours? Also, who did you guys email? Can you give me the email address? Thanks!
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oh thats odd

I had to click ACCEPT and then confirm that i am accepting
...and NOW it says Congrats

i think you should call them just to be sure
i am not sure who to email...i guess the admissions office
i have to look that up though
 
Hey guys! Newcomer here...I've been lurking around for a bit during the application process though so I thought it's about time I join SDN 😀

Anyways, I'm almost positively, absolutely, pretty sure that I'll be going to this school over my other choices so I was wondering if any of the current med students have any suggestions as to places to live? I was planning on going to El Paso during the winter break to check out places personally... so any advice welcome!
 
Hi Yall! Is anyone else interviewing here on the 3rd? I am getting nervous as my interview day is getting closer.

For all those who have interviewed here, do you have any advice that you think will be helpful? Also, since there are not a lot of interview feedbacks from this school, can you all post what type of questions they asked (and was it mostly conversational or strictly question based)?

Thanks and Good Luck to you all 👍👍👍
 
I saw that a few people had stayed at the Hyatt and I was thinking of staying there. Is the hotel shuttle from the school back to the hotel pretty reliable? My flight leaves at 5:30 so i didn't know if i should try and switch to a later one to give myself more time. TIA
 
i stayed at the hyatt, it was really nice. the shuttle was really easy too. the school actually does a shuttle to the airport at the end of the day, so you can go right there. you'll prolly have plenty of time, i think we got done at around 3?

i noticed that both interviewers asked what my thoughts on el paso were (just like when i interviewed at lubbock). this is also the only interview where i got ethics questions and healthcare reform stuff, but it was also the best i've ever done at an interview.

good luck guys!
 
Were the interviews conversational or very question based (meaning would the interviewers stare at you while you answer and make you feel awkward)?

Hope they are nice- please post more interview feedbacks on the tab above for those who have already interviewed.

Good Luck to you all👍👍👍
 
kingM said:
Were the interviews conversational or very question based (meaning would the interviewers stare at you while you answer and make you feel awkward)?

Hope they are nice- please post more interview feedbacks on the tab above for those who have already interviewed.

Good Luck to you all👍👍👍
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its basically like any other texas interview, a little of both. my interviewers were both really cool, i had a great time. i don't think anybody is very malevolent in all this. just make sure you can give your reasoning if you have to do any ethics or politics.
 
Apparently it's snowing in El Paso right now :laugh:. I wonder how that will affect the interview day (I'm interviewing December 3).
 
Hey guys
I'm 85% sure I'll be attending here this fall. I'm thinking of going up to El Paso this winter break to check out more of the city and look at look at some housing options. Potentially some camping at Ft. Davis/Marfa as well. Anyone else who's pretty set on the 2014 class interested in joining? I go to school in the Northeast but I'm from Austin so would probably set out from there. Won't be back in town till Dec. 21st but also have an incredibly long winter break that continues through almost all of January so time frames are flexible.

Shoot me a private message and we'll facebook it.
 
So, I interviewed here yesterday and John Snelling said that the 2nd batch of pre-matches would go out on Monday. (Even we, the Dec 3rd interviewees, will be considered)...I really liked the school and I am hoping I get an offer...Good Luck to u all 👍👍👍
 
Did anyone receive a pre-match offer today?
 
I interviewed on December 3rd as well and didn't receive anything today. Hopefully they send out more later this week.
 
dangalang23 said:
I interviewed on December 3rd as well and didn't receive anything today. Hopefully they send out more later this week.
Click to expand...


Yea, I interviewed Dec 3rd also (Do you happen to be 1 of the 10 interviewees taking the same flight back home? I was 1 of em ). I am hoping I get a pre-match offer. Does anyone know how many acceptances and interviews they give out?
 
I interviewed on December 3rd and was prematched on monday.
 
So basically we need to eventually give them final transcripts, the background check, and the class seat fee and that's it, see you in july? Awesome.
 
Does anyone know when they send out the 3rd batch of pre-match?
 
Hey Guyz, I interviewed here on Dec 3rd and was told that there were going to be some pre-match offers given out on Dec 7th and after the last interview day (Dec 10th) and the other batch might be given out on Dec 14th (not sure about this one-but they like to give out invites and offers on Mondays)...Good Luck to you all👍👍👍👍
 
Last edited:
Hi everyone,

In case you want to know. I interviewed on Dec. 10, and got the pre-match offer today at 5pm central time!!!

Yay!! 🙂
 
premedgurl said:
Hi everyone,

In case you want to know. I interviewed on Dec. 10, and got the pre-match offer today at 5pm central time!!!

Yay!! 🙂
Click to expand...


Today? Sunday?

Haha, that throws our "no weekend emails" theory out the window!

Major congrats though 😀
 
yea, today, Sunday! 🙂

Thank you!
 
how many pre-match batch do they send out? so far i see 2, and anyone know the percentage of class that's being accepted on pre-match? Thanks
 
Lol same here, first official "rejection" from a Texas school...
 
craming said:
just got a rejection letter! lol
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Yeah so this makes absolutely no sense to me.....I've received interview invites for every med school in texas except for TT lubbock and el paso. I felt like I was a strong candidate (especially after interviewing at utsw), but then out of the blue I get a rejection letter for the el paso som without ever even getting invited to interview! Does this make any sense? Are they trying to enroll students that are native to west texas only or what?
 
Got my rejection letter today. I suppose I'll never understand how I got interviews at Baylor/Southwestern, but heard nothing from this school until today.
 
Is there anybody else who is pretty sure they will be attending Foster next year? I'm 90% sure that I will turn my other pre-matches down and can't wait to meet all of you! Have you thought about where to live yet?
 
icalz said:
Yeah so this makes absolutely no sense to me.....I've received interview invites for every med school in texas except for TT lubbock and el paso. I felt like I was a strong candidate (especially after interviewing at utsw), but then out of the blue I get a rejection letter for the el paso som without ever even getting invited to interview! Does this make any sense? Are they trying to enroll students that are native to west texas only or what?
Click to expand...

Based on my experience, there is absolutely NO rhyme or reason to why certain schools offer you an invite and some don't. I had a similar experience in that I got the privilege of interviewing at UTSW and Baylor, but didn't even get an invite from TTU-Lubbock or UT-San Antonio and did get an interview in El Paso(clearly) and am from the DFW area. And I know lots of people who have similar stories, so don't let it get it you down or confused, it's just something that happens. I think the reason you guys got "Rejection letters" when you did was because I am pretty sure that we are done doing interviews now and so everyone left in the pool got a letter to let you know so that you could focus on the other places you might be pursuing or whatever. I wish you the best of luck!!

MGMD
 
Hi Everyone,
this is my first post, but i've been reading what y'all have been writing for months. congrats to everyone who has been accepted and best wishes to everyone entering the match!
 
32flavors said:
Is there anybody else who is pretty sure they will be attending Foster next year? I'm 90% sure that I will turn my other pre-matches down and can't wait to meet all of you! Have you thought about where to live yet?
Click to expand...

I'm also 90% sure I'll be attending. This was my only pre-match (I'm very thankful!!) and also happened to be the school I was most impressed with in terms of facilities, motivated faculty, curriculum and class size.... I'm pretty set and really excited about PLFSOM.
 
I keep waffling back and forth between Foster and A&M (just got an offer from them the other day, it was a game changer), what do you guys think?
 
How many seats are they offering this year? Is it 60 or 80 I forgot..
 
I'm pretty sure its going to be 60, i think 80 is next year.
 
Hi everyone.
I need help in making my final decisions on my Texas prematch offers. And I think that which school you go to does not matter as much as how much personal effort I put into my medical education, though I am aware that the type of clinical experiences I will get each place may differ significantly. I'd like to hear your honest opinion/advice about the school to help me decide. Here are some questions I'd like to ask to those current students at Foster.
Thanks!!! 🙂

1. What do you think is the most important thing to get out of a medical school?
2. Have you ever felt that your education was somewhat limited or experimental in any way due to the newness of the school? If yes, how did you come about meeting your needs?
3. How would you evaluate the competency of the teaching faculty? Student body? Can you give specific examples?
4. How would you compare your opinion of the school pre-matriculation vs. post-matriculation? What were some of the changes if you experienced any?
5. Is there anything that you wish the school had that it does not provide?
6. Do you think the diversity of student body really matters?
 
So apparently theres an MD/MPH program now, anybody else get that email?
 
Hey everyone,

I know that I have gotten a couple of messages about the school and asking questions, but I haven't made time to reply. I know you guys have to post decisions by Friday, so I am currently working on the replies. I will post them here for everyone to benefit, hopefully the people who wrote me won't mind my sharing their questions with everone. I will take the names and other sensitive information out. That will be up within the next couple of hours hopefully. I apologize that it is taking so long. Hopefully it will still be helpful.

MGMD
 
This is going to be quite lengthy, so hang tight, hopefully it will help. As a preface, everything expressed here is my opinion and should not be viewed as opinions of TTUHSC or PLFSOM or TMDSAS or anyone other than ME. 😀

1. What do you think is the most important thing to get out of a medical school?

I think that there are a number of things that you should get out of medical school. As you have pointed out, a big part of success in med school and on the STEP is how much time and energy you are willing to put into it. I think that since most of the material will be the same everywhere, you need to look at the structure of the curriculum and decide in which you will be most successful. I really liked the Scheme Presentation Organization, so that is one of the big reasons why I chose to come to PLFSOM. You also want to consider the students that you met while you were at your interview. What were the attitude of the students and the environment of the school? This is not likely to change, so if you like a place with more structure and everyone wears suits every day because you work better in a structured competitive environment, then you might make a different choice than if you like a more laid back collaboration-driven environment like the one we are trying to develop here at PLFSOM. Think about where you felt the most comfortable, where you felt more “at home.” I know it sounds silly, but if you don’t feel comfortable in your learning environment, then it is going to be difficult to settle in to learn what you need to learn.


2. Have you ever felt that your education was somewhat limited or experimental in any way due to the newness of the school? If yes, how did you come about meeting your needs?

I don’t think I have ever felt like my education was “limited” because the faculty that are teaching us are experts in their fields and provide us with all of the information we need and are very thorough. If anything, I would say our faculty has a tendency to give too much information, but rarely too little. There is however a certain experimental fluidity to the curriculum. They are frequently moving things around so that they fit together better, and odds are, you guys will get the same information, but in a slightly different order because of feedback that we are giving about how to make it better. You guys may have similar experiences, but we are optimistic that most of the testing and “hamster wheeling” will be done by the time you guys get here. I chose to come here partially because it was a new program and a new experience, so I am less likely to get frustrated by this because I knew it was coming when I decided to come out here. At the times when we start getting overwhelmed (usually because med school is hard, don’t kid yourself into believing that it isn’t), the administration is very flexible and allows us to schedule extra lectures and review sessions to help us get to where we need. I think that one of the best things about PLFSOM is the Department of Medical Education that are totally dedicated to education (no more than 20% of their time can be spent on research) so they are always available in their offices and willing to have extra sessions or produce supplemental monographs if a large chunk of the class is struggling with a topic.

3. How would you evaluate the competency of the teaching faculty? Student body? Do you have any specific anecdotes/stories you can share?

I think that at PLFSOM, as with any educational institution at any level, everyone in the class has professors that they really like and professors they don’t really care for. If you ask this question to everyone in my class, you will probably get as many different answers. I think another good thing about our Dept. of Med. Ed. is that there is a level of overlap between faculty so that there are multiple people who know Micro or Immuno or Genetics or BioChem or whatever you might be struggling with, so that if you have trouble communicating with a professor or don’t understand an explanation given by one professor, there are other professors that might be able to offer a different explanation that will hopefully help. As far as the student body goes, I think that there is not a competency issue. Everyone who is here clearly deserves to be here and are all really excited about working together, so I would guess that this will expand when you guys arrive to a large group of people interested in helping you guys. I don’t know what further explanation you would want on student body competency. The student body in general is pretty cool, very diverse so you will find somebody in our class that you can get along with and work with, so that shouldn’t be a concern either, and I’m sure that is the case with most of the schools around the country.

4. How would you compare your opinion of the school pre-matriculation vs. post-matriculation? What were some of the changes if you experienced any?


When I decided to come out here, I anticipated that there would be a sort of fluid situation because no matter how much planning you put into something, when it comes time to execute it, there are going to be some changes. I would anticipate that the number of changes you guys have to deal with will be MUCH MUCH less than what we had. My class came in with different ideas of what the curriculum should look like and so we spent a good part of the first semester finding compromises amongst ourselves and with the faculty. Probably the biggest change was the emphasis on our learning objectives. We were focusing on the objectives because that is what we were told and the professors were giving lectures that weren’t focused on those objectives, so we had to work with the professors to make sure that they incorporated the objectives into their presentations. There haven’t been any major overhauls or anything like that, just little changes to help make our lives a little better.

5. Is there anything that you wish the school had that it does not provide?


I am not intimately familiar with what is offered at other schools, but there is nothing that is glaringly missing from PLFSOM that I can point to. They provide a great student lounge and workout facility. The faculty is great. The curriculum is great. They are still developing MD/PhD, MD/MPH, MD/MBA, so if you have your heart set on one of those dual degrees, then that might interfere with you coming to PLFSOM. Other than that, I can’t think of anything. MD/MPH is already done though, I think.

6. Do you think the diversity of student body really matters?


I think that diversity is really important to a student body, but I also believe that you can’t assess diversity just by looking at the student body. Some of the diversity that is important is people coming from different walks of life. We have people who have JDs, who were nurses, who came straight from undergrad, who came from working at a pharmaceutical company, people born in America, people born in other countries, people with experience in international medicine, people with military experience. All of these people have something special to bring to the table and plays an important role in determining the “diversity” of a student body. It doesn’t seem to me that you can pick one school over another because of diversity because most schools are going to have diversity through the selection process, so I don’t know how important it is to choosing a school, but it is very important to the student body as a whole.



7. If I am interested in anesthesiology or any other medical specialty other than primary care, do you think it's okay to go to el paso?


I will yield that I don’t know a lot about the politics of these kinds of things, because I am the first person in my family to go to medical school and all of my friends in medical school are also first years, so I have a very naïve and ignorant opinion, but here it is. I think that the most important thing that will help you get into a competitive residency is STEP score. Scientifically, the most important predictors of STEP score among medical students are MCAT score and time spent preparing for STEP, the format of the curriculum accounts for very little of the variance. Before everyone jumps all over this, I am NOT saying that it doesn’t matter where you go to school, but there are other things that are important too. So it you take the time to kill the STEP, then it won’t matter where you went, because you’ll have a great STEP score and that’s what’s most important. The other thing that is good is that if you want to get a lot of extracurricular activities for your application, there is still plenty of groups that need to be started and the ones that are formed already will need new leadership in the future. We don’t currently have an anesthesiology interest group, so maybe you can start it when you get here, something else to consider.


Thank you so much for your help!!!! You’re very welcome, hope that helped.

Another set of questions…
1. What’s it like to have so few people on campus? Is it weird at all?

Having never been on a medical school campus with lots of people, I don’t know what that is like, but I like not having a lot of people. There are actually a lot of perks to it. The library is rarely busy, and you always have whatever books or study materials you want. There is always an empty study room to use. You can always get time on the ping pong table. You can develop relationships with professors, all of them if you want. Probably the only disadvantage to it is that we didn’t have 2nd years that have been through our curriculum, and you guys won’t have that problem. We have 3rd and 4th years from Lubbock to learn about the hospital from, so I don’t see any major flaws with it. It’s a little bit like living in a small town where everyone knows everyone and is in everyone’s business, but that’s better for me than being a nobody in a huge class at another school. It’s up to you.

2. What do you think of the curriculum? I think it looks pretty solid, but I haven't lived it.


I think it’s pretty solid. I like the way that they are training us to think like a doctor, using schemes to work our way through different diagnoses. It allows us to easily participate in the medical skills course where we have to see a standardized patient every week and work through clinical reasoning. For me, this way of thinking helps me plug in the basic science information in the context of clinical reasoning. I have heard the complaint from my colleagues and from people outside PLFSOM at other schools that we are spending too much time on clinical thinking and not spending enough time learning the basic science information that will be needed on STEP. Again, for me, it is helpful to learn this information in the context of clinical application, but if you don’t think that works for you then a silo curriculum where you learn one subject matter at a time, might be better suited for you. I don’t see one as better than another.

3. Kind of a procedural question, did they ask you to send in any kind of contact info for your extracurricular stuff (like volunteering, shadowing, blah blah blah) after Match? If so, I'll need to start rounding mine up now, because
I've lost a lot of them (my computer crapped out on me a while back, I lost almost everything I had). Probably not a big deal, Im just a little overly cautious.


I did not send anything to PLFSOM until I sent in my final transcript. I don’t remember sending in anything extra after I got accepted. If they ask for something else, then I would go with that, but I don’t remember having to do that.

4. Is it hard being so far away from the rest of Texas? I dunno where you're from, but my family is all in Austin.

Certainly. I am from the Dallas area and there are definitely times that I realize that I took for granted the fact that, at UNT, I was only an hour or so away from home. I would suggest getting a Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards number and signing up for DING. DING gives you great deals on flights and after you have had 8 round trip flights on your rapid rewards, you get a free flight, so that is something to consider. I know that for Christmas last year I got my brother and some friends a webcam and helped them get signed up with Skype so that we could video chat for free. Gmail also has a video chat feature. So there are plenty of ways to stay in touch even being in New Mexico which you basically are out here. Are there days when it sucks? Yes. Are there days when I longingly search for flights to Dallas on Tuesday afternoons? Yes. But in the end, it is worth (or at least that’s what I keep hearing). I wouldn’t let that affect your decision unless you have a strong reason to (e.g. super ill family member, fiancé/spouse, etc.)

5. Do you know anything about this new MD/MPH program I heard about today?


They are working with the UT School of Public Health. Dr. Byrd, who teaches us a lot of our Society Community and Individual courses, is the contact point for that. I’m one of the few people in my class that is interested in the MPH, but they didn’t get it together on time, so I don’t know what they are going to do with us, but you guys are going to be good to go. One good thing about the MD/MPH program they put together here is that it is only a four year program. You don’t have to take a sabbatical like at other schools, so you still get to graduate with your class. I don’t know the details though.

6. And finally, how is El Paso as a city? It seemed pretty nice when I was there, is there stuff to do? My parents seem a little worried about Juarez, but I dont think that would be a problem.


El Paso as a city is really not as crappy as you might expect (I know I did). The west side is where most of the students live and that is where UTEP is, so it has more of a college town feel to it. It’s where the bars and clubs and stuff are. It’s a little more trendy. The East side is like the suburban part of town. A lot of the people with spouses and kids live in some of the nice neighborhoods on the East side. Most of the nicer restaurants are on the East side and most of the new growth is on the East side (they just built a BJs and a buffalo wild wings over there.) There are also some nice areas if you drive West past UTEP out toward Redd Rd. Juarez is not an issue. The understanding that I have is that the people running the drug war in Juarez don’t want the American military involved (Ft. Bliss is in El Paso) and so they stay on the Mexican side of the border. So the administration told us to stay in America and you won’t have any problems. Are there places in El Paso you don’t want to go by yourself at night? Yes, but that is the case no matter where you are. I have never felt unsafe here. I have been known to stay up at school til 2 or 3 in the morning and even walking out to my car at that time, I never felt uncomfortable. AS long as you are smart and make good decisions, you’ll be fine.

Thanks man! I really appreciate it. -Not a problem

(Sorry this turned out so long...its hard to pick a school) -Believe me, I know…

I hope that this helps all of you in making your decisions. If you want any clarification or have any further questions, then please let me know and I will get back to you ASAP. It’s a slow week, so I’ll try to be a little overzealous about checking SDN to help you with your last second decisions. GOOD LUCK!!! :luck:
 
Thanks for the post MGMD!

I was curious if you knew how many seats they plan on filling through the match this year?

When I interviewed Mr. Snelling said that last year, while they sent out close to a hundred pre-match offers, only twenty seats in the class ended up being filled by pre-match... I was curious if the numbers would be similar this year or if they decided to send out more pre-matches?
 
hemotologist said:
Thanks for the post MGMD!

I was curious if you knew how many seats they plan on filling through the match this year?

When I interviewed Mr. Snelling said that last year, while they sent out close to a hundred pre-match offers, only twenty seats in the class ended up being filled by pre-match... I was curious if the numbers would be similar this year or if they decided to send out more pre-matches?
Click to expand...

I believe they are filling half of it.
 
hemotologist said:
Thanks for the post MGMD!

I was curious if you knew how many seats they plan on filling through the match this year?

When I interviewed Mr. Snelling said that last year, while they sent out close to a hundred pre-match offers, only twenty seats in the class ended up being filled by pre-match... I was curious if the numbers would be similar this year or if they decided to send out more pre-matches?
Click to expand...

I don't know for sure, but I would guess that they are going to use the same approach and try to fill about half of the seats (30) using pre-match and leave the rest for the match. So, they probably did send out more pre-matches, but mostly because of the bigger class size for you guys. Again, this isn't official, but based on the rumors I've heard, that seems to make sense. But you shouldn't play averages with your match list. Make sure that you put the schools in order that you want. It's a student-favored service, and you won't be penalized for putting a school last even if they want you. Just put them down in the order you want.

Hope that helps. Keep the questions coming.

MGMD
 
Thank you soo much MDGreen! 🙂😳😀😉🙂
 
I gave up my prematch offer to El Paso yesterday! Good Luck in the match!
 
I was all set to turn down my El Paso offer, but I got a last minute scholarship in the mail, so I had to say goodbye to A&M.

So, unless theres some changes in the match, El Paso it is. Thanks MeanGreen, your question list helped a lot.
 
Would any current students mind posting the book list for the first year? I'm trying to figure out if any of my books used in my master's program will be the same ones or similar. Thanks.
 
Anyone is applying to the MD/MPH program? How do you apply?

PM me if you want. Thanks so much! 🙂
 
Apparently, I heard that not every pre-match offer recipient can apply for the MD/MPH combined program. Only a few "good" ones received that MD/MPH email.

I think their four year MD/MPH is very attractive. 🙂

Thoughts??
 
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