Hello all,
Hope application process is going well. Just thought I'd stop by and put in my two cents. I can tell you that El Paso is a pretty awesome city. Coming from Houston and living all around the west loop for 6 years, I can assure you the city is, in fact, much safer than Houston was! The weather here is awesome - zero humidity means even when it's 90 outside, it feels like 80 (if you're used to living in high humidity areas aka Dallas/Houston/Austin/SA) and you don't start sweating the moment you step out.
About it being El Paso and "close to the border/Juarez" and that probably "means the city is bad/unsafe" is completely false. It's natural to think that a city that can be literally seen from part of the highway as you drive through town would mean the violence is carried over. This is just not the case. I can't think of a better term to describe the phenomena than it really is "the other side of the train tracks" (for those who don't know that saying, it refers to a town that is bad/violent on one side of the train tracks and totally opposite on the other... except in this case it's a huge cement and reinforced fence). I was surprised too, but El Paso is very comfortable and the people are VERY, VERY nice. It's the strangest thing how you will go into a store and the people are so insanely friendly - I never thought Houston would leave such a sour taste in my mouth but after seeing this city, it does. The majority of the city is of Hispanic decent, of course, but they take pride in their heritage AND in being an American. I actually haven't found many natives or recent immigrants who were not completely or nearly fluent in English and Spanish, especially if you live on the West side of town (which the majority of you who come here will end up moving to).
Foster SOM is amazing. The clinical presentation incorporated into unit based systems makes a lot of sense. The faculty in charge of continuously making sure they've implemented the best possible curriculum are ruthless with their job and understanding with the students, so rest assured your opinions and your well-being are highly looked after and cared about by the school.
Personally, some of the best things about this curriculum are the parts that are helping me to stay on-task. It was easy after the first unit to see exactly what days I would be doing what every week. We have practice quizzes or "Formative exams" every week that are NOT graded and you don't have to take them if you really don't want to (I suggest not missing them though; they only take about 20 or 30 minutes and you get to see the answers with explanations afterward). I find I have the motivation to get through the material before the formative exam every week so I stay on top of my work and don't fall behind.
I know those things are some of the bigger questions or concerns people have, I'll try to check back on a regular basis and answer any of your questions. Good luck!!!
