May I ask what were your other 2 schools? If they were TX schools, how would you contrast them to Houston?
In the interest of maintaining anonymity, I'll just say that the other two schools were in smaller cities. Both are great schools that I could see myself being very happy at. Call them schools A and B.
A and B are both excellent for a variety of reasons. The students love where they are, the class is very cohesive and welcoming. Both have state-of-the-art sim centers and provide opportunities to do third and fourth year in a variety of locations. I feel like either school would set you up to do as well as you wanted on the steps.
But UT-H has all of the desirable qualities of both schools. The students, as I said, have a great sense of fellowship, the school has a state of the art sim center, sets you up to do well on the steps, and provides a wide variety of places to do clerkships and electives.
The main difference, as I said, is that UT-H also has the TMC, which can't be matched anywhere in the state and only at a few locations nationwide (arguably). I'm a city person, and I love living in places with diversity-- and Houston is one of the most diverse cities in the world. You're right next to the museum district, Rice University, Hermann Park, etc. Student housing is a few minutes' ride on the light rail and is available at a very affordable price. And the TMC just has a certain "feel". While you're there, you really do feel like you're in the middle of everything, like you're at the epicenter of medical advances. And, of course, you are.
A lot of med students talk about the feel of a place, that you'll just know when you find it. I certainly found it with UT-H.
