2012-2013 University of Texas Medical Branch - Galveston Application Thread

Discover Your Odds of Getting into Medical School
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I became anxious on Monday when I received an e-mail from them. All sorts of emotions rushed through me (excitement, fear, relief, etc). However, I learned it was a survey to give them feedback on the interview day. LOL! I felt, so silly. I'm still holding out for this place though.
 
Can OOS students become IS after a year? Or do you have to have property in your name?
 
aspiringdoc09 said:
Can OOS students become IS after a year? Or do you have to have property in your name?
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If you're asking because of the difference in tuition costs, they give OOS students IS tuition if they maintain good academic standing.
 
BoomerSooner39 said:
If you're asking because of the difference in tuition costs, they give OOS students IS tuition if they maintain good academic standing.
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Thanks. I didn't know they gave every OOS student IS tuition automatically. That sounds even better!
 
Hey guys, I got a super late interview and was wondering, does interviewing in December hurt my chances of an acceptance on match day? Am I essentially interviewing for a spot on the waitlist?

Also, does anyone know about UTMB's update policy? I'll have a publication in January, but I'm not sure if it's ok (or even worth it) to send them a letter...
 
Anyone know if anymore prematches will be sent out this month? If so, when do you suspect it will be? :scared:
 
I don't think they are sending anymore prematches out. They didn't last year. Only on nov 15. I'm not optimistic at all that more prematches will be sent out. Gotta wait for feb 1st prob if this is your top choice.
 
bollywoodlover said:
I don't think they are sending anymore prematches out. They didn't last year. Only on nov 15. I'm not optimistic at all that more prematches will be sent out. Gotta wait for feb 1st prob if this is your top choice.
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They did 2 years ago though, whatever that is worth. I'm not very optimistic either but it's possible based on historical trends. I have also heard that UTMB is pretty match heavy as well so expect a lot of movement then.
 
BoricuaMD said:
They did 2 years ago though, whatever that is worth. I'm not very optimistic either but it's possible based on historical trends. I have also heard that UTMB is pretty match heavy as well so expect a lot of movement then.
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One time I called UTMB, they said they were planning to send prematches in mid-December. However, has anyone called recently that can confirm this? :xf:
 
longhornmed13 said:
One time I called UTMB, they said they were planning to send prematches in mid-December. However, has anyone called recently that can confirm this? :xf:
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THey told me this as well over a month ago
 
def1 said:
THey told me this as well over a month ago
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Called today, admissions said they are now uncertain whether or not more prematches will go out. 🙁 With that said, does anyone know if UTMB fills most of its class size of 230 through prematches... or does match contribute a significant portion?
 
longhornmed13 said:
Called today, admissions said they are now uncertain whether or not more prematches will go out. 🙁 With that said, does anyone know if UTMB fills most of its class size of 230 through prematches... or does match contribute a significant portion?
Click to expand...

Most of my classmates that I've spoken to said that they matched here. Don't worry if you didn't prematch, you still have a good chance to match.
 
🙁. I don't like the wait, and I'd very much like to go to this school. I would have thought more prematches would be going out in December, but recent posts suggest not. Previous years have stated they have did so, but it seems like they're changing it.
 
Has any MD/PhD candidate here heard anything from them ? I remember Dr. Sowers said he would send out 6 acceptances last week, and then 6 this week and 6 next week too. I'm just not sure how this is going to work. If all acceptees of the first wave take these offers and hold until April 15th, does that mean there will be nothing sent out this week and next week ? Also, does anyone know if the MD/PhD program will do snail mail only or will they call ?
 
mdphddreamer said:
Has any MD/PhD candidate here heard anything from them ? I remember Dr. Sowers said he would send out 6 acceptances last week, and then 6 this week and 6 next week too. I'm just not sure how this is going to work. If all acceptees of the first wave take these offers and hold until April 15th, does that mean there will be nothing sent out this week and next week ? Also, does anyone know if the MD/PhD program will do snail mail only or will they call ?
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I don't think that's what he meant. I'm fairly sure it's 18 total acceptances that just go out at different times, but don't quote me on that. Most likely will first be notified by email and then by snail mail.
 
nysw said:
I don't think that's what he meant. I'm fairly sure it's 18 total acceptances that just go out at different times, but don't quote me on that. Most likely will first be notified by email and then by snail mail.
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Thank you. Then that means I still have hope. I have been checking email and looking at my phone every 15 minutes for the past week. Can I assume that if I still do not hear anything by the end of next week, that means I am either on the waitlist or rejected ?
 
mdphddreamer said:
Thank you. Then that means I still have hope. I have been checking email and looking at my phone every 15 minutes for the past week. Can I assume that if I still do not hear anything by the end of next week, that means I am either on the waitlist or rejected ?
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I would go ahead and call before you assume anything. Last year, I was freaking out cause decisions hadn't come out when I was told they would... Turns out they were just a little delayed. Feel free to call and ask 🙂
 
nysw said:
I would go ahead and call before you assume anything. Last year, I was freaking out cause decisions hadn't come out when I was told they would... Turns out they were just a little delayed. Feel free to call and ask 🙂
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I will do that. Thanks. 🙂
 
duyvtr said:
Please let us know what you find out!
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I will probably give them another week and I will call them some time next week. I don't want to appear too neurotic and pushy. But yeah, I will definitely let you know what I find out.
 
Had my interview today, this school....😍

BUT my second interviewer was really rough, asked me my gpa/mcat, where I've gotten an interview, why I didn't get interviews to certain other schools, and at one point my religion (in relation to a discussion on my cultural background).... I'm not sure what to think, is this allowed...? I know we could request a third interviewer and now I'm second guessing myself for not doing so...
 
mdphddreamer said:
Has any MD/PhD candidate here heard anything from them ? I remember Dr. Sowers said he would send out 6 acceptances last week, and then 6 this week and 6 next week too. I'm just not sure how this is going to work. If all acceptees of the first wave take these offers and hold until April 15th, does that mean there will be nothing sent out this week and next week ? Also, does anyone know if the MD/PhD program will do snail mail only or will they call ?
Click to expand...

I am not sure how this works, but Dr. Sowers said a total of 6-7 acceptance will be sent out? Does anyone get email from UTMB about acceptance?
 
ahr1967 said:
Had my interview today, this school....😍

BUT my second interviewer was really rough, asked me my gpa/mcat, where I've gotten an interview, why I didn't get interviews to certain other schools, and at one point my religion (in relation to a discussion on my cultural background).... I'm not sure what to think, is this allowed...? I know we could request a third interviewer and now I'm second guessing myself for not doing so...
Click to expand...

Was this a surgeon, perchance?
 
duyvtr said:
Please let us know what you find out!
Click to expand...

lenmade said:
I am not sure how this works, but Dr. Sowers said a total of 6-7 acceptance will be sent out? Does anyone get email from UTMB about acceptance?
Click to expand...

The first wave of acceptance has already been sent out. It will probably take them longer than just the first 3 weeks of December to send out all the acceptances as they originally planned. Oh well, more waiting for me.
 
Does anyone know when an OOS applicant would find out about their status?
I interviewed here back in November and don't know if I have to wait until after Texas residents Match Day?

I really loved this schoo!!!! 😀 :xf:
 
sheilz said:
Hey guys, I got a super late interview and was wondering, does interviewing in December hurt my chances of an acceptance on match day? Am I essentially interviewing for a spot on the waitlist?

Also, does anyone know about UTMB's update policy? I'll have a publication in January, but I'm not sure if it's ok (or even worth it) to send them a letter...
Click to expand...

Hey there!

While it doesn't hurt your chances of matching on acceptance day Feb 1, it makes it less likely you'll get a prematch.

I interviewed on Nov 13 and I got in on match day! 🙂 So don't worry, people definitely get in Feb 1 and later 🙂

If anyone has questions, PM me... I check the forum less often, but I get an email when I get a PM so you should get a quicker response.

Congrats to all those who were accepted, and don't give up faith if you haven't been accepted! :luck:
 
I was accepted today. Interviewed 11/16. 3.8+gpa/33 mcat. In-state.
 
Accepted today (first acceptance!). 4.0 GPA, 31 MCAT, IS, interviewed 12/14. So happy :]]]]
 
Last edited:
Congrats you two! I interviewed on 11/16th as well but I am OOS.
 
lpava said:
Same here! 🙂
Do you know when we find out??
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Not sure. I spoke to Dr. Silva before I left Galveston to see when I may hear back. She told me OOS students are special cases (don't go through prematch/matching), so we would have to be ranked for the 23 spots they have available. She said the earliest I could have heard was after my interview and latest during the orientation week if finally accepted (mid-August).

I really enjoyed this school and feel I would fit in with te student body, so I am hoping for an acceptance. I hope I receive word of an acceptance before I commit to an apartment lease for the other school. I have no problems packing my bags and leaving my state. Hopefully, we can hear something in Jan/Feb.
 
So I got into a couple of Texas schools already and I wanted to know if there was a chance of getting accepted to UTMB if I ranked them #2 of 4 in TMDSAS. I'm torn between two schools and I don't want to lose my pre-acceptance to the other (which is why I will rank them #1). Can anyone provide any insight?
 
Med101923 said:
So I got into a couple of Texas schools already and I wanted to know if there was a chance of getting accepted to UTMB if I ranked them #2 of 4 in TMDSAS. I'm torn between two schools and I don't want to lose my pre-acceptance to the other (which is why I will rank them #1). Can anyone provide any insight?
Click to expand...

You won't lose your pre-acceptance unless you are matched to a HIGHER ranking school than the one you are currently pre-matched at. In other words, you can only gain from the match. If you rank UTMB #1 and don't get in you will still keep your pre-acceptance at the other school.
 
BoricuaMD said:
You won't lose your pre-acceptance unless you are matched to a HIGHER ranking school than the one you are currently pre-matched at. In other words, you can only gain from the match. If you rank UTMB #1 and don't get in you will still keep your pre-acceptance at the other school.
Click to expand...

Just to elaborate, if you rank a pre-match as #1, nothing else matters. Since you are already matched to that school, they won't go down your list.

So it's really important to be sure on your first choice. If you match to that first choice, you don't hold any other acceptances. (The only way to hold multiple acceptances after Feb. 1 is of you come off a waitlist of a higher ranked school post-match. You are then given a short period to decide.)
 
MD2017done said:
So far, I have interviewed at UTSW, UTH, UTMB, UTSA, A&M, TTELP.

I am having trouble figuring out how to rank UTH and UTMB. My rankings without those two schools will look like this:

1. UTSW
2. ??? (UTH or UTMB)
3. ??? (UTH or UTMB)
4. UTSA
5. A&M
6. TTELP

I have a prematch from TTELP.

Only schools in Texas that did not give me an interview were TTL and Baylor

UTMB
Pros:
1. I felt at home there, the students/faculty were really friendly.
2. High Board Scores (This is very important to me, because I don't want to make the same mistake I did in undergrad again in medical school when it comes to standardized tests). The field of medicine I am interested in is pretty competitive.
3. I like the diverse student body. I grew up all over the world (from age 1 to age 18, because I was a military brat lol) and I felt more at home at UTMB because it was had a very diverse student body (in terms of both race and socioeconomics). Most of the kids at UTH that I talked to seemed like rich kids who didn't know how the bottom 99 percent lived.

Cons:
1. UT-H is more well known outside of Texas than UTMB and this is important for me because the field of medicine I am interested in, is competitive.
2. Galveston is an small city. I like big cities.
3. Old Facilities.
4. Hurricane ???!!! LOL. I know this should not be a concern, but I don't want to waste a year of school because a hurricane hit and my medical school got shut down for a year due to damages, lol.

UTH
Pros:
1. Obviously the TMC
2. Huge City
3. Decent Board Scores. Students kept bragging about how their average was a 235, but the administration didn't tell us anything, so I don't know.
4. New Facilities

Cons:
1. The students I encountered were very dichotomous in nature. I met a some very hard working, studious, and humble students and a few very loud mouth students who didn't seem that hard working and liked to make off hand remarks, pretentious remarks about primary care physicians. For example, one student during a tour said "Don't come to UTH if you want to do primary care, it is okay if you wrote that on your medical school application just to get into medical school". Another tour guide, liked to brag about how the previous year's class had an average of 235 and how because of that, very few people went into primary care from UTH. What pretentious little dbags acting like they are already big shot dermatologists, plastic surgeons, neurosurgeons, or orthopedic surgeons when NONE of them had even taken Step 1 yet.
2. Student body is not very diverse when compared to UTMB. I have spent most of my life living around the world (army brat), and I went to a college that was very diverse. UTMB was more diverse in terms of both race and socioeconomic. Some of the same kids making those off-hand remarks about primary care physicians at UTH seemed like rich kids who don't know how the other half of the world manages to get by.


I could care less about the schedule at each school. Whichever school I match at, I will try to adapt to their schedule and work my butt off to do well.


Don't be afraid to chime in guys.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure everyone affected by hurricane Ike still ended up graduating on time. Not 100% sure but I know the MS1s graduated in 4 years at least. Also, hurricanes have shut down UTH in the past as well. Don't think that you can escape them in Houston.

My rankings were 1. Utsw 2. Uth and 3. Utmb. I matched at utmb, got into both Uth and utsw off their waitlists, and ended up sticking with utmb. Ultimately, you are going to find things you like and dislike about every school. It's hard to find a perfect fit. Try to pick the place that you see yourself being the happiest during your journey through med school. You can match into any speciality to you want from any of the schools you interviewed at. If you want to work in a competitive field, you're going to have to work hard no matter what. Where do you want to spend the next 4 years?
 
You can do your MS3 & MS4 in Houston at UTMB, thus getting all the perks of Galveston/UTMB and Houston.

Also, it's like an hour drive to Houston from Galveston. People go into Houston all the time, either for dinner or events or clubs, etc. It's not really a hassle at all. And you can live off the island and half your commute to Houston if it matters.

I interviewed at UTH and UTMB, and UTMB >>>> UTH, despite me doing 5 summers of research at UTH while in high school and college. Everyone is nice at UTMB, the same cannot be said at UTH. We work together at UTMB, and by and large, the student body is happy, the faculty are kind, and the residents teach and help you.

If I can stay and do my residency at UTMB, I'll do it in a heartbeat. It's the nicest place I interviewed.

And yeah, hurricanes affect Houston too. No escaping that.

And we're building a brand new, state of the heart hospital that will be done before your class graduates. http://www.utmb.edu/impact/article.aspx?IAID=459 (click on the New Hospital hyperlink for more info about how badass it's gonna be.) Just another reason I want to do my residency there!

Simply put, it's 4 years of your life, probably the 4 hardest years of your life. The most important thing I have learned in medical school (seriously.) is that happiness matters and your classmates are the deciding factor in that. If it's cut throat, you'll be less happy. If everyone works together, you'll be happy even on the worst days.

I would go to UTMB again, without hesitation, and I encourage EVERYONE to remember how important happiness in being successful. UTMB has award winning faculty who are achieving huge NIH grants, so it's not like we are unknown... we are the #1 provider south of Houston in Texas... From south of Houston to the border, it's us. If you want an experience that will change your life and teach you more than you think is currently possible, come to UTMB. You won't regret it.

Good luck guys :luck:

MD2017done said:
So far, I have interviewed at UTSW, UTH, UTMB, UTSA, A&M, TTELP.

I am having trouble figuring out how to rank UTH and UTMB. My rankings without those two schools will look like this:

1. UTSW
2. ??? (UTH or UTMB)
3. ??? (UTH or UTMB)
4. UTSA
5. A&M
6. TTELP

I have a prematch from TTELP.

Only schools in Texas that did not give me an interview were TTL and Baylor

UTMB
Pros:
1. I felt at home there, the students/faculty were really friendly.
2. High Board Scores (This is very important to me, because I don't want to make the same mistake I did in undergrad again in medical school when it comes to standardized tests). The field of medicine I am interested in is pretty competitive.
3. I like the diverse student body. I grew up all over the world (from age 1 to age 18, because I was a military brat lol) and I felt more at home at UTMB because it was had a very diverse student body (in terms of both race and socioeconomics). Most of the kids at UTH that I talked to seemed like rich kids who didn't know how the bottom 99 percent lived.

Cons:
1. UT-H is more well known outside of Texas than UTMB and this is important for me because the field of medicine I am interested in, is competitive.
2. Galveston is an small city. I like big cities.
3. Old Facilities.
4. Hurricane ???!!! LOL. I know this should not be a concern, but I don't want to waste a year of school because a hurricane hit and my medical school got shut down for a year due to damages, lol.

UTH
Pros:
1. Obviously the TMC
2. Huge City
3. Decent Board Scores. Students kept bragging about how their average was a 235, but the administration didn't tell us anything, so I don't know.
4. New Facilities
5. Dr. Red Duke lol

Cons:
1. The students I encountered were very dichotomous in nature. I met a some very hard working, studious, and humble students and a few very loud mouth students who didn't seem that hard working and liked to make off hand remarks, pretentious remarks about primary care physicians. For example, one student during a tour said "Don't come to UTH if you want to do primary care, it is okay if you wrote that on your medical school application just to get into medical school". Another tour guide, liked to brag about how the previous year's class had an average of 235 and how because of that, very few people went into primary care from UTH.
2. Student body is not very diverse when compared to UTMB. I have spent most of my life living around the world (army brat), and I went to a college that was very diverse. UTMB was more diverse in terms of both race and socioeconomic. Some of the same kids making those off-hand remarks about primary care physicians at UTH seemed like rich kids who don't know how the other half of the world manages to get by.


I could care less about the schedule at each school. Whichever school I match at, I will try to adapt to their schedule and work my butt off to do well.


Don't be afraid to chime in guys.
Click to expand...
 
UTH > UTMB for sure.

A student at any Texas Medical School is able to achieve high board scores. You work hard, you'll get a high score. The averages do not mean anything.

UTH is located in the world's largest medical center. The medical exposure there is unlimited. Also, UTH has superior facilities compared to UTMB.

Galveston is old and the small city gets boring after a while, especially if you're used to big city life. Also, the risk of hurricanes makes me hesitant to rank it at the top. I want to minimize interruptions during medical school. Its true that UTH has closed for hurricanes before as well, but for a SHORTER duration than UTMB. UTMB is high risk for closures.

One thing that UTMB definitely does have though is a nicer faculty.

It depends on where you feel you'd be happiest / less risky for your future career. Best of luck!
 
UTMB is a member of the TMC, so we're also part of the world's largest medical center.

Big cities are nice, don't get me wrong, I'm a Houstonian born and raised, but if you think you're going to have time to experience the big city night frequently, especially with UTH testing schedule and 8-5pm class structure, you've got another thing coming. On UTMB's half day schedule? Definitely possible, after all, I'm done studying by the time UTH is getting out of class for the day.

And I'd also like to point out that there have only been 2 hurricanes in UTMB's 100+ year history that have shut the school down for any significant amount of time. And both classes graduated perfectly on time. So saying "high risk" is a bit hyperbolic.

"Old facilities" is hilarious -- we have the EXACT same current medical technology, have more recently modernized hospitals (BECAUSE of Hurricane Ike) and are making improvements all the time. Does the age of the brick and concrete actually affect your learning ability? Doubtful. UTH is rather stagnant by comparison, and is constantly fighting with Baylor over student/resident turf wars. Just check the news over the last few years.

We don't have that problem - you get exposure to faculty every day, operate WITH faculty, etc. because you don't have 2 med schools worth of students competing for the same opportunities. And, again, if you really want, you still can go to Houston for MS3/MS4 and get all the perks of UTMB for the first 2 years. Edit: And you can do rotations in Houston or anywhere else in the world, meaning you can really spend parts of your MS3/4 about anywhere if you are willing to seek out opportunities. UTH probably has this opportunity as well (don't know for sure), but was just mentioning it for those who want to do some time in Galveston, and some time in Houston. It doesn't have to be black and white.

I'm not trying to start a UTH/UTMB war lol, I just want this to be a fair representation. Again, it is a hard decision, but let's try to be honest here about the actual differences. I may not be a med student at UTH, but I feel like 5 years work experience there definitely allows me to comment on UTH to some extent.

As always, happy to answer any questions y'all have.

Happy new years!! :hardy:
 
UTH was my top choice for awhile and I ended up getting in there, but I stayed with UTMB after second visits. Everyday I am thankful that I decided to go to UTMB. I made the decision by imagining where I would be the happiest and UTMB was that place. That's not to say that UTH isn't that school for someone else, but it wasn't for me.
 
All I know is that students at UTMB have an average of 29.4 on their mcat, and somehow the school prepares them so well that those same students end up scoring a 235 on their USMLE step 1. That is a testament to the school.

UT-H on the other hand has an average mcat of 31/32 and ends up with slightly lower average USMLE step 1 scores than UTMB (looking at the past 4-5 years).


If you look at the distribution of the 10th and 90th percentile average MCAT scores at UTMB and UT-H, UTMB has a much wider distribution because it is more likely than UT-H to take lower MCAT students. Even then, the school has done consistently better than UT-H on step 1.

I just want to know what this school is doing right/better than other schools for that all important, life determining test.

If you think about it, it doesn't really matter what one's SAT score was, because after you enter a particular college, the SAT score is worthless. Same goes for the MCAT. But the USMLE step 1, can block out entire specialties and therefore place entire careers off limits for individuals who don't score well.

I scored in the top 99 percent in the country on my SATs, however, I only scored in the top 80 percent on my MCAT. This tells me that I do have the aptitude to do well in some field (measured by high SAT scores), but I don't have a good science aptitude (measured by MCAT score). As a result, I know I am going to struggle in medical school and I would therefore be very happy with a 230+ on USMLE because then my score wouldn't lock me out of any particular specialty besides plastics and derm, but I don't care about those specialties anyway 🙂
 
I've asked several 3rd and 4th year students about why utmb does so well on step1. One of the reasons that many different students have repeated to me is the amount of time allotted for self-study. With half-days schedules and 6 weeks of study time, everyone has ample free time. Also, I've head that the great syndromes class, which is the last class before 6 weeks of study, is relatively easy... giving even more free time.

During M1 orientation, one of our deans names Dr. Thomas gave us a presentation on step1 and said that we would be provided with a year subscription to Kaplan q bank and 2-3 subscription to usmle world q bank. If you read around on SDN about how people say to study for step1, you will see a near consensus opinion that completing Kaplan questions during m2 classes and then going through uworld questions during dedicated study time is the way to go. This really reassures me that I will be prepared for step1 as long as I put the work in.
 
So I got a prematch 2 weeks ago and was told that I'd be getting further corredspondence via email regarding accepting the offer within 14 days. It's been 13 days and I've yet to recieve any further correspondence. I emailed the school but they will be closed until the 7th. Anyone else already accepted know what's up and whether I should be concerned?
 
RedSox1804 said:
So I got a prematch 2 weeks ago and was told that I'd be getting further corredspondence via email regarding accepting the offer within 14 days. It's been 13 days and I've yet to recieve any further correspondence. I emailed the school but they will be closed until the 7th. Anyone else already accepted know what's up and whether I should be concerned?
Click to expand...

Probably snail mail and it's the holidays. Just call them when they are back if you haven't gotten anything by then. Not really anything else you can do. Good luck.
 
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