2014-2015 Texas Tech University - El Paso Application Thread

BU Medical Sciences
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howdysang said:
Not yet. Also has anyone who received a prematch email had a numerical number at the end of the email title? I wonder if that number corresponds to one's ranking in their system
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I wondered the same thing, but mine was number 4 and I did not receive a scholarship offer so I doubt it. More likely it is just some sort of processing order.
 
Anybody else receive a scholarship offer along with their acceptance? Not many acceptances and only 1 scholarship offer from SDN people so far seems odd...
 
Helu said:
Thank you, @CK90 I'll need it 🙂 Any golden advice you can give to those of us applying the next cycle? What is super important to Foster? I want to use my time until the cycle begins as efficient as possible!!!
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I don't think I have much to offer in the advice department that has not already been beaten to death by all other SDN'ers. BUT, I will say that going into the application process, I was very nervous and considered myself to be a sub-par applicant. Something that is so hard to realize before actually going to interviews and meeting other applicants is that when you're using SDN and other online resources as the measure of what it takes to get accepted to medical school, you end up with an unrealistic representation of the average applicant.

When I first sent in my application, I was honestly afraid that I would not even get invited to interview - that's how unrealistic my perception was..... To give you an idea, my applicant profile is as follows: Undergrad at UTSA cGPA 3.63, sGPA 3.83, MCAT x2 (1st was a 24, 2nd was a 32 - 10/10/12), 4 semesters experience as a teaching assistant, one year of scribing experience, ~50 hours of volunteering experience as a sophomore (it was short-term and nothing special), no research, no publications, no formal shadowing experience...... I got an interview invite to every TMDSAS school (and multiple prematches).

The moral of the story is that it's really easy to get bogged down in the details during this intense process, constantly becoming fixated on the "weak" areas in your application and why you're "not good enough". No applicant has it all; it's really better to do a few things well and come out with a positive and insightful reflection in the end. Find some theme in your application that makes you stand out and make it work to your advantage (whether it be consistent employment, volunteering, research etc.). Then find a kick-ass way to present it in your interviews.

Sorry for the annoyingly long post, this is just my two cents worth on things I wish someone would have told me. For anyone who read it: I hope it helped in any way. I truly wish you and everyone else in this struggle the best of luck. Feel free to PM me if I can help with anything else 🙂
 
howdysang said:
What was the average step 1 score last year?
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Hello everyone, current MS3 at PLFSOM. Would be happy to answer any questions you may have.

The Step 1 average for my class was a 240 (I kid you not).
 
Gooby said:
Hello everyone, current MS3 at PLFSOM. Would be happy to answer any questions you may have.

The Step 1 average for my class was a 240 (I kid you not).
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Hey @Gooby ! Thank you for stopping by and for your offer 😀 I would have the same question as stated above. PLFSOM is going to be my number one priority. Any advice as far as ECs, interview etc..anything that I could do to strengthen my app is highly appreciated! And WOW (!!) on your average Step 1 scores 👍
 
Gooby said:
Hello everyone, current MS3 at PLFSOM. Would be happy to answer any questions you may have.

The Step 1 average for my class was a 240 (I kid you not).
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Okay, I definitely have a few questions.
1) Are you from El Paso? If not, what selling points are there for the city? I have heard many people telling me they despise the city and I'd like to hear some good stuff.

2) What is the work/life balance like for first and second years there? What is the curriculum like?

Thank you so much!
 
Helu said:
Hey @Gooby ! Thank you for stopping by and for your offer 😀 I would have the same question as stated above. PLFSOM is going to be my number one priority. Any advice as far as ECs, interview etc..anything that I could do to strengthen my app is highly appreciated! And WOW (!!) on your average Step 1 scores 👍
Click to expand...

For ECs, aside from the ordinary volunteer work and shadowing, I think PLFSOM would highly value an applicant who shows some sort of interest in serving under-served areas, as there is a great need of physicians in EP. They love spanish speakers who are from El Paso. I think the most recent entering class had something like 20 out of 100 native El Pasoans. If there is a glimmer of a chance that you would be willing to stay or come back to practice in El Paso, they would find you to be a highly appealing applicant.

As far as the interview is concerned, just be genuine about your desire to pursue medicine. Our interview process is extremely laid back.
 
clairephillips said:
Okay, I definitely have a few questions.
1) Are you from El Paso? If not, what selling points are there for the city? I have heard many people telling me they despise the city and I'd like to hear some good stuff.

2) What is the work/life balance like for first and second years there? What is the curriculum like?

Thank you so much!
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1) I am not from El Paso. El Paso has a lot of outdoor activities. The weather is fantastic for most of the year. Great hiking trails at the Franklin Mtn. National Park. In general, El Paso has everything any other big city would have. I certainly don't feel like I'm missing out on anything. There are a lot of great restaurants to choose from. Community is very safe.

My selling point for El Paso: are you coming here to live here for the rest of your life? Maybe not. Is this a good place to attend medical school? Absolutely. Here, people don't go to the Dr until they are practically dying, and so you get to experience and witness stages of disease that you wouldn't normally see in any other part of the country. There is a kind of third-world dynamic to some of the pathologies here, and yet you are still in a first-world country.

2) Okay, I may sound biased in this response but I really do think we have the best curriculum in the state, at least. Medical school applicants often see the P/F system of grading as a plus for school, but they should realize that a lot of schools that say they are P/F are actually not. They may have a 'honor' or 'high pass', 'pass', and 'fail. To me this sounds a lot like A, B, C, D, F. At PLFSOM, it's purely pass or fail, with absolutely no internal class ranking for the first two years. I think when they accept you and place enough faith that you are coming here to try the best you can and learn as much as possible, so why have the added stress of competing with your class mates?

As far as work life balance, I would say the biggest shock in the first two yrs of med school was how much free time I had. I was convinced med school was study all day every day, but that was just not the case here.

The curriculum is system-based approach, with clinical scheme presentations every week. For example, the clinical scheme for one week may be 'Sore Throat'. You spend three days of that week learning about the anatomy of the head and neck area, the microbiology behind the sore throat clinical presentation, physiology, etc. Everything related to the scheme for that week. At the end of the week, you have a standardized patient encounter with a patient with a chief complaint of sore throat. This gives you an opportunity to apply your knowledge from the week in a real clinical encounter. This is a major simplification of the overall curriculum, but more info can be found on the school website. In summary, it is a very STEP 1 friendly approach, and the material they present is geared toward the boards most of the time.
 
Gooby said:
1) I am not from El Paso. El Paso has a lot of outdoor activities. The weather is fantastic for most of the year. Great hiking trails at the Franklin Mtn. National Park. In general, El Paso has everything any other big city would have. I certainly don't feel like I'm missing out on anything. There are a lot of great restaurants to choose from. Community is very safe.

My selling point for El Paso: are you coming here to live here for the rest of your life? Maybe not. Is this a good place to attend medical school? Absolutely. Here, people don't go to the Dr until they are practically dying, and so you get to experience and witness stages of disease that you wouldn't normally see in any other part of the country. There is a kind of third-world dynamic to some of the pathologies here, and yet you are still in a first-world country.

2) Okay, I may sound biased in this response but I really do think we have the best curriculum in the state, at least. Medical school applicants often see the P/F system of grading as a plus for school, but they should realize that a lot of schools that say they are P/F are actually not. They may have a 'honor' or 'high pass', 'pass', and 'fail. To me this sounds a lot like A, B, C, D, F. At PLFSOM, it's purely pass or fail, with absolutely no internal class ranking for the first two years. I think when they accept you and place enough faith that you are coming here to try the best you can and learn as much as possible, so why have the added stress of competing with your class mates?

As far as work life balance, I would say the biggest shock in the first two yrs of med school was how much free time I had. I was convinced med school was study all day every day, but that was just not the case here.

The curriculum is system-based approach, with clinical scheme presentations every week. For example, the clinical scheme for one week may be 'Sore Throat'. You spend three days of that week learning about the anatomy of the head and neck area, the microbiology behind the sore throat clinical presentation, physiology, etc. Everything related to the scheme for that week. At the end of the week, you have a standardized patient encounter with a patient with a chief complaint of sore throat. This gives you an opportunity to apply your knowledge from the week in a real clinical encounter. This is a major simplification of the overall curriculum, but more info can be found on the school website. In summary, it is a very STEP 1 friendly approach, and the material they present is geared toward the boards most of the time.
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Thank you so much! Those are some major bonuses. I feel so excited about this interview now.
 
Gooby said:
For ECs, aside from the ordinary volunteer work and shadowing, I think PLFSOM would highly value an applicant who shows some sort of interest in serving under-served areas, as there is a great need of physicians in EP. They love spanish speakers who are from El Paso. I think the most recent entering class had something like 20 out of 100 native El Pasoans. If there is a glimmer of a chance that you would be willing to stay or come back to practice in El Paso, they would find you to be a highly appealing applicant.

As far as the interview is concerned, just be genuine about your desire to pursue medicine. Our interview process is extremely laid back.
Click to expand...

Thank you, @Gooby! That was very helpful!!
 
altius23 said:
I'm OOS and the scholarship letter came about 1 month after acceptance. Loved this school and loved the area![/

Is it merit based? What stats do you need to get an offer? If you don't mind sharing...
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Percentage wise, how many seats are filled through pre-match here? Does anybody know?
 
I interviewed yesterday, as sick as a dog, and was accepted today! This is my first acceptance and there was a part of me that really thought it wouldn't/couldn't happen, but it's official. I will become a doctor!!! Whoo hoo!!! I LOVED this school when I interviewed - beautiful campus, rockstar curriculum, kind hearted focused faculty. Wow! I had never intended this to be a school I'd have much intention of going to and had considered it a safety school. Now I'm not too sure because I adore it.

Oh, and for those who asked the last person, my stats are 3.84 cgpa/3.76 sgpa/ 31 MCAT.

This is almost unreal to me - still hasn't quite sunk in.
 
I interviewed yesterday and just received my acceptance today as well! Words cannot express how much I LOVED this school when I visited it. Stats wise, I am pretty mediocre: cGPA: 3.57 sGPA: 3.3 MCAT: 22 first time, 35 second time.
 
Hi guys! Congrats to all of you that just recently got accepted 🙂 just to give you my two cents about El Paso if you all are seriously considering the school. I'm from here and just wanted to say El Paso is an awesome place to live. We're friendly and welcoming and it's an interesting dynamic because we are right on the border, with Mexico within sight. We're a very safe city and it's been really nice to see Foster develop from when it first opened and I was in high school. When I interviewed I was very impressed by the people there and how passionate they were about the school and teaching.
 
I received an II a couple days ago. Can the people who already interviewed comment on the interview style? More specifically, were both interviews conversational or was one different than the other? Did the interview seem somewhat relaxed, almost to the point of being informal? Any feedback is greatly appreciated.
 
Professor-X said:
I received an II a couple days ago. Can the people who already interviewed comment on the interview style? More specifically, were both interviews conversational or was one different than the other? Did the interview seem somewhat relaxed, almost to the point of being informal? Any feedback is greatly appreciated.
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I interviewed bak in September and my interviews were both extremely laid back. The interviewers were both very nice and most of there questions were either about topics I addressed in my application or very basic ones. I was actually surprised because there were no difficult questions like I've had at other interviews. Good luck!
 
I have to pick between attending El Paso's interview or attending A&M's interview! Which would y'all choose?!?
 
pontelones said:
I have to pick between attending El Paso's interview or attending A&M's interview! Which would y'all choose?!?
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Why don't you try to get one of the school's to change your interview date? I would personally go with A&M though.
 
Earl Simmons said:
Why don't you try to get one of the school's to change your interview date? I would personally go with A&M though.
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I confirmed my attendance to A&M first 3 days ago and received the El Paso interview invitation today. So I emailed the admissions office at El Paso and they have no other dates available since Jan 15 is the last day of interviews. They said they could potentially reschedule me if someone cancels the Jan 8 interview. So as of now, I am attending A&M I guess.
 
pontelones said:
I confirmed my attendance to A&M first 3 days ago and received the El Paso interview invitation today. So I emailed the admissions office at El Paso and they have no other dates available since Jan 15 is the last day of interviews. They said they could potentially reschedule me if someone cancels the Jan 8 interview. So as of now, I am attending A&M I guess.
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Call A&M too. I'm interviewing there Jan 8th, so that definitely is a date they have interviews. Foster is a wonderful school and I would highly suggest you try to make both interviews work.
 
During the student panel a student mentioned having to do away rotations for neurosurgery. At the time I didn't think anything of it, but then I was a bit confused. I thought that being that the UMC was a trauma one center that they would have neurosurgeons you could do rotations with. Can any current students or enlightened pre meds help me out? Also, how receptive would the school be to applicants sending letters of intent? I have a friend who interviewed here as well and has really good stats and is worried that they won't rank him high in their list for match because they assume that he won't consider attending. Is this irrational? Thanks for all the help SDN peeps! Congrats to all of those accepted and good luck to those still in the mix!!!
 
Has anyone who got an interview housed with a medical student? How was the experience? Any feedback is greatly appreciated.
 
Professor-X said:
Has anyone who got an interview housed with a medical student? How was the experience? Any feedback is greatly appreciated.
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Well, I didn't stay with someone personally, but I heard from an interviewee that it was a good experience!
 
Professor-X said:
Has anyone who got an interview housed with a medical student? How was the experience? Any feedback is greatly appreciated.
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I had a student host and thoroughly enjoyed it. My hosts picked me up at the airport, fed me, took me to the interview in the morning and stayed up late talking about the school and also had a really interesting conversation about religion. It was fun and the students were able to be really honest about what they loved and what they didn't like about the school.
 
Thanks for the prompt responses. Based on the feedback from you guys, I hope I am able to get a student host as well. I received an email, which made it seem as if it was a long shot due to the busy schedules of the students. We shall see. My fingers are definitely crossed.
 
Got an II on 12/22 for Jan 15. I had called their admission office the week prior, asked them to review my application, and wala!

So grateful for this. Only my second II of the 30 schools I applied to.
 
Congrats and good luck! I love this school!
Kron said:
Got an II on 12/22 for Jan 15. I had called their admission office the week prior, asked them to review my application, and wala!

So grateful for this. Only my second II of the 30 schools I applied to.
Click to expand...
 
4forsmores said:
During the student panel a student mentioned having to do away rotations for neurosurgery. At the time I didn't think anything of it, but then I was a bit confused. I thought that being that the UMC was a trauma one center that they would have neurosurgeons you could do rotations with. Can any current students or enlightened pre meds help me out? Also, how receptive would the school be to applicants sending letters of intent? I have a friend who interviewed here as well and has really good stats and is worried that they won't rank him high in their list for match because they assume that he won't consider attending. Is this irrational? Thanks for all the help SDN peeps! Congrats to all of those accepted and good luck to those still in the mix!!!
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While UMC has a neurosurgery department, it is not affiliated with Texas Tech. There are no official academic faculty, residents, coordinators for neurosurgery. That being said, medical students are still given the ability to do an elective within their general surgery rotation (for three weeks) in neurosurgery at UMC. Students interested in neurosurgery as their specialty have to do away rotations at actual academic programs in order to get connections, letters of rec, and an understanding of what it is like to be a resident.
 
Gooby said:
While UMC has a neurosurgery department, it is not affiliated with Texas Tech. There are no official academic faculty, residents, coordinators for neurosurgery. That being said, medical students are still given the ability to do an elective within their general surgery rotation (for three weeks) in neurosurgery at UMC. Students interested in neurosurgery as their specialty have to do away rotations at actual academic programs in order to get connections, letters of rec, and an understanding of what it is like to be a resident.
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Thank you! That was very informative!
 
Any recent II's / anyone know what the remaining interview days are?
 
I called yesterday and was told that interview spots are all filled for this month 🙁
 
Is there a Facebook group for the class of 2019?
 
I am seriously considering ranking Texas Tech El Paso over UT Southwestern. I know it sounds crazy, but I love TTEP's curriculum, P/F grading system, small class size, etc. And their Step 1 scores are insane. I know Step 1 is largely based on individual effort, but TTEP's Step 1 scores rival those of UTSW and Baylor (and UTSW and Baylor accept students with really high MCAT scores, GPA, etc.). I just think this school is going to do great things, and it'd be cool to be a part of that. Does this sound crazy?
 
deeproots said:
I am seriously considering ranking Texas Tech El Paso over UT Southwestern. I know it sounds crazy, but I love TTEP's curriculum, P/F grading system, small class size, etc. And their Step 1 scores are insane. I know Step 1 is largely based on individual effort, but TTEP's Step 1 scores rival those of UTSW and Baylor (and UTSW and Baylor accept students with really high MCAT scores, GPA, etc.). I just think this school is going to do great things, and it'd be cool to be a part of that. Does this sound crazy?
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What were the step scores you have seen? The ones I've seen were in the 225-228 range. While the step 1 scores of UTSW and Baylor are between 236-240.
 
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