2014-2015 University of Texas Southwestern Application Thread

[BillrothI]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Are Yall worried about being guinea pigs for the new curriculum? Or is it a minor concern?

While I like the idea of an accelerated pre-clinical curriculum, I am concerned that it may have a negative effect on Step 1 scores.

According to the website, UTSW students will still have a full summer vacation between first and second year. That means that the pre-clinical education will only run for about 15 months in total. Even if they eliminate redundancies in the curriculum, I can't help but think that it will be a really tight squeeze to learn everything necessary to excel on the boards in such a short period of time. Plus, I think repetition is helpful in learning new or difficult material. Will getting rid of that repetition ultimately make studying for the boards more challenging?

Other schools that use an accelerated pre-clinical model, such as Baylor, shorten summer break to three weeks. I think that would be the right direction to go for UTSW and imagine that they might make that change in the future. However, it seems inevitable that there will be some hiccups along the way, and I think that it could potentially cause some problems for the class of 2019.

Having said all of that, I think UTSW is a great school and the curriculum is a big improvement over the traditional one they used previously. I just have some misgivings about being a guinea pig.

-Bill

 

[PantherPride]

Some info about the new curriculum from MS0 weekend: The preclinical years are going to be true pass fail (no internal ranking). Lecture hours per day are supposed to be about the same as the current schedule (2.5 hours/day). All classes will still be recorded and posted online with syllabus+powerpoints. All tests will be administered electronically (downloaded beforehand on your computer and taken at a proctored location), and graded immediately. We're given 6 weeks for Step 1 preparation and must take the exam within the first 12 months of the clinical years.

 

[whalewind]

Snow and ice ended up canceling a lot of the MS0 activities (wonder how that will affect retention rates), but as someone who went to the Multicultural Show, it was amazing 🙂

And the students are super friendly!

 

[Jr MD]

Snow and ice ended up canceling a lot of the MS0 activities (wonder how that will affect retention rates), but as someone who went to the Multicultural Show, it was amazing 🙂

And the students are super friendly!

Super friendly. It was amazing to see how nice people there were. I wish they didn't cancel the hospital tour!!

 

[whalewind]

Super friendly. It was amazing to see how nice people there were. I wish they didn't cancel the hospital tour!!

I agree, considering how amazing it sounded from the introductory talk. Hope to see you in the fall!

 

[Jr MD]

Anybody see the 2015 match list anywhere??

 

[InVivo]

Anybody see the 2015 match list anywhere??

Class size 235
Anesthesiology - 12
Child Neurology - 1
Dermatology - 7
Emergency Medicine - 16
Family Medicine - 17
Internal Medicine - 54
Medicine/Pediatrics - 2
Medicine (Pre-lim) - 1
Neurosurgery - 2
Neurology - 6
Ob/Gyn - 12
Opthalmology - 7
Oral/Maxil Surgery - 5
Orthopaedic Surgery - 6
Otolaryngology - 1
Pathology - 7
Pediatrics - 30
PM&R - 2
Plastic Surgery - 2
Psychiatry - 7
Radiation Oncology - 3
Radiology - 13
Surgery - 11
Surgery (Pre-lim) - 7
Urology - 2
Vascular Surgery - 1
Year Off - 1

 

[Rando73493]

Any info on when financial aid may get posted?

 

[Jr MD]

Supposed to be today. They said at the latest by April 15

 

[PantherPride]

Posted as in we get it online?

 

[Rando73493]

If I remember correctly I think it's sent by email, or at least we get a notice by email to access it online.

 

[ecolik-12]

Is southwestern dropping the class size for 2015?

 

[ecolik-12]

This data is the match offers made this year: Note the reduction in the # of offers extended.

 

[tl0100]

Hmm.. Interesting. Maybe they are just saving more spots for the wait list (wishful thinking..)

 

[estanton]

View attachment 190819

This data is the match offers made this year: Note the reduction in the # of offers extended.

Where is this info from? And doesn't this mean that for every person that drops their seat a spot would open up?

 

[sunnysnow7]

Perhaps UTSW is going to have a smaller class size for the next couple of years due to the new curriculum. If the class is still going to have 230 students, then there would be a short period of time during which ~700 people would be on rotations simultaneously.

Has anyone heard if that might be the case?

 

[Dr.Mar]

Where is this info from? And doesn't this mean that for every person that drops their seat a spot would open up?

When I emailed Anne, she told me that people would be added from the waitlist as students decided to go to other schools. She said "rolling admissions continue."

 

[ecolik-12]

Where is this info from? And doesn't this mean that for every person that drops their seat a spot would open up?

I got it from the new report that TMDSAS released.

 

[ecolik-12]

Perhaps UTSW is going to have a smaller class size for the next couple of years due to the new curriculum. If the class is still going to have 230 students, then there would be a short period of time during which ~700 people would be on rotations simultaneously.

Has anyone heard if that might be the case?

Exactly what one of the UTSW students said when I told him about this. Could potentially suck for the rest of Texas since there will be a fewer # of spots overall, which means the highly competitive candidates probably matched to some of the "lower" rank schools instead of southwestern

 

[Earl Simmons]

So is the class size reducing? Was there any mention of this at MS-0 Weekend?

 

[SydSing]

Yeah I don't think so. This is speculative.

Edit: I guess I just feel like they would've said it... It's not something they'd keep secret.

 

[PantherPride]

Have you guys already received your utsw email login info? It was mentioned in the email sent this morning

 

[Frosty Glacier]

View attachment 190819

This data is the match offers made this year: Note the reduction in the # of offers extended.

Perhaps UTSW is going to have a smaller class size for the next couple of years due to the new curriculum. If the class is still going to have 230 students, then there would be a short period of time during which ~700 people would be on rotations simultaneously.

Has anyone heard if that might be the case?

Exactly what one of the UTSW students said when I told him about this. Could potentially suck for the rest of Texas since there will be a fewer # of spots overall, which means the highly competitive candidates probably matched to some of the "lower" rank schools instead of southwestern

So is the class size reducing? Was there any mention of this at MS-0 Weekend?

Yeah I don't think so. This is speculative.

Edit: I guess I just feel like they would've said it... It's not something they'd keep secret.

Whoa this is really sketchy........Now that I think about it, it would make perfect sense for them to keep it secret. They may have not wanted to point any more attention to the fact that the UTSW 2015 entering students are going to be grade A Guinea Pigs. Why doesn't someone on the waitlist just email and ask if they're reducing the class size this year? And post their answer on here! Haha.

No but seriously though, this is some peculiar stuff

 

[PantherPride]

So is the class size reducing? Was there any mention of this at MS-0 Weekend?

I don't think they did. But for a drop in acceptances this huge, I don't see another reason besides a decrease in class size. If they accepted the same ratio of applicants per spot as last year. that would make the class size this year about 160. This is all just speculation, though.

 

[ecolik-12]

Agreed. Perhaps its worth a call to find out.

 

[Earl Simmons]

Agreed. Perhaps its worth a call to find out.

An accepted student could call and ask?

 

[mcdreamy91]

I doubt TMDSAS would post material stating class sizes for this year's admissions cycle (as seen in the PDF posted above) if SW did not actually intend on admitting that number of people (230).

 

[estanton]

I doubt TMDSAS would post material stating class sizes for this year's admissions cycle (as seen in the PDF posted above) if SW did not actually intend on admitting that number of people (230).

To be fair, by that logic the other schools intend to admit 300+ this year.

 

[ecolik-12]

Im gonna call today and try to find out and will let you know. I dont see any harm in inquiry.

 

[mcdreamy91]

To be fair, by that logic the other schools intend to admit 300+ this year.

No..in the published spreadsheet, the bottom row has each school's intended class size. 240 for Houston. 230 for UTMB. 100 for PLFSOM. 230 for SW....etc etc

 

[estanton]

No..in the published spreadsheet, the bottom row has each school's intended class size. 240 for Houston. 230 for UTMB. 100 for PLFSOM. 230 for SW....etc etc

Oh I see that at the bottom but it says EY14 not EY15.

 

[mcdreamy91]

Ah...I thought about that as I was writing the follow up post...but then I was too lazy to check. Okie doke.

 

[PantherPride]

I sent an email and was told that the class size would still be 230 this upcoming class

 

[Jr MD]

Yea I called Chuck Kettlewell and he said the same thing. No class size reduction.

 

[Earl Simmons]

These two posters rock^ thanks for finding out for us!

 

[ecolik-12]

Thank you guys! perhaps we will see a significant waitlist movement this year

 

[Jr MD]

These two posters rock^ thanks for finding out for us!

Haha no problem!!

 

[Dr.Mar]

Anyone have any idea about the historical waitlist movement for OOS applicants?

 

[Jr MD]

Anyone have any idea about the historical waitlist movement for OOS applicants?

Should be after or close to April 30th. May is when it gets real lol

 

[Rando73493]

Anyone have any idea about the historical waitlist movement for OOS applicants?

I think I remember hearing that they don't over-accept the OOS group (23 seats) because of the 90% in-state rule. I could be wrong on that but something like ~40 OOS get accepted every year so it would seem like OOS waitlisters have a chance. There's really no telling what will happen.

 

[Dr.Mar]

Does anyone know anything about reapplying?

 

[ecolik-12]

Does anyone know anything about reapplying?

Whats there to know? Apps open up on may 1st

 

[eugn925]

Has anyone sent updates to this school yet? How have they accepted them? Have they frowned upon them?

 

[BillrothI]

Has anyone sent updates to this school yet? How have they accepted them? Have they frowned upon them?

From the "Alternate List Notification" e-mail:

What should you do now? The hardest thing we can ask of you: wait.

There is nothing more you can do to alter, supplement, or improve your application. We have your academic credentials, letters, evaluations, course reports.

It sounds like they don't want any updates at this point.

-Bill

 

[Dr.Mar]

Whats there to know? Apps open up on may 1st

For example, what would you do differently? Is it bad to wait a year to reapply to Texas schools if you got accepted elsewhere? When should you submit your app again? I'm wait listed and I have a LizzyM score of 77.

 

[ecolik-12]

For example, what would you do differently? Is it bad to wait a year to reapply to Texas schools if you got accepted elsewhere? When should you submit your app again? I'm wait listed and I have a LizzyM score of 77.

If you have been accepted outside of Texas, I think the general consensus is that you should take it and go with it.
You cannot turn down an acceptance to a US school and then try again next year hoping to match to a better school, people have tried to do that and ended up with 0 interviews the next cycle.

 

[clairephillips]

For example, what would you do differently? Is it bad to wait a year to reapply to Texas schools if you got accepted elsewhere? When should you submit your app again? I'm wait listed and I have a LizzyM score of 77.

If you received an acceptance, you pretty much have to take it. From what I understand, you're basically blacklisted if you don't. It will be very difficult to ever get another acceptance, because schools will question your motivations.

 

[Dr.Mar]

Well i just got rejected from UTSW today from the waitlist. I will be attending CU Denver.

 

[clairephillips]

Well i just got rejected from UTSW today from the waitlist. I will be attending CU Denver.

+1 on the rejection. Be proud of CU Denver, as I am of UTHSCSA. This place is full of people who would love one of our seats.

 

[CaElFl2014]

+1 on the rejection. Be proud of CU Denver, as I am of UTHSCSA. This place is full of people who would love one of our seats.

Did you find out via email or letter?