2015-2016 Texas A&M Health Science Center Application Thread

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New second year here, can't help you with that! The pervasive rhetoric is that you get to "do more" at Round Rock because there's no residents or fellows, but that's really just not true: if you look for opportunities to get involved they're abundant anywhere. As I said, Temple has been around the longest, so their clinicals have stood the test of time. Round rock and and Dallas are newer campuses, but both have a lot to offer. Both are located in cities so likely have greater opportunity to experience a wide range of environments. Temple is pretty much a hospital, but there are clinical environments as well.
so im curious when can people start research. the summer breaks only 4 weeks so idk if that would be long enough to get anything done, maybe i should start in first year. or do you know if people do research once they get to their 2nd location? do you know how the faculty is for derm and ortho in terms of approachbility and joining a project with them. also how much clinical exp do you get in 1st year, i want to shadow docs in my free time at the very least to get an idea of what i want to do. is it easy to set stuff up at the hospital in town

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so im curious when can people start research. the summer breaks only 4 weeks so idk if that would be long enough to get anything done, maybe i should start in first year. or do you know if people do research once they get to their 2nd location? do you know how the faculty is for derm and ortho in terms of approachbility and joining a project with them. also how much clinical exp do you get in 1st year, i want to shadow docs in my free time at the very least to get an idea of what i want to do. is it easy to set stuff up at the hospital in town

Relax. Wait until you start your first year and how you handle the course load before jumping into all the extra stuff. Trust me, you have no idea how precious your free time is until you find you rarely have it. If you want to do research, you can, as its not all that hard to find. But I repeat: figure out your classes. There's plenty of time to CV pad in your clinical years.
 
ok thnks for not answering any of my questions
 
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Congrats to those of y'all who made it!

Good questions about clinical and shadowing experience. I'm curious when students typically start researching as well, if not during the first year.

On a different note, anyone know how many more students they'll accept for the class of 2020?
 
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I hear it's ranked, but do we have any idea of how many people are in the waitlist here?
 
ok thnks for not answering any of my questions

Good job on being snarky with those trying to help you. Got our class real far!

Ask any faculty to do research: some of them will let you, some of them will tell you to focus on class. We have no direct interaction with derm or ortho, so that's on you. We get a handful of clinical exposures called "White coat Experiences," during our first year, but they are very limited in scope. Taking a history, doing a physical, learning about pharmacists, etc. Majority of clinical experiences start in 2nd year preceptorship; rest is, again, on you.

Administration will tell you over, and over, and over again: do not start research or other heavy commitment extracurriculars until you have tackled your first blocks, and even then only if you're in top quartile. And if you already believe you're in that range, then there's a fair chance medical school is going to shake your foundations. Learn to start being humble, and how to take advice graciously.
 
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Good job on being snarky with those trying to help you. Got our class real far!

Ask any faculty to do research: some of them will let you, some of them will tell you to focus on class. We have no direct interaction with derm or ortho, so that's on you. We get a handful of clinical exposures called "White coat Experiences," during our first year, but they are very limited in scope. Taking a history, doing a physical, learning about pharmacists, etc. Majority of clinical experiences start in 2nd year preceptorship; rest is, again, on you.

Administration will tell you over, and over, and over again: do not start research or other heavy commitment extracurriculars until you have tackled your first blocks, and even then only if you're in top quartile. And if you already believe you're in that range, then there's a fair chance medical school is going to shake your foundations. Learn to start being humble, and how to take advice graciously.

bro my post to you could be broken down into several questions 1) when domost people start research 2) any contact with derm / ortho? 3) any clinical experiences in 1st year 4) easy to shadow at S&W?

and you replied with some thing abotu how i need to relax and didnt say anything of help. your and idiot
 
@laughingfrog Sorry, I think there's some misunderstanding going on from both sides, but anyways:

1. I agree with what what said above, absolutely focus on school first for your first semester. Once you get the hang of it, then the decision is yours to approach faculty and like stated above, many are receptive to allowing you to perform some research while you're in school. The majority of M1s are not researching as of now (though some still are). An 18 month, condensed curriculum is not designed to allow much research, if at all, during our pre-clinical curriculum. I do know that some M1s will participate in some research over our (short) summer break b/w years 1 and 2, and may continue to do some light research throughout the 3rd semester at their new campuses. We have time dedicated later on in our curriculum specifically for research if that's what you want to use the time for. Again, this is all up to you.

2. We do not have any direct contact with derm/ortho in B/CS, though there are orthopedic surgery and dermatology interest groups here if you're interested. I'm sure you could talk with the A&M temple campus derm and ortho programs if you're looking for something specific.

3. We do have a few clinical experiences during 1st year. We took some history/physicals on patient's in the hospital and saw some standardized patients at different points during 1st year. If you wanted more exposure, you can also volunteer at the health clinic to practice taking history, physicals, write SOAPs, present, etc with patients there.

4. The white coat experiences mentioned above allow us to see different health care fields, from nursing, pharm, PT, OT, audilogy, lab, etc (some are these are short, mandatory experiences). You are absolutely able to shadow other physicians on your time if that's what you want to do!

Let me know if you have any other questions. I believe nysor was just alluding to the fact that medical school doesn't allow a ton of free time, thus your limited time becomes pretty valuable and you may want to rest haha. But of course do what interests you!
 
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@laughingfrog Sorry, I think there's some misunderstanding going on from both sides, but anyways:

1. I agree with what what said above, absolutely focus on school first for your first semester. Once you get the hang of it, then the decision is yours to approach faculty and like stated above, many are receptive to allowing you to perform some research while you're in school. The majority of M1s are not researching as of now (though some still are). An 18 month, condensed curriculum is not designed to allow much research, if at all, during our pre-clinical curriculum. I do know that some M1s will participate in some research over our (short) summer break b/w years 1 and 2, and may continue to do some light research throughout the 3rd semester at their new campuses. We have time dedicated later on in our curriculum specifically for research if that's what you want to use the time for. Again, this is all up to you.

2. We do not have any direct contact with derm/ortho in B/CS, though there are orthopedic surgery and dermatology interest groups here if you're interested. I'm sure you could talk with the A&M temple campus derm and ortho programs if you're looking for something specific.

3. We do have a few clinical experiences during 1st year. We took some history/physicals on patient's in the hospital and saw some standardized patients at different points during 1st year. If you wanted more exposure, you can also volunteer at the health clinic to practice taking history, physicals, write SOAPs, present, etc with patients there.

4. The white coat experiences mentioned above allow us to see different health care fields, from nursing, pharm, PT, OT, audilogy, lab, etc (some are these are short, mandatory experiences). You are absolutely able to shadow other physicians on your time if that's what you want to do!

Let me know if you have any other questions. I believe nysor was just alluding to the fact that medical school doesn't allow a ton of free time, thus your limited time becomes pretty valuable and you may want to rest haha. But of course do what interests you!

thanks man also when is the dedicated time in the curriculum for the research also any thoughts on the different trax like dallas, h-town, round rock, tempel
 
bro my post to you could be broken down into several questions 1) when domost people start research 2) any contact with derm / ortho? 3) any clinical experiences in 1st year 4) easy to shadow at S&W?

and you replied with some thing abotu how i need to relax and didnt say anything of help. your and idiot
You must be such a delight. I am surprised he/she even replied back after your first rude comment. I know who I am avoiding in my Med class already.
 
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I suspect the school is still feeling their way around the new curriculum if last year was the first year they shortened it to 1.5 years. Until current MS1 goes through the 18 months, they will all be figuring everything out and most likely don't know if they have time for much else other than classes during the first year since they are learning to fit it in lot less time.
 
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You must be such a delight. I am surprised he/she even replied back after your first rude comment. I know who I am avoiding in my Med class already.
good luck trying to avoid AMY SCHUMMER becausemy avatar is not even me
 
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derm and ortho

Oh boy we got a gunner here...

bro my post to you could be broken down into several questions 1) when domost people start research 2) any contact with derm / ortho? 3) any clinical experiences in 1st year 4) easy to shadow at S&W?

and you replied with some thing abotu how i need to relax and didnt say anything of help. your and idiot

domost --> do most*, abotu --> about*, didnt --> didn't*, your --> you're*, and --> an*

And you're calling the first year, who is trying to help you out, an idiot... LOL:nono:
 
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Ok folks, let's not make this a witch hunt. Just as much as medical school is a time to learn, it's also a time to grow and mature.
 
Question: the Texas A&M secondary is incredibly similar to TMDSAS personal characteristics and unique experience essay. Did all of you write about two distinct things (comparing the secondary to TMDSAS essays)? I mean that in the chance of ruining my app by what someone would consider as repeating myself.

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ACCEPTED off of WL today. IS. Interviewed 10/29/15
 
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How late can you get called in from the wait list? Anyone have an idea of how many people were originally wait listed?
 
Female friend of mine was accepted off the WL yesterday. She interviewed in November.

Seems like TAMU is calling people almost everyday. Really hoping for a call too. xD
 
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Just got the call, interviewed in August, and my campus designation is Temple.
 
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Just got the call!!! I'll be assigned to Temple :)
 
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Sorry for the necrobump, but for those accepted off the waitlist did you send any additional information to update your application?
 
Sorry for the necrobump, but for those accepted off the waitlist did you send any additional information to update your application?

You'll get an email about this, but yes; they actually encourage an additional letter of recommendation and update.
 
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