2015-2016 University of Texas - Galveston Application Thread

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Need a little help here, guys. I didn't get into any schools this year, but I'm not letting that stop me. The first thing I'd like to do is get feedback from the admissions committees. I know that it's possible to do this, but I'm not entirely sure how to go about it. How should I do this? Who should I contact at UTMB?
 
For the females in this thread -- how would you know your coat size? The sizes are anywhere from 6 to 20, and I don't know how I can know the correct size without trying them on.
The sizes may correspond to dress size. That said, do they have a sizing chart posted anywhere? As a last resort, you could contact them asking for sizing information.
 
Need a little help here, guys. I didn't get into any schools this year, but I'm not letting that stop me. The first thing I'd like to do is get feedback from the admissions committees. I know that it's possible to do this, but I'm not entirely sure how to go about it. How should I do this? Who should I contact at UTMB?
Email Ms. Tammy Bird and schedule a conference with Dr. Rabek - he will go over your TMDSAS profile and give you guidance with how to go about improving for reapplying.
 
Need a little help here, guys. I didn't get into any schools this year, but I'm not letting that stop me. The first thing I'd like to do is get feedback from the admissions committees. I know that it's possible to do this, but I'm not entirely sure how to go about it. How should I do this? Who should I contact at UTMB?

What are your stats? Are you in state? What was your major?
 
Need a little help here, guys. I didn't get into any schools this year, but I'm not letting that stop me. The first thing I'd like to do is get feedback from the admissions committees. I know that it's possible to do this, but I'm not entirely sure how to go about it. How should I do this? Who should I contact at UTMB?

And whatever you do, don't contact Theresa Silva! She's not helpful whatsoever and quite patronizing. Just ask to schedule an appt with Dean Rabek directly
 
Email Ms. Tammy Bird and schedule a conference with Dr. Rabek - he will go over your TMDSAS profile and give you guidance with how to go about improving for reapplying.
Any idea if he'd be willing to do a Skype conference? The drive isn't impossible, but...I'd rather not do that to my historical artifact of a car.
 
3.69GPA, 3.8 BPCM, 512 MCAT, IS, and Finance

Not bad! Your stats are good enough for medical school. You mentioned in a previous post that your LizzyM was 80.6 and I was flabbergasted that you hadn't gotten in. Your actual LizzyM is 68.9, which is still solid.
 
And whatever you do, don't contact Theresa Silva! She's not helpful whatsoever and quite patronizing. Just ask to schedule an appt with Dean Rabek directly
I find that really offensive that you would go out of your way to personally attack Theresa Silva. I don't know your own personal experience, but I've found Ms. Silva to be nothing but helpful and encouraging. I was concerned about my application and me not getting an interview back in October and I sent several emails to Theresa Silva and Tammy Bird. I got the email back from Ms. Silva reassuring me that my application was under review and they had received all application materials - and she reassured me that there were plenty of spots (this was end of October) for interviewing. Tammy Bird even made sure my application was under review multiple times. I don't know what you found so patronizing about Ms. Silva.

This was just my personal experience. A friend of mine who didn't get any interviews also emailed and was able to speak with Ms Silva and she provided them with the feedback that they needed a more competitive GPA as UTMB's incoming GPA averages are quite high. This was concise advice that my friend needed who is now taking post-bacc courses.

For future applicants, I highly recommend that you watch your attitude and tone in your correspondence to admissions staff, even if they are a Secretary, let alone the Director of Admissions. Respect them and realize they're managing thousands of applications. Always be polite and courteous in your communication with the schools.
 
Any idea if he'd be willing to do a Skype conference? The drive isn't impossible, but...I'd rather not do that to my historical artifact of a car.
I was simply given a time-slot and I made the call to Dr. Rabek myself. When he will speak to you, he will have your TMDSAS profile at hand so he could give you feedback on PS, ECs, etc.
 
I find that really offensive that you would go out of your way to personally attack... the Director of Admissions.

My post was not an attack but rather a heads up to future applicants. I have friends and family at the school who have unanimously had bad experiences with her. When she came to my alma mater to speak, I remember raising my hand to ask her:

"So.. Why UTMB? Now that we have more info about your ideal student, I'd like to ask about a student's ideal learning environment. Why should we choose UTMB if given the choice amongst other comparable schools?"

Her reply? Rather patronizingly, and defensively,

"That's not how it works. WE choose YOU, and then you are given the privilege to attend this school. If you don't like UTMB you can attend elsewhere."

Another time my old roommate, another reapplicant, calls in to speak with the Dean, and she says he is too busy (he's not), but that she could help herself. Then she goes on to say that an analysis isn't necessary, because his "3.65" GPA is "too low for the outstanding matriculant GPA averages of UTMB." Apparently they didn't care about his 33 MCAT score, or his hundreds of hours of hospice care?

(They do. I know people who got in with lower GPAs and "outstanding" life experiences and non-academic credentials.)

When he finally gets a hold of the Dean, he gets entirely different, actually helpful feedback.
 
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My post was not an attack but rather a heads up to future applicants. I have friends and family at the school who have unanimously had bad experiences with her. When she came to my alma mater to speak, I remember raising my hand to ask her:

"So.. Why UTMB? Now that we have more info about your ideal student, I'd like to ask about a student's ideal learning environment. Why should we choose UTMB if given the choice amongst other comparable schools?"

Her reply? Rather patronizingly, and defensively,

"That's not how it works. WE choose YOU, and then you are given the privilege to attend this school. If you don't like UTMB you can attend elsewhere."

Another time my old roommate, another reapplicant, calls in to speak with the Dean, and she says he is too busy (he's not), but that she could help herself. Then she goes on to say that an analysis isn't necessary, because his "3.65" GPA is "too low for the outstanding matriculant GPA averages of UTMB." Apparently they didn't care about his 33 MCAT score, or his hundreds of hours of hospice care?

(They do. I know people who got in with lower GPAs and "outstanding" life experiences and non-academic credentials.)

When he finally gets a hold of the Dean, he gets entirely different, actually helpful feedback.
Keep in mind the admissions director at almost all medical schools is responsible for the initial application screening - a lot of the times, it IS based on some numeric cutoff. There's no denying that initially, medical school admissions is all about the numbers game. After the initial screening, the application then goes to sub-committees for further review. At least that's what my basic understanding is.

And you're question, though reasonable, sounds a bit presumptive. At least make it to the interview stage before asking questions like "why should I choose UTMB?" In fact, I never asked this question of anybody (including my interviewers). It just comes off as presumptive and it can sometimes put you in an awkward situation just like you experienced. And to be fair, she isn't really wrong - the admissions committee does choose the applicant. At the interview stage, you still don't know whether or not you would be good enough for the acceptance, let alone from multiple schools. Unless you do have multiple offers from other schools by your interview day at a school, I would just refrain from asking the "why should I choose school X" question.

I should mention it is perfectly OK to ask the "why should I come to school X" on the student panels, etc. They are much more informal and I believe are the best places to ask these types of questions that determine your "fit" with the school.

In my opinion, I'd rather prefer admissions staff who are blunt and truthful rather than those who go abut this process by being politically correct with their one-liners of "holistic review". In my first application, I spoke with several people who were just giving me a false hope (my 25 MCAT was nowhere near competitive even with my 4.0 GPA) - and I had an impressive resume with ECs, community service, clinical experiences and leadership to boot. But unfortunately got no interviews that cycle 🙁

All this being said, I hope people have more favorable experiences with the admissions staff. I hope others would corroborate this but really at my interview day, everyone was incredibly welcoming. Dr. Carroll met with everyone and congratulated us on making it to the important interview stage. Dr. Boyars who is the chairman of the committee was equally welcoming in his interview presentation. The day was really an incredible experience for me and I am so grateful that I will be pursuing my medical education at UTMB. I could NOT have asked for a better place to study medicine.

All the best to all. If anyone has any questions about the being a reapplicant, interviews, Match Day anxiety, feel free to PM me!!!!
 
Keep in mind the admissions director at almost all medical schools is responsible for the initial application screening - a lot of the times, it IS based on some numeric cutoff. There's no denying that initially, medical school admissions is all about the numbers game. After the initial screening, the application then goes to sub-committees for further review. At least that's what my basic understanding is.

And you're question, though reasonable, sounds a bit presumptive. At least make it to the interview stage before asking questions like "why should I choose UTMB?" In fact, I never asked this question of anybody (including my interviewers). It just comes off as presumptive and it can sometimes put you in an awkward situation just like you experienced. And to be fair, she isn't really wrong - the admissions committee does choose the applicant. At the interview stage, you still don't know whether or not you would be good enough for the acceptance, let alone from multiple schools. Unless you do have multiple offers from other schools by your interview day at a school, I would just refrain from asking the "why should I choose school X" question.

I should mention it is perfectly OK to ask the "why should I come to school X" on the student panels, etc. They are much more informal and I believe are the best places to ask these types of questions that determine your "fit" with the school.

In my opinion, I'd rather prefer admissions staff who are blunt and truthful rather than those who go abut this process by being politically correct with their one-liners of "holistic review". In my first application, I spoke with several people who were just giving me a false hope (my 25 MCAT was nowhere near competitive even with my 4.0 GPA) - and I had an impressive resume with ECs, community service, clinical experiences and leadership to boot. But unfortunately got no interviews that cycle 🙁

All this being said, I hope people have more favorable experiences with the admissions staff. I hope others would corroborate this but really at my interview day, everyone was incredibly welcoming. Dr. Carroll met with everyone and congratulated us on making it to the important interview stage. Dr. Boyars who is the chairman of the committee was equally welcoming in his interview presentation. The day was really an incredible experience for me and I am so grateful that I will be pursuing my medical education at UTMB. I could NOT have asked for a better place to study medicine.

All the best to all. If anyone has any questions about the being a reapplicant, interviews, Match Day anxiety, feel free to PM me!!!!

Well good for you! Although I asked the "why should I choose this school?" at every single interview and pre-matched everywhere except Dell and nobody seemed to care. In fact they enjoyed answering the question. I guess it just depends on how you ask it.
 
Well good for you! Although I asked the "why should I choose this school?" at every single interview and pre-matched everywhere except Dell and nobody seemed to care. In fact they enjoyed answering the question. I guess it just depends on how you ask it.
Yeah there's a lot of subjectivity involved in the process and its totally arbitrary what kind of response you might receive to a question like that. I decided to play it safe for the most part.
 
I think the point is being missed here - none of them are required to review the applications and provide feedback on why you didn't make the cut or what would help you during a reapplication.

It is incredibly nice of these people to bend over backwards and go through a review process of your application with YOU (I saw similar comments on A&M thread). It speaks volumes about how open they are being about their process. Most medical schools are very opaque and you will get a curt response - "All decisions are final and no questions will be entertained".
 
And you're question, though reasonable, sounds a bit presumptive. At least make it to the interview stage before asking questions like "why should I choose UTMB?" In fact, I never asked this question of anybody (including my interviewers).

The day was really an incredible experience for me and I am so grateful that I will be pursuing my medical education at UTMB. I could NOT have asked for a better place to study medicine.

UTMB is definitely an awesome place to study medicine and I'm happy you had a wonderful interview experience! You have a lot to be excited about!

I disagree about the appropriateness of the question. Remember, this was an info session, not even an interview (where the question is also very appropriate, see my next paragraph). It was strange that she didn't mention anything compelling to sell us on the school and I think the consensus in the room was that we weren't really getting anything out of that info session.

And to future applicants, I think it's very important to remember that just as much as they're interviewing you, you are also interviewing the schools. Medicine is a rewarding but taxing field to enter and you want to ensure you're doing so in the ideal environment for you. Absolutely do not shy away from asking hardball questions like, "What could the school benefit the most from, if given a donation of $50,000,000?" or "What do you not like about this school, and how do you think future medical students here could act best to help solve that issue?" These questions made each of my interview experiences much more informative, enjoyable, and two-sided.
 
Soooooo...I checked my spam folder...I'm on the waitlist. I had no idea! I guess my phone wasn't showing the email, so I had to login on a laptop to see it. Tammy Bird emailed me back and was like "but you're on the waitlist! We won't tell you what we're thinking!" (paraphrasing). Well, that was quite a way to find out. I'm still considering my other options given the rate that people move from the waitlist to the admitted class, but this is certainly good to know.
 
What is Prep?
It's a 5 week summer program that is supposed to help introduce you to your first year classes, especially anatomy, and to help ease your transition to medical school. I was invited to it yesterday as well.
 
We can only pick one track, right? I'm looking at the list right now, and so many of them look awesome.
I think you can actually pick more than one. I heard of a few people that are in two of them and it doesn't take up much of their time.

Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk
 
Hey all, current UTMB student here.

Congratulations to all of you who have been accepted already and those who will be accepted in the future. You're in for an incredible experience.

First off-
This school is amazing, and one of the gems of all medical schools in the country. There is tons of opportunity, but they aren't trying to break your back with needlessly excessive workloads. If I had got accepted to every school in Texas, I would pick UTMB every time. UTMB students enjoy a very high quality of life. I think our high step scores paired with our half days speak volumes about the quality of students at this school and the quality of the school itself.

Second-
You should do prep if you have the ability to. Its a great way to make a ton of friends, get to know the faculty, and familiarize yourself with the island. You can learn a lot, but dont have to take it super seriously since none of the grades matter or are recorded. Things will go 0-100 very quickly once school actually starts. But if you're lining up one last dream vacation before you never have a true summer vacation again, its ok to miss.

Third, and most importantly-
Get involved on the campus! There are many great student organizations here. UTMB is actually one of the last bastions of medical fraternities/sororities; a truly unique experience in medical school. Personally, I have loved being a member of TKY fraternity. The upperclassmen tutoring was crucial, and having a large brotherhood to call on for support during the trials and tribulations of medical school was invaluable. Not to mention, as far as room and board goes, living in the fraternity house is easily the best deal on the whole island. $420 a month includes utilities, 5 lunches a week, internet and cable, tutors at your fingertips, and its a 5 min walk from campus and literally next door to the supermarket and whataburger.

Medical school is hard. Really hard. Take it from me, the next 4 years will be much easier to go through with a group of like minded people who you can call on for support, relate to, and blow off steam with. I encourage all of you to take a look at the great organizations we have on this campus.
 
Hey all, current UTMB student here.

Congratulations to all of you who have been accepted already and those who will be accepted in the future. You're in for an incredible experience.

First off-
This school is amazing, and one of the gems of all medical schools in the country. There is tons of opportunity, but they aren't trying to break your back with needlessly excessive workloads. If I had got accepted to every school in Texas, I would pick UTMB every time. UTMB students enjoy a very high quality of life. I think our high step scores paired with our half days speak volumes about the quality of students at this school and the quality of the school itself.

Second-
You should do prep if you have the ability to. Its a great way to make a ton of friends, get to know the faculty, and familiarize yourself with the island. You can learn a lot, but dont have to take it super seriously since none of the grades matter or are recorded. Things will go 0-100 very quickly once school actually starts. But if you're lining up one last dream vacation before you never have a true summer vacation again, its ok to miss.

Third, and most importantly-
Get involved on the campus! There are many great student organizations here. UTMB is actually one of the last bastions of medical fraternities/sororities; a truly unique experience in medical school. Personally, I have loved being a member of TKY fraternity. The upperclassmen tutoring was crucial, and having a large brotherhood to call on for support during the trials and tribulations of medical school was invaluable. Not to mention, as far as room and board goes, living in the fraternity house is easily the best deal on the whole island. $420 a month includes utilities, 5 lunches a week, internet and cable, tutors at your fingertips, and its a 5 min walk from campus and literally next door to the supermarket and whataburger.

Medical school is hard. Really hard. Take it from me, the next 4 years will be much easier to go through with a group of like minded people who you can call on for support, relate to, and blow off steam with. I encourage all of you to take a look at the great organizations we have on this campus.
Thanks for the insight from inside!
 
Hey all, current UTMB student here.

Congratulations to all of you who have been accepted already and those who will be accepted in the future. You're in for an incredible experience.

First off-
This school is amazing, and one of the gems of all medical schools in the country. There is tons of opportunity, but they aren't trying to break your back with needlessly excessive workloads. If I had got accepted to every school in Texas, I would pick UTMB every time. UTMB students enjoy a very high quality of life. I think our high step scores paired with our half days speak volumes about the quality of students at this school and the quality of the school itself.

Second-
You should do prep if you have the ability to. Its a great way to make a ton of friends, get to know the faculty, and familiarize yourself with the island. You can learn a lot, but dont have to take it super seriously since none of the grades matter or are recorded. Things will go 0-100 very quickly once school actually starts. But if you're lining up one last dream vacation before you never have a true summer vacation again, its ok to miss.

Third, and most importantly-
Get involved on the campus! There are many great student organizations here. UTMB is actually one of the last bastions of medical fraternities/sororities; a truly unique experience in medical school. Personally, I have loved being a member of TKY fraternity. The upperclassmen tutoring was crucial, and having a large brotherhood to call on for support during the trials and tribulations of medical school was invaluable. Not to mention, as far as room and board goes, living in the fraternity house is easily the best deal on the whole island. $420 a month includes utilities, 5 lunches a week, internet and cable, tutors at your fingertips, and its a 5 min walk from campus and literally next door to the supermarket and whataburger.

Medical school is hard. Really hard. Take it from me, the next 4 years will be much easier to go through with a group of like minded people who you can call on for support, relate to, and blow off steam with. I encourage all of you to take a look at the great organizations we have on this campus.
Thanks!!
 
Current MS4 at UTMB. Recently matched into a top Emergency Medicine program. I am done with clinical rotations, so I am happy to take any questions here or via PM.

Overall I had a great experience at UTMB and genuinely think that the school is only getting better and better. Within the past 3.5 years the school renovated its library, created a new student lounge, opened a new student health center, transitioned to using NBME exams for all four years (previously only years 3 and 4), and is opening a brand new hospital soon. I remember having to decide between UTHSC in Houston (renamed McGovern Medical School not too long ago) and UTMB. I chose UTMB based on the laid back and friendly personality of the students I met on my interview day, short commute to campus (5-8 minutes walking!), and the well-established clinical rotation location (Galveston-, Houston-, Austin-based) sites.

I completed the Bilingual Health Track and participated in a Global Health summer elective, so I can answer questions on these topics as well.

Good luck!
 
Current MS4 at UTMB. Recently matched into a top Emergency Medicine program. I am done with clinical rotations, so I am happy to take any questions here or via PM.

Overall I had a great experience at UTMB and genuinely think that the school is only getting better and better. Within the past 3.5 years the school renovated its library, created a new student lounge, opened a new student health center, transitioned to using NBME exams for all four years (previously only years 3 and 4), and is opening a brand new hospital soon. I remember having to decide between UTHSC in Houston (renamed McGovern Medical School not too long ago) and UTMB. I chose UTMB based on the laid back and friendly personality of the students I met on my interview day, short commute to campus (5-8 minutes walking!), and the well-established clinical rotation location (Galveston-, Houston-, Austin-based) sites.

I completed the Bilingual Health Track and participated in a Global Health summer elective, so I can answer questions on these topics as well.

Good luck!

Congratulations on your match, and thank you for offering to take our questions!

How does the process work for choosing (or being assigned to) rotation locations? Is it fairly easy to stay in Galveston for the bulk of clinical years, or is it expected that one will spend a substantial amount of time at the other sites?

Also, do you have any advice for someone who might also be interested in EM?
 
How does the process work for choosing (or being assigned to) rotation locations? Is it fairly easy to stay in Galveston for the bulk of clinical years, or is it expected that one will spend a substantial amount of time at the other sites? Also, do you have any advice for someone who might also be interested in EM?

You will be assigned to Galveston rotation sites as the "default". In other words, rotating in Austin and/or Houston is more a "opt-in" aspect of the clinical curriculum and not something forced. With that said, you do have to do have to commute to Downtown Houston for 3 weeks during your psych rotation. This might change and you might not have to do it by the time you become an MS3, given the opening of the new hospital.

Also, do you have any advice for someone who might also be interested in EM?

At your stage, the best advice I can possibly give you is to work hard and score well on your preclinical modules in preparation for STEP1. Emergency Medicine has already exceeded Anesthesia in terms of competitiveness and will probably continue to increase its competitiveness, so you have to work towards being above average for your class. I know this is a very generic-sounding piece of advice, but it really is the most important thing you can do this early in the game.

Good luck!
 
I'm pretty interested in joining a fraternity. Does anyone have more information on UTMB fraternities and/or the rush process?
 
I also wanted to ask... Is there a Facebook group for the incoming class set up yet?
 
Thanks for this!
Question: How much Spanish would you need to know for the Bilingual Health Track? I only have a minor in Spanish from undergrad and I'm not a native speaker. Did you find the track helpful for you in any way?

Dr. Perez (the preceptor for this track) usually schedules a phone interview with those who apply in order to check their Spanish proficiency. Sounds tough, but in reality she will let you join the track if you have a basic-to-intermediate level of conversational Spanish!
 
I'm pretty interested in joining a fraternity. Does anyone have more information on UTMB fraternities and/or the rush process?
Check out the post from member name Phi Chi on this thread dated 1/16/16. He tells about the med student fraternity which you can join and even live in-
 
Has anybody been made a scholarship offer? Also, when do we get our financial aid packages?
 
Has anyone heard any news since being placed in the alternate pool?

Nope! I know the waitlists at other schools have started moving so I'm curious as to why I haven't seen any news on here
 
Nope! I know the waitlists at other schools have started moving so I'm curious as to why I haven't seen any news on here
Every time someone gives up a spot to take a different offer, it will take some time for the affected schools to verify everything and then make an offer to someone on the Wait List
 
Texas schools are a bit different. Many of them already gave up their waitlists at other Texas schools a long time ago when they needed to hold a single admission in TMDSAS (January 21th). They offered many spots to others back then when those seats opened up in January. So in a way a big round of waitlist selection happened a while ago.

The openings now occurring are mostly at UT Southwestern or Baylor where students have to pick one final medical school. So if someone moves up from Galveston to another Texas school because they are on their waitlist, then a spot opens at Galveston.
 
This is true, and there are also those who hold an out of state acceptance and a Texas acceptance who will be dropping one or the other.

This is another possibility. The main reason it is very hard for people to accept OOS is because Texas schools have almost the lowest tuition in state and for most to leave, they need a major scholarship or large FA grants.

@wysdoc - I see that you are an attending physician in Rio Grande Valley. Someone told me the new UT medical school there is offering free tuition for 4 years for the first batch. Have you heard about it?
 
This is another possibility. The main reason it is very hard for people to accept OOS is because Texas schools have almost the lowest tuition in state and for most to leave, they need a major scholarship or large FA grants.

@wysdoc - I see that you are an attending physician in Rio Grande Valley. Someone told me the new UT medical school there is offering free tuition for 4 years for the first batch. Have you heard about it?

I interviewed and am in the alternate pool there. The scholarship is for 80% off tuition for the first year. They're in the process of trying to extend that to all 4 years, but I'm not sure what the progress is on that.
 
This is another possibility. The main reason it is very hard for people to accept OOS is because Texas schools have almost the lowest tuition in state and for most to leave, they need a major scholarship or large FA grants.

@wysdoc - I see that you are an attending physician in Rio Grande Valley. Someone told me the new UT medical school there is offering free tuition for 4 years for the first batch. Have you heard about it?
Yes TexasVandy, the tuition discount is for the first year only at this point. I am a doc in the RGV but not a teacher at the med school, just to clarify. My son is a current med school applicant.
 
I logged into my UTMB webmail a couple of days ago and noticed that I had exceeded my 2000 MB limit and that I needed to re-validate my mailbox. I don't want to have to constantly deal with hitting this limit and re-validating, so I was wondering if it's possible to have email that arrives at my UTMB webmail to be automatically forwarded to my gmail account?

Do most of ya'll use UTMB's webmail?
 
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