2016-2017 University of Texas HSC at Houston (McGovern) Application Thread

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ThunderDog said:
Well, they give you two weeks to either accept or reject the invitation hence the short availability.
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Right but that doesn't mean they have to schedule the interview only a week later. Most of the other TX schools give you about a month to make travel plans. It must be difficult for most people to get time off that quickly and expensive as well.
 
Skittsie13 said:
Right but that doesn't mean they have to schedule the interview only a week later. Most of the other TX schools give you about a month to make travel plans. It must be difficult for most people to get time off that quickly and expensive as well.
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There is a pretty short window of opportunity now for interviews, so it may happen that you end up buying air tickets on short notice. Not easy on the budget, but keep your eye on the prize and be as flexible as possible.
 
Skittsie13 said:
Right but that doesn't mean they have to schedule the interview only a week later. Most of the other TX schools give you about a month to make travel plans. It must be difficult for most people to get time off that quickly and expensive as well.
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I got about two weeks' notice for my interview, but I didn't really get much of a choice for dates. That could be because I applied MD/PhD though. Having such short notice did make it MUCH more expensive for me (trying to get a flight that fits an interview schedule from the other end of the country 10 days in advance...), but the lady that I talked to on the phone was extremely helpful, and so has everyone else from the school that I've been in contact with. Also, I was pretty okay with the idea of having an interview with them that soon because I really would love to go there.
 
wysdoc said:
There is a pretty short window of opportunity now for interviews, so it may happen that you end up buying air tickets on short notice. Not easy on the budget, but keep your eye on the prize and be as flexible as possible.
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Do you mean not a lot of interviews left? 🙁
 
Would you guys say that the majority of interviews have already been conducted? So far I only have a single interview. I feel it went well, but I did expect more attention from Texas schools.
 
CastleG8 said:
Would you guys say that the majority of interviews have already been conducted? So far I only have a single interview. I feel it went well, but I did expect more attention from Texas schools.
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Most Texas schools carry on with interviews through November, December, and some into January. Last year Baylor had one February interview date. Remember that the TMDSAS primary app deadline just passed recently (September 30). Since no new primary apps will be trickling in, the schools can now make some decisions on their total applicant pool and send out more invitations. Dell is still sending out invitations to complete the secondary app! So : calm the interview anxiety the best you can because there are still a lot of interviews coming up.
 
It depends on the school. For example, including this week, UTMB has 8/18 dates left, while UTSW has 9/13. Since UTSW usually starts interviewing later than other TX schools, I say the majority are more like UTMB and are probably about halfway done interviewing. Most TX schools go to December with maybe one date in January as well, so there is still time left.
 
Skittsie13 said:
It depends on the school. For example, including this week, UTMB has 8/18 dates left, while UTSW has 9/13. Since UTSW usually starts interviewing later than other TX schools, I say the majority are more like UTMB and are probably about halfway done interviewing. Most TX schools go to December with maybe one date in January as well.
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Thanks for the two previous posts. While sitting on my last interview I noticed I was the only applicant from a small public university. We don't even a football team and I transferred from a CC. I started to wonder if this was causing me to get ignored at schools where my MCAT is even slightly above their average acceptance score. Literally 80% of my last interview group had University of Texas on their badges with the rest from A&M, Rice, or a private Uni.
I felt like, geez. I hear them all talking about their interviews they already had at UTMB, TT, A&M, UTSW, etc.
 
CastleG8 said:
Thanks for the two previous posts. While sitting on my last interview I noticed I was the only applicant from a small public university. We don't even a football team and I transferred from a CC. I started to wonder if this was causing me to get ignored at schools where my MCAT is even slightly above their average acceptance score. Literally 80% of my last interview group had University of Texas on their badges with the rest from A&M, Rice, or a private Uni.
I felt like, geez. I hear them all talking about their interviews they already had at UTMB, TT, A&M, UTSW, etc.
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I want to say that's a function of those being HUGE schools. When I had my A&M interview, literally at least half of the cass was from UT. I'm OOS, so I had no idea that UT meant UT Austin until someone explained it to me.
 
Iwannaknow said:
I want to say that's a function of those being HUGE schools. When I had my A&M interview, literally at least half of the cass was from UT. I'm OOS, so I had no idea that UT meant UT Austin until someone explained it to me.
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I feel like MCAT puts a seal of approval on any GPA no matter where you learn your Biology, Biochem, and Physics. I feel like UnderGrad institution matters a lot more than I suspected, although this was just my single experience with state-wide premeds.
 
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CastleG8 said:
I feel like MCAT puts a seal of approval on any GPA no matter where you learn your Biology, Biochem, and Physics. I feel like UnderGrad institution matters a lot more than I suspected, although this was just my single experience with state-wide premeds. I would guess that 85% of the premeds I was surrounded by in my undergrad were unable to be competetive due to their work ethic and that was reflected by their gpa.
I took physics, biology, gen chem at a CC and I got a 130 B/BC and a 128 C/P and I only earned B's in Biology I/II and B's in both Biochem I/II at my lil' public undergrad.
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To be honest, I have no idea what you are getting at in this post. So I'll just address the first point. I do think undergrad matters, minimally though. You get a 4.0 at Rice and a 4.0 at a random small public school, Rice kid will win. But I think a 3.7 at Rice is no necessarily better than a 3.8 at the public school. It gets really difficult to decode stuff at this level, because if any bias exists, it mostly exists only in the mind of the person reading your app, not any official policy. And then, don't forget that one of goal of schools is to get a high average entering GPA. The 3.8 obviously wins.

That being said, I strongly believe that most of any bias, if any, is simply due to the fact that the better/best student TEND to attend the prestigious universities. You take a spectacular student and you put him/her in any university, and they'll do well. But they tend to attend these more prestigious ones, because why not? That's why schools like Harvard have grade creep and grade inflation. I just think that the students that go there are all A students. Hence, high GPA, hence interviews.
 
Iwannaknow said:
To be honest, I have no idea what you are getting at in this post. So I'll just address the first point. I do think undergrad matters, minimally though. You get a 4.0 at Rice and a 4.0 at a random small public school, Rice kid will win. But I think a 3.7 at Rice is no necessarily better than a 3.8 at the public school. It gets really difficult to decode stuff at this level, because if any bias exists, it mostly exists only in the mind of the person reading your app, not any official policy. And then, don't forget that one of goal of schools is to get a high average entering GPA. The 3.8 obviously wins.

That being said, I strongly believe that most of any bias, if any, is simply due to the fact that the better/best student TEND to attend the prestigious universities. You take a spectacular student and you put him/her in any university, and they'll do well. But they tend to attend these more prestigious ones, because why not? That's why schools like Harvard have grade creep and grade inflation. I just think that the students that go there are all A students. Hence, high GPA, hence interviews.
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How much does Harvard inflate the grades? Because I've seen people discuss how certain Ivies have high grade inflation and include mine and I'm like "huh, I suffer from grade deflation"? lol It's my own fault if I want to go to a super hard school for pre-med haha but I am always curious as to why people talk about grade inflation, unless Harvard does it and others don't? A class like sociology or French for example can have around 35% of the class being As, but when we get to the maths and sciences, it normally ranges from 10-20%.
 
wysdoc said:
Most Texas schools carry on with interviews through November, December, and some into January. Last year Baylor had one February interview date. Remember that the TMDSAS primary app deadline just passed recently (September 30). Since no new primary apps will be trickling in, the schools can now make some decisions on their total applicant pool and send out more invitations. Dell is still sending out invitations to complete the secondary app! So : calm the interview anxiety the best you can because there are still a lot of interviews coming up.
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You are such a great voice of reason throughout all of this. I find your posts calming so thank you!
 
CastleG8 said:
Would you guys say that the majority of interviews have already been conducted? So far I only have a single interview. I feel it went well, but I did expect more attention from Texas schools.
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Current MS1 here - from what I can tell there are 13 more dates left for interviews (through 1/13/17), don't give up hope! It's a long cycle just have patience (easier said than done, I know)
 
Does anyone know the averages for this school? The MSAR uses the median, so the statistics tend to be higher. There wasn't anything on the school website.
 
GinnyWeasley said:
Does anyone know the averages for this school? The MSAR uses the median, so the statistics tend to be higher. There wasn't anything on the school website.
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At a UTH seminar earlier this year, they said their MCAT accepted is around 508-510 but that if you have over a 500, you should be "safe" meaning you won't get screened out. It's not a guarantee you'll get an II either though.

Sorry I don't know much else from this school. I'm sure their GPA avg accepted must be like 3.7-something.

Really bummed I haven't heard from UTH yet. I love this school.
 
TexasSurgeon said:
At a UTH seminar earlier this year, they said their MCAT accepted is around 508-510 but that if you have over a 500, you should be "safe" meaning you won't get screened out. It's not a guarantee you'll get an II either though.

Sorry I don't know much else from this school. I'm sure their GPA avg accepted must be like 3.7-something.

Really bummed I haven't heard from UTH yet. I love this school.
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Thanks!! That's a tad lower than usual for this school I feel. It used to be a 33 on the old scale, which is around A 513-514. Although all the schools reported lower new MCAT scores for last year, so it should go up this cycle as more people take the new one.
 
GinnyWeasley said:
Thanks!! That's a tad lower than usual for this school I feel. It used to be a 33 on the old scale, which is around A 513-514. Although all the schools reported lower new MCAT scores for last year, so it should go up this cycle.
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Oh I was referring to average matriculation scores. Maybe yours are accepted? I think the 508/509 and higher is the safe range


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TexasSurgeon said:
Oh I was referring to average matriculation scores. Maybe yours are accepted? I think the 508/509 and higher is the safe range


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Haha yeah I think mine are accepted!! Although it's very hard to find any information about this school. Why are the matriculant scores lower though? I always hear how UTH is getting comparable to Southwestern and Baylor, and they have higher scores. Of course, it's all kind of skewed up with the new/old mcat stuff.
 
GinnyWeasley said:
Haha yeah I think mine are accepted!! Although it's very hard to find any information about this school. Why are the matriculant scores lower though? I always hear how UTH is getting comparable to Southwestern and Baylor, and they have higher scores. Of course, it's all kind of skewed up with the new/old mcat stuff.
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Yeah I think it still may be because some students do end up choosing some of the bigger schools in Texas with higher reps! But I think after a certain score it means less. I know many with 31s that got into BCM UTSW and UTH


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TexasSurgeon said:
Yeah I think it still may be because some students do end up choosing some of the bigger schools in Texas with higher reps! But I think after a certain score it means less. I know many with 31s that got into BCM UTSW and UTH


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I agree! Hope I didn't come across as saying that only super high scores can get in to those schools lol. I've gotten IIs at school where my MCAT is at the 10%, yet I haven't gotten IIs at schools where mine is around the 90% lol. Scores are only one factor, and it confuses me and frustrates me a little how schools make decisions, when sometimes it doesn't make sense haha.
 
GinnyWeasley said:
I agree! Hope I didn't come across as saying that only super high scores can get in to those schools lol. I've gotten IIs at school where my MCAT is at the 10%, yet I haven't gotten IIs at schools where mine is around the 90% lol. Scores are only one factor, and it confuses me and frustrates me a little how schools make decisions, when sometimes it doesn't make sense haha.
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Yeah I agree. That's what makes me so surprised because numbers wise I seem to fit this school.


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For whatever it's worth, on a tour of UTH about 2 years ago their rep said that a typical accepted student has a 3.7/3.8. She wrote it just like that with the slash


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OOS applicant who just interviewed here today. LOVE the school! Hoping to hear back soon. OOSers can hear about TX acceptances as soon as October 17th.
 
ImmovableMover said:
OOS applicant who just interviewed here today. LOVE the school! Hoping to hear back soon. OOSers can hear about TX acceptances as soon as October 17th.
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Literally will be a mess on Monday. I will be refreshing my email every 1 minute instead of every 5 😛
 
ImmovableMover said:
OOS applicant who just interviewed here today. LOVE the school! Hoping to hear back soon. OOSers can hear about TX acceptances as soon as October 17th.
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I'm interviewing there next week (also OOS). Is there anything that would be helpful for me to know? It seems like it is a fairly low-stress interview from what I've heard.
 
JoaoMoutinho said:
I'm interviewing there next week (also OOS). Is there anything that would be helpful for me to know? It seems like it is a fairly low-stress interview from what I've heard.
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It was super low stress. Texas schools are awesome about that. Be sure you can articulate Why Texas and Why McGovern? Those are the first things they'll ask you since we're OOS.
 
@TexasSurgeon, it seems like TX schools like to do OOS early if they can. But they do make up a pretty small percentage of the interviewees, so it's not like all their earlier days are taken up by OOS or anything.
 
ImmovableMover said:
It was super low stress. Texas schools are awesome about that. Be sure you can articulate Why Texas and Why McGovern? Those are the first things they'll ask you since we're OOS.
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I feel like I've got pretty good answers to both of those... Clearly, it's that there's a Fogo de Chão 20 minutes away from McGovern (among other reasons).
 
So the last few weeks have been pretty slow, but do you think we'll see more IIs go out since the admissions staff have sent out the OOS acceptances, and have one less thing to deal with?
 
GinnyWeasley said:
So the last few weeks have been pretty slow, but do you think we'll see more IIs go out since the admissions staff have sent out the OOS acceptances, and have one less thing to deal with?
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I am by no means an expert of any kind, but my best guess is that not ALL of the OOS acceptances have gone out and that things will more or less be the same. Maybe they will be able to work a little bit faster and get those IIs out a little sooner, but I can't see there being a huge change in their routine, even if they managed to get the whole 10% of their acceptances sent out to OOS students. They might be able to focus solely on the other 90% of people to accept, but the feedback up above has made it sound like they've been keeping a rough 90-10 ratio of IS-OOS students at the interview days already. Again, this is pure speculation and entirely my own poorly-informed opinion.

We're still only in the middle of October, so don't give up hope!
 
How long has it been taking for interviews to show up on TMDSAS?
 
Did any of you guys receive a confirmation email from them after your application was transmitted?
 
Got II just now (completed 9/26).

So they offered me 3 dates, and I already have interviews that cannot be rescheduled for 2 of those available dates, so I have to take the interview for THIS Friday. I'm sort of freaking out over the 2-day notice here. Any tips/advice?
 
Jillofalltrades said:
Got II just now (completed 9/26).

So they offered me 3 dates, and I already have interviews that cannot be rescheduled for 2 of those available dates, so I have to take the interview for THIS Friday. I'm sort of freaking out over the 2-day notice here. Any tips/advice?
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Grats! Do you mind sharing stats/completion date?

I would book a hotel and a flight ASAP. Houston is very nasty to drive through. It's manageable if you're nearby though. Houston is a huge metropolitan city, so flights and hotels are ubiquitous. See if UTH has any parternships with hotels. Your time might be too short notice to stay with a student, unless you know someone personally in Houston.
 
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