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Asaeed90cc said:
What exactly is the “Scholars in Primary Care” supplemental program? I can’t find any details about the program.


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The Scholars in Primary Care program is a special clinic that you apply for at the beginning of MS1 year. About 10 people get in, and you get to work at the Migrant Farm Workers clinic for the 4 years that you are at PLF. But the special thing about it is that no one else gets to work in that clinic, only the people in the program. That means you get so many more chances at patient interaction and longitudinal care.
 
BlooND said:
The Scholars in Primary Care program is a special clinic that you apply for at the beginning of MS1 year. About 10 people get in, and you get to work at the Migrant Farm Workers clinic for the 4 years that you are at PLF. But the special thing about it is that no one else gets to work in that clinic, only the people in the program. That means you get so many more chances at patient interaction and longitudinal care.
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Wow that’s really fascinating and something I’m definitely interested in. Thank you so much!


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BlooND said:
The Scholars in Primary Care program is a special clinic that you apply for at the beginning of MS1 year. About 10 people get in, and you get to work at the Migrant Farm Workers clinic for the 4 years that you are at PLF. But the special thing about it is that no one else gets to work in that clinic, only the people in the program. That means you get so many more chances at patient interaction and longitudinal care.
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Does PLFSOM have any such programs or resources for students with interest in surgery?
Thank you for taking time out to answering our questions. We really appreciate your time! 🙂
 
Soulful said:
Does PLFSOM have any such programs or resources for students with interest in surgery?
Thank you for taking time out to answering our questions. We really appreciate your time! 🙂
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No problem! We have the surgery interest group, which brings in surgeons to talk about their life and how they got to where they are, as well as suture clinics and student panels. I'm an officer in the surgery interest group and we try our best to get information out there to those that want it. We also have the Distinction in Anatomy program, which I am also a part of. We help prepare prosections for the upcoming MS1 class during the summer between 1st and 2nd year. We are also required to be TAs for MS1 anatomy labs during the year, take 2 anatomy written examinations, do practicals during the summer, do a research project in anatomy, and do 2 'anatomy' electives in 4th year (basically specialty surgery rotations).
 
sweetnothings35 said:
Hey @BlooND, what do most MS1s do in terms of housing? (living alone vs. with roommates? renting a house vs. getting an apartment? west vs. east side? any recommendations?)

Thanks!
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There is a lot of variation in where people end up living. There's a pretty good mix of east and west, but the west side has been typically the choice of a lot of students because that's where the 'fun' is (alamo draft house, bars on cinncinati street, trendy restaurants and cafes). MS1's with families normally end up renting houses on the west side, but there have been some instances of MS1's finding people to room with and rent a house on the FB page, and sometimes it ends up cheaper than an apartment. Of course, many people get apartments, and a lot found roommates on the FB page. There are plenty of apartments within 15 minutes of school, I would suggest looking around the Sunland park region, and the area near the Alamo draft house. Some complexes I've like are Avalon West and Legends. As for the east side, it's growing, and there are new complexes out there. Plus the traffic going to school is non-existent coming from the east side, but you do sacrifice being close to classmates and all the stuff to do on the west side. My advice is to find a place 15 minutes from school on the west side of town, in my opinion, it makes for a better experience.

Regarding roommates, you can post on the FB page if you are open to having a roommate, but if you want to live alone, the housing prices in El Paso are pretty reasonable, so you won't be breaking the bank too much if you don't want to live with anyone else.
 
BlooND said:
There is a lot of variation in where people end up living. There's a pretty good mix of east and west, but the west side has been typically the choice of a lot of students because that's where the 'fun' is (alamo draft house, bars on cinncinati street, trendy restaurants and cafes). MS1's with families normally end up renting houses on the west side, but there have been some instances of MS1's finding people to room with and rent a house on the FB page, and sometimes it ends up cheaper than an apartment. Of course, many people get apartments, and a lot found roommates on the FB page. There are plenty of apartments within 15 minutes of school, I would suggest looking around the Sunland park region, and the area near the Alamo draft house. Some complexes I've like are Avalon West and Legends. As for the east side, it's growing, and there are new complexes out there. Plus the traffic going to school is non-existent coming from the east side, but you do sacrifice being close to classmates and all the stuff to do on the west side. My advice is to find a place 15 minutes from school on the west side of town, in my opinion, it makes for a better experience.

Regarding roommates, you can post on the FB page if you are open to having a roommate, but if you want to live alone, the housing prices in El Paso are pretty reasonable, so you won't be breaking the bank too much if you don't want to live with anyone else.
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Thanks a bunch for taking time out of step studying to help us!!
 
How is the anatomy lab structured? Do students who are not a part of the distinction in anatomy program get to do any dissecting or is it mainly looking at specimens prepared by those a part of the program?
 
fmd123 said:
How is the anatomy lab structured? Do students who are not a part of the distinction in anatomy program get to do any dissecting or is it mainly looking at specimens prepared by those a part of the program?
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The way anatomy is right now, there is one hour of going over anatomy with a focus on clinical correlates, which occurs in big room adjacent to the anatomy lab. Then, everyone moves to the actual anatomy lab and looks at prosections with pins in them. You get a sheet of paper that tell you what is what at each station (ex: the red pin at station 5 is the right coronary artery). Along with each station comes 1 or 2 questions to test your group's knowledge. There are anatomy TAs and anatomy professors walking around to answers any questions. As a result of this, there are no dissections done during these sessions. All the dissection has been done by distinction in anatomy students or anatomy professors.

Of note, there are no anatomy practicals; you will not be asked to come into the anatomy lab and identify a pinned specimen for a grade. Your anatomy assessments come in the form of questions in the big SPM unit test at the end of the unit. For these questions, they try not to just show you a picture and a pin. They'll give you a vignette which helps the anatomy be more clinically correlated.
 
Anyone know anything about the waitlist?
 
fmd123 said:
Anyone received their orientation packet in the mail yet?
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They actually had plans to mail it to my parents house because for some reason TMDSAS didn't update my address. Had to call and have it resent to my current address.
 
TheFort13 said:
They actually had plans to mail it to my parents house because for some reason TMDSAS didn't update my address. Had to call and have it resent to my current address.
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Did they say when they would mail it out?

Also, I sent in my forms from the match confirmation email in via email. I haven't received any confirmation. Anyone else in the same boat, or should I wait a bit and call?
 
sweetnothings35 said:
Did they say when they would mail it out?

Also, I sent in my forms from the match confirmation email in via email. I haven't received any confirmation. Anyone else in the same boat, or should I wait a bit and call?
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I emailed both forms to Laura and Admissions. Haven’t heard back.


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sweetnothings35 said:
Did they say when they would mail it out?

Also, I sent in my forms from the match confirmation email in via email. I haven't received any confirmation. Anyone else in the same boat, or should I wait a bit and call?
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I got a confirmation email from the Director of Admissions right away. I wonder when will they mail the packet. Facebook page isn't up yet either.
Did you guys select a supplemental program? I was pretty torn between MD/MPH and Distinction in Anatomy (you can't do both). I picked Distinction in Anatomy. What about y'all?
 
@BlooND Had a couple of questions for you, since you seem to be of immense help earlier in the post 😉

What if you are not sure about whether you want to go into primary care or a surgical specialty? I am still undecided on which specialization to be honest, but both the Distinction in Anatomy and the MD/MPH program intrigue me a lot. Would not doing a Distinction in Anatomy hinder you as a surgeon, do you think, or would just going through prosection be enough for surgical residencies? Also, do you find balancing time between your Distinction in Anatomy difficult or relatively manageable, as it seems like the Distinction has a lot of components to it?

Sorry this is a really loaded post. Thank you for replying to previous posts!

Also good luck to all waitlist students out there! Patience is a virtue. be strong y'all! Hope to see you soon 🙂
 
Soulful said:
I got a confirmation email from the Director of Admissions right away. I wonder when will they mail the packet. Facebook page isn't up yet either.
Did you guys select a supplemental program? I was pretty torn between MD/MPH and Distinction in Anatomy (you can't do both). I picked Distinction in Anatomy. What about y'all?
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Oh my goodness! NO WAY haha! In the same boat. I feel ya. So I just checked both boxes after talking to Ms. Olivas. She said you can choose both, but you have to decide by the time school starts -- at least that's what I understood.
 
sweetnothings35 said:
Did they say when they would mail it out?

Also, I sent in my forms from the match confirmation email in via email. I haven't received any confirmation. Anyone else in the same boat, or should I wait a bit and call?
Click to expand...

Yes nothing in the mail yet. I received a confirmation email two days ago after sending one of my forms on Feb 2. I'm sure they're very busy right now and getting a lot of emails. I think as long as you sent it in, and you have proof in your sent inbox, you should be fine!
 
The Cure Is Love said:
@BlooND Had a couple of questions for you, since you seem to be of immense help earlier in the post 😉

What if you are not sure about whether you want to go into primary care or a surgical specialty? I am still undecided on which specialization to be honest, but both the Distinction in Anatomy and the MD/MPH program intrigue me a lot. Would not doing a Distinction in Anatomy hinder you as a surgeon, do you think, or would just going through prosection be enough for surgical residencies? Also, do you find balancing time between your Distinction in Anatomy difficult or relatively manageable, as it seems like the Distinction has a lot of components to it?

Sorry this is a really loaded post. Thank you for replying to previous posts!

Also good luck to all waitlist students out there! Patience is a virtue. be strong y'all! Hope to see you soon 🙂
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So, the distinction in anatomy program is a good thing to put on residency applications for surgical programs, but if you don't have it on your resume, I don't think you'll be at that much of a disadvantage. Residency directors take a lot of things into account when they assess applicants, the most valued being STEP scores, clinical evaluations, and then maybe letters of rec and research. The distinction in anatomy program would be just the cherry on top, but I don't think it would make or break a surgical application.

To give the program credit, I've learned a fair amount more about anatomy than my classmates who aren't in the program. I don't believe that the prosection anatomy curriculum is at its best right now. The distinction program forces you to learn anatomy the old fashioned way, through dissection and practicals. Other requirements are being a TA for labs, which forces you to teach the material you've learned, and to take 2 anatomy tests, one in house and one made by the NBME, which again forces you to learn anatomy extremely well. You also get to know the anatomy professors extremely well, giving you an in when it comes to finding research. Another plus is that one your diploma, it'll say distinction in anatomy on it. However, you can learn anatomy on your own and probably be just as prepared for surgical rotations. Keep in mind, dissection is different from surgery, and anatomy skills you learn in the program probably will not help you be better at surgical procedures.

Regarding balancing time, the vast majority of the program is done during the summer between your 1st and 2nd years, with the TA thing happening during the school year and the 2 tests at the end of 2nd year. It has not hindered me in the slightest from doing other things I wanted to do (studying, volunteering).
 
Hi all, I know that the website says that they do not accept Letters of Intent, does this hold true for those on the waitlist? Or would they be accepted in that case.
 
SolarBear said:
Hi all, I know that the website says that they do not accept Letters of Intent, does this hold true for those on the waitlist? Or would they be accepted in that case.
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Check out previous years' threads. Last year I was on the waitlist and I wrote a letter of intent. I didn't get in but some applicant who wrote one (around the end of March) got a call from the Dean in a week or so. There is no telling if it actually works or not. It does not seem to hurt if you're on a waitlist. Do what you feel most comfortable with and Good luck buddy! There will certainly be some waitlist movement in April-May 🙂:xf:

If you are not successful with this application cycle it has nothing to do with your value as a person. It is just an unfortunate reality of a really competitive process. Speaking from the experience: it takes a lot of mental and emotional toll on you. Talking to people in your support system and setting new goals will help, or if you need help with anything let me know. 🙂
 
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md9x said:
Has anyone received their packet in the mail yet?
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Nope! If ya'll know any thing about the Facebook Page for the class of 2022 please update the rest of us. According to last year's thread Orientation Packet was available within a week after Match day. Anyone volunteering to call the admission to see what's going on? 😀 haha
 
Soulful said:
Nope! If ya'll know any thing about the Facebook Page for the class of 2022 please update the rest of us. According to last year's thread Orientation Packet was available within a week after Match day. Anyone volunteering to call the admission to see what's going on? haha
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According to a friend that called a few days ago, Laura said the packets were sent out on Monday. Not sure about the Facebook group.
 
I called Ms. Olivas today, and she verified that I had all my forms turned in. She stated that the forms in the email are the exact same ones in the packet mailed out, and that the packet is more of a formality. So make sure that you fill out all forms in the email that you received, and you should be in good hands! As @kyotoraz said, the acceptance packet was mailed last week on Monday, but there really are no further details. I haven't gotten it but I guess it is called snail mail for a reason 😛

She said that we should be getting an email in the near future from Office of Student Affairs and Student Services with more deadlines regarding financial aid, etc.
 
The Cure Is Love said:
I called Ms. Olivas today, and she verified that I had all my forms turned in. She stated that the forms in the email are the exact same ones in the packet mailed out, and that the packet is more of a formality. So make sure that you fill out all forms in the email that you received, and you should be in good hands! As @kyotoraz said, the acceptance packet was mailed last week on Monday, but there really are no further details. I haven't gotten it but I guess it is called snail mail for a reason 😛

She said that we should be getting an email in the near future from Office of Student Affairs and Student Services with more deadlines regarding financial aid, etc.
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Just to make sure, we only had to turn in the SCC and Acceptance form right?


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I got my letter in the mail today! It was in pretty rough shape. It was the exact same information as the email with the SCC and acceptance form. No orientation info or checklist.
 
Woohoo! So excited to start this adventure with all of you guys! Can someone also message me the link? Out of curiosity, how did you find out that the page had been made @Soulful
 
fmd123 said:
Woohoo! So excited to start this adventure with all of you guys! Can someone also message me the link? Out of curiosity, how did you find out that the page had been made @Soulful
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Messaged you the link! 🙂 I searched "TTUHSC PLF School of Medicine Class of 2022" on Facebook. It was created today.

If anyone still needs the link let me know!
 
Soulful said:
Messaged you the link! 🙂 I searched "TTUHSC PLF School of Medicine Class of 2022" on Facebook. It was created today.

If anyone still needs the link let me know!
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Could you please send me the link?


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They updated the quick links for class of 2022 on the student affairs page of their website!! Everything is up to date except the orientation packet which still links to the packet for class of 2021.
 
When do we receive an activation code for the eraider account?


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Soulful said:
Messaged you the link! 🙂 I searched "TTUHSC PLF School of Medicine Class of 2022" on Facebook. It was created today.

If anyone still needs the link let me know!
Click to expand...
I need it please!
 
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