No need to apologize! I'm happy to answer any questions!
I won't name any other schools (bc they're all great IMO), but the main reason I chose McGovern was for a number of factors:
- The people. When I interviewed I noticed that the students seemed to strike a balance between being chill yet still eager to do well. That has still been my impression so far. Everyone is super nice and helpful, yet at the same time extremely smart (which can be a bit intimidating, but no one uses their smarts to try and put anyone else down). The smarties are more than willing to help out us normies, and no one seems to be afraid to ask for help.
- The school recently revamped the curriculum to focus on step 1. I wanted a school with a systems-based curriculum that really focuses on preparing the students for step 1, and McGovern has that. I've heard a lot of complaints about traditional curriculums that aren't catered towards step 1, and I wanted to avoid that headache all together.
- Lastly, I love Houston and I honestly don't think there's a better city to get a medical education in. You'll hear a lot of good things about the medical center, but the amount of research/shadowing opportunities you can get here really sold me on the city and the environment. And the food is awesome.
Yes, the first semester is unranked P/F, which has been amazing (it really has helped make this transition to med school a lot easier). I like the curriculum so far-the first semester is different though because it's not systems based yet. It's all of the basic sciences-anatomy, physiology, biochem, etc. It's tough, but definitely manageable. The faculty do a great job of working with the students and the test questions aren't killer. In fact, our averages have been pretty high and everyone is doing pretty well. Vast majority of lectures are non-mandatory, so there's a lot of freedom in how you make your study schedule. I think we have 6 weeks of dedicated for step 1.
I personally have not gotten started in research yet, but I plan to. There is a summer research program that students can apply for, but I also know of a lot of other students who simply email research labs they're interested in and get involved-it's that easy. This also speaks to why it's so great to go to med school here in Houston-there's more research going on than you can imagine and most of them are willing to have students hop on board to help. I'm not aiming for a competitive specialty, but if I were I would feel comfortable finding a lab that would get me where I want to go.
I don't know many 3rd-years, but I haven't heard any complaints or shining praises about the clerkships. The only thing I do know about the 3rd/4th year scheduling is that when they re-did the curriculum they basically allotted more time for early electives so people could explore different fields before they sent out residency apps. This is pretty important if you don't know exactly what field you want to go into.
I don't personally live on the campus housing, but I have friends who do and they love it. The rent is super cheap (compared to the rest of Houston/any big city), and the units are all pretty nice.
Keep all your paper trail and call TMDSAS on Monday for help.
