2019-2020 TCU & UNTHSC

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DallasKid95 said:
@SOM Admissions
How do those who interviewed last cycle get treated in your evaluation this cycle? If interviewed, waitlisted, and ultimately rejected, is it possible to get another shot? (Assuming improved MCAT, gpa, extracurriculars, etc.)
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Reapplicants must demonstrate significant improvement - updated coursework, experiences, new application and letters - you can’t submit the same application and expect a different outcome. Interviews from last cycle are not used in the evaluation for this cycle.
 
Hey guys I’m an MS1 here at TCU & UNTHSC SOM and an Admissions Ambassador. I’ve been watching you guys squirm the last few days and I wanna reassure those who received a hold notice that you very much are still in consideration. I’m also here to answer any questions you guys have about the curriculum and the school. I will not answer questions pertaining to the MMI. Please be respectful of my time and do not ask me questions already answered by the administration.
 
GoldGenie said:
Hey guys I’m an MS1 here at TCU & UNTHSC SOM and an Admissions Ambassador. I’ve been watching you guys squirm the last few days and I wanna reassure those who received a hold notice that you very much are still in consideration. I’m also here to answer any questions you guys have about the curriculum and the school. I will not answer questions pertaining to the MMI. Please be respectful of my time and do not ask me questions already answered by the administration.
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Hey! Thanks for doing this. I have a question. I got the impression at my interview that even though the curriculum is self-directed and there aren't really any lectures, that a great deal of time is still spent on campus with scheduled activities. This is different than schools like McGovern, for example, where you can spend your entire day at home studying and watching recorded versions of the lecture. Obviously these two schools aren't comparable due to curriculum differences, but could you possibly give us an example of a weekly schedule and where your studying fits in? That is one thing I left the interview still not entirely clear about.

Thank you again!
 
NernstEqn911 said:
Hey! Thanks for doing this. I have a question. I got the impression at my interview that even though the curriculum is self-directed and there aren't really any lectures, that a great deal of time is still spent on campus with scheduled activities. This is different than schools like McGovern, for example, where you can spend your entire day at home studying and watching recorded versions of the lecture. Obviously these two schools aren't comparable due to curriculum differences, but could you possibly give us an example of a weekly schedule and where your studying fits in? That is one thing I left the interview still not entirely clear about.

Thank you again!
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Great question! And lucky for you I really love talking about our class structure because its so very unique. You are correct that we are a self directed curriculum without lecture but we still attend classes. So everyone on this forum is probably wondering how we still have classes if we don't have lectures because its seems very contradictory. The classes that we have on campus for the preclinical phase can be thought of as reinforcements to our self directed learning using heavily researched methods such as PIBL (a variation of PBL; Patient Inquiry Based Learning), CBL (Cased Based Learning), and TBL (Team Based Learning). Most schools employ one (if your lucky 2), but this schools employs all three. So the key to these activities/classes is that you have already learned the material, and you will now be applying it through various modalities. You get thrown into an application based learning environment from the get go. Pretty much you are learning and applying the material consistently at the same time to help reinforce it. So unlike lecture driven schools where there is a regurgitation of textbook knowledge on powerpoints, instead you are constantly answering questions on how to identify signs and symptoms, mechanism of disease action, accessing laboratory values, and differentiating differentials. Comparatively to my friends in other medical schools, I get way more Step 1 practice because we are an NBME centered school, as well as real world applications.

PIBL- Mondays and Fridays
On Monday a team of 8 students go over a clinical narrative. Students identify gaps in their knowledge in identifying the underlying disease by creating an actionable learning issues or objectives that are researched during the week. Usually the case follows the overall topic of the week such an anemia case during hematology week. Then on Fridays there is a facilitated discussion or presentation to address those gaps in knowledge and reinforce pivotal concepts for addressing a real world case.

CBL- Wednesday and/or Thursday
This class is very unique to each instructor. It is usually an interactive class that helps reinforce pertinent topics studied in prework. Usually involves vignettes of relevant cases for the week. I recommend to look at the schools Instagram page/stories to get an idea of them.

TBL- Wednesday and/or Thursday
The class is separated into teams of 5 or 6 students to answer a set of questions individually. The same questions are then answered as a group followed by simultaneous discussion. The goal of this session is identify your gaps in knowledge after doing the prework for this class, as well as learning from your peers how they broke apart the questions and came to an answer. This is also the time when students can ask for clarification on concepts from professors on mechanism or anything they don't understand or unclear about. Great testing exposure that helps students understand some of the testable concepts.

Some more clarification on how the self directed learning works. We are partnered with USMLE Rx/ Scholar Rx. For those of you unfamiliar with this company, it is the publishing company of First Aid. For those of you unfamiliar with First Aid, it is the holy grail and bible for all medical students studying for Step 1. Through our partnership, we are currently one the few schools privileged to be able to utilize their new learning interface which are Rx Bricks. These are interactive modules embedded with flash cards, videos, and Step 1 questions as well as references to the First Aid Book to teach us the material needed in medical school. Our self directed learning is also supplemented with Osmosis, a company that creates concise animated videos on medical concepts while also providing high yield notes, flash cards, and step 1 questions. These two resources are what replace lecture material. How is this better than lectures? We focus on high yield material pertinent to our medical education. That means we are not being lectured by a microbiologist on all the phases and spectrum of bacteria, parasites, and fungi with information beyond the scope of our medical practice as well as non-testable concepts on Step. We only care about clinically relevant material and lets the microbiologist deal with the rest. Some medical schools with more traditional curriculum have the ability to test you on those topics because your microbiology portion of the test will be written by a microbiologist. Therefore you have to draw and write short responses on the scenarios they want. That is why I stress the importance of our school being NBME and focusing on only clinically relevant information. There is also a level of efficiency in our learning because of these resources that I know none of you will be able to understand without experiencing it. You could say we cut a lot of the fluff in medical school. This allows a lot of ample free time during the week that is hard to imagine and explain.

Efficient resources + classroom reinforcement = less time needed to study = more free time and less burnout

Also excuse me if there are any grammatical mistakes. I see there are some grammer nazis out there. And I do not care enough to make sure this is perfectly written.
 
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GoldGenie said:
Great question! And lucky for you I really love talking about our class structure because its so very unique. You are correct that we are a self directed curriculum without lecture but we still attend classes. So everyone on this forum is probably wondering how we still have classes if we don't have lectures because its seems very contradictory. The classes that we have on campus for the preclinical phase can be thought of as reinforcements to our self directed learning using heavily researched methods such as PIBL (a variation of PBL; Patient Inquiry Based Learning), CBL (Cased Based Learning), and TBL (Team Based Learning). So the key to these activities/classes is that you have already learned the material, and you will now be applying it through various modalities. You get thrown into an application based learning environment from the get go. Pretty much you are learning and applying the material consistently at the same time to help reinforce it. So unlike lecture driven schools where there is a regurgitation of textbook knowledge on powerpoints, you are constantly answering questions on how to identify signs and symptoms, mechanism of disease action, accessing laboratory values, and differentiating differentials. Comparatively to my friends in other medical schools, I get way more Step 1 practice because we are an NBME centered school, as well as real world applications.

PIBL- Mondays and Fridays
On Monday a team of 8 students go over a clinical narrative. Students identify gaps in their knowledge in identifying the underlying disease by creating an actionable learning issues or objectives that are researched during the week. Usually the case follows the overall topic of the week such an anemia case during hematology week. Then on Fridays there is a facilitated discussion or presentation to address those gaps in knowledge and reinforce pivotal concepts for addressing a real world case.

CBL- Wednesday and/or Thursday
This class is very unique to each instructor. It is usually an interactive class that helps reinforce pertinent topics studied in prework. Usually involves vignettes of relevant cases for the week. I recommend to look at the schools Instagram page/stories to get an idea of them.

TBL- Wednesday and/or Thursday
The class is separated into teams of 5 or 6 students to answer a set of questions individually. The same questions are then answered as a group followed by simultaneous discussion. The goal of this session is identify your gaps in knowledge after doing the prework for this class, as well as learning from your peers how they broke apart the questions and came to an answer. This is also the time when students can ask for clarification on concepts from professors on mechanism or anything they don't understand or unclear about. Great testing exposure that helps students understand some of the testable concepts.

Some more clarification on how the self directed learning works. We are partnered with USMLE Rx/ Scholar Rx. For those of you unfamiliar with this company, it is the publishing company of First Aid. For those of you unfamiliar with First Aid, it is the holy grail and bible for all medical students studying for Step 1. Through our partnership, we are currently one the few schools privileged to be able to utilize their new learning interface which are Rx Bricks. These are interactive modules embedded with flash cards, videos, and Step 1 questions as well as references to the First Aid Book to teach us the material needed in medical school. Our self directed learning is also supplemented with Osmosis, a company that creates concise animated videos on medical concepts while also providing high yield notes, flash cards, and step 1 questions. These two resources are what replace lecture material. How is this better than lectures? We focus on high yield material pertinent to our medical education. That means we are not being lectured by a microbiologist on all the phases and spectrum of bacteria, parasites, and fungi with information beyond the scope of our medical practice as well as non-testable concepts on Step. We only care about clinically relevant material and lets the microbiologist deal with the rest. Some medical schools with more traditional curriculum have the ability to test you on those topics because your microbiology portion of the test will be written by a microbiologist. Therefore you have to draw and write short responses on the scenarios they want. That is why I stress the importance of our school being NBME and focusing on only clinically relevant information. There is also a level of efficiency in our learning because of these resources that I know none of you will be able to understand without experiencing it. You could say we cut a lot of the fluff in medical school. This allows a lot of ample free time during the week that is hard to imagine and explain.

Efficient resources + classroom reinforcement = less time needed to study = more free time and less burnout

Also excuse me if there are any grammatical mistakes. I see there are some grammer nazis out there. And I do not care enough to make sure this is perfectly written.
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Wow. Thank you for taking the time to respond with all of this. It is definitely helpful. Also, hearing more about the curriculum makes me so stoked at the possibility of attending this school. Hopefully the hold party ends with good news for me (and everyone on SDN). Can I ask one more thing? If you wouldn't mind sharing, would you possibly be willing to give a day to day breakdown of what your day looks like? So I see you are on campus daily, but for how long? What do you do the rest of the day? How many hours per day are spent on campus for mandatory sessions? Thank you so much again. You did a great job getting me stoked about the curriculum! haha I'm a believer, now just accept me lol.
 
NernstEqn911 said:
Wow. Thank you for taking the time to respond with all of this. It is definitely helpful. Also, hearing more about the curriculum makes me so stoked at the possibility of attending this school. Hopefully the hold party ends with good news for me (and everyone on SDN). Can I ask one more thing? If you wouldn't mind sharing, would you possibly be willing to give a day to day breakdown of what your day looks like? So I see you are on campus daily, but for how long? What do you do the rest of the day? How many hours per day are spent on campus for mandatory sessions? Thank you so much again. You did a great job getting me stoked about the curriculum! haha I'm a believer, now just accept me lol.
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So the hard part in giving you a day to day is that there is variation in schedule in every block we go through such as Foundations vs BHIS (refer to hyperlinked Academic Calendar). Foundations has an anatomy component while my current BHIS does not. But ill try to give you some detail about the variation but I will use the BHIS for the breakdown.

Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship (LIC) for Phase 1: A four hour biweekly component of patient interaction through either in family medicine, internal medicine, geriatric medicine, or pediatric medicine outpatient care. When its scheduled in the week will be constant but varies from student to student. It can be in the afternoon or morning depending on your schedule. This is where you apply the material you learn in clinical skills and are building toward a full examination under the supervision of a practicing physician. You learn to build a rapport and patient centered communication skills really early. Plus you get exposed to some of the most common diseases and medication you go over in class.

Mondays (TCU campus)
9AM - 10AM Content Framing. Usually a patient is brought in to talk about a relevant disease that goes along with that weeks topic. This can get super emotional for both students and the patient. Followed by questions.
10AM-12PM- PIBL.
12PM- 8PM Self Directed Study. Some people might have their LIC during this time and then study. Some students opt to study at home, TCU campus, or drive over to UNTHSC campus. (Many students prefer to study on the UNTHSC campus because there is more snacks, more available study rooms, and our student lounge)

Tuesdays (UNTHSC)
So every other week we have Scholarly Pursuit Thesis class which is usually from 1Pm -3PM. You go over the basics of research and types of research available. Who are possible mentors? Biostats. Short class that is not to content heavy.

If your lucky because your LIC is a different day like Monday it alternates with SPT as a free day. So you can study all day or do whatever you see fit. I have LIC in the afternoon, so I study in the morning, then go to my LIC. Afterwards I usually catch a $5 movie w/ free popcorn at movie tavern.

Some people might also have their four hour clinical skills class this day. Not me.

Wednesdays (UNTHSC)
This is my longest days...
9AM -12PM a combination of CBL and/or TBL.
12-1PM Lunch with most students congregating in the student lounge to eat, talk, and play ping pong. (In the future also watch TV as we work to get that set up)
1PM-5PM Clinical Skills (unless you had it the day before)
Then I usually meet up other students in the study rooms to go over concepts. Or go nap because its a long day.

Thursday (UNTHSC) Varies with the Block
9AM -12 PM a combination of CBL and/or TBL.
Study the rest of the day. Work on PIBL. Some of the guys play flag football or intermurals at TCU.

Friday (TCU)
9AM-11AM PIBL
11AM-12PM Week Wrap Up, Some Interactive Reinforcement Exercise or Short CBL/TBL.
Take a short Quiz for more Step 1/ NBME exam exposure. Quiz does not factor into grades. Open from 1PM-5PM and can be taken at home.

Saturday/Sunday
Some people travel. Go back to their hometown. Play sports/relax. Study to get ahead for next week so you have more free time during the week. I personally watch movies, sleep in, facetime bae to catch up, meal prep for the week, try new restaurants, visit the bar scene, maybe attend a TCU football game (free for us). On sunday night ill start some of my prework for the following week.

Hope this give you a better idea of how our weekly structure is and give you something to compare to with other medical schools.
 
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mambamamba said:
@GoldGenie Could you explain a little more about the rotation schedule for 3rd and 4th year? I interviewed recently and felt a little uneasy about the way it was described (5 different specialty rotations for every day of the week) since it was SO much different than basically every other school. Has this schedule been implemented and tested anywhere else? and how is that better? I feel like it is much better for a student to be fully immersed for the entire month etc in a specific specialty when rotating in it to get the most benefit out of it.
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So before I answer your question, I challenge you to do more research about it yourself first and for you to explain to me why you think segmented experience is better. I agree there are pros and cons to everything but I would like to hear your thought process against it. I also want to point out rotations are 2nd and 3rd year. There are not 5 but 8 specialties. You can find out more of which schools use this a similar model by Googling "Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship." While the way we tailor it into our curriculum is different from all other school, we are definitely not the first or last to use it. There are also NCBI and many published research articles on it.
 
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GoldGenie said:
So the hard part in giving you a day to day is that there is variation in schedule in every block we go through such as Foundations vs BHIS (refer to hyperlinked Academic Calendar). Foundations has an anatomy component while my current BHIS does not. But ill try to give you some detail about the variation but I will use the BHIS for the breakdown.

Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship (LIC) for Phase 1: A four hour biweekly component of patient interaction through either in family medicine, internal medicine, geriatric medicine, or pediatric medicine outpatient care. When its scheduled in the week will be constant but varies from student to student. It can be in the afternoon or morning depending on your schedule. This is where you apply the material you learn in clinical skills and are building toward a full examination under the supervision of a practicing physician. You learn to build a rapport and patient centered communication skills really early. Plus you get exposed to some of the most common diseases and medication you go over in class.

Mondays (TCU campus)
9AM - 10AM Content Framing. Usually a patient is brought in to talk about a relevant disease that goes along with that weeks topic. This can get super emotional for both students and the patient. Followed by questions.
10AM-12PM- PIBL.
12PM- 8PM Self Directed Study. Some people might have their LIC during this time and then study. Some students opt to study at home, TCU campus, or drive over to UNTHSC campus. (Many students prefer to study on the UNTHSC campus because there is more snacks, more available study rooms, and our student lounge)

Tuesdays (UNTHSC)
So every other week we have Scholarly Pursuit Thesis class which is usually from 1Pm -3PM. You go over the basics of research and types of research available. Who are possible mentors? Biostats. Short class that is not to content heavy.

If your lucky because your LIC is a different day like Monday it alternates with SPT as a free day. So you can study all day or do whatever you see fit. I have LIC in the afternoon, so I study in the morning, then go to my LIC. Afterwards I usually catch a $5 movie w/ free popcorn at movie tavern.

Some people might also have their four hour clinical skills class this day. Not me.

Wednesdays (UNTHSC)
This is my longest days...
9AM -12PM a combination of CBL and/or TBL.
12-1PM Lunch with most students congregating in the student lounge to eat, talk, and play ping pong. (In the future also watch TV as we work to get that set up)
1PM-5PM Clinical Skills (unless you had it the day before)
Then I usually meet up other students in the study rooms to go over concepts. Or go nap because its a long day.

Thursday (UNTHSC) Varies with the Block
9AM -12 PM a combination of CBL and/or TBL.
Study the rest of the day. Work on PIBL. Some of the guys play flag football or intermurals at TCU.

Friday
9AM-11AM PIBL
11AM-12PM Week Wrap Up, Some Interactive Reinforcement Exercise or Short CBL/TBL.
Take a short Quiz for more Step 1/ NBME exam exposure. Quiz does not factor into grades. Open from 1PM-5PM and can be taken at home.

Saturday/Sunday
Some people travel. Go back to their hometown. Play sports/relax. Study to get ahead for next week so you have more free time during the week. I personally watch movies, sleep in, facetime bae to catch up, meal prep for the week, try new restaurants, visit the bar scene, maybe attend a TCU football game (free for us). On sunday night ill start some of my prework for the following week.

Hope this give you a better idea of how our weekly structure is and give you something to compare to with other medical schools.
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THANK YOU! That gives me a really great picture that I hadn’t been able to fully grasp from my interview. Very helpful. I’m so excited to be considered for this school. Thank you again!
 
GoldGenie said:
Hey guys I’m an MS1 here at TCU & UNTHSC SOM and an Admissions Ambassador. I’ve been watching you guys squirm the last few days and I wanna reassure those who received a hold notice that you very much are still in consideration. I’m also here to answer any questions you guys have about the curriculum and the school. I will not answer questions pertaining to the MMI. Please be respectful of my time and do not ask me questions already answered by the administration.
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Can you talk about the empathetic scholar curriculum? This is what first drew me to the school and I am so interested in learning more about this! I know they will talk about it on interview day, I just want to learn more about it before then! If you can't tell already, I am SO pumped about this program.
 
GoldGenie said:
Hey guys I’m an MS1 here at TCU & UNTHSC SOM and an Admissions Ambassador. I’ve been watching you guys squirm the last few days and I wanna reassure those who received a hold notice that you very much are still in consideration. I’m also here to answer any questions you guys have about the curriculum and the school. I will not answer questions pertaining to the MMI. Please be respectful of my time and do not ask me questions already answered by the administration.
Click to expand...

One last question! Is anatomy taught traditionally or through PBL, etc.? Do you guys have a cadaver lab? Again, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to answer our questions.
 
How many students is TCU accepting for the next class? And how many acceptances have been given out so far?
 
takeachance said:
How many students is TCU accepting for the next class? And how many acceptances have been given out so far?
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At my interview they told us last year about 85 students were accepted. Don't know if that will change for this year. I doubt anyone from TCU will answer the second part of your question. It's also not possible for anyone else on SDN to answer this either since SDN is not representative of the entire applicant population.
 
NernstEqn911 said:
At my interview they told us last year about 85 students were accepted. Don't know if that will change for this year. I doubt anyone from TCU will answer the second part of your question. It's also not possible for anyone else on SDN to answer this either since SDN is not representative of the entire applicant population.
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...and some turned it down, resulting in the class size of 60.

Same class size this year.
 
wysdoc said:
...and some turned it down, resulting in the class size of 60.

Same class size this year.
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Yes! I meant more that because their application cycle is much longer than last year's, no free tuition this time, second year accepting applications it is unknown if they will increase the number of acceptances since 85 for a matriculant size of 60 seemed low for a full application cycle!
 
premed118 said:
Can you talk about the empathetic scholar curriculum? This is what first drew me to the school and I am so interested in learning more about this! I know they will talk about it on interview day, I just want to learn more about it before then! If you can't tell already, I am SO pumped about this program.
Click to expand...

The empathetic scholar curriculum begins with the admissions process. The curriculum that we are taught only works if the students selected from the interview process are truly empathetic, have strong communication skills, and have a genuine desire to be part of this new curriculum . While I can talk about empathy is interwoven into curriculum endlessly, I will highlight a few key points.

The Compassionate Practice (Hyperlinked to the Schools Page)
This component is interwoven in many of classes including Prep for Practice, Clinical Skills, and even the preclinical material. Its stems from Columbia University's Narrative in Medicine. Essentially we do a lot of self reflections and role playing. It helps bring into awareness of our own biases that we unknowingly have such as ageism and microaggressions. The schools website does a really good summing it up.

Clinical Skills
Almost every week we practice the clinical skill we learn with standardized patients (SP). You learn how to react with the vast spectrum of possible encounters/reactions of patients. You get feedback of on your choice of wording and body language from the SP as well as a faculty members. You learn how these things effected the patient and what they are possibly thinking when certain things are said/done. Encounters are recorded so you can view them later and learn from them.

Preparation for Practice (Also hyperlinked)
During Phase 1 of the curriculum, every once in a while this class come up. And it is potentially my favorite class. It utilizes very dynamic and interactive activities to understand a wide variety of issues you will face as a physician and as a future leader of a community. This begins with medical ethics to identifying flaws in health care systems. Recently we had a class on gerontology which was just PHENOMENAL. Without giving away to much information, you learn in that one class how older patients can become non-complaint by EXPERIENCING their compounding illnesses. That's all I will say because I don't want to spoil any of the activities for the incoming class.

Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship (Another Hyperlink)
So I wont explain what this is, because there is just so much information out there on how these clerkships work at various schools. This is one of those things where I strongly believe that if you can not find the value in it on your own and have any hesitation about the benefits of it, this may not be the right school for you. That being said, there are 45 schools (AAMC stat + our school) out there that offer LIC, and usually as an alternative to traditional rotations. We use a model that incorporates a lot of Harvard Medical School's philosophy of LIC (Watch the video in that hyperlink^). What makes us different? We do not select a specific cohort of students to do this such as 10% of the class to experience these clerkship. We have all the students participating. So where is the empathy in this your wondering and why is this relevant? The approach to the LIC is very different from other schools as well. In some of the other medical school you may have preclinical exposure usually by shadowing various specialties during year 1 and 2. But here you are not bouncing between specialties and you are NOT SHADOWING. You will be engaging patients. You will be practicing your clinical skills. You will be applying what you learn. Another empathetic component of the LIC is that you will have a panel of patients you will follow in continuity for each specialty. Usually around 1-3 patients in each category in Phase 2. This means you will be on top of their care, advocating for them, attending any procedures for them, and so forth.

There so many other ways learning and mastering empathy is incorporated in the curriculum. But those are just a few.


premed118 said:
One last question! Is anatomy taught traditionally or through PBL, etc.? Do you guys have a cadaver lab? Again, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to answer our questions.
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Anatomy is taught in a traditional but not so traditional way. We do our own cadaver lab on the UNTHSC campus that we share with the TCOM students. You have 24 hour access to it so you can go in any time to review the body if you need to. (Even 3 am in the morning of the exam lol). You go into varying depths of anatomy depending on the block your in. So for Foundations, we covered the basic of anatomy throughout the body learning major organ, nerves, arteries, and veins. But a great component of our anatomy is that it also includes rotating stations where you can also learn clinical application and radiology. As one of our instructors put it, "you will be ahead of the curve of some medical residents when rotating because you have been trained in using sonogram/ultrasound equipment and reading X-rays/MRI." There are stations of pro-sections for you to reference to understand anatomy just in case you mess anything up on your body or need a more detailed look at a specific part. During BHIS we had no anatomy. We will return back to anatomy as we go over corresponding body part within our preclinical curriculum. There will also be the incorporation of the Hololens through our partnership with Microsoft. I know it comes up in the curriculum later so I have yet to experience it. Check out this cool video for reference. I foresee it being better than that since its 2019 and that video is from 2015
 
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NernstEqn911 said:
Yes! I meant more that because their application cycle is much longer than last year's, no free tuition this time, second year accepting applications it is unknown if they will increase the number of acceptances since 85 for a matriculant size of 60 seemed low for a full application cycle!
Click to expand...

While I cannot confirm there were 85 acceptance given, it does sound about right what I've heard among my classmates chatter. And regardless of how long our cycle was last year, it is one of the most impressive feats by a medical school. Some medical schools give out more than double the acceptances than their seats. To understand why this matters, it implies the possibility many students turned down an offer to attend another school. Majority of the students offered a seat here ended up committing. I am also pretty sure the vast majority of my class has more than one offer to an MD school and turned it down to attend here. Even my own state's public medical school total tuition (All 4 years) could not add up to coverage of 2 years at TCU. So for me the free tuition was not a factor. From what I can gauge of my class, many of us were truly impressed during interview day and those with some reservations were also converted during 2nd Look Week. My own opinion is that our selection process focuses on very capable students who would resonate with our educational philosophy. Medical school is a super tough process by itself. Trust me, you rather be at a place that cares about your well-being and impact on the community than someplace that doesn't. I personally hate the advise some doctors gave me which is that "medical school is 4 years of hell you have to survive." Why would I knowingly go through that when there is better option? I would rather have a more wholesome experience where the school is encouraging me to blossom in multiple ways.

Also you learn about all the safeguards this medical school has against student burnout like Physician Development Coaches and Wellness Activities during interview day!
 
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GoldGenie said:
The empathetic scholar curriculum begins with the admissions process. The curriculum that we are taught only works if the students selected from the interview process are truly empathetic, have strong communication skills, and have a genuine desire to be part of this new curriculum . While I can talk about empathy is interwoven into curriculum endlessly, I will highlight a few key points.

The Compassionate Practice (Hyperlinked to the Schools Page)
This component is interwoven in many of classes including Prep for Practice, Clinical Skills, and even the preclinical material. Its stems from Columbia University's Narrative in Medicine. Essentially we do a lot of self reflections and role playing. It helps bring into awareness of our own biases that we unknowingly have such as ageism and microaggressions. The schools website does a really good summing it up.

Clinical Skills
Almost every week we practice the clinical skill we learn with standardized patients (SP). You learn how to react with the vast spectrum of possible encounters/reactions of patients. You get feedback of on your choice of wording and body language from the SP as well as a faculty members. You learn how these things effected the patient and what they are possibly thinking when certain things are said/done. Encounters are recorded so you can view them later and learn from them.

Preparation for Practice (Also hyperlinked)
During Phase 1 of the curriculum, every once in a while this class come up. And it is potentially my favorite class. It utilizes very dynamic and interactive activities to understand a wide variety of issues you will face as a physician and as a future leader of a community. This begins with medical ethics to identifying flaws in health care systems. Recently we had a class on gerontology which was just PHENOMENAL. Without giving away to much information, you learn in that one class how older patients can become non-complaint by EXPERIENCING their compounding illnesses. That's all I will say because I don't want to spoil any of the activities for the incoming class.

Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship (Another Hyperlink)
So I wont explain what this is, because there is just so much information out there on how these clerkships work at various schools. This is one of those things where I strongly believe that if you can not find the value in it on your own and have any hesitation about the benefits of it, this may not be the right school for you. That being said, there are 45 schools (AAMC stat + our school) out there that offer LIC, and usually as an alternative to traditional rotations. We use a model that incorporates a lot of Harvard Medical School's philosophy of LIC (Watch the video in that hyperlink^). What makes us different? We do not select a specific cohort of students to do this such as 10% of the class to experience these clerkship. We have all the students participating. So where is the empathy in this your wondering and why is this relevant? The approach to the LIC is very different from other schools as well. In some of the other medical school you may have preclinical exposure usually by shadowing various specialties during year 1 and 2. But here you are not bouncing between specialties and you are NOT SHADOWING. You will be engaging patients. You will be practicing your clinical skills. You will be applying what you learn. Another empathetic component of the LIC is that you will have a panel of patients you will follow in continuity for each specialty. Usually around 1-3 patients in each category in Phase 2. This means you will be on top of their care, advocating for them, attending any procedures for them, and so forth.

There so many other ways learning and mastering empathy is incorporated in the curriculum. But those are just a few.




Anatomy is taught in a traditional but not so traditional way. We do our own cadaver lab on the UNTHSC campus that we share with the TCOM students. You have 24 hour access to it so you can go in any time to review the body if you need to. (Even 3 am in the morning of the exam lol). You go into varying depths of anatomy depending on the block your in. So for Foundations, we covered the basic of anatomy throughout the body learning major organ, nerves, arteries, and veins. But a great component of our anatomy is that it also includes rotating stations where you can also learn clinical application and radiology. As one of our instructors put it, "you will be ahead of the curve of some medical residents when rotating because you have been trained in using sonogram/ultrasound equipment and reading X-rays/MRI." There are stations of pro-sections for you to reference to understand anatomy just in case you mess anything up on your body or need a more detailed look at a specific part. During BHIS we had no anatomy. We will return back to anatomy as we go over corresponding body part within our preclinical curriculum. There will also be the incorporation of the Hololens through our partnership with Microsoft. I know it comes up in the curriculum later so I have yet to experience it. Check out this cool video for reference. I foresee it being better than that since its 2019 and that video is from 2015
Click to expand...

Again, thank you so much!! I am SO PUMPED to learn more about this amazing institution at my interview. 🙂
 
Anybody know the reasoning behind the 3 LOR minimum requirement? I had 4 professors write for me for my prehealth committee letter at my college but got an email saying that it only counts as 1 letter and that I don't meet the requirement so my app wont be reviewed. Should I scramble to get 2 more lettesr of rec by December 15th? Feeling kinda screwed over, no other school has a policy like this.
 
It does not sound right. Committee letter counts as covering all requirements in terms of LORs. Someone is not reading this correctly or the AMCAS is incorrectly flagged to reflect your committee letter as a group of several people.
 
adrummingdog said:
Anybody know the reasoning behind the 3 LOR minimum requirement? I had 4 professors write for me for my prehealth committee letter at my college but got an email saying that it only counts as 1 letter and that I don't meet the requirement so my app wont be reviewed. Should I scramble to get 2 more lettesr of rec by December 15th? Feeling kinda screwed over, no other school has a policy like this.
Click to expand...
Directly from their website “An applicant must submit at least three letters of recommendation. Individual letters, letter packets containing at least three letters and/or a committee letter with two additional letters will meet our requirement. We highly encourage submitting additional individual letters if your committee letter does not include additional letters of recommendation.”
If your letter wasn’t a committee PACKET and was only a committee LETTER, then that only counts as one. That’s how it is at every school. My committee packet consisted of a committee letter and three individual letters in the packet.
 
NernstEqn911 said:
Directly from their website “An applicant must submit at least three letters of recommendation. Individual letters, letter packets containing at least three letters and/or a committee letter with two additional letters will meet our requirement. We highly encourage submitting additional individual letters if your committee letter does not include additional letters of recommendation.”
If your letter wasn’t a committee PACKET and was only a committee LETTER, then that only counts as one. That’s how it is at every school. My committee packet consisted of a committee letter and three individual letters in the packet.
Click to expand...

Yes I knew this. And no that's not how it is at other schools, at least all the other ones I have applied to. My question was why is this policy in place when all of the other schools accepted my committee letter as sufficient? TCU seems to be the only one requiring letters outside of a committee evaluation. I had 4 professors write letters for me and they got incorporated into the letter that my university's pre-health committee wrote. I guess I'm just screwed for this cycle, don't have much time to scramble for two more LORs.
@SOM Admissions
 
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adrummingdog said:
Yes I knew this. And no that's not how it is at other schools, at least as far as I can tell. My question was why is this policy in place when all of the other schools accepted my committee letter as sufficient? TCU seems to be the only one requiring letters outside of a committee evaluation. I had 4 professors write letters for me and they got incorporated into the letter that my university's pre-health committee wrote. I guess I'm just screwed for this cycle, don't have much time to scramble for two more LORs.
@SOM Admissions
Click to expand...
I had a committee letter and already interviewed. Didn't have this problem..
 
adrummingdog said:
Yes I knew this. And no that's not how it is at other schools, at least all the other ones I have applied to. My question was why is this policy in place when all of the other schools accepted my committee letter as sufficient? TCU seems to be the only one requiring letters outside of a committee evaluation. I had 4 professors write letters for me and they got incorporated into the letter that my university's pre-health committee wrote. I guess I'm just screwed for this cycle, don't have much time to scramble for two more LORs.
@SOM Admissions
Click to expand...
Sorry. I assumed you were a Texas applicant. For TMDSAS you either have to submit a Committee Packet or three individual letters, so most Texas people meet the letter requirements for TCU despite it being AMCAS because of this rule.
 
adrummingdog said:
Yes I knew this. And no that's not how it is at other schools, at least all the other ones I have applied to. My question was why is this policy in place when all of the other schools accepted my committee letter as sufficient? TCU seems to be the only one requiring letters outside of a committee evaluation. I had 4 professors write letters for me and they got incorporated into the letter that my university's pre-health committee wrote. I guess I'm just screwed for this cycle, don't have much time to scramble for two more LORs.
@SOM Admissions
Click to expand...

Because each medical school is allowed have additional criteria to evaluate applicants and access them to be competent to be a student here. We also have an Anatomy, Genetics, and Stats prerequisite requirement. Most schools don’t. If you had multiple LOR for your committee letter, either ask them to be forwarded as a packet to your pre med committee or ask the professors individually to send it to AMCAS. I had an additional letter added to my app, and it only took a day for the verification process.
 
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Thanks for the feedback yall, I thought my committee letter would be enough (that's what Baylor told me), but I should have gotten other LORs just to be safe. I was excited about this school but oh well. I'll be applying here next year for sure if I end up applying again.
 
adrummingdog said:
Thanks for the feedback yall, I thought my committee letter would be enough (that's what Baylor told me), but I should have gotten other LORs just to be safe. I was excited about this school but oh well. I'll be applying here next year for sure if I end up applying again.
Click to expand...

I still encourage you to apply and reach out to writers of LOR for the committee letter. December 15 is not for another months and a half. TCU admissions process is very holistic and most likely wants those extra letters to get more reference points about who you are personality wise. I myself didn’t apply until the very end of their cycle and still got in. And I believe the @SOM Admissions mentioned before that they are truly on a rolling basis for interviews and acceptance. There are seats and interviews available til the very end of the cycle. You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take!
 
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texasvandy said:
It does not sound right. Committee letter counts as covering all requirements in terms of LORs. Someone is not reading this correctly or the AMCAS is incorrectly flagged to reflect your committee letter as a group of several people.
Click to expand...
No it doesn’t and I got it from the horse’s mouth.
 
Anyone who's interviewed here please help if you can. For the MMI, do you get to see the clock winding down/how much time you have left while you're in the middle of the MMI? or are we just supposed to gauge how much time has elapsed?

Also, do you get to take notes during the 2-minute preparation and bring them into the MMI room with you?
 
ChooChooTrain51 said:
Anyone who's interviewed here please help if you can. For the MMI, do you get to see the clock winding down/how much time you have left while you're in the middle of the MMI? or are we just supposed to gauge how much time has elapsed?

Also, do you get to take notes during the 2-minute preparation and bring them into the MMI room with you?
Click to expand...
Post 388 on page 8 of this tread will answer some of your questions. The question about notes has been asked multiple times.

In regards to time, they will explain it all on your interview day. Don’t worry.
 
ayjaystudent said:
Being put on "hold" is considered good news, right?
Click to expand...
Better than a rejection for sure!! Good news in that you’re still in the running! Bad news in that you are now part of the waiting game every other Friday. May the odds be ever in your favor 😉
 
It’s hard because I want to feel hopeful but with so many interviewee’s I know the odds aren’t in our favor. So I’m trying not to think about it instead. :nailbiting:
 
doctormrswhat said:
It’s hard because I want to feel hopeful but with so many interviewee’s I know the odds aren’t in our favor. So I’m trying not to think about it instead. :nailbiting:
Click to expand...
I hold onto hope that because we’ve heard of almost no acceptances that maybe we stand a chance.... it’s my dream school, so I’m trying my hardest not to cry for the next 24 hours. Haha
 
NernstEqn911 said:
I hold onto hope that because we’ve heard of almost no acceptances that maybe we stand a chance.... it’s my dream school, so I’m trying my hardest not to cry for the next 24 hours. Haha
Click to expand...
Same. I have gotten many R’s in the past two weeks and I’m not sure I’m ready to hear one tomorrow from my favorite school.
 
doctormrswhat said:
Same. I have gotten many R’s in the past two weeks and I’m not sure I’m ready to hear one tomorrow from my favorite school.
Click to expand...
I’m rooting for you!! You’ve gotten all your R’s out of the way... now time for that A!!
 
CardioEnthusio15 said:
Are they giving out more IIs today or something? Or decisions are coming out for people who have interviewed?
Click to expand...
It's one of their decision days. People that interviewed 10/21 will be hearing for the first time and everyone that received a hold before gets an update.
 
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