2022-2023 UTMB (Sealy)

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The members of the Admissions Committee have now completed the review of all applications received for the 2023 entering class. Unfortunately, I regret to inform you that your application is no longer under consideration.

Once again, thank you for your interest in The John Sealy School of Medicine at The University of Texas Medical Branch Galveston.

We wish you the best in all your future endeavors.

Sincerely,

Pierre W. Banks, EdD

Assistant Dean, Admissions & Recruitment

Assistant Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
 
premed226 said:
The members of the Admissions Committee have now completed the review of all applications received for the 2023 entering class. Unfortunately, I regret to inform you that your application is no longer under consideration.

Once again, thank you for your interest in The John Sealy School of Medicine at The University of Texas Medical Branch Galveston.

We wish you the best in all your future endeavors.

Sincerely,

Pierre W. Banks, EdD

Assistant Dean, Admissions & Recruitment

Assistant Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
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Thanks for sharing! Hoping maybe there are a few II’s left to go out. Best of luck with the rest of your application cycle!
 
Glassdyr said:
I was a bartender for a bit and, to me, your drink is legit. Would've gone for white rum over whiskey, though, and with some finagling with the syrups/liqueurs you could layer it to make it a real sunset. Ask me when I'm sober later.

Cheers. I'm drinking tonight, too; looking forward to drinking with a gremlin in med school next year.
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UTMB over UVA? 🤓
 
skeptastic said:
Using MSAR, I'm seeing a difference of between $42k and $101k, depending on if they are classified as OOS or get the $1000 scholarship some Texas schools offer and then IS residency.
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med.virginia.edu

UVA School of Medicine Financial Aid | Costs

Learn about the cost structures for Financial Aid at the UVA School of Medicine.
med.virginia.edu med.virginia.edu

I dont think anyone in UTMB pays oos tuition. so comparatively the tuition difference seems to be close to 43k per year.
 
texasvandy said:
med.virginia.edu

UVA School of Medicine Financial Aid | Costs

Learn about the cost structures for Financial Aid at the UVA School of Medicine.
med.virginia.edu med.virginia.edu

I dont think anyone in UTMB pays oos tuition. so comparatively the tuition difference seems to be close to 43k per year.
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Yeah the tuition difference is major! Granted, UTMB's tuition is a bit higher than the rest of the TX schools (a touch under $26k/yr). What made the overall COA difference closer in my calculations was that UVA offers considerably less per year for living expenses (19k UVA vs 29k for UTMB). Not sure how much less costly housing is in Virginia vs Galveston, but that could be the difference. Tuition difference ends up being $35k per year, so overall COA difference is much less overall, assuming one needs the full living expenses allotment in Galveston vs Virginia.
 
skeptastic said:
Yeah the tuition difference is major! Granted, UTMB's tuition is a bit higher than the rest of the TX schools (a touch under $26k/yr). What made the overall COA difference closer in my calculations was that UVA offers considerably less per year for living expenses (19k UVA vs 29k for UTMB). Not sure how much less costly housing is in Virginia vs Galveston, but that could be the difference. Tuition difference ends up being $35k per year, so overall COA difference is much less overall, assuming one needs the full living expenses allotment in Galveston vs Virginia.
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I dont believe UTMB living costs are that much higher than UVA. 29k sounds rather exorbitant. People should just set up tents on the beach to cut costs. 🙂
 
texasvandy said:
I dont believe UTMB living costs are that much higher than UVA. 29k sounds rather exorbitant. People should just set up tents on the beach to cut costs. 🙂
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I looked up some apartments really quickly and you're spot-on. Rents in both cities start very low. The UTMB living expenses allotment is huge.
 
skeptastic said:
Yeah the tuition difference is major! Granted, UTMB's tuition is a bit higher than the rest of the TX schools (a touch under $26k/yr). What made the overall COA difference closer in my calculations was that UVA offers considerably less per year for living expenses (19k UVA vs 29k for UTMB). Not sure how much less costly housing is in Virginia vs Galveston, but that could be the difference. Tuition difference ends up being $35k per year, so overall COA difference is much less overall, assuming one needs the full living expenses allotment in Galveston vs Virginia.
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as someone who’s spent considerable amounts of time in both areas. I will tell you that Groceries as a whole are WAY more expensive in Virginia than they would be in Galveston, I’d go so far as to say double the cost
 
skeptastic said:
UTMB over UVA? 🤓
Click to expand...

Hahahaha, I'm really leaning towards it. I'll have to crunch my own numbers on COA and tuition. The finaid package from UVA may change things, but I don't think it'll beat UTMB tuition, coupled with everything else UTMB offers.

Really interesting discussion so far on UVA vs UTMB.
 
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Glassdyr said:
Hahahaha, I'm really leaning towards it. I'll have to crunch my own numbers on COA and tuition. The finaid package from UVA may change things, but I don't think it'll beat UTMB tuition, coupled with everything else UTMB offers.

Really interesting discussion so far on UVA vs UTMB.
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Does UVA hand out free Financial AId outside of loans?
 
Talked to someone attending UTMB and they said it is 27k tuition and everyone gets 3k grant. They said 15k for living.
 
texasvandy said:
Talked to someone attending UTMB and they said it is 27k tuition and everyone gets 3k grant. They said 15k for living.
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Can you ask them when everyone found out about the grant? It matters for OOS people who don’t match but are tryna get some $$$
 
AstroSidekick said:
Can you ask them when everyone found out about the grant? It matters for OOS people who don’t match but are tryna get some $$$
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Most schools in Texas give you a scholarship to ensure you pay instate. It sounds like many instate students also receive 3k grant from UTMB (their tuition is higher than every other school).

I am not exactly sure what you mean by trying to match. If you are admitted you should get instate if and when they say you have a scholarship.
 
Okay so the way I understand the offer letter, accepting their offer means we have a guaranteed spot in the class. But am I right in thinking that this is NOT binding and that we will be able to weigh options as the season goes on? Sorry, this is my first acceptance (also, I'm OOS) and I want to make sure that I'm actually securing a spot but not making an unchangeable commitment right now. Thank you!!!!
 
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public_lemon said:
Okay so the way I understand the offer letter, accepting their offer means we have a guaranteed spot in the class. But am I right in thinking that this is NOT binding and that we will be able to weigh options as the season goes on? Sorry, this is my first acceptance (also, I'm OOS) and I want to make sure that I'm actually securing a spot but not making an unchangeable commitment right now. Thank you!!!!
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You can accept the offer at this point and it is not binding. As an OOS person, go by the AAMC traffic rules of narrowing down your offers to the one final school before April 30th.
 
texasvandy said:
Most schools in Texas give you a scholarship to ensure you pay instate.
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Source? This is huge.

Also, I'm a little confused on sending transcripts. Do we send them to TMDSAS since I just got a request in my email box, or directly to UTMB Enrollment Services as outlined here? Send to both, or wait for more info?
 
Glassdyr said:
Source? This is huge.

Also, I'm a little confused on sending transcripts. Do we send them to TMDSAS since I just got a request in my email box, or directly to UTMB Enrollment Services as outlined here? Send to both, or wait for more info?
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On your second question, send the transcript to TMDSAS now, and wait to send another one later to the school you ultimately enroll at.

Could we hear from any OOS students who did pay the OOS tuition rate?
I know some TMDSAS schools give you a small scholarship to let you pay in-state.
@texasvandy can you share the current source that tells you all schools do this?
 
wysdoc said:
On your second question, send the transcript to TMDSAS now, and wait to send another one later to the school you ultimately enroll at.

Could we hear from any OOS students who did pay the OOS tuition rate?
I know some TMDSAS schools give you a small scholarship to let you pay in-state.
@texasvandy can you share the current source that tells you all schools do this?
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@wysdoc - I am going by past threads where several different students from different schools claim to have gotten OOS tuition waivers. I heard a presentation posted on UTSW about MD/MPH where the admins clearly state that they waive OOS fees by giving a scholarship (UTSW gives 1k, the minimum needed in Texas for a student to pay instate).

I found out about the 3k scholarship at UTMB when I asked someone with ties to a current 3rd year from Houston who said most UTMB students are receiving this.

@Glassdyr Did you receive an official letter out side of saying admission? Since you are already admitted, you can ask about the scholarship.
 
UTMB just sent out this email:
1669156251287.png
 
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skeptastic said:
Hahaha!! I thought the same and was ecstatic! I was reading all slowly and expectantly. But the January 30th news is super amazing. I'll be waiting semi-patiently!
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Absolutely helps to know this information before the ranking deadline in February.
Not all the other TMDSAS schools will have things ready by then, though.
 
wysdoc said:
Absolutely helps to know this information before the ranking deadline in February.
Not all the other TMDSAS schools will have things ready by then, though.
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Indeed! We'd still have to make a decision based on info from just one school, but if that's the only school I have info from before 2/17, I'd have to assume I'm getting nothing from other schools and weigh the offer from UTMB when finalizing the rank list. We'll see what happens!
 
texasvandy said:
@Glassdyr Did you receive an official letter out side of saying admission?
Click to expand...

I haven't got anything in the mail, sadly. I'd like to have something from a med school to hang up on my fridge, next to my hand turkey fingerpaint.

texasvandy said:
Since you are already admitted, you can ask about the scholarship.
Click to expand...

I'll definitely do this. Super helpful to know that people at other TX schools got OOS waivers, which I may be eligible for. I'll also ask about that $3k scholarship. Thanks, man.
 
Glassdyr said:
I haven't got anything in the mail, sadly. I'd like to have something from a med school to hang up on my fridge, next to my hand turkey fingerpaint.



I'll definitely do this. Super helpful to know that people at other TX schools got OOS waivers, which I may be eligible for. I'll also ask about that $3k scholarship. Thanks, man.
Click to expand...
I have a sneaky suspicion they dont want to talk OOS scholarships until the students match which is different from the recruitment scholarship they are planning to offer in order to get people to list them high to match.
 
Amendment to the above: OOS students don't need to give up any admissions until end of April even in Texas. So in theory they can wait for the scholarship letter without any relevance to the match.
 
For those who pre-matched and accepted their offer, did y'all receive a confirmation after you accepted? I received a confirmation email from another school after I accepted their offer but not from UTMB, so just want to make sure I'm not missing anything
 
PinkDaisies480 said:
For those who pre-matched and accepted their offer, did y'all receive a confirmation after you accepted? I received a confirmation email from another school after I accepted their offer but not from UTMB, so just want to make sure I'm not missing anything
Click to expand...
Now that you mention it, I didn't. Double check in your portal but I think you're fine
 
KosherHotdog said:
Hey y'all. I go to UTMB. Overall, the school is fine some issues with our program I would like to note when making a decision:

On interview day last year UTMB never told us about mandatory volunteering in the Fall and Spring called CECE. It's a new program that just started in our class and we have to do 24 hours (4 hours 6 times each semester) in the Fall and Spring over years 1 and 2. So every 2 weeks you have to waste 4 hours doing some nonclinical forced volunteering of the school's choosing which takes away time from other activities like studying, extracurriculars, and volunteering. Our class just conducted a survey (99/230 students replied which is a lot!) which is attached here to the bottom of this post as a pdf. You can see the complaints and issues with this program here.

UTMB knew about this program and intentionally hid this information from us when we applied. In fact no one knew about this until the end of META (6 weeks into the program) when they spontaneously announced it. They make us do things like risk exposure to patients with COVID-19 and risking getting the rest of class sick, forcing students to give sponge bathes to burn victims as a year 1, lift heavy boxes, wipe people's butts, work for free in call centers in the guise of "gaining clinical experience." In reality, the UTMB admins, mainly Dr. Farr who runs the CECE program, are using it to pad their own resumes at the expense of students' educational experiences. It becomes a bigger problem because we also have required PBL sessions, POM sessions, and other random events that take up time from studying. Our class spent 6 weeks in orientation and META going over social justice fluff, but they give us little time to study for the real things like GAR exams. The school (mainly Dr. Farr) have been largely dismissive of student concerns on safety, abuse, harassment, quality of experience, etc.

Almost all the students have lost confidence with the UTMB administration and don't believe they are really trying to support us. There are, of course, some good faculty like Dr. Cristiana Rastellini who runs the anatomy course and lab but they don't have much power and they too have had issues with UTMB leadership (you can google that. Our current class, MCT (molecules, cells, and tissues) had major issues in years before b/c of faculty issues so half the class failed the course last year and the course had to be majorly curved. They changed the curriculum this year to use USMLERx for learning but the faculty issues still haven't changed much but we'll see this Friday as we have our MCT midterm then.

Also, there have been some political issues with the school namely that they just fired the President Dr. Raimer who was a well respected, trusted, and popular figure here ( Dr. Ben Raimer, a Career and Life of Service | Thank You Dr Raimer. ) . He worked here for 40 years, and was abruptly sacked 2 months ago for political reasons (he didn't do anything criminal - but UTMB and UT Systems execs wanted to get rid of him). The school has major complaints with UT admin leadership and cronyism.

www.beckershospitalreview.com

Colleagues on UTMB president's abrupt exit: 'We can call it a resignation, but nobody in Galveston buys that' - Becker's Hospital Review | Healthcare News & Analysis

Colleagues of Ben Raimer, MD, former president of the University of Texas Medical Branch, are left with questions after the leader abruptly resigned Aug. 22 after four decades with the academic health system.
www.beckershospitalreview.com www.beckershospitalreview.com

www.galvnews.com

Raimer's statements inspire hard-edged letter from UT System

The University of Texas System sent a letter to Dr. Ben Raimer on Monday disputing comments the former University of Texas Medical Branch president made in an interview last week
www.galvnews.com www.galvnews.com

thefacts.com

Ousted UTMB president 'ticked,' awaits explanation

GALVESTON — Former University of Texas Medical Branch President Dr. Ben Raimer broke more than a month of silence Friday by saying UT System officials had dug for reasons to
thefacts.com thefacts.com

www.houstonchronicle.com

Influential UTMB leader's sudden departure stuns colleagues and former students

The sudden departure of Dr. Ben Raimer from the University of Texas Medical Branch, where...
www.houstonchronicle.com www.houstonchronicle.com

So don't really trust the intentions or promises the school makes. Of course every school is riddled with issues but UTMB leadership is especially broken which means that the school will be making more and more bad decisions over time at the expense of medical education and lower match rates at UTMB.

That said, UTMB is not a bad school or the worst, but they are dishonest about many things. There are pros/cons of anywhere you go, but just keep that in mind if there are any other programs you might be interested in going to like McGovern, Long, UTSW, TTUHSC, etc. The actual courses are fine, but the school is poorly run and disorganized. The only saving grace is that the class is true pass/fail and it's a beach town if that's your thing but Galveston is boring, but at least it's an hour away from Houston. That said, a major red flag with UTMB is its match rates are much lower than the other major Texas medical schools (around 88% versus 95-98% at the others) that you can see below.

Some comments below that may be useful:

"delasmontanas 12 points 3 years ago*
Sure.
Ever wonder why UTMB has not been ranked by US News for the past decade? It's because they weren't transparent with US News in terms of their USMLE scores among other things.
Back when I was applying I had a friend request all of the USMLE (vs. MCAT if the school had it) data for TX schools (except BCM) using the Texas public information act. Then we sat down and looked at the data.
UTMB's reported STEP1 average was nowhere close to the average from the data they gave us. They ignored multiple board failures in their average. I posted all of the raw data and charts to SDN under a moniker, but I can't find the post searching google. I do remember that they were close to one of the lowest board averages if you actually crunched the numbers. UTSW was the highest, but really we're talking about differences that are just outside the margin of error for STEP1 anyway.
As an MS4, I can tell you that board stats should not play into your rank decisions at all. I can't think of a more useless metric to be honest. Clincal scheduling flexibility is very important. Length of dedicated is somewhat important. Optional attendance during the pre-clinical years is also key.
Between UTMB and UTHSCSA, the curricula are very different.
The accelerated model that UTHSCSA had adopted gives you greater flexibility in terms of clinical scheduling in your 4th year which is key if you want a lot of specialties though less flexibility in terms of exploring non-core specialties early.
They don't list how much time they give you for dedicated on their website which is a little concerning--"ample" LOL-- but all of my friends that ended up at UTHSCSA liked it and have done well enough to match to decent residencies.
Don't get me wrong UTMB is a great school, but I was concerned as an applicant at the lack of transparency and manipulation of scores. The PBL pre-clinical curriculum if they are still doing that is not something I am hot on, and I say that as someone who liked my limited PBL classes in medical school.
Edit: Found one of my old SDN posts if anyone is curious - The Republic of Texas XXXI: Everything's not just bigger, it's more awesome too . Note that UTMB was claiming an average of 238 on interview days based on my notes from the time and another applicant's post on SDN."

Student Achievement

Student Achievement
www.utmb.edu www.utmb.edu

Year20182019202020212022
NRMP Match87%88%89%87%89%
Overall Match*
*Includes Early and Military Matches		93%94%97%96%98%

"One other thing about UTMB that would give me pause is their low NRMP match rate (Table 3). 93-95% is about average for the initial results at good schools. 82% and 87% is pretty dismal. 18% and 13% of the class had to enter SOAP? Once may be a fluke. It happening in twice in the span of three years is a red flag. It speaks to poor advising."
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Hello!

I also go to UTMB and I would like to share my thoughts regarding this post. The OP is entitled to their opinion and experience however as someone who is going through the same things as this person I have a much different perspective.

For the CECEs, it is true that we were caught by surprise when we were told about them. That should have been better communicated to us. However, I wanted to address concerns about the actual CECE event. First want to say that in situations where I have felt uncomfortable when I was asked to do something, I would say No and explain that I lack the training or am not prepared to do that type of task. At no time was I ever forced beyond that point. I would add that the CECEs I feel have been fantastic clinical experiences. There are some which feel odd like working in the call center. However, I think from Dr. Farr's (CECE director) perspective and from foundational beliefs from UTMB, they are trying to give us, as future doctors, insight into all the components of medicine. Not just as a doctor, but also what it looks like from a nurse's perspective, or what it looks like from an administration perspective, and gives us a deeper understanding of how difficult it can be for patients to navigate through the world of medicine.

I really appreciate these opportunities because I truly feel like I will be a better person and a better doctor from these early experiences in my training. I think a big thing I want to emphasize for UTMB is they are not just trying to make us good students who pass tests. They are trying to make us excellent physicians who can go out and connect with their patients and contribute to changing the culture of medicine. That all starts with a perspective change and an understanding of others. This new program is by no means perfect. And it has a lot of things it can do to improve, but I believe it's still a worthwhile thing that the school is giving us the opportunity to do.

In general, I feel like the OP made a lot of accusations and claims about the intentions behind the program and about how our overall class feels. Specifically, "Almost all the students have lost confidence in the UTMB administration and don't believe they are really trying to support us."

I am not going to speculate on how the majority of my 230 classmates feel. I can say that this is something I very much disagree with and I know plenty of other classmates who would feel the same as me. In reality, if you are trying to make a decision about whether or not to attend this school, don't put too much weight into posts like the one above because there's a large spectrum of how we all feel about the CECEs and the administration. We all have biases and so please do your best to make the most informed decision without accounting for too many personal anecdotes. The survey had 99/230 students reply with some positive and negative responses. Not to invalidate any of the responses in the survey, because these are legitimate concerns that need to be taken seriously. However, I want to emphasize there's a large silent vocal majority that has yet to express their opinions.

For the curriculum, look at it with an honest lens with the school's mission statement in mind. Do you think PBL could be a way that you learn? Do you want your school to care about making you a holistic physician or do you just want to get a degree and keep it moving? I think that's extremely important when deciding what school you want to go to and there's nothing wrong with saying I don't really care about all the societal stuff, and I just want to be a doctor. If that's you then UTMB might not be for you and that's totally fine! META was about bringing social awareness and mindfulness to their students before we started on the actual journey. It let us bond with each other as classmates and get used to living on the island. I personally really appreciated that but if that's not something you care about then it is important to be aware of what you're signing up for.


I wanted to add that they still care about academic performance just as much as any medical school and it's still their main priority. The professors have been amazing. They host plenty of review sessions and academic tutoring sessions every week with free individual tutoring available as well.
I will say MCT has been messy. But we have a new course director and so they are trying their best to get it together for us and I genuinely feel like we will continue to have gradual improvements for how the course is structured as we go.

A big plus are the NBME exams which is the exam format for any course. These are meant to be similar to the USMLE step-1/2 questions which are just one example of how they try their best to make sure you will do well academically. And we are P/F to help relieve some of the pressure of having to be perfect so you can actually learn the material.





I am not going to address the Dr. Raimer issue because I truly have no clue about that situation at all. This for me has had no impact whatsoever on my medical school experience. I feel the OP mentioning Dr. Raimer to be a key example of how UTMB is dishonest/untrustworthy is a reach. But more importantly, this issue has had no impact at all on the student body or the learning experience. I really don't think it should even be a remnant of a factor if you are thinking about going to UTMB.

In regard to the match rates, I'll try to keep my opinion on this brief since I am an MS1 and so I have not gone through the actual process as some of the upperclassmen have. If this is something that concerns you then I highly advise you to ask the school directly and look into the match rates for whichever specialty you are interested in. I think it's easy to spin statistics as a red flag without context, However, overall I think UTMB gives you plenty of tools and opportunities to be a successful applicant for residency programs anywhere with tons of chances to find mentors to guide you through these steps. In reality, a lot of this truly depends on the person and their actual application. So make sure when making your decision, to try to see if this school can align with your future career goals without putting too much weight into statistics since so many variables affect whether or not an applicant matches

TLDR: Is UTMB a perfect school? No. But what I can say is I think they try their absolute hardest at improving where they can. The amount of opportunities we have to give our honest feedback to course directors and administrators is incredible. We have student officers and representatives who consistently meet with course directors to discuss the class's concerns.
This is a school that has a special culture and I think it's run by people who care about us and truly care about doing their jobs well. There have been issues but we have new course directors and new CECE events, and I think we will have improvements for these issues. They are extremely fast at replying to emails if you want to speak to someone directly, and we are assigned a senior liaison whose job is to help guide us about who to speak to when we are having issues with the school on any level. Just like with anything, when something new is implemented there are going to be rough patches and I think they do a good job of trying to work through those as they come while being transparent with us in the process.

No one at that school wants to see you fail or not achieve your goals, and they do a lot to set you up for success.
 
thehottestnerd said:
Good morning, I just wanted to point out that @Coggeshallsnumberonefan joined SDN on December 3rd and has only this message up. Goodbye.
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We do want to see different views here so we get a multisided perspective. Just because someone started an account to respond to a critical post does not make their first post not credible, especially when it comes across a sincere viewpoint of their own and not as an outright rebuke of the other very critical post.

SDN exists so we can hear from everyone who has something to say and come to our own individual conclusions as to what works best for each one to decide which issues are most critical vs which ones are irrelevant. Something that is very important for someone with a family is not necessarily relevant for a single person lets say if the school gives a lot of extra work that a family person has no time for and has to consider while a single person just dives into with their free time.
 
thehottestnerd said:
@wysdoc @texasvandy okay you’re right. These are good points. I originally thought that wasn’t a real student but the school itself. I apologize @Coggeshallsnumberonefan
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There should be concerns about students attending a school if several people agreed on negative arguments without counter arguments. Even if it came from the school, it must be read between the lines to see if they are being persuasive.
 
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