2024-2025 U Houston (Fertitta)

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What did ya’ll wear for the tour? They said to wear comfortable shoes and clothes but I’m not sure if I should dress casually or more business casual. Thank you!
 
Did you guys send thank you letters? This was my only tmdsas and mmi interview and I forgot to ask if they accept them! If you did, did you send one to each interviewer?
 
RorysBabyDaddy said:
Did you guys send thank you letters? This was my only tmdsas and mmi interview and I forgot to ask if they accept them! If you did, did you send one to each interviewer?
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I did not, but from what I’ve read they prefer no post-interview communication such as LOI etc. I’m not sure the same applies to TYL. Depending on how long the interview was, I’m not sure if sending it would be practical.
 
notadogorcat said:
I did not, but from what I’ve read they prefer no post-interview communication such as LOI etc. I’m not sure the same applies to TYL. Depending on how long the interview was, I’m not sure if sending it would be practical.
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That’s what I figured since the mmi stations were so short and standardized. Thank you! I just wanted to double check 🙂
 
I definitely missed it since it's past 1pm, but was there no email for the UHCOM campus connect sessions they usually have? Maybe cause it's close to match day, but was just wondering if other people got the email like usual or not? 🙂
 
purplesunflowers said:
I definitely missed it since it's past 1pm, but was there no email for the UHCOM campus connect sessions they usually have? Maybe cause it's close to match day, but was just wondering if other people got the email like usual or not? 🙂
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What email are you referring to?
Last CougarMed was last Friday.
 

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Is there anyone an UH alumni and totally hated your time during undergrad here? That would be me, and with all the recent crimes going on at school, I'm not sure if the COM will be any safer. Does anyone know if we will get a designated parking space, or have to pay over $400 again for parking with no guaranteed space?.... And from what I can find on the website, is the rotation site mostly at HCA Kingwood? That's a very far commute 😀
 
heyyall said:
Is there anyone an UH alumni and totally hated your time during undergrad here? That would be me, and with all the recent crimes going on at school, I'm not sure if the COM will be any safer. Does anyone know if we will get a designated parking space, or have to pay over $400 again for parking with no guaranteed space?.... And from what I can find on the website, is the rotation site mostly at HCA Kingwood? That's a very far commute 😀
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Someone on last year's thread addressed the crime concern and mentioned that the COM has security at the building at all times. I’m not sure about the parking situation. I know there’s a parking lot there but unsure if it fits everyone. I hope I don’t have to go to a parking garage considering everything that has happened.

Also, the Houston crime issue has more to do with proximity and scale that the COM doesn’t have. The medical building is one spot and relatively small, so security and safety are easier to control compared to the huge campus. I do not plan to be present at the main campus considering all the crime that has been going on.

For the commute, I was told to live near the center of Houston to cut down on the time. When I went to the informational they said their rotations are throughout Houston. Not sure if it's only HCA Kingwood.

At this point, I can’t cherry-pick the schools I go to. If I have to drive to get my MD then so be it. That’s life.

Did you get accepted?
 
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Tomiee said:
Someone on last year's thread addressed the crime concern and mentioned that the COM has security at the building at all times. I’m not sure about the parking situation. I know there’s a parking lot there but unsure if it fits everyone. I hope I don’t have to go to a parking garage considering everything that has happened.

Also, the Houston crime issue has more to do with proximity and scale that the COM doesn’t have. The medical building is one spot and relatively small, so security and safety are easier to control compared to the huge campus. I do not plan to be present at the main campus considering all the crime that has been going on.

For the commute, I was told to live near the center of Houston to cut down on the time. When I went to the informational they said their rotations are throughout Houston. Not sure if it's only HCA Kingwood.

At this point, I can’t cherry-pick the schools I go to. If I have to drive to get my MD then so be it. That’s life.

Did you get accepted?
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I did.
I looked at their Clinical manual thingy and the contact list only has faculty in HCA Kingwood and Texas Women Hospital, at least for 3rd year's core rotation. For 4th year, there are contact info for like Baytown, Wharton, Cleveland,...
 
heyyall said:
I did.
I looked at their Clinical manual thingy and the contact list only has faculty in HCA Kingwood and Texas Women Hospital, at least for 3rd year's core rotation. For 4th year, there are contact info for like Baytown, Wharton, Cleveland,...
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How long are the commutes for these locations?
 
Tomiee said:
How long are the commutes for these locations?
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HCA Kingwood is about 35-min away from UHCOM campus. The other are the nearby towns, about 30- 60 minute radius from the campus. But these are without Houston traffic, and if students can live near campus (it will be expensive because it means it's near the medical center/museum district/downtown)
 
mayanad1234 said:
What about living in the heights?
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Not sure how far the commute was for the heights. I know at the museum district the commute was around 15-20 minute straight shot. Rent is pretty high tho but that’s to be expected at those places.
 
heyyall said:
HCA Kingwood is about 35-min away from UHCOM campus. The other are the nearby towns, about 30- 60 minute radius from the campus. But these are without Houston traffic, and if students can live near campus (it will be expensive because it means it's near the medical center/museum district/downtown)
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I did not match here, but I will say UH has a really good gig going on. Even though its a good 30 minute drive to their main rotation site, it is pretty good because you will always be going against the rush hour traffic. Also, a lot of the other newer schools like Sam Houston for example have far rotation sites which require you to relocate during your third and fourth year. Which for UH is not something that is mandatory. Even schools like UTMB send a few students to Corpus every year, so if you get ultimately selected for that there is nothing you can really do. For the crime part, generally speaking downtowns in general tend to have a fair bit of crime. Even my undergrad at UT had a fair bit of crime as well, it is just part of the downtown environment. I would not stress too much about this because UH is isolated from the main campus and you will be spending most of your time indoors and not walking from building to building like in undergrad.

I think in the next 5-10 years UH will become pretty established and a lot of the smaller issues will be straightened out, but for now, I do not see many cons of UH compared to other schools.
 
I did not match. Is there anyway to find out what I need to improve on?

Could I ask U of HSOM what I should improve on for next cycle?

(My CGPA 3.96, SGPA 3.95, MCAT 507. 160 hrs of family clinic, 2 months overseas medical mission. About onr year of resesrch. Will finish undergraduate May 2025).
Comments will be much appreciated.
 
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zztexas said:
I did not match. Is there anyway to find out what I need to improve on?

Could I ask U of HSOM what I should improve on for next cycle?

(My CGPA 3.96, SGPA 3.95, MCAT 507. 160 hrs of family clinic, 2 months overseas medical mission. About onr year of resesrch. Will finish undergraduate May 2025).
Comments will be much appreciated.
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Doesn't hurt to call admissions. They either will say no or will be helpful. When I toured UH, they were very friendly, so I think they are more likely than other ADCOMS to be honest.

I personally think your extracurriculars and grades are amazing. UH accepts MCAT scores of all ranges, I personally don't think it is that much of an issue for UH, however you can't have the mindset that anything is guaranteed for medical school.

Did you have good letter of Recommendations? Did you get other interviews this application year? Did you have a good interview at UH?

If you solely are trying to go to UH I would make sure your extracurriculars align with their mission. However I think if you raise your MCAT you can be competitive for many Texas MD programs.
 
mayanad1234 said:
Do UH students usually get roommates? If so, is it easy to find roommates
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I know multiple UH students and it is a mixed bag. Some live near the medical center solo and pay 1700 a month, others live midtown with a few roommates and pay 1000. A lot live with family. All depends on your budget. UH is in an interesting situation where there are cheap (but not in a good area) options nearby but also some nice areas (midtown, downtown, med center, etc) but are expensive.
 
Thank you for the replies! I’m mainly concerned with the crime going on at UH and want to make sure I’m living in a safe area but expenses are reasonable enough as a med student
 
mayanad1234 said:
Thank you for the replies! I’m mainly concerned with the crime going on at UH and want to make sure I’m living in a safe area but expenses are reasonable enough as a med student
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If you are worried about crime and want something under 1000 I would recommend Galleria area. It's a bit of a drive but if you leave before 6:30am and after 6:30pm or around lunch time it should be a 20ish minute or less drive to campus. It also has easy access to multiple highways which would come convenient during clinical years.
 
mayanad1234 said:
Thank you for the replies! I’m mainly concerned with the crime going on at UH and want to make sure I’m living in a safe area but expenses are reasonable enough as a med student
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Every big city is going to have crime so it’s a matter of figuring out which neighborhood you’re able to stay at and plan accordingly. At Austin there were a string of murders at lady bird lake (or something like that) and a friend stayed at SA and got all her tires stolen overnight. Basically point I’m making is that every city has these issues unfortunately. We just gotta be careful.
 
zztexas said:
I did not match. Is there anyway to find out what I need to improve on?

Could I ask U of HSOM what I should improve on for next cycle?

(My CGPA 3.96, SGPA 3.95, MCAT 507. 160 hrs of family clinic, 2 months overseas medical mission. About onr year of resesrch. Will finish undergraduate May 2025).
Comments will be much appreciated.
Click to expand...
Just my 2 cents.
During a pre-med organization's workshop at UH, a faculty told us that, (not a direct quote but something along the lines), "you should not be focusing on something out in the world while there's obviously problem to take care of right in your backyard", and then he went on to say how students waste money to go on mission trips overseas but barely have any meaning/highlights to talk about in their essay or interview, whereas Houston (or TX in general) has underserved populations that need help from student volunteer, and the faculty are on consensus about weighing "local" experience over "mission trip".

So, I'm not saying that your "overseas medical mission" is a red flag, or not good enough. My question is, do you have any volunteering/community service in your immediate local area? UHCOM is very focused on serving the underserved populations in Houston and TX, people who don't speak English, low-income, immigrants, from diverse cultural backgrounds... hence the focus on educating med students who are ambitious about primary care. If you can't prove primary care + community service in your app, it might be "the" reason.

Yes, I see your 160hrs of family clinic, but is it shadowing (passively observation), or some patient interactions, and what have you learned from these interactions.

Another 2 cents. One thing I notice from my 3 interviews is that there is always some sort of question that gauges your resilience and whether you understand/aware of the rigors of med school, so that the Adcom can predict whether you'll survive med school. If they don't see this, they'll think you need more year(s) of "growth" (challenges).
 
heyyall said:
Just my 2 cents.
During a pre-med organization's workshop at UH, a faculty told us that, (not a direct quote but something along the lines), "you should not be focusing on something out in the world while there's obviously problem to take care of right in your backyard", and then he went on to say how students waste money to go on mission trips overseas but barely have any meaning/highlights to talk about in their essay or interview, whereas Houston (or TX in general) has underserved populations that need help from student volunteer, and the faculty are on consensus about weighing "local" experience over "mission trip".

So, I'm not saying that your "overseas medical mission" is a red flag, or not good enough. My question is, do you have any volunteering/community service in your immediate local area? UHCOM is very focused on serving the underserved populations in Houston and TX, people who don't speak English, low-income, immigrants, from diverse cultural backgrounds... hence the focus on educating med students who are ambitious about primary care. If you can't prove primary care + community service in your app, it might be "the" reason.

Yes, I see your 160hrs of family clinic, but is it shadowing (passively observation), or some patient interactions, and what have you learned from these interactions.

Another 2 cents. One thing I notice from my 3 interviews is that there is always some sort of question that gauges your resilience and whether you understand/aware of the rigors of med school, so that the Adcom can predict whether you'll survive med school. If they don't see this, they'll think you need more year(s) of "growth" (challenges).
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I agree alot with this. I think UHCOM might care the most about mission fit in the entire US.

UHCOM also screens their secondaries heavily so I am leaning towards it's the last piece of advice. It's so hard to get into medschool these days and interviews are so important. UH asked so many resilience based questions during my interviews. I honestly thought I did decent for my UHCOM interviews and I am well above their stats but didn't get a prematch (matched to a school I ranked above it). I don't think there's much you can change in a gap year to "get in" to UHCOM specifically. I assume they want all your ECs to align with their mission.

I strongly suggest applying broadly next cycle. I think @zztexas ECs, GPA, and shadowing is impressive and improving MCAT will make you competitive at all Texas MDs.
 
Just received waitlist email. Hoping there will be movement 😭
 
+1 waitlitst email. Anyone know how many spots in WL? I looked at previous cycle and saw the WL moment at UH was very slow. It seems like only a few ppl got off WL last year.
 
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