2024-2025 U Houston (Fertitta)

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On the waitlist email they said they have made sixty offers so far. I’m assuming that includes OOS but I could be wrong

Actually that’s a good point I forgot it said that. Pretty sure our emails were the same for OOS and IS.

“””Thank you for your continued interest in Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine here at the University of Houston. The Admissions Committee has made 60 offers for Fall 2025 to date, you currently are on our waitlist for this application cycle. Some movement is still possible over the next couple of months.”””

Still holding on to hope for those who haven’t heard back. The waiting game is brutal.
 
Actually that’s a good point I forgot it said that. Pretty sure our emails were the same for OOS and IS.

“””Thank you for your continued interest in Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine here at the University of Houston. The Admissions Committee has made 60 offers for Fall 2025 to date, you currently are on our waitlist for this application cycle. Some movement is still possible over the next couple of months.”””

Still holding on to hope for those who haven’t heard back. The waiting game is brutal.
I think they meant that they already accepted 60 students for 60 matriculation slots, out of the whole interviewed applicants. So whoever is not in that “60 offers” (not matched/accepted) are on the waitlist
 
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
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 @Vaquero

Thank you so very much for taking the time to guide me. I appreciate your excellent suggestions. They are very enlightening.

I have been notified that I am on WL.

In my overseas medical mission I did have ample interactions with the underserved patients.

Since I submitted secondary last year, my EC have significantly increased.

I have already completed about 500 hrs and am still working in a primary care clinic as a clinical assistant with full interactions with patients from diverse and underserved backgrounds and I will continue with this family clinic.

Also I have completed 40 hrs of GI shadowing and now I am shadowing a cardiologist and wish to have at least 80 hrs in it.

Also I have arrangement for shadowing in Pulmonary medicine, Neurology and Nephrology and will complete hopefully by October.
I am still in cardiac research (LVAD, Sarcoidosis) with some very prominent researchers in Texas Medical Center in Houston.

I am a coauthor of a publication on cardiac sarcoidosis which is about to be published in a prestigious cardiology journal. Now I am working on a research paper on LVAD.
I have been in cardiac research longer than a year

I am also in Genetics research at school.

I am a registered volunteer with American Cancer Society where I give rides to cancer patients to clinics.

Also I am a registered volunteer at a hospice and am actively involved.

I mentor through Big Brothers Big Sisters of Texas and also I tutor at U of H.

I am very involved in underserved communities where numerous languages are spoken. I am multilingual.

This semester hopefully I will have 4.0 and my GPA will hopefully be higher than 3.96. After graduating I am planning on taking MCAT again. That will be my second attempt.

This is the present scenario.

I want to be in primary care and U of H is my first choice.

I will be much obliged if you please let me know your thoughts about my situation now.

Thanks again.
 
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Do we think I should email or call if I do not hear back from them by tomorrow or Thursday? No waitlist email no nothing since my interview in 2024.
 
@heyyall @Vaquero

Thank you so very much for taking the time to guide me. I appreciate your excellent suggestions. They are very enlightening.

I have been notified that I am on WL.

In my overseas medical mission I did have ample interactions with the underserved patients.

Since I submitted secondary last year, my EC have significantly increased.

I have already completed about 500 hrs and am still working in a primary care clinic as a clinical assistant with full interactions with patients from diverse and underserved backgrounds and I will continue with this family clinic.

Also I have completed 40 hrs of GI shadowing and now I am shadowing a cardiologist and wish to have at least 80 hrs in it.

Also I have arrangement for shadowing in Pulmonary medicine, Neurology and Nephrology and will complete hopefully by October.
I am still in cardiac research (LVAD, Sarcoidosis) with some very prominent researchers in Texas Medical Center in Houston.

I am a coauthor of a publication on cardiac sarcoidosis which is about to be published in a prestigious cardiology journal. Now I am working on a research paper on LVAD.
I have been in cardiac research longer than a year

I am also in Genetics research at school.

I am a registered volunteer with American Cancer Society where I give rides to cancer patients to clinics.

Also I am a registered volunteer at a hospice and am actively involved.

I mentor through Big Brothers Big Sisters of Texas and also I tutor at U of H.

I am very involved in underserved communities where numerous languages are spoken. I am multilingual.

This semester hopefully I will have 4.0 and my GPA will hopefully be higher than 3.96. After graduating I am planning on taking MCAT again. That will be my second attempt.

This is the present scenario.

I want to be in primary care and U of H is my first choice.

I will be much obliged if you please let me know your thoughts about my situation now.

Thanks again.
Your extracurriculars sound amazing. You can go to any MD school in the US with an improved MCAT. Aim for the stars Zztexas!
 
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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.
Your extracurriculars sound amazing. You can go to any MD school in the US with an improved MCAT. Aim for the stars Zztexas!
Thank you so very much from the bottom of my heart @Vaquero
 
they'll probably send more info, but is "confirming" your seat by paying the deposit binding?
 
they'll probably send more info, but is "confirming" your seat by paying the deposit binding?
It confirms your current intention to attend UH Fertitta. It is your only TMDSAS acceptance right now so you should do this to keep it.

If you should get a new offer from a school where you are Waitlisted in the upcoming months, before UH orientation begins, you can consider the 2 schools. Then either stay with UH, or formally withdraw and accept your new school.
All of you who are on WLs should read the TMDSAS rules for Match and post-match events over and over to fully understand them.
 
It confirms your current intention to attend UH Fertitta. It is your only TMDSAS acceptance right now so you should do this to keep it.

If you should get a new offer from a school where you are Waitlisted in the upcoming months, before UH orientation begins, you can consider the 2 schools. Then either stay with UH, or formally withdraw and accept your new school.
All of you who are on WLs should read the TMDSAS rules for Match and post-match events over and over to fully understand them.
Gotcha. I was just curious if confirming now would potentially remove/bar me from waitlist consideration at another school. Kind of like how the match system automatically withdraws you from lower-ranked schools.
 
Gotcha. I was just curious if confirming now would potentially remove/bar me from waitlist consideration at another school. Kind of like how the match system automatically withdraws you from lower-ranked schools.
No, it would not kick you out of consideration, good question though
 
Does anyone know if UH provides any subscription for board prep, and any clinical instrument?
 
Does anyone know if UH provides any subscription for board prep, and any clinical instrument?
Hey! Current MS1 here. We get subscriptions to B&B, Lecturio and UWorld (for UWorld specifically you only get access your second year). As far as clinical instruments, we were all responsible for purchasing them, but most of us only purchased a stethoscope. Hope this helps! If you have any other questions, feel free to reach out 🙂
 
Hey! Current MS1 here. We get subscriptions to B&B, Lecturio and UWorld (for UWorld specifically you only get access your second year). As far as clinical instruments, we were all responsible for purchasing them, but most of us only purchased a stethoscope. Hope this helps! If you have any other questions, feel free to reach out 🙂
How have you liked it so far?
 
How have you liked it so far?
I've honestly loved it so far! I think they did a really great job picking our class -- we work really well together and everyone is just so cool and friendly. Also having NBME exams has been amazing. That being said, it is a newer school, so there's definitely things that can be improved on. For example, we have LPC once a week, and some of us have to drive upwards to an hour to get to our site.
 
I've honestly loved it so far! I think they did a really great job picking our class -- we work really well together and everyone is just so cool and friendly. Also having NBME exams has been amazing. That being said, it is a newer school, so there's definitely things that can be improved on. For example, we have LPC once a week, and some of us have to drive upwards to an hour to get to our site.
Could you describe the general schedule of the week?
I’m a little concerned about the mandatory attendance and whether the schedule allows for personal study time. TIA
 
Could you describe the general schedule of the week?
I’m a little concerned about the mandatory attendance and whether the schedule allows for personal study time. TIA
We have classes Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday from 8-12. Thursdays are reserved for PPP (which is where you learn your physical exams and how to take a history etc). The first block is anatomy (8-9 weeks long), which is pretty much all mandatory. The second block, SFM (also 8-9 weeks long which includes cell bio, biochem, pharm, immuno etc), has at least a week or two that is optional attendance. My current block is basically all optional attendance. So, it varies from block to block. I've personally never felt like I haven't had enough time to study, but that also requires good time management on your part because you are responsible for a lot of information.
 
UH adcom mentioned they would send over a GroupMe. Did anyone get access to that yet?
 
Did you interview at UH Fertitta?
This seems to be your first post on SDN so I can’t tell.
If you are OOS you might not know that all TMDSAS interviews came to an end by Jan 31 2025.
Oh yea sorry about that. Yea I've already interviewed and IS, currently waitlisted
 
Do WListed applicants with added EC throughout the year have a higher chance at the same school in the next cycle?
Comments will be appreciated.
 
Do WListed applicants with added EC throughout the year have a higher chance at the same school in the next cycle?
Comments will be appreciated.
Yes I would say that they do.
On the TMDSAS application if you answer the question "are you a reapplicant?" with "Yes", an extra small essay box will pop up which is the perfect space to tell all the things you have been doing to add to your experiences and continue to your goal with determination.
 
We have classes Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday from 8-12. Thursdays are reserved for PPP (which is where you learn your physical exams and how to take a history etc). The first block is anatomy (8-9 weeks long), which is pretty much all mandatory. The second block, SFM (also 8-9 weeks long which includes cell bio, biochem, pharm, immuno etc), has at least a week or two that is optional attendance. My current block is basically all optional attendance. So, it varies from block to block. I've personally never felt like I haven't had enough time to study, but that also requires good time management on your part because you are responsible for a lot of information.
hey sorry just to clarify was this also your schedule in the fall last year?
 
Hey! Current MS1 here. We get subscriptions to B&B, Lecturio and UWorld (for UWorld specifically you only get access your second year). As far as clinical instruments, we were all responsible for purchasing them, but most of us only purchased a stethoscope. Hope this helps! If you have any other questions, feel free to reach out 🙂
Hey! Just a few questions:
- can you tell us more about your financial aid experience? Does UH offer a good amount of scholarships? I saw that the scholarship app is released in April
- where did you live your first year? Did you get a roommate? If so, how did you go about it?
 
This was my schedule for fall last year -- you take anatomy first for like 8-9ish weeks and then SFM for 8-9ish weeks. Both are mostly mandatory attendance, but like I said there are classes here and there that are optional attendance. When you get to spring semester of your first year, you start organ blocks and those have a lot more classes that are optional attendance.
 
Hey! I am going to be honest, I don't have much information about financial aid. I definitely recommend filling out the scholarship application and applying for the TMA scholarship (this one is external to UH), if you are eligible. I am not sure how many scholarships they offer, but I know it varies from year to year based on sponsors and such. Sorry I can't be more help on that front! As for housing, a lot of us live in the TMC, WestU, EaDo areas. I do not personally have a roommate, but I know a couple of people in my class that do. Last year people posted in the GroupMe about that, so I'd give that a try.
 
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Yes I would say that they do.
On the TMDSAS application if you answer the question "are you a reapplicant?" with "Yes", an extra small essay box will pop up which is the perfect space to tell all the things you have been doing to add to your experiences and continue to your goal with determination.
Thank you @wysdoc.
I am on WL and hoping for the best.
 
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