I interviewed and also spent a month at this program. In Texas, the "Baylor" name is very confusing. As JohnD correctly points out, it is not affiliated with Waco or Houston. Baylor University Medical Center (BUMC) in Dallas is the flagship institution of a 12+ hospital network in the Dallas/Fort-Worth area.
I consider BUMC a academic community program, if such a term exists. Most attendings have clinical appointments at Parkland/UT Southwestern. About 1/2 of UT Southwestern medical students spend six weeks of their 3rd year IM clerkship here. Maybe a few of them could chime in for another opinion on this program.
There are many residency programs at BUMC. Almost all of the residency programs, and almost all of the medical and surgical fellowships are represented at the hospital. It is the largest hospital in Dallas with 1200+ beds.
My experience at Baylor was outstanding. The residents I worked with were terrific, and the attendings were also very good. Autonomy is really not an issue at this hospital. Only about 1/4-1/3 of all patients are admitted to the teaching service. Patients are admitted to the teaching service for their teaching value, not as a service to the hospital. You are virtually guaranteed that your census will not fill up with a bunch of AIDS patients, ROMIs, CVAs or whatever. In fact if you already have one or two of these on your service you can refuse the admission. A majority of the patients admitted to the teaching service are un-funded/indigent. BUMC does about 1/4 of the indigent care of Dallas county. The IM chair/program director will not allow attendings to admit to the teaching service if they do not give residents significant autonomy. Overall, IMHO a very good system that greatly benefits the resident more than the hospital.
One last thing- BUMC is the ONLY program in Texas with 100% ABIM pass rates for the last few years. Check for yourself at the ABIM website. They must be doing something right.
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