Baylor vs southwestern

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sliceofbread136

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Help me choose!

Baylor:

Pros: better curriculum, tmc, family close by so I can help (little brother is having problems), I like Houston more
Cons: fuss over hospital, slightly more expensive

Southwestern:

Pros: great research, college system, felt like a very friendly place, new parkland
Cons: traditional curriculum, low step prep time

I rly have no idea... Any help?
 
As a Houston resident with the same choices, I will definitely end up at Baylor if I decide to go to medical school in Texas. I think that having family close by can be underrated, and you can't go wrong with the education you're going to get at either school. The hospital issues that Baylor has seem to me to be more of an administrative type, and I don't anticipate those problems with impact the quality of clinical exposure that you're going to get as a medical student to a great degree.

Either way, you're going to be going to a solid school for an unbelievable price if you choose Baylor or Southwestern.
 
Classof2013PreM said:
As a Houston resident with the same choices, I will definitely end up at Baylor if I decide to go to medical school in Texas. I think that having family close by can be underrated, and you can't go wrong with the education you're going to get at either school. The hospital issues that Baylor has seem to me to be more of an administrative type, and I don't anticipate those problems with impact the quality of clinical exposure that you're going to get as a medical student to a great degree.

Either way, you're going to be going to a solid school for an unbelievable price if you choose Baylor or Southwestern.
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Agree with your points. It's just I feel like I'm losing an opportunity when I think of going to one of the schools over the other.... It's just such a tough choice...
 
Cinclus said:
Baylor's also got great research opportunities, and I can assure you that we are very friendly. 🙂

I love it at BCM.
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I know! And I'm sure I would love it too.

It's just that everytime I think about going to one school over the other I feel kind of sad. I love both of the schools and know they are both excellent. I just can't decide which to go to!
 
Your reasons for choosing Baylor are a lot better than your reasons to go to Southwestern. Things like having family close by and liking the city are the things that will affect your life the most during medical school.
 
Houston > Dallas imo, therefore Baylor > Southwestern.

Go where you will enjoy living for the next 4 years.
 
LRAccord624 said:
Your reasons for choosing Baylor are a lot better than your reasons to go to Southwestern. Things like having family close by and liking the city are the things that will affect your life the most during medical school.
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dwills said:
Houston > Dallas imo, therefore Baylor > Southwestern.

Go where you will enjoy living for the next 4 years.
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True, but as some who is kind of reclusive I think the college system would be a big plus for me. I also have a lot friends going to utsw. So I guess that is another plus for utsw that I didn't list.

I am leanin more towards Baylor after this thread, thanks for the help so far guys.
 
sliceofbread136 said:
True, but as some who is kind of reclusive I think the college system would be a big plus for me. I also have a lot friends going to utsw. So I guess that is another plus for utsw that I didn't list.

I am leanin more towards Baylor after this thread, thanks for the help so far guys.
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Well if you do decide on UTSW I will probably be there next year if that influences your decision :laugh: Just kidding, of course.
 
dwills said:
Well if you do decide on UTSW I will probably be there next year if that influences your decision :laugh: Just kidding, of course.
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Haha I'll add you to the utsw pros list. Grats on the acceptance. Big scholarship too right?
 
Can't beat the opportunities in the TMC--the resources for mentorship, shadowing, and research are endless. Also, condensing the basic science years is a huge plus because the clinical years are when you really do the majority of your learning. At Baylor, you'd have more time to do clinical rotations and electives before having to decide on your specialty, which is only a good thing. Having family close is HUGE given that med school sucks sometimes and you need that support system. Also, I know very very few people who go to UTSW and actually enjoy it. Med school grades are small enough that you'll make plenty of friends easily without a college system in place. I'd say Baylor 100%.

- current TX 4th year
 
ophtho4321 said:
Can't beat the opportunities in the TMC--the resources for mentorship, shadowing, and research are endless. Also, condensing the basic science years is a huge plus because the clinical years are when you really do the majority of your learning. At Baylor, you'd have more time to do clinical rotations and electives before having to decide on your specialty, which is only a good thing. Having family close is HUGE given that med school sucks sometimes and you need that support system. Also, I know very very few people who go to UTSW and actually enjoy it. Med school grades are small enough that you'll make plenty of friends easily without a college system in place. I'd say Baylor 100%.

- current TX 4th year
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Thanks for the input! Appreciated
 
I'm stuck with the same choice.

I really like the city of Dallas cause it feels really young and vibrant whereas houston feels like old and sophisticated, and I like the college system at SW, but the PF/18 month curriculum at Baylor is really cool. I wish baylor could just be in Dallas so I could go to a place with a location I like.

I think the main thing that will make or break it for me is location. I will know a few people at UTSW in my class, but at Baylor, I don't think I'll know anyone. However, I think I'll know some friends in the city of Houston though. I also have family sort of by houston, so that is kind of nice too. I just don't know what there is to do in Houston. Though I suppose I don't know what to do in Dallas either.

I also forgot the 2 new hospitals being built vs TMC. I don't know how the whole Baylor/hospital relationship affects learning. And I like UTSW's campus a lot more, and how it is a lot more cheaper and feasible to park on campus in case you need a late night visit to the labs and whatnot.
 
Dark Magician said:
I'm stuck with the same choice.

I really like the city of Dallas cause it feels really young and vibrant whereas houston feels like old and sophisticated, and I like the college system at SW, but the PF/18 month curriculum at Baylor is really cool. I wish baylor could just be in Dallas so I could go to a place with a location I like.

I think the main thing that will make or break it for me is location. I will know a few people at UTSW in my class, but at Baylor, I don't think I'll know anyone. However, I think I'll know some friends in the city of Houston though. I also have family sort of by houston, so that is kind of nice too. I just don't know what there is to do in Houston. Though I suppose I don't know what to do in Dallas either.

I also forgot the 2 new hospitals being built vs TMC. I don't know how the whole Baylor/hospital relationship affects learning. And I like UTSW's campus a lot more, and how it is a lot more cheaper and feasible to park on campus in case you need a late night visit to the labs and whatnot.
Click to expand...

So if you don't mind me asking where are you leaning? Also I didn't think about traffic.
 
sliceofbread136 said:
So if you don't mind me asking where are you leaning? Also I didn't think about traffic.
Click to expand...

I honestly couldnt tell you. I am trying to write out every aspect of each school (including traffic/parking etc) just so I can have a complete picture of what each school offers, and then go from there. They are great schools, and I think that either would be a great choice.

So schools aside, could people chime in about the DFW location and TMC? I would like to hear how students relax and go out to have fun. Its been a while since interviews, so I cant say I remember all the points the students were trying to emphasize.
 
Dark Magician said:
I honestly couldnt tell you. I am trying to write out every aspect of each school (including traffic/parking etc) just so I can have a complete picture of what each school offers, and then go from there. They are great schools, and I think that either would be a great choice.

So schools aside, could people chime in about the DFW location and TMC? I would like to hear how students relax and go out to have fun. Its been a while since interviews, so I cant say I remember all the points the students were trying to emphasize.
Click to expand...

Ya, any input is very helpful and will be vastly appreciated!

And are you going to MS0 weekend Dark Magician?
 
sliceofbread136 said:
Help me choose!

Baylor:

Pros: better curriculum, tmc, family close by so I can help (little brother is having problems), I like Houston more
Cons: fuss over hospital, slightly more expensive

Southwestern:

Pros: great research, college system, felt like a very friendly place, new parkland
Cons: traditional curriculum, low step prep time

I rly have no idea... Any help?
Click to expand...

How about Loma Linda? You seem to think quite highly of them: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=13469052&postcount=6
 
For what it's worth, I'm a current 3rd year at UTSW and I absolutely love it here; every one of my classmates I can think of I believe would agree that we would definitely choose it again.

While Baylor has the condensed preclinical curriculum which definitely sounds nice, I think there's no way in the world I could have possibly learned UTSW's curriculum in any less time than I did and still have time to have a life. In addition, since our curriculum is so thorough and well taught, and we actually have time to learn it, I found step studying to be much easier than I was expecting, since all the material I encountered really seemed like review. I only studied for 4.5 weeks for step 1 and scored >250. And I'm not a phenomenal student or anything. I really attribute it to the fact i worked really hard and learned the material taught to us the first 2 years.

Also I noticed you mentioned short step 1 study time in regard to UTSW, but we have 6 weeks. Personally I don't know how someone could study for any longer than that (or would need to..).

And for what it's worth, I actually like Dallas a lot. I was born and raised in Austin so I wasn't expecting to like it here as much as I do. There are endless restaurants here to try in uptown, a neighborhood right by school. Also we have tons of outdoor patio places that are really fun to go to for brunch, and everyone brings their dogs. =) There are also lots of really fun bars and beer gardens, pubs, etc. I love going to and fun places to watch the game. Dallas also has lots of events that are really fun. I recently went to a food truck festival near down town, we have the state fair in September/October, there is a huge octoberfest festival in Addison in late September, the student center gets $15 tickets for us for the Dallas symphony, the art museum has monthly evening free events with wine, there's the Katy trail, a 3.5 mile running/biking path through the heart of uptown up to SMU that's really fun to us, and lots of good musical acts come play here at the grenada theatre, the palladium ballroom, house of blues, etc.

And as someone mentioned, yes driving and parking here is really easy. Student parking is $90 a year for a covered garage that's a 2 minute walk from the lecture halls, which are directly connected to the library, and 3 of the 5 hospitals we primarily train at, which is really convenient to say the least.

Anyway just thought I'd share that I really am happy here! Best of luck with your difficult decision of where to attend.
 
Dark Magician said:
I like the college system at SW, but the PF/18 month curriculum at Baylor is really cool. I wish baylor could just be in Dallas so I could go to a place with a location I like.

I will know a few people at UTSW in my class, but at Baylor, I don't think I'll know anyone.
Click to expand...

I'm biased since I'm a current student at Baylor, but let me address a few points. Even though we don't have a "college system," we do have small groups called "PRN" (peer resource network). Each PRN group consists of about ten MS1's, two to three MS2's, one or two MS3's, and one or two MS4's. Since our PRN groups are smaller than a "college," it's easier to get to know other students in the group. The upper-class PRN leaders organize fun events for us (for example: my group meets up for breakfast once a month, and we collaborated with another PRN group for a hot-pot/karaoke night). The leaders also do a great job of touching base to see how we're doing.

I went out of state for undergrad, and when I came back to Texas for med school interviews I noticed a lot of interviewees from the same Texas colleges had a tendency to sit together. I was really worried about making new friends in an environment where so many students already knew each other for 4 years, but I've had absolutely no trouble making new friends at all. In fact, my closest friends are from several different colleges, both in-state and out-of-state.

sliceofbread136 said:
Help me choose!

Baylor:

Pros: better curriculum, tmc, family close by so I can help (little brother is having problems), I like Houston more
Cons: fuss over hospital, slightly more expensive

Southwestern:

Pros: great research, college system, felt like a very friendly place, new parkland
Cons: traditional curriculum, low step prep time

I rly have no idea... Any help?
Click to expand...

I just wanted to add another pro: at BCM we take Step 1 after clinical rotations, which I think is a big reason why we had the highest Step 1 average in the US last year (~245). From what I've heard, Baylor will give you up to 3 months if you want that much time to study for Step 1, even though most students find 6-8 weeks to be perfectly sufficient.
 
Although I know nothing about BCM, I'd like to correct what Minerva said about colleges. Yes, we have about 40 people in a college, but students are divided into small groups of 6 students and a faculty member within the college system. We have big sibs MS2s and MS4, if you're worried about peer mentors. There are also so many clubs and activities that it isn't very hard to make friends. This is from.someone who didn't know.anybody in Dallas before moving here. I love UTSW. Research is great, clinical and pre-clinical training are awesome. If I could change one thing, I would my family close-by. What is the most important thing on your list of pros? Go to the school that provides that for you. At least that's what I would do.
 
Oh okay, I dont think I remembered students mention the peer group at Baylor. That's pretty handy. And I think that going to school where I know no one is kind of exciting, so either way, I think I would enjoy my social life whether I knew a few people or none. I am just unsure of what to pick right now.

With the 18 month curriculum, how do students use that "extra" 6 months?
 
Dark Magician said:
Oh okay, I dont think I remembered students mention the peer group at Baylor. That's pretty handy. And I think that going to school where I know no one is kind of exciting, so either way, I think I would enjoy my social life whether I knew a few people or none. I am just unsure of what to pick right now.

With the 18 month curriculum, how do students use that "extra" 6 months?
Click to expand...

I think many people find it pretty useful to have extra time to explore fields they may be interested in before they need to choose a specialty in 4th year. We start clinicals 6 months earlier. We also have several months available with which to do whatever we please: study for Step 1, get married, etc.
 
Cinclus said:
I think many people find it pretty useful to have extra time to explore fields they may be interested in before they need to choose a specialty in 4th year. We start clinicals 6 months earlier. We also have several months available with which to do whatever we please: study for Step 1, get married, etc.
Click to expand...

Are you doing any of the tracks? I think I might be interested in the research track.
 
sliceofbread136 said:
Did you pick utsw over baylor whatyousay? What do you like about utsw?
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Didn't hear back from Baylor, but I had already made up my mind by March, so I suppose it really didn't change anything at the end of the day.

UTSW
+ Colleges
+ New Parkland + New University Hospital
+ 1st semester P/F
+ Friends who came here seemed to love it
- Dallas
- Traditional Curriculum

Baylor
+ TMC
+ Curriculum (1.5 years + more tracks)
+ Houston
- Didn't like the pseudo P/F thing they had going on (ranked P/F annoys me more than a graded system, just out of principle :laugh: )
- Vibe + the interview day (easily the most disorganized interview I attended, the TMC sold me more than the administration did)

There was some other anecdotal stuff that sold me on UTSW vs. Baylor, but I'm not really comfortable using that as a metric for others to evaluate these two schools.

Long story short, if BCM was in Dallas and UTSW in Houston w/ the TMC, it probably would have taken a few seconds to make my decision rather than the few months that it did. I just happened to like the overall feel of UTSW a lot more than I liked Baylor's. I loved the flexibility of Baylor's curriculum + the TMC, but that interview day just left such a bad taste in my mouth.

I think you're leaning towards Baylor (or maybe you've already made up your mind?), and I think that's probably the right choice. The schools are similar enough in reputation/resources that family considerations and fit should trump everything else.


Dark Magician said:
I honestly couldnt tell you. I am trying to write out every aspect of each school (including traffic/parking etc) just so I can have a complete picture of what each school offers, and then go from there. They are great schools, and I think that either would be a great choice.

So schools aside, could people chime in about the DFW location and TMC? I would like to hear how students relax and go out to have fun. Its been a while since interviews, so I cant say I remember all the points the students were trying to emphasize.
Click to expand...

As far as the traffic/parking situation goes, UTSW is a lot cheaper compared to Baylor (student parking @ UTSW is ~$120 for the whole year, while parking at Baylor ranges from $50-160 a month, depending on if you choose onsite or offsite parking). The TMC does offer some public transit options if you want to save money.

UTSW: people usually blow off steam by heading to the Uptown area (~15 minutes from UTSW) for parties and White Rock Lake or Katy Trail for running/biking/whatever. There's always Six Flags and Rangers/Cowboys/Mavs/Stars games (although Cowboys tickets will probably be out of a typical student's budget), too. The school also periodically offers special ticket prices for some event in the Arts District (cheap tickets to the symphony or the art museum). The area immediately around UTSW is pretty empty of stuff to do, although there is an outdoor basketball court + tennis courts on campus in addition to the student center.

I personally prefer Houston to Dallas, but if you find yourself bored in the DFW area as a non-Dallas native, you're probably not even trying.
 
Sorry to resurrect this thread, but I'm having some difficulty in making this choice. I'm pretty familiar with Parkland, but I was wondering which hospital BCM students spend most of their time. Is it Ben Taub? It seemed like BCM had more affiliates. How much weight should differences in these hospitals carry when deciding between these two schools? Thanks!
 
Salaam said:
Sorry to resurrect this thread, but I'm having some difficulty in making this choice. I'm pretty familiar with Parkland, but I was wondering which hospital BCM students spend most of their time. Is it Ben Taub? It seemed like BCM had more affiliates. How much weight should differences in these hospitals carry when deciding between these two schools? Thanks!
Click to expand...

You can't go wrong either way. BCM has 8 affiliate teaching hospitals (http://www.bcm.edu/about/affiliates.cfm). I'm not all sure about the results of the politics that occurred in the last few years, but I believe BCM still maintains a good relationship with Taub. However, I'm not sure about what the future of BCM and Methodist is - maybe a current student can comment. Both places will give excellent training in almost every specialty. If it were up to me, I would consider ultimate COA/debt load and proximity to family as more important factors.

Although the majority of people will say preclinical curricula do not matter, it should be considered important at least for your foundation for step 1 prep. Here, BCM has a proven track record with their 18 month preclinical. UTSW also has good step scores, but it is up to you whether you want to spend more time learning the basic sciences or have more time to prep for boards. As you probably know, BCM internally ranks (quartiles I've heard on Dean's letter?); however, there is a true GPA at UTSW. Self-motivation and perseverance during med school are more important to have than an "easier" grading scheme imo.
 
Go to utsw hands down, dallas is much better and cheaper, for one.
 
I'm still struggling with this decision. I was sure about going to baylor, then switched to utsw, and now I don't rly know again. I've got a summer research gig and a Dallas apartment already, but now I'm starting to think more and more about baylor. I guess the grass is always greener... sigh I don't know what to do...
 
sliceofbread136 said:
I'm still struggling with this decision. I was sure about going to baylor, then switched to utsw, and now I don't rly know again. I've got a summer research gig and a Dallas apartment already, but now I'm starting to think more and more about baylor. I guess the grass is always greener... sigh I don't know what to do...
Click to expand...

Are you going to Baylor's Second Look this weekend? That could help solidify your decision.
 
Baylor Second Look was awesome! Definitely won me over. Have you made your decision yet, Sliceofbread?
 
I know I've already posted in here, but I was talking with a classmate just a few days ago about how we're both very glad we chose to come to Baylor over our multiple other options.

And I'm sure it's been said before but...244 Step 1 average...the highest average in the country. Amazing.
 
Gotta agree with Cinclus.
The combination of 1.5 year condensed curriculum + being in the TMC + pass/fail throughout all preclinical courses + tons of ways to tailor your medical experience to your goals (tracks + dual degrees + electives) + ridiculously high step 1 average = 😍
Honestly, I couldn't be happier about choosing to come to Baylor!
 
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