Baylor vs. UCLA ??

[GloryToGod]

Baylor and UCLA are both well known academic institutions. I'm from Texas, and going to Baylor will be much cheaper for me. But I heard some rumors about BCM having trouble financially. I don't really know where I want to do my residency. Obviously it'll be easier for me to get residency programs in the southern states coming from Baylor, and the other way around for west coast states. But I wonder if it would make a difference if I later want to go to east coast. What are your opinions? 🙂

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[GoSpursGo]

Both schools are great, so I think you'll have a good chance to go wherever you want for residency no matter which school you go to.

Also, having spoken with some a member of the faculty, Baylor is doing fine. It's had to cut back on its spending to make way for the Rice merger, but that should be a good thing cuz then we'll get access to their huge endowment too 🙂 UCLA is a great school, but I'd take the money and run.

 

[GloryToGod]

haha, yea. money kind of is a big deal, since i'll probably depend solely on student loans. do you know much about the merger? i heard rumors about it, but it's pretty difficult to find any solid information about that.

 

[MDman87]

Tough decision, but a good one to have. Baylor

 

[funkydrmonkey]

Woohoo Texas! Go for Baylor. Plus the Rice Merger is a plus... And it is so cheap, why wouldn't you want to go to Baylor?

 

[GoSpursGo]

haha, yea. money kind of is a big deal, since i'll probably depend solely on student loans. do you know much about the merger? i heard rumors about it, but it's pretty difficult to find any solid information about that.

Basically, I've heard it's just about a given to happen, if not by the time school starts, then in the next year or so. Of course, things can always happen, but I'd be pretty stunned if it didn't happen at this point.

 

[GloryToGod]

Woohoo Texas! Go for Baylor. Plus the Rice Merger is a plus... And it is so cheap, why wouldn't you want to go to Baylor?

well, it's not because i dont want to go to Baylor, but it's more because i would love to experience what it's like to live in southern cali. i talked to the students there, and they said the people are super chill, and they go to school 8-12, which is def a plus. oh, and a pass/fail system for their first two years.

 

[bobdogsam43]

well, it's not because i dont want to go to Baylor, but it's more because i would love to experience what it's like to live in southern cali. i talked to the students there, and they said the people are super chill, and they go to school 8-12, which is def a plus. oh, and a pass/fail system for their first two years.

- M/F is from 8-12 and Tu/W/Th is from 10-3ish

- True P/F ALL four years....no internal rankings

 

[bobdogsam43]

Woohoo Texas! Go for Baylor. Plus the Rice Merger is a plus... And it is so cheap, why wouldn't you want to go to Baylor?

what changed your opinion on UCLA?....I remember you posted on the UCLA thread alot. You aren't nudging the OP away for waitlist movement are you? 😉 😛

 

[BJPENNSTATE]

Woohoo Texas! Go for Baylor. Plus the Rice Merger is a plus... And it is so cheap, why wouldn't you want to go to Baylor?

dont listen to this guy's advice, he BADLY wants to get off UCLA's waitlist. i cant believe in every UCLA vs. some school thread, he always advise someone to pick the other school, however, he wants to get into UCLA so badly...how competitive and manipulative

 

[BJPENNSTATE]

my personal opinion...UCLA>BAYLOR, 4 years pass/fail > ranking system, UCLA's matchlist is sick...southern california>northern texas

now thats an unbiased opinion

 

[funkydrmonkey]

my personal opinion...UCLA>BAYLOR, 4 years pass/fail > ranking system, UCLA's matchlist is sick...southern california>northern texas

now thats an unbiased opinion

Or perhaps my "biased" opinion includes the fact that at Baylor they have dissection vs prosection at UCLA. Baylor has 1.5 years basic science and 2.5 years clinical vs. 2 years basic science/ clinical at UCLA. Baylor tuition is 11K compared to the 35K at UCLA. Baylor is associated with the Texas Medical Center where you can get access to almost any medical type of practice you want...

 

[copingmethods]

Or perhaps my "biased" opinion includes the fact that at Baylor they have dissection vs prosection at UCLA. Baylor has 1.5 years basic science and 2.5 years clinical vs. 2 years basic science/ clinical at UCLA. Baylor tuition is 11K compared to the 35K at UCLA. Baylor is associated with the Texas Medical Center where you can get access to almost any medical type of practice you want...

You can get access to any type of medical practice at UCLA. I think they told us at second look that out of the many specialties and subspecialties that exist, there were only a few training programs that they didn't have at UCLA (one of them being aerospace medicine ). As for different type of practices: Reagan is complex tertiary/quaternary care, Cedars is a private hospital for the stars, Harbor and Olive View are county hospitals w/ mostly underserved patients, Santa Monica has the "bread and butter" cases, the Venice Family Clinic is a free clinic, and UCLA primary care clinics are all over the city.

However, I think the tuition difference between them tilts this decision in the direction of Baylor.

 

[pntgrd]

what changed your opinion on UCLA?....I remember you posted on the UCLA thread alot. You aren't nudging the OP away for waitlist movement are you? 😉 😛

That guy posted on the UCLA thread a lot and after being waitlisted, has gone on many other threads telling people to go to other schools. I guarantee that if UCLA took him off the waitlist, he would withdraw from UTSW in a second. It is pathetic.


To answer the OPs question, I think UCLA is better for several reasons such as grading system and location, but Baylor is such a good value. So it comes down to how much that money means to you.

 

[TexasPhysician]

In my opinion, Baylor is a better school and cheaper. You would be crazy to pass up Baylor!

 

[funkydrmonkey]

what changed your opinion on UCLA?....I remember you posted on the UCLA thread alot. You aren't nudging the OP away for waitlist movement are you? 😉 😛

dont listen to this guy's advice, he BADLY wants to get off UCLA's waitlist. i cant believe in every UCLA vs. some school thread, he always advise someone to pick the other school, however, he wants to get into UCLA so badly...how competitive and manipulative

That guy posted on the UCLA thread a lot and after being waitlisted, has gone on many other threads telling people to go to other schools. I guarantee that if UCLA took him off the waitlist, he would withdraw from UTSW in a second. It is pathetic.

So, I have a biased opinion with ulterior motives... Can you really blame me...

 

[lakersmd]

So, I have a biased opinion with ulterior motives... Can you really blame me...

yes, classic case of gunner-ism.

it will bite you in the ass in the future. i'm not shocked that ucla waitlisted you in the 1st place after reading all of your selfish posts.

 

[drizzt3117]

I'd pick UCLA personally, but both of them are very good schools. The accelerated curriculum seems like a good idea but UCLA will definitely be a lower stress experience IMO.

 

[enjoydrywax]

Without considering any of the finer details, I'd pick UCLA in a heartbeat. However, I don't know about paying out of state tuition given such a phenomenal in-state opportunity. I remember interviewing at Baylor and every med student there was just beaming about the whole 1.5 years of book work, and 2.5 of rotations. To me that seemed like a pretty sweet deal.

For me it's all about money and location, which I guess doesn't help you since one has the money, and one has the location. I guess I should stop posting.

 

[bobdogsam43]

You can get access to any type of medical practice at UCLA. I think they told us at second look that out of the many specialties and subspecialties that exist, there were only a few training programs that they didn't have at UCLA (one of them being aerospace medicine ). As for different type of practices: Reagan is complex tertiary/quaternary care, Cedars is a private hospital for the stars, Harbor and Olive View are county hospitals w/ mostly underserved patients, Santa Monica has the "bread and butter" cases, the Venice Family Clinic is a free clinic, and UCLA primary care clinics are all over the city.

However, I think the tuition difference between them tilts this decision in the direction of Baylor.

there are also several VA's, a couple of Kaisers and ALOT of community hospitals.....its sorta crazy the # of sites u can experience

 

[GloryToGod]

Do the students at UCLA get to rotate through Ronald Reagan and Cedars? I figured that since they are one of the top hospitals, med students may not be able to do anything more than to watch. that would be a plus, since Baylor lost its affiliation with Methodist. i wonder when the Baylor hospital will be completed

 

[TexasPhysician]

Do the students at UCLA get to rotate through Ronald Reagan and Cedars? I figured that since they are one of the top hospitals, med students may not be able to do anything more than to watch. that would be a plus, since Baylor lost its affiliation with Methodist. i wonder when the Baylor hospital will be completed

Since Baylor still has world renowned affiliations like MD Anderson, Texas Children's Hospital, Menninger Clinic, and the Texas Heart Institute, I don't think Methodist was too big of a loss.

Again, there are too many opportunities at Baylor to pass up. UCLA has nothing but beaches over Baylor. IMO.

 

[mmmcdowe]

I'm going to agree that Baylor is a great deal just based on the money alone. I really liked the school and I'm from Texas originally so I had no problem with Houston. I also liked their shortened clinicals and monster basic science research. I didn't interview at UCLA (screwed up and applied to the wrong program, no interview), so I don't know too much about it. I have two qualms with Baylor though. First, they lost one of their top affiliates. I had a doctor from Baylor firmly tell me not to come there over my other choices. Second, Baylor got crunched in the rankings, which tells me that there is something going on over there. I wouldn't be surprised if they bounced back after the Rice merger, though. There's still the question of the hospitals.

 

[copingmethods]

Do the students at UCLA get to rotate through Ronald Reagan and Cedars?

Ronald Reagan is the main hospital, they definitely rotate through there. Cedars too - it wouldn't be much of an affiliation if they couldn't rotate there.

 

[bobdogsam43]

Do the students at UCLA get to rotate through Ronald Reagan and Cedars? I figured that since they are one of the top hospitals, med students may not be able to do anything more than to watch. that would be a plus, since Baylor lost its affiliation with Methodist. i wonder when the Baylor hospital will be completed

lol of course they do. Keep in mind, med students aren't going to be doing anything of critical importance while in med school......we aren't "real" MDs yet.


...for someone "accepted" at both places this post is a tad bit suspicious IMO.

 

[anoncurious]

I'm going to agree that Baylor is a great deal just based on the money alone. I really liked the school and I'm from Texas originally so I had no problem with Houston. I also liked their shortened clinicals and monster basic science research. I didn't interview at UCLA (screwed up and applied to the wrong program, no interview), so I don't know too much about it. I have two qualms with Baylor though. First, they lost one of their top affiliates. I had a doctor from Baylor firmly tell me not to come there over my other choices. Second, Baylor got crunched in the rankings, which tells me that there is something going on over there. I wouldn't be surprised if they bounced back after the Rice merger, though. There's still the question of the hospitals.

BCM students still rotate through Methodist, so the split (that happened in 2003 btw) does not affect med students at all--but it does affect residents.

Regarding the rankings--there was a long discussion about this in the BCM forums--essentially nothing substantive changed at Baylor, but the administration decided not to report MD Anderson's NIH funding (150million) to US News along with their own (and since US News is heavily based on research funding, BCM's ranking dropped)..so nothing really changed. That being said the Rice merger will surely boost the rankings and when BCM gets a new President (sometime soon) he might make a different decision re: MD Anderson.

In any case, the point is that nothing really changed at BCM with respect to the quality of the program or opportunities for medical students. Personally, I would choose BCM--the 2.5 yrs of clinical rotations mean that you get a lot of time to try out any rotation (at phenomenal hospitals in the TMC as well as abroad, at away rotations, etc) or simply take some time off and travel/relax. Plus, the cheap tuition means that you start out in significantly less debt..it's a win-win!

By the way: speaking of the hospitals; both UCLA and BCM have phenomenal hospitals, but one of the advantages of BCM is: not only do you have great hospitals in EVERY specialty, but it's not the same hospital(ie MD Anderson for Cancer, Texas Childrens for peds, Menninger Clinic for Psych, etc)--so you have the opportunity to experience top-notch clinical care/technology but you also get to experience different hospitals, different charting systems, etc--which will definitely allow you to adapt more readily and expand your skill set in residency and beyond.

 

[pianola]

BCM students still rotate through Methodist, so the split (that happened in 2003 btw) does not affect med students at all--but it does affect residents.

Regarding the rankings--there was a long discussion about this in the BCM forums--essentially nothing substantive changed at Baylor, but the administration decided not to report MD Anderson's NIH funding (150million) to US News along with their own (and since US News is heavily based on research funding, BCM's ranking dropped)..so nothing really changed. That being said the Rice merger will surely boost the rankings and when BCM gets a new President (sometime soon) he might make a different decision re: MD Anderson.

In any case, the point is that nothing really changed at BCM with respect to the quality of the program or opportunities for medical students. Personally, I would choose BCM--the 2.5 yrs of clinical rotations mean that you get a lot of time to try out any rotation (at phenomenal hospitals in the TMC as well as abroad, at away rotations, etc) or simply take some time off and travel/relax. Plus, the cheap tuition means that you start out in significantly less debt..it's a win-win!

By the way: speaking of the hospitals; both UCLA and BCM have phenomenal hospitals, but one of the advantages of BCM is: not only do you have great hospitals in EVERY specialty, but it's not the same hospital(ie MD Anderson for Cancer, Texas Childrens for peds, Menninger Clinic for Psych, etc)--so you have the opportunity to experience top-notch clinical care/technology but you also get to experience different hospitals, different charting systems, etc--which will definitely allow you to adapt more readily and expand your skill set in residency and beyond.

Hey when you say MD Anderson for Cancer, do you mean for a specific rotation? In a letter to a friend, I'm trying to describe what hospitals are used for which rotations.

BTW thanks a lot for your post. It's helpful.

 

[GoSpursGo]

So, I have a biased opinion with ulterior motives... Can you really blame me...

FUNKMONK! That's terrible 🙁

In any case, I really do think that Baylor is the place to go. The grading system I think would be the biggest reason to go to UCLA, but I don't think that justifies shelling out $100-200k more in loans, and maybe more in accrued interest. I do think the 1.5 year preclinical curriculum is a big plus for Baylor, and I think the places that you get to rotate through as a Baylor med student is second to none. If you're worried that going to a specific school might give you a better chance to do residency in one part of the country vs. another, basically as you hear over and over again, where you match to is going to have much more to do with your performance on the Steps and in medical school than which school you went to. You can match to any residency from either school.

On the other hand, I do understand the impulse to "go out and try somewhere new." Having been from San Antonio my whole life, I'm excited about going to Houston, because it'll be new to me 🙂 To me, the academics between Baylor and pretty much any other school in the country are comparable enough to where there's almost no way I would've gone anywhere else over them; there's just no school where it makes sense to go several thousands of dollars more into debt for. If you're really desperate to try a new part of the country out, though, I could understand that.

Good luck deciding 🙂

 

[veaselhaufen]

I don't think you'd regret the texas to california switch . Besides, you can get IS tuition at UCLA after the first year. It's not like you're picking tufts or something.

 

[GloryToGod]

FUNKMONK! That's terrible 🙁

In any case, I really do think that Baylor is the place to go. The grading system I think would be the biggest reason to go to UCLA, but I don't think that justifies shelling out $100-200k more in loans, and maybe more in accrued interest. I do think the 1.5 year preclinical curriculum is a big plus for Baylor, and I think the places that you get to rotate through as a Baylor med student is second to none. If you're worried that going to a specific school might give you a better chance to do residency in one part of the country vs. another, basically as you hear over and over again, where you match to is going to have much more to do with your performance on the Steps and in medical school than which school you went to. You can match to any residency from either school.

On the other hand, I do understand the impulse to "go out and try somewhere new." Having been from San Antonio my whole life, I'm excited about going to Houston, because it'll be new to me 🙂 To me, the academics between Baylor and pretty much any other school in the country are comparable enough to where there's almost no way I would've gone anywhere else over them; there's just no school where it makes sense to go several thousands of dollars more into debt for. If you're really desperate to try a new part of the country out, though, I could understand that.

Good luck deciding 🙂

Thanks. Yea, I am from Houston, and a lot of my college summer experience came from TMC so far. so i'm wondering if it would be better for me to explore something newer. also, summer weather other than 95 degrees / 95% humidity summer would be nice too. but the money part makes a lot of sense too. shoot,, i guess i still have some time 🙂

 

[GoSpursGo]

Thanks. Yea, I am from Houston, and a lot of my college summer experience came from TMC so far. so i'm wondering if it would be better for me to explore something newer. also, summer weather other than 95 degrees / 95% humidity summer would be nice too. but the money part makes a lot of sense too. shoot,, i guess i still have some time 🙂

I don't really know if it would be "better" to explore somewhere new; however, it might be fun 🙂

Good luck deciding.

 

[GloryToGod]

lol of course they do. Keep in mind, med students aren't going to be doing anything of critical importance while in med school......we aren't "real" MDs yet.


...for someone "accepted" at both places this post is a tad bit suspicious IMO.

haha, to rid of suspicions - i felt that UCLA interview was the least organized by far. i felt a little disappointed because i flew all the way from Texas, and all they had for me was just an interview and a lunch. the dude in the office handed me an interview packet, and told me to go to my interview and come back by 12. when i came back at 12 (my interview was from 9:30-10:00), they hooked us up with a couple of students who were supposed to give us tours and answer our questions,,,, well it turned out that they were first and second years and didn't know much (when we went into Ronald Reagan, which is the only hospital we got to see that day, one MS1 girl simply said,, "this is an awesome hospital, isn't it?"). after the lunch, they dismissed us. i haven't been back to LA since then, and the people at UCLA are not too easy to talk to over the phone in my experience 😉

 

[anoncurious]

So what did you decide?

 

[longhorn09]

If you happen to be a TX resident, go to Baylor for sure. It's super cheap tuition is just irresistable! 👍

 

[JJMrK]

So, I have a biased opinion with ulterior motives... Can you really blame me...

Are you serious man? Yes, we can blame you; that's messed up. If you can't say something without thinking about yourself before saying it, don't even post in these types of threads.

 

[ZeusonRoids]

Go where you want to live. Both great choices. UCLA has the slight edge in terms of rankings and crap but do what you want. I would not really worry about a 25k difference per year in tuition because that is only 100k difference which really is not a ton if you think about it over a 30-35 year career. If you think you will regret not going to UCLA then I think it is worth the extra cash to not have the regret the rest of your life. Who knows what will happen if you go to UCLA. You could meet your future wife/husband or be introduced to a mentor who helps pay off your loans. Don't pass up an opportunity based on cash. At some point in your life you will have to live in the NOW rather than just living for what is best financially for your future.

 

[GloryToGod]

Thanks everyone! I've decided on UCLA. I loved growing up in Texas and all that, but didn't want to miss out on this great opportunity to go somewhere else. Talked parents and friends about it - felt that it would be the best for me. i'll just have to take out more loans😉 California here I come! (unless something bazaar happens - since now that the movements in the waiting list started)

 

[ZeusonRoids]

Thanks everyone! I've decided on UCLA. I loved growing up in Texas and all that, but didn't want to miss out on this great opportunity to go somewhere else. Talked parents and friends about it - felt that it would be the best for me. i'll just have to take out more loans😉 California here I come! (unless something bazaar happens - since now that the movements in the waiting list started)

YEAH!!!
Nice, I will be in LA too (at USC)! Cheers to possibly crossing paths in the future. To live and die in LA baby.