help me rank for tmdsas

[waterglass]

schools i interviewed at: a&m, baylor, mcgovern, utsw, long, rgv, utmb

some context: i grew up in dallas and am graduating from smu so i'm really close to utsw out of all the schools.

i just want y'alls opinion on how to go about ranking this because im having a tough time figuring this out.

really, to me i think the 3rd rank onwards is pretty straightforward. i need help w the first two. for example:

1.
2.
3. mcgovern
4. long
5. utmb
6. a&m
7. rgv

so obviously my first two are baylor and utsw and i have zero clue on how to rank them.

utsw pros:
+ close to home. love my parents and itd be nice being close to them
+ good research opportunities and t20
+ p/f preclinical
+ i like the colleges system

utsw cons:
- campus kinda depressing lol
- graded clinical
- heard it can be cutthroat and gunnery
- slightly more expensive but doesn't matter


baylor pros:
+ p/f all four years
+ better national brand
+ students seem super happy
+ lots of support groups
+ slightly cheaper but i dont care

baylor cons:
- biggest one is the chance of being put in temple but honestly not much of a con because i can live with that to be honest since most people like it
- far away, my parents are getting older and itd be nice to be close

also how much do you have to honor a letter of intent. i may have preemptively sent one to a school because i was hoping for a prematch and then got utsw and baylor interview invites so in hindsight, not the best idea.

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[etxaccepted36]

For the letter of intent, I have seen on a few threads that most TMDSAS schools don't weigh them very heavily for the reason you mentioned along with all of the other possibilities of changes that can happen (prematch with scholarship, family issues, etc) besides UTMB that has been open about wanting some of those updates. At worst it'll look pretty lame that you sent a letter of intent just to get a prematch, but you couldn't have anticipated getting invites to Baylor/UTSW afterwards. Adcoms on here can correct me if I'm wrong, I'm just going off of what I've been reading in the Texas threads.

As for rankings UTSW/Baylor it seems like it'll come down to a matter of how well you fit at each school and where you feel like you can succeed best. Both places are neck and neck when it comes to opportunities, research, and prestige. If you are interested in bench research, you may want to rank UTSW higher since the Temple campus has been open about the lack of bench research they have, though they do have plenty of clinical research opportunities (which you can argue is an even bigger pro given the small class size... there's virtually no competition for most opportunities)

The other issue is being close to your family. This one is tricky because Baylor students seem to have a bit more free time with a first year that is less front-loaded, so you may be able to afford more time off to see your family, despite the distance. Additionally, if you are willing to forgo the TMC connections to be closer to family, you can choose the Temple campus and have a much shorter drive to the Dallas area (2 hours I think?) UTSW has been said to have a tough first semester so I can't imagine you'll have a lot of time to spend with your family despite the close proximity. I'm in the same boat of having family getting older in the Fort Worth area, but I ultimately am going to rank Baylor first because I feel that I fit their culture better than UTSW.

I will say that a big turn-off I had with UTSW was that someone in my interview session had the courage to pop the question of "Why not Baylor?" in our student session and the only thing they said was "Temple". It's a valid concern, but for people that do not care about the Temple campus, it's not going to move the needle at all.

Those are just my thoughts as a fellow applicant. I'm sure that in the end you'll end up where you're meant to be 🙂

 

[waterglass]

For the letter of intent, I have seen on a few threads that most TMDSAS schools don't weigh them very heavily for the reason you mentioned along with all of the other possibilities of changes that can happen (prematch with scholarship, family issues, etc) besides UTMB that has been open about wanting some of those updates. At worst it'll look pretty lame that you sent a letter of intent just to get a prematch, but you couldn't have anticipated getting invites to Baylor/UTSW afterwards. Adcoms on here can correct me if I'm wrong, I'm just going off of what I've been reading in the Texas threads.

As for rankings UTSW/Baylor it seems like it'll come down to a matter of how well you fit at each school and where you feel like you can succeed best. Both places are neck and neck when it comes to opportunities, research, and prestige. If you are interested in bench research, you may want to rank UTSW higher since the Temple campus has been open about the lack of bench research they have, though they do have plenty of clinical research opportunities (which you can argue is an even bigger pro given the small class size... there's virtually no competition for most opportunities)

The other issue is being close to your family. This one is tricky because Baylor students seem to have a bit more free time with a first year that is less front-loaded, so you may be able to afford more time off to see your family, despite the distance. Additionally, if you are willing to forgo the TMC connections to be closer to family, you can choose the Temple campus and have a much shorter drive to the Dallas area (2 hours I think?) UTSW has been said to have a tough first semester so I can't imagine you'll have a lot of time to spend with your family despite the close proximity. I'm in the same boat of having family getting older in the Fort Worth area, but I ultimately am going to rank Baylor first because I feel that I fit their culture better than UTSW.

I will say that a big turn-off I had with UTSW was that someone in my interview session had the courage to pop the question of "Why not Baylor?" in our student session and the only thing they said was "Temple". It's a valid concern, but for people that do not care about the Temple campus, it's not going to move the needle at all.

Those are just my thoughts as a fellow applicant. I'm sure that in the end you'll end up where you're meant to be 🙂

thank you for such a well thought out answer. im probably in the same boat leaning towards baylor. hopefully we can be classmates!