As far as city life is concerned, there is plenty to do in San Antonio as well. I think the big difference is just where the schools are located, so you don't necessarily get that "city life" feel in San Antonio because the school is located in a pretty nice area compared to most schools around the country.
As far as choosing between the schools, I was having a tough time between San Antonio and Baylor... but some things to think about...
Do you want to end up practicing in one of the cities when you're done? If you do, then going to that particular school could help you network with other dentists, and help you to find a job when you're done.
Do you have family in or close to San Antonio or Houston? Is being close to your family a factor for you?
Some things that helped me make my decision...
I absolutely loved the clinic at San Antonio. I loved the idea of having my own cubicle junior and senior year.
As far as the sim labs are concerned... San Antonio did not have a sim lab yet when I interviewed, but they said it was going to be completed when we started, which it was. Unless it's changed, Houston's sim lab only had around 40 sim units, and the students didn't use them every day. The class was divided in half, and they would go at different times to use the sim lab. The one thing I liked about Houston's sim lab, is that they had the sim units mounted on an actual dental chair. So, when you do use them, you have the added benefit of learning to work around a "patient" in the chair.
Being at San Antonio, I have learned that the DS2 students use the sim lab almost every day. The school has done a really nice job transitioning into the sim lab and having all the students doing their pre-clinical work that way. As far as what the sim lab looks like, if you interviewed at Baylor, it looks relatively similar to that. You have your work station, light, and the sim unit that rolls out and lifts up from under your station. You have the hand pieces, water, air, and suction all right there as well.
As far as research is concerned... San Antonio is more of a research institution. But as far as doing dental research, you will probably have similar opportunities at either school, as far as being able to do research in any of the departments (i.e. pedo, ortho, endo, perio, etc). If you are interested in specializing, I don't think that doing research at one school versus the other will look any better, I think that just doing the research is what is important.
Another thing I liked about San Antonio (aside from the school) is the cost of living. There are a number of places you can live that are affordable, and close to the school. The laptop curriculum is nice. Many of the classes give you hard copy manuals as well, so you don't have to be using the computer all the time. It's nice to not have to carry around textbooks all the time. However, some of the upperclassmen buy the hard copy version of a few of the books because it is more convenient and easier to do when they have a ton of reading to do. I guess it just depends on what you like.
I don't know what Houston students get to do first year (maybe a current student can comment), but I can tell you a little bit about what we get to do through our rotations. We do radiology rotations in the fall where we learn how to take x-rays on Dexter, and part of it is a graded component to our freshman radiology class. We also have a physical evaluation rotation where we learn how to do an extraoral exam on one of our classmates. We also get to rotate through our general practice groups and assist the 3rd and 4th year students in the clinic. In the spring we have 4 perio rotations, where we get to work with a classmate. In the first one, we learned how to do perio probing and screening and how to record the information in the patient chart. We also have a rotation where we learn how to place sealants, which will help us when we assist the 3rd and 4th year students on our two sealant days where elementary students come all morning to get sealants. We also have a day where we go to an elementary school and provide oral hygiene instruction to the kids. And then we have a radiology interpretation seminar this semester. A lot of these activities are helping us to learn how to work with patients in the future, which is a really nice change of pace from the didactic course work.
If you have any questions, feel free to PM me.
