DancingBard
New Member
- Joined
- Jan 16, 2020
- Messages
- 3
- Reaction score
- 2
Hello everyone, I'm making an account here because I have finally had my second look at LSM today, and I am ready to finalize my match order for TMDSAS, I am fortunate enough to have already been pre-matched to TTUHSC Lubbock, and I feel very good about it as I had a wonderful interviewing process with them. However, I am of a mind that if either Long or SW decided to take me on that I would be better off there, as I am hoping to specialize and do not want to limit my residency opportunities. I have a passion for surgery and I would love to work my way into orthopedic if I can- if I don't make it it isn't the end of the world for me though. I'm torn between Long, SW, and Lubbock, and I would love to get your opinions as I finalize my match order tonight and tomorrow! Currently, I have it as SW>LSM>TTUHSC. I want medical school to be a life experience that I can enjoy, and not just a brutal death march, which I am concerned SW will be as compared to LSM or TTUHSC. I'm hoping that some of y'all can give me some more insight on this.
Long
Pros
Cons
SW
Pros
Cons
Pros:
Please let me know what you think! I'm very comfortable with putting Long over TTUHSC, but I really don't know how to feel about UTSW. If anyone goes to any of these schools and has some advice it would be sincerely appreciated. Thank you for your time!
Long
Pros
- I had an amazing interviewing experience with them, and this was reinforced by my second look today. I got an at-home feeling from them, which made me feel at ease.
- I appreciate the extended amount of time they give us to prep for Step 1, and the chance to jump into early clinicals
- Competitive matching for residencies
- San Antonio is a more ideal location for me to live in as compared to Lubbock or Dallas, and it is close to Austin where several of my friends live.
- Lively local swing dancing scene
- I did not get a gunner vibe at all from the students that I met, and despite not having true P/F they don't have a curve.
- Good research opportunities
- I like that they give a week to study before each major exam
Cons
- Less competitive than SW for matching into highly sought after residencies
- Less significant research opportunities than SW
- No cons vs. TTUHSC
SW
Pros
- Prestige admittedly carries significant weight in giving me access to highly sought after residency opportunities- it would admittedly be a self-esteem boost to get into such a well-known school, but that's less important to me than my actual time there.
- From what I understand, SW is truly P/F, which I see as a huge boon. I can focus more on research and STEP to be competitive.
- Excellent research opportunities.
- My Aunt and Uncle live in Dallas, and it would be nice to have some actual family around throughout medical school- I was raised out of state but I have state citizenship.
- Getting taught by their Nobel Laureates is something that has me giddy, it just feels so cool to think about it!
Cons
- I would prefer to not live in Dallas.
- I have been told that this school is extremely Gunnerish, and I am worried that this kind of environment might hurt me more than the academic advantages boost me up. If this is not the case, it would be a significant relief.
- I had a middling interview experience. Much less personal than any of my others, and I did not have the same positive gut feeling about it as I did my other two. I learned much less from my time there than I did the others as well, and was not as excited by the literal school as I was by other campuses
- The Campus felt less lively than the others, but this could simply be due to timing.
- I didn't meet any students that gave me negative feelings about the school, but they didn't stick out to me as much as at the others.
Pros:
- I had an amazing interview experience with them, I would be perfectly happy to go to this school if I don't get into either of the above. I am even debating if going here vs UTSW is a better call for me because of the vibe- they went above and beyond to save my bacon when my hotel arrangements for my interview got ruined, and the students took me out to rock climbing and a party. Going to Rocky Horror live with med students will be a memory for life!
- I already have made friends with several of the MS1's and MS2's, and I would have a comfortable group to join and learn from when I start.
- They showed keen interest in me, and offered me an early interview and pre-matched me on the first day- I feel that any institution that looks at me that favorably is going to do right by me. Could be naive optimism, but since this is my second attempt at applying to medical school, I got a feeling of respect from them.
- Massive student rec center will keep me active and entertained even though it's the middle of nowhere.
- I like their focus on clinical skills.
- Living in Lubbock
- Heavily Primary Care focused
- Less research opportunities vs. the other schools
- Less support for getting into highly contested residencies
Please let me know what you think! I'm very comfortable with putting Long over TTUHSC, but I really don't know how to feel about UTSW. If anyone goes to any of these schools and has some advice it would be sincerely appreciated. Thank you for your time!
