Sorry for being slow in my reply, guys, I was out in North Carolina visiting my sister at Wake Forest. After seeing the girls out there, I'm regretting going to school up north now more than ever
To riverie, transitioning from Columbia to Baylor was a not a problem at all for me. I would say our class is pretty liberal, though probably less so than at Columbia (this is probably a combination of the class being older and also going into medicine, a traditionally conservative field). People like me, who are more moderate to conservative, are in the minority here, but I think everyone is pretty open to hearing other people's viewpoints here, so it's a good atmosphere in that way.
I am a Texas resident. This school has a high percentage of Texas residents (common among many private medical schools actually), but since so many of them have gone to school out-of-state, it's really a pretty national atmosphere here, if that makes any sense.
You know, I came in here cursing the death of pass/fail, but now, I'm kinda happy it did die. We still have two classes that are P/F this semester, but will go to a full graded scale next semester, and seeing how little effort I put into those classes versus the major pre-clinical course (which is graded now), I know I'm working far harder to understand this important basic stuff now than I would be with P/F. No matter how self-motivated you are, I just don't think you're going to work as hard for a class that's P/F as one that's on full-graded scale. Obviously, you're interested, but you might not work as hard to learn the little details. And medicine's all about the little details, I'm starting to learn. It's a good thing - we're working harder, and that can only drive Baylor's already-sick USMLE averages even higher.
One of my favorite things about Baylor is the mix of schools we have here. We have a lot of students coming from some of the most prestigious undergraduate schools in the country, but we also have a large number of students coming from less well-known public and private schools. I can't really explain why I think this is cool - I just think it's great that we have this mix, so you're exposed to people from different backgrounds than you again, and it's not all a bunch of ivy leaguers patting themselves on the back and telling each other how great they are.
Uh, UT_Stephen, I lived in dorms through all of college, so I'm probably not the best person to talk to. I actually did buy a townhouse (or rather, my parents did) - the housing market is strong around the medical center, because every year, you have a flood of residents, students, faculty, researchers, etc. coming in who need a house. But you can get a fair price - there are a lot of apartments along the rail and near bus stops, which tend to have a lot of medical students. Condos/townhouses can be got within almost any price range - some people buy ones for 70K, others buy for 200K, just depending on their financial situation. Buying is nice in that you can get your money back, but with home ownership comes a lot of responsibility. If you're out-of-state, it definitely makes sense, because it qualifies you for in-state tuition after the first year. Otherwise, it's just a personal decision.
I think Baylor would probably be pretty flexible with your friend who's going to Japan. I know a 3rd year here who took a break here to complete an MPH at Harvard, so I'd expect they'd OK that. I think they'd OK something constructive - as long as you're not taking time off to go on a vacation, I think they'd approve.
Hope that helps guys - keep the questions coming. Riverie, I recently wrote an interviewee a long email about why I chose Baylor. If you want, I can PM that to you. Let me know.
