I completely agree with the previous post. I recently graduated from Tech so I can shed some light on the program. Tech’s primary focus is clinical training with little to no focus on research. Large research projects are actually discouraged in favor of studying for OKAPs. If you are interested in an academic career or research, then Texas Tech is not the place for you.
The training is excellent. I graduated with 272 phacos as a primary surgeon. If you interview at Tech, they project the previous year’s ACGME surgical numbers on a power point slide. Like other smaller programs without fellows, the residents do all of the cases. When I was there, our glaucoma attending left so my glaucoma training was very poor. But I had great sub specialty training in other fields. Our oculoplastics attending is fantastic, but it should be noted that he is not ASOPRS trained. You will perform a lot of ptosis repair and blephs, but you will not have any orbital wall fracture exposure.
There is no general resident clinic at Texas Tech, thus residents are always in a sub specialty clinic.
We spend a total of 4 months at the VA in Big Spring Texas during your second year and another 4 months during your 3rd year. The VA rotation is actually my favorite rotation. Residents drive down to Big Spring Sunday night and drive back on Thursday. During the rotation, we have Friday mornings off and no call. Clinic ends at 4 so you have a lot of free time. Now what did I do with my free time? Big Spring is 2 hours south of Lubbock and has a population of 25,000. There is not much to do in Big Spring. I worked out every day, studied for OKAPs, and watched TV. But every weekend I was back in Lubbock so it was not that big of a deal. The 2nd year resident is in clinic all day, but performs 2 phacos and possibly a bleph every week. The 3rd year is in the OR all day. At the beginning of the year at the VA, I performed about 7 phacos a week. During my last rotation, I was performing 10-12 phacos a week though I did not operate the last month of my VA rotation because of humidity problems in the OR.
I was single when I moved to Lubbock and I definitely struggled in the beginning. However I did end up meeting my wife in Lubbock. There are some good bars, but not that many single professionals in Lubbock. The cost of living is very cheap.
The program is very non malignant. First years are on q1 week primary call. I typically saw around 12 patients during the entire week. Back up call is covered by 2nd and 3rd years. I typically would come in 1 time a week at the end of the year and 3-5 times a week during the first few months on back up call.
Overall, for someone who wants great clinical and surgical training in an ultra non malignant environment, with lots of time to study for OKAPS, Tech is a great place. If you are very research oriented and want an academic job, I would look elsewhere. Oh and plane tickets are pretty expensive out of Lubbock
