questions for UT-H students

[decal]

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hey all. i think a good number of texas residents are weighing the pros and cons of the multitude of schools available to us, so i thought i'd open a thread for questions to current UT-H students. hopefully some of you will oblige us. 🙂

do you or anyone you know live with your parents? for those us originating in the greater houston area it seems that commuting might save a ton of money. is it at all feasible in the first two years?

do many students do research over the breaks? is it possible to begin the summer before MS1, and if so, are there stipends available?

how is MS3? how would you describe the atmosphere?

and finally, any thoughts on why utmb students seem to outscore uth students on average on the step?

thanks a ton. feel free to add your questions!

 

[NCF145]

I also have a few questions.

1) What is the 3rd year like and how is it structured?:
a) How are the rotations structured? What is your role on the wards? Do you have a clear role? Do you get your "hands dirty" alot, or is it alot of shadowing?

and

2) How are medical students protected from scut?

 

[txfisher]

.

 

[Thanatos]

hey all. i think a good number of texas residents are weighing the pros and cons of the multitude of schools available to us, so i thought i'd open a thread for questions to current UT-H students. hopefully some of you will oblige us. 🙂

do you or anyone you know live with your parents? for those us originating in the greater houston area it seems that commuting might save a ton of money. is it at all feasible in the first two years?

do many students do research over the breaks? is it possible to begin the summer before MS1, and if so, are there stipends available?

how is MS3? how would you describe the atmosphere?

and finally, any thoughts on why utmb students seem to outscore uth students on average on the step?

thanks a ton. feel free to add your questions!

There are ppl who commute, but you have to be creative because parking in the med center is $$$ (10 bucks a day I believe). You can park at various metro stations for 2 bucks/day and then ride buses or the light rail.....or you can park on el paseo in front of student housing and ride the UT shuttle. As you might imagine, those parking spaces lining that street are not always easy to come by.

You can do research just about anytime with anyone.....you have to kinda go out and find those spots on ur own though. The summer between first and second year they have an "official" research program where mentors come forth and offer spots, but if you want to start earlier find someone doing research you're interested in and drop by their office or shoot them an email. Many of them are very open to having students work with them and get all excited when someone else cares about their research......some can pay you and others can't, it just depends on them.

I'm an MS2, so I know very little about 3rd year 😎

 

[NCF145]

Do students at UTH use tablet laptops? If so, do they or you like them?

 

[lemonlite]

I am a MS1 at UTH. Here are the answers to your questions.

do you or anyone you know live with your parents? for those us originating in the greater houston area it seems that commuting might save a ton of money. is it at all feasible in the first two years?

A good friend of mine lives with his parents, and it seems to work out well for him. He drives to the park & ride to get to school. However, I could never do this, as my parents would probably drive me insane. We get plenty of money to pay for an apartment.

do many students do research over the breaks? is it possible to begin the summer before MS1, and if so, are there stipends available?

Many students do research between their first and second years. There is ample opportunity for this, as the school is in the tex med ctr. You can also get a preceptor for the summer, or go abroad on some program.

how is MS3? how would you describe the atmosphere?

I don't know (MS1)

and finally, any thoughts on why utmb students seem to outscore uth students on average on the step?

What year? I think its variable. If what you say is true, which I don't know if it is or is not, recently the school has started to teach more for step 1. I don't know if this is a good thing or not. It certianly is for step scores, but I don't know if there is some other cost. (Loss of other knowledge ect.) UTMB teaches less material. We have some classes that they lack ex: embryology, which may not be stressed on step 1. You are the person who has control over your step 1 score - so go with the school you like more, and don't worry about step 1. Also, look at the listings for residency placement. This may be a better measurement - if you want to measure it that way...

Some evidence that they are teaching more for the step compared to the past is that most class final exams are step exams created by NBME. I did quite well on these last semester. Hopefully that's some indication of future scores. However, a sample size of one, doesn't tell you that much... Just that its possible to do well here.

Cheers,

 

[lemonlite]

Do students at UTH use tablet laptops? If so, do they or you like them?

Yes. I supppose they like them because that's what works for them. (I don't use one)- all syllabi are online, so it cuts down on the books they have to carry.

More importantly, we get all our lectures on podcast - so you can listen to them in your car, working out ect. We also get all our lectures on streaming video, which we watch at 2X speed. Four hours of lecture in two hours is pretty sweet.

 

[nykka3]

Some evidence that they are teaching more for the step compared to the past is that most class final exams are step exams created by NBME. I did quite well on these last semester. Hopefully that's some indication of future scores. However, a sample size of one, doesn't tell you that much... Just that its possible to do well here.

Cheers,[/QUOTE]

Hi. I am an MS3 at UTMB. I know for a fact that our final and midterm exams during our basic science years are faculty generated and not created by NBME. It would have been nice if they were NBME exams though. Only most of our clinical rotations offer shelf/NBME tests. Our academic counseling office stresses that 2nd years start studying for Step 1 starting in Jan-Feb of that year. They also offer a free Step 1 review course in April, and two past students offer two different for a fee Step 1 review courses. One of these review courses, the Brian Jenkins review, is also offered to UT-H students at UT-H.
Pick the school that offers the curriculum that works for you. We do have a PBL approach, but we do have lectures which are not mandatory. We also use a multidisciplinary and organ system approach which is why we don't have an embryology or pharmacology course. The only think I think is lacking in our curriculum is a pharm course, but it hasn't hurt our step 1 scores. Both schools are great schools, and ultimately it will depend on you whether you do well on step 1. Good luck!