Ranking/Quality of Texas Schools

[Lucca]

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I have lived in the Houston area for half of my life and I have never seen anyone not in the Moody family defend Galveston this much.

Zaz is a confirmed Moody.

 

[sliceofbread136]

I have lived in the Houston area for half of my life and I have never seen anyone not in the Moody family defend Galveston this much.

Zaz is a confirmed Moody.

I've literally never encountered anyone else who says Galveston is nice...

 

[zaztong]

I think most residents are on a budget. Growing up I was upper middle class with a house that costs around $1.5 million so we weren't poor by any means (and why would I be embarrassed if I was, seems like an odd jab to make). I don't know the zip codes of everywhere I've visited in Galveston, that just seems like an all around odd question. And you could build a multimillion dollar home literally anywhere, does not prove anything. I'm not going into the weeds of this silly property value averages=/=niceness of area anymore I'll just leave some basic statistical principles here and call it a day. Don't extrapolate data, correlation=/=causation and the need to consider confounders.

I am referring to the Medical school program and how a pd would view it. Generally a schools ranking is tied closely to the rankings of its residencies (with Yale being the only big exception that comes to mind). For a school like utmb that most non Texas pds would have never heard of and is unranked by us news, the first thing many pds will look to is how that locations residency stands up in that pds field and how confident they can be in that ms4s clinical experience. Tmc may very well just ring that bell of a trusted clinical experience where utmb may not. Since there really aren't any other metrics for the ranking of these lower middle tier schools this is kind of the best we have to go on (aside from what you've read on reddit I guess).

I don't believe I have mentioned public eye at all(and will not discuss it further) and I am focusing on a schools academic rank which based on the data I have available(us news, residency rankings) and the general attitude that I have come across uth is on a higher tier than utmb. Would this be a significant difference in your residency application? Probably not, they are both what I would consider lower middle tier so would probably be fairly equal

I think at this point we should just agree to disagree, you seem to be hyper defensive of your school and your choice to attend and I don't think this will go anywhere.

Again and again, avoiding data, circling around facts and labelling me as "defensive" again. Fact: I've been upfront about the data and you're badmouthing the location as a dump. Zipcodes are easily Google-able.

You don't remember you said public? Quote: "I would still argue it is meaningful as a ranking as it is what the public sees"

I agree we'll have to disagree then. This is going nowhere.

 

[sliceofbread136]

Again and again, avoiding data, circling around facts and labelling me as "defensive" again. Fact: I've been upfront about the data and you're badmouthing the location as a dump. Zipcodes are easily Google-able.

You don't remember you said public? Quote: "I would still argue it is meaningful as a ranking as it is what the public sees"

I agree we'll have to disagree then. This is going nowhere.

Just gonna say one more time you don't have pertinent data. Take a stats class please!

 

[zaztong]

I've literally never encountered anyone else who says Galveston is nice...

Literally not. A quick and easy search shows someone told you Galveston was nice in your face, and possibly many other times: Texas School Choice: UTSouthWestern vs UTMB Galveston

Take a stats class please!

I've aced advanced statistics and algorithm classes before, thank you very much and I doubt you can even implement a simple Naive Bayes algorithm to analyze data. You are ignoring pertinent data due to personal biases and refusing to provide any data on your end. Your arguments have been focused on attacking me on my competence and calling me "defensive". A zipcode of the places you've been is so easily Googleable. How do you not even know which zipcode near Galveston you lived in for years?

All I can say is you have some sort of beef with Galveston since you're badmouthing it in multiple posts and ignoring multiple facts. There are a ton of events all year round and a lot of tourists are Houstonians (including friends in UTH) who come down to Galveston - multiple times. If they don't like it, why do they keep coming? No customer repeatedly tortures themselves by going to a bad place again and again. Sure, the beach is not the same level as Florida, but if that's an issue you can take a cruise to Bahamas or Cozumel's beaches in Galveston. There's a way to get those for free and I never said it was the best place on Earth. There are numerous multimillion dollar homes here and the median home price is the highest in Texas. Are you saying the average homeowner is dumb with money?

More than enough objective data to show it's a nice place to come over and live.

As far as UTMB goes, even our president is paid 106k more than UTH: UTH Dr. Colasurdo was paid $750,500 and UTMB Dr. Callendar was paid $857,000. Care to comment why such a "better" institution can't pay more to recruit top talent? (For reference, UTSW President was paid $944,316)

Care to also mention if being unranked in US News is any negative indicator at all, why UTH was unranked in US News in 2015?

A ton of holes in your arguments. I recommend you just stop badmouthing UTMB and because you're only embarrassing yourself further.

 

[minho]

I've literally never encountered anyone else who says Galveston is nice...

Lived in Houston all my life, and same. In fact, it's usually the opposite (complaining about the beaches). The most positive comment I have ever heard about Galveston was that prom in a beach house was fun... but mostly because they just stayed in the beach house the whole time.

 

[bluuberries]

I've aced advanced statistics and algorithm classes before, thank you very much and I doubt you can even implement a simple Naive Bayes algorithm to analyze data.

/r/iamverysmart

 

[zaztong]

/r/iamverysmart

It takes one to know one.

 

[sliceofbread136]

Literally not. A quick and easy search shows someone told you Galveston was nice in your face, and possibly many other times: Texas School Choice: UTSouthWestern vs UTMB Galveston



I've aced advanced statistics and algorithm classes before, thank you very much and I doubt you can even implement a simple Naive Bayes algorithm to analyze data. You are ignoring pertinent data due to personal biases and refusing to provide any data on your end. Your arguments have been focused on attacking me on my competence and calling me "defensive". A zipcode of the places you've been is so easily Googleable. How do you not even know which zipcode near Galveston you lived in for years?

All I can say is you have some sort of beef with Galveston since you're badmouthing it in multiple posts and ignoring multiple facts. There are a ton of events all year round and a lot of tourists are Houstonians (including friends in UTH) who come down to Galveston - multiple times. If they don't like it, why do they keep coming? No customer repeatedly tortures themselves by going to a bad place again and again. Sure, the beach is not the same level as Florida, but if that's an issue you can take a cruise to Bahamas or Cozumel's beaches in Galveston. There's a way to get those for free and I never said it was the best place on Earth. There are numerous multimillion dollar homes here and the median home price is the highest in Texas. Are you saying the average homeowner is dumb with money?

More than enough objective data to show it's a nice place to come over and live.

As far as UTMB goes, even our president is paid 106k more than UTH: UTH Dr. Colasurdo was paid $750,500 and UTMB Dr. Callendar was paid $857,000. Care to comment why such a "better" institution can't pay more to recruit top talent? (For reference, UTSW President was paid $944,316)

Care to also mention if being unranked in US News is any negative indicator at all, why UTH was unranked in US News in 2015?

A ton of holes in your arguments. I recommend you just stop badmouthing UTMB and because you're only embarrassing yourself further.

I am sorry I have since seen the light, your amazing analysis of objective property value data has flat out proven that galveston is actually a nice area, that I have some sort of vendetta against Galveston for reasons unknown and that based on hard data (Reddit etc) utmb is actually just as prestigious as uth. Thank you for convincing me, thread over

 

[SpoiledMilk]

Mad props to Zaz for standing his ground, despite the growing opposition...

 

[Carmiche]

I will add to this UTMB vs. UTH argument. If you are interested in Neurosurgery or Orthopaedics, UTH is the place to be. I can't speak for other competitive specialties, though.

Do a comparison of the NSG and Ortho depts at both schools. UTMB is many folds smaller in those areas. UTH produces more research in both of those areas, giving students greater opportunity and more options. Furthermore, the UTH residency programs for both of these specialties seem to favor taking UTH students.

Also, I contend that there is a significant difference between being a PART of the TMC, and being smack dab in the middle of it.

I would love to hear your rebuttal on this. @zaztong

 

[zaztong]

I will add to this UTMB vs. UTH argument. If you are interested in Neurosurgery or Orthopaedics, UTH is the place to be. I can't speak for other competitive specialties, though.

Do a comparison of the NSG and Ortho depts at both schools. UTMB is many folds smaller in those areas. UTH produces more research in both of those areas, giving students greater opportunity and more options. Furthermore, the UTH residency programs for both of these specialties seem to favor taking UTH students.

Also, I contend that there is a significant difference between being a PART of the TMC, and being smack dab in the middle of it.

I would love to hear your rebuttal on this. @zaztong

This is a pre-med forum talking about the general M.D. programs, not specific residency programs (highly variable), as mentioned before. In the context of the M.D. programs, I've already mentioned TMC =/= UTH. UTH is still an affiliate of TMC, just as UTMB is. I'll agree that the distance helps with certain things, but if one wanted to pursue those opportunities, they can choose to do Houston clinicals. I have found most UTMB students want to stay in Galveston or go to Austin instead. Most of the ones going to Houston have specific family reasons.

Unfortunately, you're not going to hear a rebuttal from me, since I'm not currently considering UTH/UTMB's residencies, besides UTMB's ID program. I think I've made that pretty clear before, and I'm looking more of going to academia/research, so it actually matters where I go in residency.

I am aiming for UTSW/Baylor (maybe Dell depending on how it turns out) residency programs in IM/oncology or neurology - so there is not any information I would add to the discussion regarding specific programs in surgery. I would move that discussion to another section of SDN if you want to discuss further.

I'll humor you this though - if you're practicing surgery, you're going to get the same pay grade based on RVUs even if you go rural surgical residencies, so the distinction between specific UTH/UTMB residency "rankings" is not significant, unless you had specific reasons, such as your loved ones being nearby in Houston. Medicine is not comparable to the law/business/academia industries where going to top 10 matters on pay. The market prices the value of those programs the same. I'd say a majority of surgery residents are there to practice medicine, no? Even if you're aiming for bragging rights, go to Mayo or somewhere else, I doubt you'll ever hear someone say: "I went to UTH's ortho program over UTMB's".

In fact, the ENT surgeon that has an investment stake in my business is actually getting s*** for part-time teaching from management for not taking in more surgeries. Because of medical malpractice insurance, they're going to want you to do full-time at least. If you want to do surgery all day (especially NSG generally is particularly long hours), great for you. That's more of a personal preference.

 

[wizzed101]

Idk man. I went to UTMB to attend a meeting and had a tour of the lab. It seemed eerily void of activities. A professor transferred from UTMB once told me that research was dead there.

 

[zaztong]

Idk man. I went to UTMB to attend a meeting and had a tour of the lab. It seemed eerily void of activities. A professor transferred from UTMB once told me that research was dead there.

Who told you that? Which lab did he come from? Can you be more specific on what meeting? If you can't remember, at least Google it, any respectable researcher would list it and I'm sure you can find the name on your email. As you can see, there are many UTMB haters on this thread that like to be unspecific about how they reached their unfounded conclusions to badmouth UTMB, and I hope you're not that sort of person.

Personally, I'm getting paid 2k/month via NIH, including research credit through UTMB exclusive NIAID program for medical students and the Infectious Disease lab is extremely active. I haven't heard anyone get paid 2k/month in UTH, more like 2k a semester at the very best, if they're lucky to even get paid at all.

As far as research, see NIH award list for UTMB SOM and UTH SOM: http://www.brimr.org/NIH_Awards/2016/SchoolOfMedicine_2016.xls

Hardly dead. UTMB: $73,330,206 UTH: $62,738,872

Perhaps you heard something else, such as research in X's lab was dead, because he/she didn't get favorable results. Something that happens fairly often anywhere.

 

[jcorpsmanMD]

This is a pre-med forum talking about the general M.D. programs, not specific residency programs (highly variable), as mentioned before. In the context of the M.D. programs, I've already mentioned TMC =/= UTH. UTH is still an affiliate of TMC, just as UTMB is. I'll agree that the distance helps with certain things, but if one wanted to pursue those opportunities, they can choose to do Houston clinicals. I have found most UTMB students want to stay in Galveston or go to Austin instead. Most of the ones going to Houston have specific family reasons.

Unfortunately, you're not going to hear a rebuttal from me, since I'm not currently considering UTH/UTMB's residencies, besides UTMB's ID program. I think I've made that pretty clear before, and I'm looking more of going to academia/research, so it actually matters where I go in residency.

I am aiming for UTSW/Baylor (maybe Dell depending on how it turns out) residency programs in IM/oncology or neurology - so there is not any information I would add to the discussion regarding specific programs in surgery. I would move that discussion to another section of SDN if you want to discuss further.

I'll humor you this though - if you're practicing surgery, you're going to get the same pay grade based on RVUs even if you go rural surgical residencies, so the distinction between specific UTH/UTMB residency "rankings" is not significant, unless you had specific reasons, such as your loved ones being nearby in Houston. Medicine is not comparable to the law/business/academia industries where going to top 10 matters on pay. The market prices the value of those programs the same. I'd say a majority of surgery residents are there to practice medicine, no? Even if you're aiming for bragging rights, go to Mayo or somewhere else, I doubt you'll ever hear someone say: "I went to UTH's ortho program over UTMB's".

In fact, the ENT surgeon that has an investment stake in my business is actually getting s*** for part-time teaching from management for not taking in more surgeries. Because of medical malpractice insurance, they're going to want you to do full-time at least. If you want to do surgery all day (especially NSG generally is particularly long hours), great for you. That's more of a personal preference.

Stay safe.

 

[wizzed101]

Who told you that? Which lab did he come from? Can you be more specific on what meeting? If you can't remember, at least Google it, any respectable researcher would list it and I'm sure you can find the name on your email. As you can see, there are many UTMB haters on this thread that like to be unspecific about how they reached their unfounded conclusions to badmouth UTMB, and I hope you're not that sort of person.

Personally, I'm getting paid 2k/month via NIH, including research credit through UTMB exclusive NIAID program for medical students and the Infectious Disease lab is extremely active. I haven't heard anyone get paid 2k/month in UTH, more like 2k a semester at the very best, if they're lucky to even get paid at all.

As far as research, see NIH award list for UTMB SOM and UTH SOM: http://www.brimr.org/NIH_Awards/2016/SchoolOfMedicine_2016.xls

Hardly dead. UTMB: $73,330,206 UTH: $62,738,872

Perhaps you heard something else, such as research in X's lab was dead, because he/she didn't get favorable results. Something that happens fairly often anywhere.

I cannot disclose that. Maybe I am in the wrong building or the wrong floor, at the wrong time. You have this big beautiful campus and spacious labs with all fancy equipment. But when you walk down the hall way without seeing anyone or hearing anything, it raises concerns about activities.

 

[zaztong]

I cannot disclose that. Maybe I am in the wrong building or the wrong floor, at the wrong time. You have this big beautiful campus and spacious labs with all fancy equipment. But when you walk down the hall way without seeing anyone or hearing anything, it raises concerns about activities.

Perhaps, hard to say without knowing where it is or who it is. If you can't disclose it, then just ask the relevant person to clarify. Perhaps you're touring one of the recently built facilities in a totally new building that hasn't been ready yet. UTMB has been building a lot. I would suggest anyone to tour Galveston National Lab, Medical Research Building, and Research Building 6 if they want to see the ground zero research activity. There are also some other buildings and we accommodate a lot of international researchers with our international reputation (which is higher than local)

It's not like you can spend on fancy equipment without any research and get away with it. They have policies, compliance and continual audits on large sums of government money, and you can independently audit research activity or research publications by UTMB, if that's your concern. However, I'd say that's highly unlikely, considering UTMB was the first Texas medical school since 1891, and that would be a huge blow.

 

[zaztong]

Stay safe.

Thanks for the wishes, I'm fine and I'm also fully insured if anything happens, everyone stay safe and dry. UTMB hospital is still fully operational, due to investment in advanced pump/drainage systems and emergency preparedness. Nearby apartments are fine. Photos taken today.

 

[BombsAway]

No kidding? I figured it would be underwater?! now the question becomes, how to get there for the interview if houston is underwater.

 

[zaztong]

No kidding? I figured it would be underwater?! now the question becomes, how to get there for the interview if houston is underwater.

Yeah it's Houston that's getting the worst of the flood...so far. Be careful of floods and stay safe. I saw Bellaire and Post Oaks are flooded up to the stop signs on live news footage.

See map attached. If they haven't rescheduled your interview by then (they should, "academic operations" is canceled), you can always try the Ferry from Louisiana or select flights to Galveston airport. Be careful and stay safe!

 

[minho]

No kidding? I figured it would be underwater?! now the question becomes, how to get there for the interview if houston is underwater.

reschedule!

i had an interview tomorrow that was supposed to be somewhere else (had to fly out of texas), and everyone (the school, airline, and hotel) was very understanding and I was able to reschedule everything without any issues or fees.

I did have to be on hold for quite a while, but that's quite understandable under these circumstances.