looked great to me too. They accept a lot of Aggies, but I think that's because Aggies rank A&M extra highly in their own personal lists.
I loved the extremely low cost of living. College Station is OK--just make sure you can hack the Aggie ambience. Temple is a hole. If you have children, feel sorry for them.
Loved the TAMU COM librarian who knew all the students by name and performed wake up calls.
Lots more "hand-holding" at the A&M interview. I think they considered it a courtesy to provide escorts to the interviews, but it felt more like a chaperone to me. Might have been a mistake on my part, but I took these signs as a guide to how student services would interact with me in the future. Lots of shepherding. Can be comforting, but I found it annoying.
The faculty/student ratio is unparalleled. The clinicians must do the teaching in the wards (instead of the residents doing the teaching). Med students probably get to do more procedures as well.
I think their basic science curriculum has been in flux, but is starting to stabilize. But all med schools teach to the test (step 1), so what does it matter?
Dean of Admissions makes a good pitch. Scott & White is a nice looking place, with expansions in progress. VA has the typical feel of money squandered on bureaucratic stagnation.
There's the move halfway through.
But my biggest concern was the rural area. They claimed otherwise, but the patient base must be miniscule compared to other TX schools. I imagine the residents (especially EM) have a lot more downtime than most schools. You just wouldn't see the varied pathology that shows up in Houston/Dallas or even San Antonio/Galveston.
TAMU COM is different from most other TX med schools in that you study (first two years) on the campus of a humongous public university.
Hmmm. Reading back at this post, I've mentioned more negatives than postives. Must re-state that the faculty/staff provide a warm, supportive environment for learning. I would be more than happy to go here. No, I would be ecstatic to go to A&M (or any other medical school in TX).
In the TX match, you should rank med schools based on how they correlate to your personality. I guess that's why Aggies tend to pick A&M medical school. They enjoy the dominant Aggie themes that re-emerge at the medical school--friendliness and an embrace of rural culture.
Just a couple days to go...
