How do you all feel about UTSA's probation? Does it scare anyone?
No, not after investigating the reasons for it. "Probation" is actually a really unfortunate word that they have to use, since it implies some kind of major deficiency or trend of sub-standard outcomes, which is not the case
at all. The quality of research, faculty, and students is and always has been quite good.
From what I gather, in 2003 or so the LCME came out and said to all med schools: "We feel that the curricula everyone used in the '80s and '90s can be improved upon by having students spend less time in lecture, more time doing self-learning/group stuff/PBL, and some other stuff". That is why many schools have been moving in that direction, at least to some extent, over the past decade. It seems like San Antonio dragged their feet because they liked what they had ("If it ain't broke..") and finally wore out the LCME's patience. Part of it was also that their dean left in 2008 and that kinda put any plans to change the curriculum on the back burner. In any case this is the first year the LCME seems to be really cracking down on this (it went on to put several other schools on probation after UTHSCSA for similar reasons).
Also for what it's worth, the LCME can put schools on probation (or at least "ding" them) for things like not having robust enough affirmative action policies in place and not having enough square-footage of on-campus study space per student. So yeah...
As of now, they've already addressed 2 of the 3 things the LCME wanted fixed--they had to do with administration hierarchy and who reported to whom. Once the new curriculum begins this Fall, all of the LCME's concerns will have been addressed. There are no fundamental problems or malignancies plaguing the school. Their hospitals are financially secure and the school has good relationships with them (University Hospital is ranked as one of the 50 best in the country, I believe).
The bottom line is that anyone who is familiar with UTHSCSA knows that the doctors coming out of there are excellent. The probation is publicly embarrassing, yes, and the administration should have been more proactive about not letting this happen, but your education there will be very good and residency directors will not discriminate against you one bit for it (plus the school will have been off probation for at least 2 years by the time you apply for residency).