TEXAS Med Schools Entering Class *2005* Applicant Thread part 01

[USCTex]

---

Members do not see this ad.

2) i completely understand the "validation date" changing thing but here's a thought: if your date doesn't change at all...how do you know you've necessarily been matched to your first choice?? all you really know is that you're not moving up. that very well may be because you've matched to your first choice, but it also may be because you didn't get accepted to any schools you ranked higher than that school, so you wouldn't have any room to move upwards...you've been matched at the highest-ranked school possible (w/in the limits of being accepted)

Scratch my crappy ass explanation. The date goes up every time the system even TRIES to match you...supposedly. And the only reason it wouldn't even try to match you is if you had matched you're highest school.

That's the way it was explained to me. But, I think I just confused myself further 😕 Why can't the damn computer just do all this in like thirty seconds?


P.S.
Are there any statistics on what percentage of a school's attendees ranked them first for the match?

 

[basten0]

I'm trying to get a sense of how many interviewed students actually appear on various school's match lists. Check this out below (and I apologize if this has already been discussed before 😳 )

http://www.uth.tmc.edu/factbook/2004/students/approf.html

It seems to me UTH interviewed 1140 last year. Then from that pool rejected 461. Does that mean 679 had to be put on the match list just to get their class of 200?

BTW, that's 60% if those stats are right.

dude, thanks for doing the work for the rest of us. those numbers are encouraging. and with regards to your question about schools with homepages where people can check their status...i only know of texas tech that does this for the texas publics.

 

[synapse lapse]

UTSW has a status check after you've been offered an interview. You can check on Feb 1st on their site to see if you got in as well.

 

[JDAD]

i completely understand the "validation date" changing thing but here's a thought: if your date doesn't change at all...how do you know you've necessarily been matched to your first choice?? all you really know is that you're not moving up. that very well may be because you've matched to your first choice, but it also may be because you didn't get accepted to any schools you ranked higher than that school, so you wouldn't have any room to move upwards...you've been matched at the highest-ranked school possible (w/in the limits of being accepted)

This throws a wrench into the system. It's a good point. Ok, if it were true, your date would change every time they updated it unless you matched #1.

If it changes every time, unless you matched #1, then we don't have a way of telling if we matched at all, unless your date stays the same or stops. If this is true, then the only time the date will stop is if you match #1.


Lane, can you verify whether your date changes if you have been accepted at a school but not your number 1? OR Will it stop when you match at any place, but only jump if you match to a higher school?


(why do I try and figure this stuff out! it's late and I have a final tomorrow!)

 

[GutsyGal]

I can't believe we're all discussing this already and it's still 53 days 21 hrs 24 mins and 21 secs until Match Day. Can you imagine how paranoid we're gonna be come Jan 15?

 

[SitraAchra]

Did anyone on here just get back from the Tech interview yesterday? If so - lets hear your thoughts.

One interview was super laid back for me, the other was a bit stressful. We started off with "what are your thoughts on stem cells" and then hit the biggie "what's the biggest problem in medicine" and "how do you fix that" ect ect - but the dr. was a really nice guy so that made it better.

 

[runner1979]

I'm trying to get a sense of how many interviewed students actually appear on various school's match lists. Check this out below (and I apologize if this has already been discussed before 😳 )

http://www.uth.tmc.edu/factbook/2004/students/approf.html

It seems to me UTH interviewed 1140 last year. Then from that pool rejected 461. Does that mean 679 had to be put on the match list just to get their class of 200?

BTW, that's 60% if those stats are right.

Interviewed: 1140
Admitted: 202
withdrawn after acceptance: 56
Rejected: 461
Withdrawn before acceptance: 419 <--This category is a bit vague because you technically don't know if they were goign to get an acceptance or not. I think this says that people bailed before they were to find out because they got into a higher choice school (possibly out of state or didn't want to be waitlisted in Texas). So, I don't think the 60% number you listed was correct. I would say 258/1140 got accepted.

 

[AsianDoc816]

Well, USNews says that UTSW took 391 of 646 interviewees last year. That seems pretty right, as they interview very few, and their class size is 218. The rest eitehr probably didn't place UTSW first on match or got in out of state.

Wow....looks like your chances are pretty good if you rank UTSW #1! Getting excited about Saturday =)

 

[SFAJess]

sfajess...

when you logged on, after giving your ssn and PIN, where did it say that you got an invite? (i'm assuming you clicked on "review application" and it said something about an interview date?)

thanks for the 411!...gives me yet another thing to obsessively check 40,000 times a day 😎

Under "Admission Status" which is the far right hand box it would say something like Invited to Interview or something like that. 🙂

 

[SFAJess]

I only applied to UTHSCSA and was accepted. My "Validation Date" stayed at Jan 15.

Oohh!! Good to know. Thank a BUNCH!!! 👍 Anybody know of the last date that was possible for somebody that didn't match. Did it go all the way up to Jan 31?

 

[EvoDevo]

Interviewed: 1140
Admitted: 202
withdrawn after acceptance: 56
Rejected: 461
Withdrawn before acceptance: 419 <--This category is a bit vague because you technically don't know if they were goign to get an acceptance or not. I think this says that people bailed before they were to find out because they got into a higher choice school (possibly out of state or didn't want to be waitlisted in Texas). So, I don't think the 60% number you listed was correct. I would say 258/1140 got accepted.

I think the "Withdrawn before acceptance" bunch refers to those ranked by UTH but matched elswhere. IIRC, UTSA mentioned that they'll rank ~500 in order to match 200. I think that's where they come from. It doesn't make sense 1/4th of your interview pool would withdraw before the match........

Just my two cents.

 

[USCTex]

I think the "Withdrawn before acceptance" bunch refers to those ranked by UTH but matched elswhere. IIRC, UTSA mentioned that they'll rank ~500 in order to match 200. I think that's where they come from. It doesn't make sense 1/4th of your interview pool would withdraw before the match........

Just my two cents.

All of this would make sense. If you take the withdrew numbers and the rejected post interview numbers away from the total interviews you get 206.

Anyway, about 700 out of 1200 interviews for UTH. About 500 out of 1000 interviews for UTSA. These are not discouraging statistics. Not a sure thing by any stretch of the imagination but not a reason to be overly concerned either...

Someone told me Tech puts about 500 of their 800 something interviewees on their matchlist.

 

[TX_Longhorn]

Interviewed: 1140
Admitted: 202
withdrawn after acceptance: 56
Rejected: 461
Withdrawn before acceptance: 419 <--This category is a bit vague because you technically don't know if they were goign to get an acceptance or not. I think this says that people bailed before they were to find out because they got into a higher choice school (possibly out of state or didn't want to be waitlisted in Texas). So, I don't think the 60% number you listed was correct. I would say 258/1140 got accepted.

i think you are right runner. one of my interviewers at houston told me that they have a ranked list of about 600 (these are acceptable). However, they only need to go down to about 250 names to fill their class.

For A&M, Filo told us smth similar. about 250 on acceptable list. from which they only went down to 150 last year to fill up their class of 80.

 

[USCTex]

i think you are right runner. one of my interviewers at houston told me that they have a ranked list of about 600 (these are acceptable). However, they only need to go down to about 250 names to fill their class.

No offense to UTH (it's my first choice and I love it), this statement is just a general comment on all TX schools. They have to go way further down than their top 250 to fill their class. I just can't imagine that only fifty of their top 250 students didn't rank it as their highest option becasue that's what saying they only use the top 250 on their list implies.

I mean a good chunk of those top 250/highest priority students have to be cream of the crop (i.e. a good chunk of them appear in every UT school's top 250) so...why would so many rank UT - Houston first?

I think the fact book shows they end up going way down the list...just like most UT schools probably do. It's like applying to college, even a school like harvard sends out twice as many acceptances as it has spots for its freshman class...right?

 

[runner1979]

No offense to UTH (it's my first choice and I love it), this statement is just a general comment on all TX schools. They have to go way further down than their top 250 to fill their class. I just can't imagine that only fifty of their top 250 students didn't rank it as their highest option becasue that's what saying they only use the top 250 on their list implies.

I mean a good chunk of those top 250/highest priority students have to be cream of the crop (i.e. a good chunk of them appear in every UT school's top 250) so...why would so many rank UT - Houston first?

I think the fact book shows they end up going way down the list...just like most UT schools probably do. It's like applying to college, even a school like harvard sends out twice as many acceptances as it has spots for its freshman class...right?

The top 250 don't have to rank it as their first choice--it just may be that they weren't high enough on their top ranked schools list to make the cut, so they were matched at UTH.

I think their list may have 600 people, but they only give out 258 acceptances. Now, as time goes on and people withdraw etc, then everybody moves up to fill in those spots--so late acceptances off the waitlist may in fact be #400 initially. But it doesn't change the fact that only 258 acceptances were given out.

 

[USCTex]

The top 250 don't have to rank it as their first choice--it just may be that they weren't high enough on their top ranked schools list to make the cut, so they were matched at UTH.

I think their list may have 600 people, but they only give out 258 acceptances. Now, as time goes on and people withdraw etc, then everybody moves up to fill in those spots--so late acceptances off the waitlist may in fact be #400 initially. But it doesn't change the fact that only 258 acceptances were given out.

Maybe.

But look at the fact book It seems to imply only 56 people matched UTH as their highest school and then withdrew...which would imply only 56 people moved in off the waitlist.

What makes more logical sense is to think about it like this. UTH interviews about 1200 people. It is almost indisputable that the vast majority of these people are interviewed at other Texas schools. I cannot imagine that most of the top 250 students that UTH wants aren't on other Texas schools top 250 lists. I mean every school may have slightly varying admissions philosophies but it comes down to the same general thing...there's certainly not enough variation to make it where Houston gives out 250 guaranteed acceptances to applicants that no other school is interested in...that would be ridiculous. 🙂

So these 250 students theoretically have other schools to choose from (maybe as many as 7 if they interviewed everywhere). So we've already established that a good chunk of them are likely to be on lists at other schools...why would 200 hundred of them pick UTH as their highest rank school? It just seems illogical to assume that this is even possible...what about all the other Texas schools?

Maybe what UTH means when they say they give out 258 'acceptances' is that is the number of kids they want absolutley or something. Like if all 258 of those kids decided to come to UT - Houston, well they'd accept them...even that doesn't make too much sense 😕 But in any case, I would be STUNNED if by Feb. 1st the TMDSAS system had not moved several hundred spots down UT - Houston's list to fill their class.

 

[neoncandle]

Does anyone know if the information comes up at midnight on the 31st or sometime during the day of the 1st? Should I plan to be by my computer that night or should I plan to go out? I would work, but I am afraid I will be such a scatter brain that day.

Anyone starting to make plans?

Tiffany

 

[redrocks]

This conversation is great! It keeps me from checking my email looking for invites while I try to figure this out. Here's my try:

Interviewed 1140 - 461 rejected= 679 possible acceptances.
Match time going through the system matches and unmatches many people at different schools, but 419 people are not matched to UTH, so they are withdrawn before acceptance.
679-419 = 260

A few waitlisted people move up to claim spots at higher ranked schools, 56 at UTH.

260-56= 204.

I don't know if this is right, but the numbers are pretty close. I guess this is why Texas went to the match system, not as much waitlist shifting, just a bunch of conspiracy theories

 

[G0S2]

Does anyone know if the information comes up at midnight on the 31st or sometime during the day of the 1st? Should I plan to be by my computer that night or should I plan to go out? I would work, but I am afraid I will be such a scatter brain that day.

Anyone starting to make plans?

Tiffany

Comes up right after midnight.

 

[true blue]

Does anyone have a clear idea of how the match actually works? I am still pretty confused. They say this system benefits the applicant more so than the school. Does this mean that if an applicant is at the bottom of a school's accepted list, but ranks it first, that he/she will match at their top choice.

Somebody please enlighten me!!

Thanks!

 

[USCTex]

😀

Interviewed 1140 - 461 rejected= 679 possible acceptances.
Match time going through the system matches and unmatches many people at different schools, but 419 people are not matched to UTH, so they are withdrawn before acceptance.
679-419 = 260

A few waitlisted people move up to claim spots at higher ranked schools, 56 at UTH.

260-56= 204.

I don't know if this is right, but the numbers are pretty close. I guess this is why Texas went to the match system, not as much waitlist shifting, just a bunch of conspiracy theories

These are the numbers I got 🙂 And they're encouraging. Like Evo Devo said I figure the 419 withdrawn before acceptances, well they matched some school ranked higher than houston. And then, like you figured the 56 people withdrawn after acceptance matched Houston highest but got off waitlist somewhere or took an offer from a non-TMDSAS school meaning 56 from Houston's waitlist got pulled up 🙂

But maybe I am completely wrong...I for one choose to believe my interpretation of the numbers because they certainly give me some hope 😀

 

[USCTex]

Does anyone have a clear idea of how the match actually works? I am still pretty confused. They say this system benefits the applicant more so than the school. Does this mean that if an applicant is at the bottom of a school's accepted list, but ranks it first, that he/she will match at their top choice.

Somebody please enlighten me!!

Thanks!

We'll use San Antonio as an example. San Antonio gives a ranked list of about 500 students to TMDSAS.

Say you ranked San Antonio first and you appear somewhere in the middle of San Antonio's list (say you're ranked by them like as #300). San Antonio is looking to take a class of 200 students, so if by some miracle the first two hundred students on San Antonio's list all wanted to go there...well you're out of luck.

But, what's more likely is that a good chunk of the 299 students before you on the list ranked somewhere other than San Antonio higher...and hopefully matched there as well. So those students get struck off the list and the system just goes down San Antonio's list until it finds the 200 highest ranked San Antonio students who either put San Antonio first or didn't match at a higher school.

If you're at the bottom of the list you're probably not going to get in on match day and you'll end up as San Antonio's waitlist. As students get off waitlists at higher ranked schools or decide to go to non-TMDSAS schools then people move up the waitlist until the class has about 200 students.

 

[JDAD]

We'll use San Antonio as an example. San Antonio gives a ranked list of about 500 students to TMDSAS.

Say you ranked San Antonio first and you appear somewhere in the middle of San Antonio's list (say you're ranked by them like as #300). San Antonio is looking to take a class of 200 students, so if by some miracle the first two hundred students on San Antonio's list all wanted to go there...well you're out of luck.

But, what's more likely is that a good chunk of the 299 students before you on the list ranked somewhere other than San Antonio higher...and hopefully matched there as well. So those students get struck off the list and the system just goes down San Antonio's list until it finds the 200 highest ranked San Antonio students who either put San Antonio first or didn't match at a higher school.

If you're at the bottom of the list you're probably not going to get in on match day and you'll end up as San Antonio's waitlist. As students get off waitlists at higher ranked schools or decide to go to non-TMDSAS schools then people move up the waitlist until the class has about 200 students.

Great Summary!

 

[GutsyGal]

The schools tell us not to "play the game" and just rank the schools as we like them. Do you think that the med schools play the system? What I mean is, do they rank the students based totally on their application and interview? Do they try to second guess us and rank the students who are more likely to go to the school higher?

 

[EvoDevo]

The schools tell us not to "play the game" and just rank the schools as we like them. Do you think that the med schools play the system? What I mean is, do they rank the students based totally on their application and interview? Do they try to second guess us and rank the students who are more likely to go to the school higher?

My guess? Yes.

 

[synapse lapse]

Just got a Baylor Invite today!!!Things are looking good 🙂

 

[EvoDevo]

Just got a Baylor Invite today!!!Things are looking good 🙂

Yay!!! Congrats, man!! 🙂 When was your app complete?

 

[synapse lapse]

Around 10/26.

 

[EvoDevo]

Around 10/26.

Excellent news. wooo!!

 

[USCTex]

Just got a Baylor Invite today!!!Things are looking good 🙂

Many congrats! 🙂

 

[AsianDoc816]

Just got a Baylor Invite today!!!Things are looking good 🙂

Congrats....I'm so jealous!!! 😛

 

[txguy]

Just got a Baylor Invite today!!!Things are looking good 🙂

Congrats are in order!! 👍 👍

Way to go Pink

-tx

 

[latinfridley]

Just got a Baylor Invite today!!!Things are looking good 🙂

Congrats. Baylor is pretty sweet. I noticed you're a fellow Cuban (my mom's from Cuba). Baylor loves Cubans. Good luck at the interview. 😀

 

[USCTex]

Baylor loves Cubans.

I'm going to start going through my genealogy 😀

 

[true blue]

Just got a Baylor Invite today!!!Things are looking good 🙂

Congrats Dr. Pink!

 

[synapse lapse]

Congrats. Baylor is pretty sweet. I noticed you're a fellow Cuban (my mom's from Cuba). Baylor loves Cubans. Good luck at the interview. 😀

Thanks! Why do you say they love Cubans? I am glad they do if that's true 🙂

 

[ajnak182]

HAHAHAHAHA ! I live alone.....my cat is my only company....

 

[GutsyGal]

Around 10/26.

Hey...congrats! 👍

 

[mwhou]

Congrats Pink - Good luck! 👍

To summarize the info about the VALIDATION DATE change - it seems everyone is saying if you don't match anywhere it will not change. If you match, it will change on Jan 15th - or whenever you match. If you matched originally to a school you ranked lower (i.e. #2) the date could change indicating you have now matched to a higher ranked school.

Regardless, a date change cleary indicates you are matched somewhere, correct?

I gather this is inforation gained from past experience, not something we really know will occur this year? Also, several people said "I don't think this is so because...." were they all early acceptance or other explainable exceptions?

🙂 Very cool info - definitely helps during the waiting game!

---
in reply to the question how many rank a school #1, the only school that gave that statistic out (to my knowledge) was uthscsa - I don't remember if it was Dr. Jones or the student pannel but they said something like 90% ranked them #1 last year.

 

[jdovez]

Congrats. Baylor is pretty sweet. I noticed you're a fellow Cuban (my mom's from Cuba). Baylor loves Cubans. Good luck at the interview. 😀

I would like to go to Cuba....does that hold any weight?

 

[b-real]

Congrats Pink - Good luck! 👍

To summarize the info about the VALIDATION DATE change - it seems everyone is saying if you don't match anywhere it will not change. If you match, it will change on Jan 15th - or whenever you match. If you matched originally to a school you ranked lower (i.e. #2) the date could change indicating you have now matched to a higher ranked school.

Regardless, a date change cleary indicates you are matched somewhere, correct?

I gather this is inforation gained from past experience, not something we really know will occur this year? Also, several people said "I don't think this is so because...." were they all early acceptance or other explainable exceptions?

🙂 Very cool info - definitely helps during the waiting game!

---
in reply to the question how many rank a school #1, the only school that gave that statistic out (to my knowledge) was uthscsa - I don't remember if it was Dr. Jones or the student pannel but they said something like 90% ranked them #1 last year.

Is there a consensus that it's the VALIDATION date that changes and not the LAST MASTER FILE UPDATE? Reading some back posts, I came to the conclusion that the validation date changes when they validate your course work or something, to make sure it meets the prerequisites. Further, I thought everyone's file is updated when the match actually occurs, around Jan. 15.

Also, I thought that UT Houston had the most #1 rankings over the last few years. Anyone have definitive info on this?

 

[JDAD]

Congrats Pink - Good luck! 👍

To summarize the info about the VALIDATION DATE change - it seems everyone is saying if you don't match anywhere it will not change. If you match, it will change on Jan 15th - or whenever you match. If you matched originally to a school you ranked lower (i.e. #2) the date could change indicating you have now matched to a higher ranked school.

Regardless, a date change cleary indicates you are matched somewhere, correct?

I gather this is inforation gained from past experience, not something we really know will occur this year? Also, several people said "I don't think this is so because...." were they all early acceptance or other explainable exceptions?

🙂 Very cool info - definitely helps during the waiting game!

You have it backwards. The date stops changing when you match. It changes until you match. If it keeps changing, you didn't match. Check out the summary on the first page of this thread.

 

[true blue]

You have it backwards. The date stops changing when you match. It changes until you match. If it keeps changing, you didn't match. Check out the summary on the first page of this thread.

This is not true. I mentioned before that my update date remained at January 15th last year and I did not match. Also, I had a friend who's update date changed twice after January 15th (like the 16th and 24th) and his validation date was sometime in December, and he DIDN'T match anywhere.

Unfortunately, I don't think we are going to get any signs before February 1st (and this waiting sucks!). Well, not unless you believe in the magic 8-ball or Ouija boards.

 

[lane]

This is not true. I mentioned before that my update date remained at January 15th last year and I did not match. Also, I had a friend who's update date changed twice after January 15th (like the 16th and 24th) and his validation date was sometime in December, and he DIDN'T match anywhere.

Unfortunately, I don't think we are going to get any signs before February 1st (and this waiting sucks!). Well, not unless you believe in the magic 8-ball or Ouija boards.

it's not a perfect science - you may not have been on any school's lists for potential matches, so the computer had nothing to do with your file. your friends may have been on those lists (of 600 or however many people speculate them to me), the computer tried to match them, but they came up short.

they may have changed it this year and, of course, i dont know all the exact inner workings of the TMDSAS. that's just what i remember happening last year in january. feel free to browse last year's thread - it has everyone's theories/responses in it.
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=75731&highlight=tmdsas

 

[LanceP97]

What a day. First, I was in line for the ferry to get to my Galveston interview this morning and then found out that there was an oil spill in Galveston Bay and that the ferry wouldn't be running. So I had to call the school and let them know that I would be late since I had to go back from where I started and then through Houston to get there.. (over 150 extra miles). So I missed my first interview of the morning, but they assigned me someone else later in the day. My second interviewer insisted on asking illegal questions about my life which I answered, but hesistantly. He asked me if I was religious, what religion I was, was I in a relationship, etc etc. But overall after everything was done, I came away with a good impression of Galveston. Sorry about the ranting.

 

[synapse lapse]

What a day. First, I was in line for the ferry to get to my Galveston interview this morning and then found out that there was an oil spill in Galveston Bay and that the ferry wouldn't be running. So I had to call the school and let them know that I would be late since I had to go back from where I started and then through Houston to get there.. (over 150 extra miles). So I missed my first interview of the morning, but they assigned me someone else later in the day. My second interviewer insisted on asking illegal questions about my life which I answered, but hesistantly. He asked me if I was religious, what religion I was, was I in a relationship, etc etc. But overall after everything was done, I came away with a good impression of Galveston. Sorry about the ranting.

I'm very sorry to hear that! Yeah, they didn't have those LED signs saying the ferry was out? They had them on I45 on way to Galveston. I was there today, and I must say that I had a much more favorable impression of UTMB than I thought I would. They have a lot to offer, and look a lot better in person than on paper. Their curriculum is nice, plus you can do all of your years 3 and 4 in Austin!!!!! Oh that was so golden, that made my day!

 

[USCTex]

I'm very sorry to hear that! Yeah, they didn't have those LED signs saying the ferry was out? They had them on I45 on way to Galveston. I was there today, and I must say that I had a much more favorable impression of UTMB than I thought I would. They have a lot to offer, and look a lot better in person than on paper. Their curriculum is nice, plus you can do all of your years 3 and 4 in Austin!!!!! Oh that was so golden, that made my day!

This effects the incoming class in no way but I've heard there are many high up at UTMB who are making a strong case for moving the entire campus to Austin. This is all backroom discussion, nothing solid or out in the open I assume but still...sounds like a good idea to me seeing the lack of clinical in Galveston now...plus Austin is awesome 🙂

 

[fotolilith]

This effects the incoming class in no way but I've heard there are many high up at UTMB who are making a strong case for moving the entire campus to Austin. This is all backroom discussion, nothing solid or out in the open I assume but still...sounds like a good idea to me seeing the lack of clinical in Galveston now...plus Austin is awesome 🙂

The lastest news on that (straight from the horses/ UTMB's mouth) is "They cannot ship the island up to Austin" (did anyone else get that corny joke when they visited?). UTMB is "strengthening its professional relationship" with Austin (ie, the women's hospital, seton network).

UTMB serves a valuable function in Galveston and its surrounding areas, and they are really proud of the fact that they own their (public) hospital system (all the money goes into one coffer, basically), so they aren't moving any time soon.

But hey, as much as UTMB has been shifting its focus in the last few years, I guess anything is possible.

 

[fotolilith]

But overall after everything was done, I came away with a good impression of Galveston. Sorry about the ranting.

Yeah, I got the impression from Galveston that the interviews don't really have much to do with an acceptance there.

 

[2tall]

What does the Last Master File Update mean?