Texas Path programs

[dingozlife]

Hey all, Im a 3rd year student interested in path programs in texas, does anyone have some experiences with programs such as UTSW or Baylor University Medical or any of the houston programs? thanks all for your input

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[106174]

Hi. I am resident at UTSW. What specific questions might you have about our program?

 

[vr4nut]

I have heard UTMB has a strong program for Texas.

All of the residents and fellows at my program are telling me that Methodist got the better half when it split from Baylor (ie more known faculty, pays residents better, etc.) and that Baylor really took a hit after the split. I haven't been to either of these programs yet, so take it for what its worth.

I don't know anything specific about UT Houston, but I do know someone who is now in dermpath who went there for residency, and I know that some of their graduates move on to big-name fellowships (such as Stanford) after training.

my $0.02

 

[dingozlife]

Hey all, thank-you for your inputs,

Im currently in the DFW area and seriously considering staying in dallas, houston, or SA for path residency. As a 3rd year student now, I became interested after observing pathologists at work and also not enjoying rounding on patients or the OR setting as much. I been to the various program websites and didnt get much info about Baylor UM. My questions are: how do you like the life as a pathology resident at UTSW? what are the calls like and daily routine hrs like? how is the faculty, do they spend a good time teaching, how much scut work is involved if any in your opinion?

Thanks all for your posts

 

[106174]

hi dingozlife,

i love it here at UTSW. since you are in dfw, i am guessing you are a medical student at either UTSW or UNT. thus, i strongly recommend that you do a rotation or 2 with us to get to really know our program. try to schedule your rotations ASAP because the slots are very popular and are usually hard to get (for some reason, pathology is very popular among UTSW and UNT medical students).

at your level, i would focus more on assessing whether it really is pathology that you would want to spend the rest of your life doing. "not enjoying rounding on patients or enjoying the OR" are "negative" reasons to want to pursue pathology. you need to have strong "positive" reasons instead. for instance, a genuine love for histology and diagnostic work. pathology is a great field, but it is not for everyone. you will be miserable in it if you go into it for the wrong reasons.

in any case, to answer your specific questions - we have relatively good hours, even on surg path. we do not do a lot of scut work either. the environment is very friendly and the faculty love to teach. we have:
- a diverse and huge volume of cases coming from a county hospital (Parkland), a private hospital (University Hospitals), Children's Medical Center, VA, and a large outpatient clinc (Aston)
- outstanding research and clinical faculty
- a large (35 residents and >20 fellows) group of bright and fun-loving housestaff
- many fellowships (surg path, cytology, derm, GI, heme, pedi path, forensics, neuropath, blood bank, chemistry, micro, immunopath, cytogenetics, molecular).

good luck!

 

[dingozlife]

Thank-you for your advice and information, i agree i really need to do rotations at your program to get a true assessment for utsw path