Texas ranking: McGovern vs Long vs UTSW vs Dell

[Morty c137]

UT Health San Antonio Long School of Medicine
Pros

• Best location, based on COL, culture and lots of friends + the closest to home
• 4 months off after pre clinicals is great for whatever I choose to do (nice to have time).
• SA Med center surprised me and overall I know they are clinically focused

Cons

• Lowest step scores of the schools I’m comparing, possibly a curriculum problem as they are more clinical
• Not true Pass/ Fail at all

UT Houston McGovern Medical
Pros

• Texas medical center
• Probably the best interview experience with students and faculty I met were so helpful
• I already have an acceptance here
• Possibility of shadowing at any hospital I’m allowed to + endless research opportunities with UTH and BCM

Cons

• Not true pass fail after the first semester, although seems appropriate to allow an adjustment semester with out the stress of grades.

UT Southwestern
Pros

• Amazing hospitals (parkland is the public hospital???)
• True P/F

Cons

• IMO Dallas sucks and farthest of schools
• Didn’t connect to students felt like they were just there for “prestige” as every one of them mentioned that’s why they are there
• Culture there just didn’t sell it to me

UT Austin Dell medical

Pros

• 1 year curriculum class style seemed fun (CBL) didn’t observe a class here but observed a class at Harvard and they share the same curriculum style and I actually enjoyed it.
• Small class size means a lot more family feel which I prefer as my experiences in undergrad
• Austin, no need to explain this
• Longitudinal preceptorship for year 2&3 seemed like how it should be done
• First step score was amazing
• Possibility of Dual degree with UT Austin
• True P/F no rankings

Cons

• 1 year although great seems rushed but not that big of a con
• New school still, no graduating class, probably my only real con
• Unsure of all the research opportunities here

Summary:
I was sold by every school and at the end this just ranking the potential for Texas match. All schools have something I like but my final goal is primary care, Internal Med or Peds. I know step score is more student based but I went to an undergrad that wasn’t known to be a pre med making machine, so having a school whose curriculum is geared for step 1 it’ll definitely be a lot more helpful.

Lastly, I do not care about prestige and care about where I’ll be for 4 years and about the people I’ll be surrounded by.

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[CarpeDiem1993]

Honestly, if you really do not care at all about "prestige" then I would go:

UT Houston > Dell > Long > UTSW.

UT Houston is famous for having a great, collaborative student culture. My friend who currently attends loves it. Houston is a wonderful place to live, learn, and grow. They are established and already have a strong reputation (albeit weaker than UTSW).

Dell is very new, so there are definitely lots of questions related to residency match, etc. But they do seem to have a very cohesive class set up, and when I spoke to students at my interview day they led me to believe there are ample research opportunities (though I imagine UT Houston would still be much better given its location in the Tex Med Center).