Texas schools

[mdmom]

I'm with Trek,

Apply to any or all of the Tx schools. If you just want to get in, go with ALL of them. Your chances are greater (remember the stats given earlier in this thread). They make the application process pretty easy. If you are fortunate enough to have REALLY good stats, go with where you think you would fit in. I didn't bother with the small towns either.

I recommend visiting the campus. If you wait for interview day, they WILL try to sell you on their school. Whether you get a realistic impression, is hard to say.

I read in "D" magazine that Southwestern ranked in top 20 medical schools in the country. Everyone knows that they have 4 Nobel laureates, but what I didn't know is that there is no other school in the WORLD that can boast that. If you're into places like that, go for it. Friends tell me that they were not pressured into research at all at SW, despite popular belief.

In Dallas, Baylor and Southwestern don't mix and mingle too much. You are one or the other, not both. To decide between the two, again, check them both out. They are two different breeds.

Hope this helps. :wink:

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[scamp]

I'm so glad to see some Texans here! I'm a native but I've been in NYC for four years. I'm moving back this summer, and even though I still have two years before I plan to apply, this thread was so encouraging! It's so nice to hear that there's so many great schools- and you gotta love that 90% resident thing.

Just wanted to say hi to my fellow Texans, and I wish you all the best of luck! :wink:

 

[mdmom]

thanks scamp. See you in a couple of years. Good luck on your ventures.

 

[Elysium]

Trek, that's a good point about people going into primary care. I hadn't really thought about that. Obviously DOs are going to be more prone to go into P.C.
What's interesting is that most people from TX that I've spoken with are only applying in TX. I guess that makes sense, given how inexpenisve (relatively speaking) the TX schools are. I also think that most of the people applying from TX are in the 20-22 range that have never lived outside the state. Personally, I have no real qualms about leaving, if I was blessed enough to get into a top 50 school that I really liked.
Being that I am 28, I really hope to go through all this bull**** only once, so I'm casting the proverbial net far and wide. I hope to get into the TX schools, but I guess we'll just have to see how the year goes. It's a good thing that UTMB likes the non-trads...or I'd really be screwed!

 

[brontehardyeliot]

I know that Baylor and Southwestern are the two big-name Texas schools, and you always hear a lot about them. I'm sure that the other Texas schools also provide great educations, but I was wondering if any of you knew if any of the other schools had any stand-out programs or things that they were well-known for, at least within the state? For example, one of them having a really good obstetrics program or being focused on community service or anything else distinctive? Sorry for having such a vague question; I've just started the whole premed process, so I've got a lot to learn.

 

[mdmom]

Hi there,

You will get a good education at any of the Tx schools. Barring you do well on Step 1, you can bet you'll do pretty well in the residency match no matter what the specialty.

Specialties, hmmm, I've heard SA is does rural med., TCOM, big with primary care, Galveston is the only school with the Aerospace residency thing. Anybody else have anything to add?

 

[Fah-Q]

Good point about doing well on USMLe Step 1 and the match. The great thing about Texas is its such a big place with a several big, diverse cities with numerous residencies. Austin vs. San Antonio, Dallas vs. Houston, etc. There are enough residency spots in Texas in all specialties. You don't have to go to a nationally ranked, well-known school to match into derm, ortho, ENT, neurosurg, or any of the other really competitive specialties. Texas programs like Texas medical school graduates. If you go to a Texas school (any of them) and kick butt, then you WILL match into whatever you want. Texas is like its own little nation, you don't have to go anywhere else to find what you want. So for all you Texans out there applying to med school, there really is no reason to go to med school outside of Texas (unless you just don't want to live there). There isn't much in the way of medicine (if anything at all) that can't be found in Texas.

 

[Jeff698]

"One other advantage that Texas has is that all of the schools (except Baylor) are required to admit 90% Texan's. And even Baylor ends up being around 70-90%."

And let's not forget the incredible tuition for Texas residents. Compared to the out of state places I was accepted, I'm almost being paid to go to school here. $7K/year is incredible!

Take care,
Jeff in Galveston

 

[castaway]

Jeff makes an excellent point. The out of state schools I interviewed at, while impressive in many respects, were just too expensive--we're talking borrowing in excess of 50K/year. When I compare that to the tiny tuition my Tx school charges (Texas Tech), I know for sure that I am going to stay in Texas. The price difference is gigantic.

BUT: Elysium, I think it's a good idea to cast your net far and wide. I did so too, and have had no regrets whatsoever. There are a bunch of schools both in and out of TX that are nontrad friendly. Of the TX schools UTHSC SA and UTMB stand out. Now I am convinced that Tx Tech is nontrad friendly also!! Interviewing both in and out of TX will allow you to make lots of comparisons and see for yourself where you want to go if you end with multiple admissions. For instance, I when I interviewed at NYMC, I was really pleased with the idea of being able to do clinicals at St Vincents and Metropolitan, but the idea of living in NYC did not appeal to me much. So, by all means, cast your net far and wide!

 

[sputnik22]

Hey PatDaddy

I am also going to San Antonio next year, so its finally nice to hear of a future classmate. Hey do you know if SA is having like a second look weekend or something like that? or do we just all meet at orientation?

 

[PMPMD]

Sputnik,
I don't know of a second look weekend for SA. There's the White Coat Ceremony on June 30th, then registration week starting July 1, then classes start July 8. As you probably already know, the summer classes are really laid back, so you get to know everyone before the really intense stuff starts. Anyway, I'm definitely excited about starting school and meeting everyone.

 

[superdood68]

wow, that's crazy early...

 

[PMPMD]

I just thought of another reason the Texas system is better - the application process. If anyone here filled out both the AMCAS and TMDSAS web applications, you know what I'm talking about. The Texas application actually worked, while the AMCAS crashed every few minutes.

 

[Elysium]

Yeah, I've also heard that the TX application system had a lot less problems than AMCAS. I wonder why that is? Maybe because AMCAS is dealing with roughly 35,000 people versus TX's 3000 people. Or maybe it's just that TX rocks and is far superior. Either way, it'll be interesting to see how painful AMCAS is compared to TMADAS.

 

[PMPMD]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by Elysium:
•Maybe because AMCAS is dealing with roughly 35,000 people versus TX's 3000 people.
Or maybe it's just that TX rocks and is far superior. •••••It's obviously the second one.

 

[time quaker]

Well i think a large part of why the application was superior for texas was the setup. First, in order to enter the grades for one class on the AMCAS system, you had to click at least twice (ie send information to the server). You also had to do stupid things like arrange the courses in order. Texas allowed you to add ALL of your classes at once from any one school on one page. So you only transmitted info to the server once. There were only 13 pages or so for the entire texas application. Therefore you only had to "talk" to the server 13 times. I had to "talk" to the server twice for each school I checked to apply to, twice or more for each class I took, and then for each single piece of info (demographic). I think all of that made a huge difference.

 

[Hopkins2010]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by time quaker:
•Well i think a large part of why the application was superior for texas was the setup. First, in order to enter the grades for one class on the AMCAS system, you had to click at least twice (ie send information to the server). You also had to do stupid things like arrange the courses in order. Texas allowed you to add ALL of your classes at once from any one school on one page. So you only transmitted info to the server once. There were only 13 pages or so for the entire texas application. Therefore you only had to "talk" to the server 13 times. I had to "talk" to the server twice for each school I checked to apply to, twice or more for each class I took, and then for each single piece of info (demographic). I think all of that made a huge difference.•••••I agree with time quaker. Its a bandwidth availability issue. I bet the Texas system could handle larger numbers of applicants than the AMCAS system because the communication required with the server is easily 1/5th of that required by AMCAS.

With the AMCAS system, the bandwidth "pipeline" gets clogged because it requires nearly constant IP packets to be sent to the server, whereas the TX system uses larger IP packets, but the net throughput is much lower. AMCAS had too much overhead.

 

[MandM06]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by baylor21:
• Its a bandwidth availability issue. I bet the Texas system could handle larger numbers of applicants than the AMCAS system because the communication required with the server is easily 1/5th of that required by AMCAS.

With the AMCAS system, the bandwidth "pipeline" gets clogged because it requires nearly constant IP packets to be sent to the server, whereas the TX system uses larger IP packets, but the net throughput is much lower. AMCAS had too much overhead.•••••That's great point baylor21 Maybe you should head up to AMCAS headquarters and give them a hand.

 

[mdmom]

Another plus for Texas:

The beautiful weather!!!