Houston: Only thing I know from P1 here that applied there is that they will accept more students than they have seats for as they will try to weed out students their first year and parking in really expensive, so I heard.
Totally not true. Our classroom can sit 130 people and UH only accepts 125 per year. Of course, the P1 at Tech you talked to would not know the first thing about our classrooms and curriculum at UH seeing as he/she doesn't go there. As for the parking, it's not terribly that expensive compared to UT-Austin. It's a big campus in a big city with 35,000 students so, of course, parking will be a lot more in demand and pricier than in a small town university. Personally, I wouldn't let a two hundred dollar parking fee a year deter me from attending an excellent pharmacy program with very close ties to the Texas Medical Center.
As for being a P1 at UH, I couldn't be more happier where I am now. The adcom did not accept us in the program only "to weed us out" later on. Nothing can be farther from the truth. The faculty and staff are all very helpful and friendly. Most, if not all, professors have an open door policy with students. The office of student affairs are extremely helpful, as well. If you feel you need help with your classes, they will set you up with an upperclassmen to tutor you. If you just need to vent about anything and everything under the sun, Ms Lewis, our counselor, would be happy to listen to you. Each of us is also paired with a faculty mentor and, if we chose,a student mentor. They really care about us at UH. During and after Ike, they made sure everyone in our class was okay. They brought fruits and vegetables to help those whose produce were ruined from not having electricity. They coordinated with student volunteers to make sure other needs are met as well. That's not an attitude that you will see from faculty or staff that are looking to weed you out of the program. When we actually started, they made sure we realize that we are now all in this together and that our goal as a class should be to graduate together. Granted there are some people who failed a class or two but that's because they didn't ask and take the help that was available to them. The school would like for us to stay whole up to graduation but they will not sacrifice the quality of the program to achieve that goal. Everyone in my class is smart and fully capable of completing the program. Some just encountered road blocks along the way but the people who were weeded out of the program are the people who didn't make it to the program.
As for the curriculum and professors, I really like it. We had 14 hours last semester but it was a good course load to help students ease into the program. All courses lasted throughout the whole semester. If you ask a Tech student they'll probably explain why I made that statement. Four of our classes were letter grade classes and one was a pass-fail class. Each class is a team course class meaning, that they are taught by several professors who are experts in their fields. For example, in human anatomy and physiology class, one had more experience with muscle and cell physiology so he taught that part of the class. another professor was more well-versed in neuroanatomy and physiology so she taught that part.
What do I like about the program? I like that it has a good mix of traditional and technology-based learning. All intructions are face-to-face. I like this better than having to listen to an instructor on a screen. All of our tests are still paper and pencil tests but we do have WebCT for quizzes and homework. The college is also very social. What I mean by that is social networking events are planned throughout the semester by different organizations. Attendance is voluntary but a lot of people take advantage of it to meet and network with the alumni. It is not uncommon to see faculty and staff attend these events as well. They mingle with students in order to get to know them outside of the classroom.
As for my classmates, I think they are awesome! Our class has a good mix of introverted and extroverted people. However, when it comes to helping each other out, we are there for one another. We divide and conquer study guides that our given to us by our professors and we share the answer with the whole class. This way, none of us is stuck trying to find the answers for everything and we can all spend more time actually learning and studying. We also voluntarily take turns making flashcards for the whole class on quizzlet which an online tool that's really neat (one of our classmates knew about it and she shared with the class). Some of us also volunteer to tutor classmates with classes that they have trouble with. We also have social chairs who are in charge of planning gatherings for the class so that we can relax once in a while. They've recently started buying cakes for birthday celebrants in our class as well. So yeah, ours is a big class (125) but we make things happen and we try to get to know one another.
The only thing I don't like about going to UH is the parking situation. It is hard to find a spot especially on Tuesdays and Thurdays! One way I've rectified this is to come to school early and spend some time in the library.
I wouldn't compare my experience with Tech even though I've heard a few things from my friend who goes there. It's not my personal experience so I would just leave it for people who actually goes there to share their experiences.
I probably have a few more insights I can share with you but for now, those are the only ones I can think of.
