UIWSOM vs VCOM-LC

[texmed2026]

UIWSOM

Pros

• 3 hrs from home
• Hoping to complete residency & practice in TX (majority of students match in TX)
• Love San Antonio - I’ve always wanted to live in a city in my twenties
• Ideal rotation locations
• EMT street-med (I’m a volunteer EMT and love it!!)
• Very involved in community

Cons

• Socratic “lectures” + self-directed learning… Kind of scary after MCAT self-study struggles
• Free response exams: Had these in college & did great but med school... concerning.
• COMLEX 1 83% (national 94%)
• 95% match rate

VCOM - Louisiana

Pros

• Established & structured curriculum / VCOM-TV
• VCOM "family" feel
• 99-100% residency match rate (other campuses)
• COMLEX 1 95-98% (other campuses)
• Access to ULM amenities
• Block breaks: 1 week off after each block

Cons

• OOS: ~6 hrs from home, impact on residency?
• Monroe, LA…
• New campus (would be 3rd class), stats to compare will be unknown
• Exams 2-3x/week

Summary: I have always wanted to stay in Texas since I went OOS for undergrad to be closer to family and my bf could easily move to SA. I want to complete residency and have a career in TX. My biggest concerns with UIW are the low scores + self-directed learning. For VCOM, I love the structured curriculum and family feel, but obviously don’t know how students will do on COMLEX, match, etc. and it is in Louisiana… will this hurt my long term goals for returning to TX?

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[medstudent032387]

Hello! I had this same dilemma and was wondering which school you ended up choosing? Any input is appreciated! Thank you!