UTMB vs Dell Medical School -- please help!

[sak123]

Hey y'all, prematched to UTMB and was thrilled and ready to attend and just found out I got off the waitlist at Dell and now I'm super confused. Any advice is appreciated! 🙂

UTMB
Pros

• Nationally established for many years
• Good reputation but also chill and laid back
• Lower cost of living
• Lots of cool opportunities such as aerospace medicine track, etc since its been around so long
• I feel very confident that I'll be happy here since I already have familiarized myself with what the environment and situation will be and really like the diverse community
• Better hospitals and access to Texas Medical Center
• Has a BSL 4 national lab

Cons

• Far from family (4 hour drive)
• Galveston weather is unpredictable
• slightly higher tuition
• I keep being told that people would rank UTMB lower than Dell so I'm not sure how that'll affect residency match

Dell Medical School - Austin
Pros

• Unique accelerated curriculum with clinical experience in second year
• Physicians I spoke to have ranked it as a better school than UTMB and have all said to pick it over UTMB
• In same city as family (family support)
• slightly lower tuition
• Small class sizes - individualized attention?
• Third year is a free year to do a dual degree or community health project
• Attached to a big research institution (UT Austin)

Cons

• Fairly new school, not sure how nationally established it is (might be important since STEP 1 is P/F now)
• Higher cost of living
• Very small class size (50 students), I usually prefer bigger classes
• Fewer resources, but still has global health program etc
• Hospital and clinic access within the city seems okay but nothing special
• Not sure how happy I will be here, community was small and not very diverse

Summary: Given that STEP 1 is now P/F, should I stick with a nationally established school or go for a newer school that is considered better and will probably have a better reputation within the next few years?

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[gulli_97]

There's a lot of money at Dell and because of this they've hired amazing faculty from top-notch institutions from across the country. Dean is from Stanford, head of ortho is from USCF, etc. These connections will go a long way and looking at their recent match list it will probably only get better.

You seem that you'll be happier at UTMB but Dell is the new hot-shot/cool kid on the block. If you wanna associate with that and be on the forefront for value-based medicine, go for Dell.

 

[9blade]

Personally, I would take Dell simply for their 3rd year and their match list, but it seems from your pros/cons that you might be happier at UTMB. I feel like Dell will be a big deal in 20 years. I also think Kaiser will be a big deal in the future as well...so take my opinion with a grain of salt. lol

 

[sealfriendo]

Agreed with the others. Dell seems pretty sexy and their match list is as well

 

[eb44]

Hey! Full transparency here, I found your thread because I'm on the waitlist at Dell, and desperately want to get in, and I was curious to see your thought process/what you might choose. I am in no way trying to sway you one way or another, but reading your pro/con list reminded me of my experience deciding how to rank UTSW vs. A&M.

UTSW is the school, the one everyone wants! I felt guilty and stupid even THINKING about ranking A&M higher, and embarrassed admitting my dilemma to anyone. (Disclaimer, in the following lines I am NOT smashing UTSW, it's amazing, and no one needed me to tell them that; I just want to be one voice on the internet that says it's OK to go with your gut.) I hated Dallas, and the culture at UTSW reminded me of the cutthroat, hyper-neurotic-but-always-appearing-10/10 premeds where I attended undergrad. Environment has a greater impact on a person's overall wellbeing than we're conditioned to admit. Often we learn that the hard way.

Moreover, while my interviews were only two faculty members each at UTSW and A&M, and therefore a small sample size, the comparison could not have been more stark. The faculty interviewers at UTSW immediately wanted me to prove myself to them, as if I had demanded a piece of time in their busy schedules and it would be insulting for me to waste it. They hadn't read a single line in my application, and asked me a lot of questions that I had answered in essay form in my app - it was so strange they almost felt like trick questions. I also had to find my interview rooms on my own, and went to the wrong "L" building and waited until I was the last one left and still hadn't been called. I thought my interviewer was running late. Finally, they determined I was in the wrong building and rushed me to the correct place and I was 10+ minutes late to my first interview. At A&M, I was individually escorted to each room, to ensure I didn't get lost, and both of my interviewers read my application in full, and engaged with me on the experiences that led me to where I was and my deepest motivations for wanting to become a physician. I felt like a real person at A&M, whereas at Southwestern I felt like a potential buyer being given an elaborate and fantastic sales pitch.

I had to really wrestle with these thoughts, to decide if they were enough justification to turn down UTSW's amazing medical facilities alone. Ultimately, I decided to choose where I felt I'd flourish most (I still think that's Dell, we're yet to see if I'll be given that option).

Also, Dell is new and fancy and attractive (I'm the first to admit being cast under its spell), but as you seem to be aware, UTMB has a long history of setting the medical standard in Texas, and you're right to wonder if that could carry more weight if Step 1 stays P/F. My partner, who's starting his general surgery residency next month, said that THE surgery textbook that every medical school uses was written by a UTMB professor.

Lastly, you mentioned hesitancy over the small class size at Dell. Keep in mind it's not only a small class, but that every course is broken down into small groups/teams that you must work with for every assignment; even lectures are set up this way, and lectures aren't recorded. I love this approach, and thrive in small groups, but in terms of being adaptable to coronavirus conditions over the next year, I am concerned about how that's going to look. UTMB might be better set up for such modifications.

Make the decision that's best for you, and if that's Dell, and I also get lucky over the next week, I'll be really excited to meet you soon 🙂

 

[thegrind33]

Typically I'll just like the comments I agree with but I feel the urge to comment on this based on the first two comments. First of all, Dell is right with UTMB in the residency program director rankings. Secondly, their match list reflects a normal state school (which is not bad). If you were to compare their list to UTMB,TAMU, UTH and other mid tiers TX and US schools you would not be able to tell them apart at all. And yes Dell has a lot of money but so does UTMB..... UTMB is expanding their presence into Houston and south Houston and they have a lot more $$$ to throw around at research. Also, you will find faculty that worked and held high titles at other well-known schools at other mid-tier TX schools, this isn't exclusive to Dell and if anything it shows desirability to move to TX. Now Dell will be a good school but man this forum sells it as the next UTSW or Baylor. If a school in TX wants to reach that level they have to throw $$ around and UTMB, TAMU, Dell, and UTH are all willing to throw cash around like its no tomorrow. So that is three other schools that are more established and two of them (UTMB and TAMU) have more $$ to throw around. With that being said, Dell will be a great school. If you want to go into a competitive specialty in private practice or do private practice in general go UTMB. If you want to go into healthcare administration go to Dell. Go where you fit right now and just know there really is not a wrong choice here GL.

Edit: I would choose UTMB, source- a Texan

 

[Skittsie13]

I'm not as enamored with Dell's match list as the rest of y'all are. The IM matches were pretty weak, which is traditionally the way to evaluate a "good" match list. They did have some subspecialty matches, I will give them that!

I think that national reputation-wise, the two schools are fairly similar. Austin and the extra year of research are pros for Dell and the latter will help with standing out for residency applications, though I hear the clinical training is a bit weak at Dell. If you feel like you will be happier at UTMB, though, I think the schools are similar enough you would be very justified in picking UTMB. The difference between the schools, at least right now, is not really significant (vs. the above example, where the difference between UTSW and A&M is substantial).

Also you probably wouldn't be able to go home too much in medical school, anyway. 4 hours is doable for a weekend trip.

 

[gulli_97]

I'm not as enamored with Dell's match list as the rest of y'all are. The IM matches were pretty weak, which is traditionally the way to evaluate a "good" match list. They did have some subspecialty matches, I will give them that!

I think that national reputation-wise, the two schools are fairly similar. Austin and the extra year of research are pros for Dell and the latter will help with standing out for residency applications, though I hear the clinical training is a bit weak at Dell. If you feel like you will be happier at UTMB, though, I think the schools are similar enough you would be very justified in picking UTMB. The difference between the schools, at least right now, is not really significant (vs. the above example, where the difference between UTSW and A&M is substantial).

Also you probably wouldn't be able to go home too much in medical school, anyway. 4 hours is doable for a weekend trip.

You call IM at Penn and UCSF weak? It's their first match list, it was quite good and I don't see how it will not get even better.

OP you should go with where you feel happier and the environment where you feel that you'll be more successful. UTMB is an established school with a primary goal of producing physician-clinicians. If you want to go into healthcare leadership, possibly get involved with an innovative tech atmosphere in Austin, Dell is a no-brainer. It is all dependent on your goals.

 

[Skittsie13]

You call IM at Penn and UCSF weak? It's their first match list, it was quite good and I don't see how it will not get even better.

OP you should go with where you feel happier and the environment where you feel that you'll be more successful. UTMB is an established school with a primary goal of producing physician-clinicians. If you want to go into healthcare leadership, possibly get involved with an innovative tech atmosphere in Austin, Dell is a no-brainer. It is all dependent on your goals.

You cherry-picked the two "best" IM matches and ignored the rest, lol. *Overall* the IM match list was fairly weak. There are definitely some good matches, all I was saying was that I disagreed with the prevailing opinion on the thread that their match list was a selling point over UTMB's. UTMB's IM matches included Stanford, Barnes-Jewish, Vanderbilt... overall fairly similar to Dell's, though the caveat that there were about 4x as many people matching IM as Dell. Neither has the IM matches, or match list in general, of a top school.

 

[spookymulder26]

Copying this from a previous pros comment I made on another post. I did not interview at Dell.

A list of pros I compiled for UTMB

- P/F first two years
- All exams are NBME so you’re preparing for step from day 1.
- You take your exams in a testing center on campus so you’re simulating testing conditions as well.
- New Health Education Center (HEC) for patient simulations is amazing.
- Lectures are now in the HEC building and they have huge screens on all 4 sides of the room plus students sit at round tables where you can sit and talk amongst your colleagues plus there is a mic at the table to ask questions from vs having to shout in a lecture hall.
- Multiple Tracks you can join like Global Health, Aerospace, Public Health and other interesting ones
- Student run clinic you can help at
- Problem Based Learning is 1-2 hours a week MWF. All the students I’ve talked to have loved the PBLs.
- All classes streamed.
- UTMB gives you a lot of freedom to study the way you want and they have academic support offices to help you if you need to learn how to study. Plus the upperclassmen are there to help you. Theirs hardly any mandatory class so you can study on your own for a majority of your time.
- Correct me if I’m wrong but you’re pretty much out by 12PM and that’s if you don’t stream lectures.
- A lot of student interest groups.
- Oldest Texas Medical School so very Large network of Alumni & a lot of donors for scholarship money. At my interview my med student host said pretty much everyone gets scholarship money. He said he was an ORM and he still got 10k.
- Very chill and relaxed atmosphere.
- There are not that many distractions on the island but if you do want to do some more fun things, Houston is just a drive up north so you get the best of both worlds.
-Option to be Houston based for clinical rotations
- Their 5 week META course is a great introductory course vs jumping right into GAR


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[tulsajoe94]

So, I posted on the Dell thread telling you to come here and see you really do have a tough choice. Here's how I'd personally look at it after removing things I don't think are that important and/or aren't a real difference between the schools.

UTMB
Pros

• Nationally established for many years
• Lower cost of living
• I feel very confident that I'll be happy here since I already have familiarized myself with what the environment and situation will be and really like the diverse community
• Lots of cool opportunities such as aerospace medicine track or BSL 4 national lab
  • How many students are doing these things and do these matter to you personally?

Cons

• Far from family (4 hour drive)

Dell Medical School - Austin
Pros

• Unique accelerated curriculum with clinical experience in second year
• In same city as family (family support)
• Third year is a free year to do a dual degree or community health project

Cons

• Higher cost of living
• Very small class size (50 students), I usually prefer bigger classes
• Not sure how happy I will be here, community was small and not very diverse
• Fewer resources, but still has global health program etc
  • our global health program is tiny, super small. They're trying to grow it, but it is slow. If that is something that is truly important to you long term (i.e. you know you want to work for an NGO full-time, not just intermittent trips) and you want curriculum and capstone projects that will drive home principles of global health, Dell doesn't have this yet. Still, could probably match a residency where this a priority either way.

Only thing to consider that I couldn't tell from your post is financial aid, which could tip things.
Also, if you're older I'd +1 to Dell, if you were big into Greek life I'd +1 to UTMB based purely on personal observation. No pretense of science.

 

[zignaw]

hey there! not sure if you've made a decision yet, but figured I'd weigh in since I was going through the same decision-making process a couple of months ago. Hopefully this helps some other folks who look back on this thread in the future:

For me, UTMB was closer to home, more recognized/nationally known, and had better clinical and research opportunities from what I gathered.

However, the third-year at Dell really sold it for me. The opportunity to pursue another passion - in the form of a master's degree or other self-directed projects, OR dedicate an entire year to research was difficult to turn down. I also felt more comfortable with the class make-up knowing that Dell was selectively looking for students who brought diverse perspectives and could work well within a team (through the group interview). Coming from a consulting background, I tend to prefer working in groups and learning through discussions, and Dell really sold me on their commitment to that kind of learning. The smaller class size and Dell's preference for non-trad folks who could bring unique perspectives to medicine were actually huge pros for me.

Finally, to address your comment around Step 1 being P/F:

I feel the recent Step 1 change to P/F actually benefits Dell's curriculum. Just my 2 cents: now that Step 1 scores will no longer make/break residency apps (at least for our class and beyond); I believe many schools that traditionally "taught towards the test" will begin thinking about condensing the two preclinical years into 1.5 and eventually into 1 year, especially given the success of schools that currently have a 1-year preclinical program (i.e. Duke, Michigan, and now Dell). Additionally, residency programs will presumably emphasize Step 2 CK scores more now (they love numbers I hear). This should in theory benefit schools that have students beginning clinical rotations in year 2 as it provides them flexibility in both timing and preparation for Step 2 (selfishly, it might be better to find out Step 2 CK scores before residency apps so we know which specialties and programs we can be competitive in 😉 ) Again, all speculation and I may be completely off-base here as a naive incoming MS1 🙂

 

[CaptainZeki]

Curious what school OP selected after reading this thread.


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[skeptastic]

hey there! not sure if you've made a decision yet, but figured I'd weigh in since I was going through the same decision-making process a couple of months ago. Hopefully this helps some other folks who look back on this thread in the future:

For me, UTMB was closer to home, more recognized/nationally known, and had better clinical and research opportunities from what I gathered.

However, the third-year at Dell really sold it for me. The opportunity to pursue another passion - in the form of a master's degree or other self-directed projects, OR dedicate an entire year to research was difficult to turn down. I also felt more comfortable with the class make-up knowing that Dell was selectively looking for students who brought diverse perspectives and could work well within a team (through the group interview). Coming from a consulting background, I tend to prefer working in groups and learning through discussions, and Dell really sold me on their commitment to that kind of learning. The smaller class size and Dell's preference for non-trad folks who could bring unique perspectives to medicine were actually huge pros for me.

Finally, to address your comment around Step 1 being P/F:

I feel the recent Step 1 change to P/F actually benefits Dell's curriculum. Just my 2 cents: now that Step 1 scores will no longer make/break residency apps (at least for our class and beyond); I believe many schools that traditionally "taught towards the test" will begin thinking about condensing the two preclinical years into 1.5 and eventually into 1 year, especially given the success of schools that currently have a 1-year preclinical program (i.e. Duke, Michigan, and now Dell). Additionally, residency programs will presumably emphasize Step 2 CK scores more now (they love numbers I hear). This should in theory benefit schools that have students beginning clinical rotations in year 2 as it provides them flexibility in both timing and preparation for Step 2 (selfishly, it might be better to find out Step 2 CK scores before residency apps so we know which specialties and programs we can be competitive in 😉 ) Again, all speculation and I may be completely off-base here as a naive incoming MS1 🙂

How did the first two years go for you? If you've taken Step 1 and/or 2, do you mind sharing a little about your experience preparing for and taking the exam(s)? Did you feel that the preclinical year was manageable with he emphasis on PBL-style learning as opposed to lectures? Did you use any outside resources to study during MS1 and MS2? Any insight is welcome and appreciated!