Why is University of Arkansas (UAMS) not that well known?

[ElChamaco]

---

Members do not see this ad.

There is a major intersection on Robson street in Vancouver BC (a city that is about as opposite from texas / houston as you can get) that has a Starbucks on 3 of the 4 corners.

Wow I did not know that nor did I notice that when I was in Vancouver. Yes I have been to Seattle and I lived in Houston for nearly a decade. I agree Houston has a surprising amount of cultural activities and like I said there are worse places to live than Texas.

Houston has one of the largest arts and museum districts in the nation, holds one of the country's largest gay pride parades, houses Rice University, Texas Southern (one of the largest historically black colleges in the country), Baylor Medical School, MD Anderson (the best oncological hospital in the country), NASA, and, of the 10 most populous cities, has the largest total area of parks and green space. It is filled with a thriving international culture due to it's status as a major energy and oil hub and it neighbors national forests like Sam Houston and Bayou Bend. As for it being "ugly", you've clearly never strolled down through the Museum district: http://www.destination360.com/north-america/us/texas/houston/images/s/museum-district.jpg

So yes, there are plenty of things you can find only in Texas. And the Starbucks are in a highly affluent area of town, so that is more of a comment on endowed people rather than on Texas itself. /pissingcontest

None of what you mentioned makes Houston particularly unique compared to the major cities in the US except maybe the Medical Center. SF, NYC and Boston all have major universities, major medical centers, big parks and major gay pride parades etc.

Houston, all things considered, especially when taking into account its cost of living, is more livable than a lot of the places in the US. Its museum is pretty nice and its indie movie theater scene is surprisingly developed. But its hard to argue that the basic layout of the city is pretty or that it is nearly as desirable as NYC or SF to the majority of the population (yes of course there are exceptions).

Houston is the prototypical sprawl city, which isn't just ugly, it is unecological and one of the worst ways to organize a city. The public transportation is HORRENDOUS as is the traffic. According to one traffic ranking list Dallas is ranked 5th for the worst traffic and Houston is ranked 7th. Of the top ten however these two Texas cities are the only cities (except for LA) with barely functional public transit. Yes, Boston, SF, NYC, Chicago etc have bad traffic, but guess what you don't HAVE to drive in those cities. In Houston you don't have a choice.

And amazingly in the year 2012 many (most?) Houston neighborhoods have not figured out a way to make recycling easy for their residents. You have to collect your recycling and take it to a store yourself! That's pretty embarrassing if you ask me... "Houston: Less than a quarter of homes have curbside recycling, and the waiting list for bins is 25,000 names long. (http://www.newser.com/story/58816/americas-worst-recycling-cities.html)."

People (and doctors especially) find Texas especially desirable because med school is cheap, salaries are high, taxes are low, malpractice is favorable (so I have heard) and real estate is inexpensive. Those are all pretty good reasons to like Texas but they don't speak to its major cities inherent absolute desirability.
/essay

 

[Qrxn]

And amazingly in the year 2012 many (most?) Houston neighborhoods have not figured out a way to make recycling easy for their residents. You have to collect your recycling and take it to a store yourself! That's pretty embarrassing if you ask me... "Houston: Less than a quarter of homes have curbside recycling, and the waiting list for bins is 25,000 names long. (http://www.newser.com/story/58816/americas-worst-recycling-cities.html)."

I agree about public transportation. My biggest quip with Texas is the lack of affordable and effective public transport. Even in Austin, while the residents furtively try to curb emissions, it is impossible to get around without a car. As for going green, I do know that the city is trying to implement positive recycling initiatives like curbside, large container recycling and charging stations for battery powered cars. For now, those little green tubs should do especially since they are meant to coax a hesitant population into embracing recycling. In the Northeast, it is second nature to everyone and I like that considerably.

I recently read an article which highlights the overarching problem with sprawling cities; they focus too much on modernization and not conservation. Buildings are replaced before restored in Southern urban centers. I think the article was titled "No Nostalgia" which really gets to the heart to of the matter. Unless you go to historic towns like Gruene or New Braunfels, residents in Dallas/Austin/Houston seem to expect change and modernity before restoration. That's a big generalization and isn't always the case, but I've seen it frequently first hand.

 

[SoonerFromTexas]

 

[sha15]

How did Texas come up in this? They aren't really considered when you talk about the "South" and all its problems.

 

[deleted307836]

How did Texas come up in this? They aren't really considered when you talk about the "South" and all its problems.

Yeah I personally don't really think of Texas as "The South" but more of as a unique entity. Kind of the same as Florida.

As for the focus of this thread... I'd have to agree with post #2. I'm sure it's a great medical center but location definitely plays a role in reputation for whatever reason.

 

[dirigo]

I'm a born and bred Texan studying in the North. I've noticed a few less than stellar aspects (aside from the frigid winter).

1. People aren't very friendly. If you do build up enough courage to talk to a stranger on the bus or at a bar, they give you the, "oh god, I'm sitting next to a crazy person" look.
2. People are openly racist. My first week here I had a mid 30's suburban store owner tell me that "some kinds" of people are bad drivers. Wth? People in the country may be worse than those in Texas cities, but they certainly keep it to themselves.
3. No one can dance.

Aside from being very gentrified (read: white), the North is slowly growing on me. I identified as a liberal and found plenty of support for that in Texas. Still, I find myself missing people who are kind, rap music, a good plate of Mexican food, and people who aren't afraid to work with their hands.

1) Dude, why would you expect a stranger on a bus to talk to you? This reminds of a time an old guy try talking to me on the bus and got pissed then called me "snobby" when i ignored him. And yes I did give him the "oh god, I'm sitting next to a crazy person" look.

2) There's racist people everywhere but i would prefer to know that you are upfront rather than be nice to my face and go behind my back.

3) Yeah square dancing isn't very popular in the north

 

[AxeJ]

I thought it was.

 

[Arky]

To OP, it's not very well known because it's ARKANSAS. Honestly, we're lucky to even have a medical school lol. That said, if you wanna practice in-state, it's very well known! 😛 And who wouldn't want to practice in a place as beautiful as the ozarks?

 

[flodhi1]

How did Texas come up in this? They aren't really considered when you talk about the "South" and all its problems.

👍 I have absolutely no idea why and how Texas even came to this thread...

 

[MilkmanAl]

And who wouldn't want to practice in a place as beautiful as the ozarks?

Anyone who also wants a population density greater than 1/sqaure mile. 😛 As for this Texas debate, I've found that the only major difference between Texas and Arkansas is that Texans actually think their state is awesome, for some reason.

UAMS is a great clinical school. There's a whole crapload of cutting-edge cancer research here, especially in breast cancer and multiple myeloma, but that's all I'm aware of. The pre-clinical years are basically being rebuilt from the ground up as we speak which is complete nonsense, in my opinion, since I felt they had it almost right when I went through. Unfortunately, the LCGME is apparently buying wholesale the concept of PBL/TBL, and UAMS really flipped **** when UTSA, a similarly lecture-based program, got put on probation this year. Of course, the obvious solution is to replace the fully functional curriculum with a broken one that'd be worse even if 100% debugged. Oh well, glad I'm past that BS. The clinical years are truly amazing, though, and judging by others' apparent experiences as extolled in the med student forums, you'll get better training here than just about anywhere. That said, coming to school here requires you to spend 4 years in the burgeoning cultural mecca of Little Rock, not a move I recommend highly.