2015-2016 Texas A&M Health Science Center Application Thread

As an incoming M1, I wrote this along with a current M2’s insight. I saw a similar post last year on TTUHSC’s thread (credit to them) and thought it was a great idea and huge help! Here are some of the important questions from last year’s thread and what a lot of applicants were curious about when applying. I will update this post as new information is released.

Note: Do NOT make the mistake of waiting for a Texas A&M secondary application invitation. Secondary applications are not by invitation only, they are available to everyone applying. Submit it ASAP, CHECK WITH THE ADMISSIONS OFFICE AFTER A FEW WEEKS (AT ALL SCHOOLS) TO ENSURE THEY HAVE YOUR COMPLETED APPLICATION (some schools have glitches/never received it and applicants never knew until months after and have to re-submit late).

Secondary link: http://ift.tt/1OaEuRH
Secondary app deadline: October 1, 2015

Pictures of TAMHSC B/CS & Round Rock campuses/facilities, and student life: http://ift.tt/1WUzVSQ

(2015) Admissions Statistics of Acceptances:
(will update w/ 2015 entering class matriculants when they are posted, these are preliminary numbers including all acceptances)
- http://ift.tt/1WUzVSS 2015 Report.pdf

Avg MCAT: 32.1
Avg GPA: 3.80
First Interview Invites: begin ~June 20-July 1
Interviews: 848
Acceptances: 387
Matriculated: 200
Tuition+Fees: $16,400 - most (all?) accepted out of state students will pay this in-state tuition – 2nd cheapest medical school in the nation

Prerequisite Courses:

http://ift.tt/1OaEuRH
http://ift.tt/1WUzUOT
Note: Texas A&M requires 3 semester hours of both Biochemistry and Statistics (math or stats department)

Grading/Curriculum/Schedule:

Grading: H/P/F
- Honors: top 15% in each course receive honors
- Pass: 70-100
- Fail: 69 and below

Curriculum:
- 1.5 years pre-clinical/2.5 years clinical curriculum
- All 200 M1’s begin in College Station for 1 year (1.5 years for Houston track) before dispersing to other rotation cities or remaining in B/CS, where they will then finish the last half year of pre-clinical curriculum before beginning rotations.

- All are required to complete a scholarly research project as well as a concentration area (in areas such as public health, global health, rural and community health, leadership and health advocacy, business, law, research, healthcare policy, biotechnology, etc.). If you’re not big into research like me, understand that having a guaranteed (and plenty) of opportunities to graduate with research and a minor will help us greatly for residency applications – we’ll appreciate it come match day for residency.

Schedule:
Labs, clinical correlation lectures, as well as weekly "Intro to Clinical Skills" and "Becoming a Physician" classes (total ~10 hours/week) are the only classes with mandatory attendance. Usually 3 half days per week w/ afternoons off for self-study time. The non-mandatory attendance classes (which constitutes most classes) are all video/audio recorded.

Year 1:

Year II (Pre-Clinical):

Rotation Cities/Hospital Affiliations:

http://ift.tt/1OaEv81

You will submit your campus preferences shortly after Texas match day in February (you rank them 1-5 and justify why you want your preference). Here are some of the hospital affiliates:

~30 students to Houston: #1 hospital in Texas – Methodist Hospital

~50 students to Dallas: #2 hospital in Texas - Baylor Univ Medical Center & Cook Children’s

~50 students to Round Rock/Austin: two tied at #31 hospitals in Texas - St. David's Medical Center in Austin & St. David's Round Rock Medical Center

~40 students to Temple: #10 hospital in Texas/top 15 teaching hospital in the U.S. (Baylor S&W)

~30 students to B/CS: AIM rotation program - St. Joseph Hospital, College Station Medical Center

(Most get their 1st-3rd choice. If you are unhappily assigned your 2nd/3rd choice, you can request a change during M1 year - several have switched already - or just use travel credits to rotate at other hospitals and be away from your assigned city for awhile.)

M.D. Plus Program:

http://ift.tt/1WUzVT0

Texas A&M offers the following dual degree programs: M.D., M.D./PhD, M.D./MBA, M.D./MPH, M.D./MS in Medical Science, M.D./MS in Education of Healthcare Professionals.

If interested, (excluding M.D./PhD) you will apply to them once accepted to Texas A&M HSC College of Medicine. If accepted to a dual degree program, you will defer your M1 year, complete the master’s program, and then begin M1 year (5 years total for M.D. + Masters). You may also apply later on if you become interested during medical school. Last year, at least 5 scholarships worth $8,000 were given specifically to M.D. Plus students. This will cover the cost of the M.S. and MPH degrees completely.

(Optional) Medical Spanish / Pre-Matriculation MedCamp Program

For those interested, TAMHSC offers a free, 1 month long pre-matriculation MedCamp program that allows you to get accustomed to medical school prior to officially starting. Your housing and food are also paid for by TAMHSC completely during the program. This experience will allow participants a head-start to medical school by putting you in medical school classes, exposing you to medically relevant experiences, and pairing you with mentors that include faculty and current 2nd year medical students.

TAMHSC also offers a free, 1 month long medical Spanish course "Introductory Spanish for Health Professionals" during the summers, which you will receive a course certificate through the COM’s Office of Medical Education upon completion.

Step 1/Match Lists:

USMLE Step 1 average: 228/99% 1st time pass rate

Free USMLE prep course after MS2 year. A&M also provides USMLE UWorld question bank. We are given 7-8 weeks time off for USMLE Step 1 studying.

2012 match list: (class size was previously smaller than the current 200)
http://ift.tt/1WUzVT2 Texas AM Match.pdf

2013:
http://ift.tt/1WUzUOV Texas AM Match.pdf

2014: You will get a detailed match list, including hospital name, on interview day. Until it's published - Out of 156 students:
12-Anesthisiology, 21-Emergency Med, 12- Family Med, 34-Internal Med, 5-Gen Surgery, 2-Derm, 5-Opthamology, 1- Integrated Plastics, 1-Otolaryngology, 6-Ortho Surgery, 7-Diag Radiology, 2-Rad Oncology, 2-Urology, 1- Vascular Surgery, plus a few others.

Texas A&M University undergraduate affiliation:

As a Texas A&M HSC College of Medicine student, you also have access to Texas A&M University’s undergraduate campus – including rec center, sporting events, intramural sports, libraries, facilities, etc.

For matriculating students, we used “Texas A&M University” federal school code for FAFSA: 003632

Class Environment/Global Health & Clinical Volunteer Opportunities:

I think most TX schools seem pretty supportive, and this definitely holds true for A&M as well. For example, it's just May and the our new entering class has had more class hangouts than I can count already, and set up a shared google drive well before M1 orientation/class even started haha. M1-M4’s have helped us immensely before we even started with housing, class notes, free textbooks, advice, etc. They're awesome.

Students are able to volunteer at the nonprofit, free “Health For All” Clinic in B/CS where you can take patient vitals, history, physical, present to physician, write SOAP notes, etc. Also annual international mission trips available through Global Health Outreach and Christian Medical Association (2014 trips to Peru, Panama, Haiti, Belize, and McAllen), community health hullabaloo, health circus, and others. I will update with more opportunities as I learn about them!

Work/life balance? With 3+ half days every week, these 2 videos from the class of 2014 & 2016 answer that:

Interview Process:

For MD applicants: Two 30 minute 1-on-1 interviews. May be interviewed by MD’s, PhD’s, or current upper level students I believe. (open file – they have access to your MCAT, GPA, & app)

The questions from this page and other TX school pages prepared me perfectly for interviews:
http://ift.tt/1OaEv83
(click "questions" and then "show more responses")

A&M offers student hosts for those interviewing and need a place to stay.

Application Tips:

In addition to applying early, which is the biggest piece of advice you should follow, set yourself apart from others outside of academics/research. There are thousands of applicants who excelled academically, so what makes you different? Talk about and show HOW you are compassionate, HOW & WHY you want to help people. Outside of academics, schools want to see what makes you the caring and selfless physician your app says you will be. Continuous volunteering, shadowing, healthcare experience, involvement with EC’s, etc. can help you answer some of these qualities.

Why Texas A&M?

Additionally, feel free to ask here or PM me or other students why we chose A&M over other schools, or if you need help comparing them like I did last year (I would love to help and answer any questions)! I could write forever on why I chose A&M, I couldn’t be happier that I decided to come here and wouldn’t change my decision at all. A&M is growing rapidly and immensely, and I am excited to be apart of it. Here are a few of the many examples: within the last few years, they gained the top 2 hospitals in Texas as main rotation hospitals, and now the majority of our class will train in 3 of the top 10 hospitals in Texas. In 2015, they just built a brand new gross anatomy, teaching, and research building with offices, teaching labs, specimen rooms, prep areas, tank wash rooms, chemical and specimen storage rooms, locker rooms, etc. This building was designed so that it can be further expanded in the future. Additionally, in 2014, A&M HSC received a 68% increase in federal funding and crossed the $100 million threshold in total annual research expenditures. You will hear all about the ambitious vision/growth at interview day, it’s exciting times.

I encourage you to ask students at any school you interview at why they chose that school, if they’re happy with their decision, and what they do outside of school – I found that most students at all the TX schools seemed pretty honest and extremely helpful. Since most TX schools are pretty similar educationally, find what else is important to you (location, opportunities outside of school, support, etc) and compare them. Finally, any other questions, feel free to ask me, other current students, or A&M admissions - they are extremely welcoming and WANT to help you (they’ll even meet with you individually should you not get accepted to help you improve for the next application cycle). Good luck everyone!

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2015-2016 Texas A&M Health Science Center Application Thread