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June 13, 2022

How to Answer “Why Our School?” - Cheat Sheet for All Texas Medical Schools

If you’re working ahead (which you should be), you’re probably already pre-writing secondary essays, including the challenging “Why our medical school?” question.

We’re here to help with that. Savvy Pre-Med will be publishing a multiple-part series to provide you with a “cheat sheet” for answering “Why our medical school?” in your secondaries and interviews.

Our goal is to provide a list of five noteworthy aspects of each medical school program (including links) to help you expedite the process of researching, writing, and formulating interview answers.

Today we’re covering all the Texas medical schools!

How to Answer “Why Our School?” - Cheat Sheet for All Texas Medical Schools

 

#1 - Baylor College of Medicine

What are the five most distinct opportunities/aspects of this program to highlight in your secondary essays and interviews?

Focus on Student Wellness

Baylor has offices and programs dedicated to student and resident wellness respectively. There are a multitude of resources available regarding emotional, mental, physical, financial, social, intellectual, environmental, and spiritual wellness. 

Pathways

Baylor College of Medicine has developed pathways to help students explore their interests and customize their education to match their career goals.

Pathways include: 

  • Care of the underserved
  • Genetics and genomics
  • Global Health
  • Health Policy
  • Medical Ethics
  • Medical Research
  • Space Medicine 

Peer Resource Network 

 

Even before you arrive on campus, you will feel welcome because you will receive letters from current students who form your Peer Resource Network. The PRN is the student-led mentor program at Baylor College of Medicine for incoming first-year medical students to assist them in transitioning to medical school. Each first-year student is placed in a group with nine or ten other first years and two MS2, two MS3 and two MS4 medical student mentors. The PRN leaders guide the new students through orientation week and lead the Transitions to Medical School course during the first three weeks of school to promote not only academics but also physical, emotional and mental wellness.

 

Student Opportunities for Advancement in Research (SOAR)

The Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences along with the School of Medicine has established the Office of Student Opportunities for Advancement in Research (SOAR). The purpose of the SOAR Office is to educate and support all BCM medical students interested in pursuing research opportunities offered at Baylor College of Medicine and its affiliates. The SOAR database provides students with an opportunity to identify research projects and gain valuable research experience while pursuing their medical studies. The SOAR Office also offers SOAR Travel Awards to support medical student research presentations at scientific and medical conferences.

Global Health Innovation Center

The Baylor Global Innovation Center, directed by Dr. Sharmila Anandasabapathy, is a hub for collaborative research efforts that involve the development, validation, and commercialization of technology to ultimately improve health care delivery and population health, with specific emphasis on low-resource and/or medically-underserved areas. The center also supports quality and process improvement research involving health informatics, an area that has complementary scientific and programmatic overlap with device and tele-health development.

#2 - University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UT Southwestern)

What are the five most distinct opportunities/aspects of this program to highlight in your secondary essays and interviews?

MD/MBA: Degrees & Pathways

Preventing and treating disease is a crucial part of being a physician. But there is more to health care than medicine. It also is a business. Stay ahead of the curve with a degree that will help you navigate the complex business challenges coming to the healthcare industry — both regulatory and technological. Our dual M.D./MBA degree gives you the edge you need to advance your medical career, expanding beyond clinical work and into administration, management, or other leadership roles. Business-minded physicians can become influencers for change in medicine and can work to redefine health care for future generations.

MD/MPH

Populations should consider pursuing the Doctor of Medicine/Master of Public Health (M.D./M.P.H.) dual degree at UT Southwestern Medical School. The program is a valuable collaboration between UTSW and the UTHealth School of Public Health.

Global Health: Degrees & Pathways

The Office of Global Health (OGH) at UT Southwestern is committed to reducing health disparities globally, and training the next generation of leaders in global health. The OGH has supported global health activities for more than 700 students since 2010. These students have completed clinical rotations and research activities in more than 35 countries around the world. UT Southwestern recognizes the opportunity for expansion of our global footprint through collaborative partnerships that leverage unique strengths to improve health outcomes, while providing opportunities for the next generation of health care professionals to gain technical skills and exposure to cultures, societies, and unique diseases.

Medical Education: Degrees & Pathways

The Medical Education Pathway offers opportunities for future physicians to do just that. In this track, students will develop the skills they need to become the scholars who shape the future of medicine, the instructors whom medical professionals trust, and the teachers whom patients deserve.

Quality Improvement and Patient Safety Pathway

Part of the charge of being a physician is to deliver the highest quality of health care to as many people as possible. At UT Southwestern, medical students are exposed to the methodologies of quality improvement and gain real-world experience by participating in impactful quality improvement projects.

#3 - Texas A&M College of Medicine

What are the five most distinct opportunities/aspects of this program to highlight in your secondary essays and interviews?

Military Medicine

We honor Texas A&M University's rich military legacy. Through our unique relationship with the military academies and veteran populations, we're dedicated to improving the lives of the military and their families. We pride ourselves on recruiting veteran and active military students and are expanding strategic partnerships for the greatest impact.

Engineering Medicine (EnMed)

Advancements in technology are transforming health care at a rapid pace. The rate of technological change is faster and more complicated than can be absorbed by the medical workforce. A new type of education is needed to prepare professionals with the clinical skills to diagnose symptoms and treat patients, along with an engineering mindset to solve problems, invent new technologies and rapidly move these innovative ideas to practice in patient care. With Texas A&M's land-grant mission and world-class engineering program, in collaboration with the state's top-ranked hospital, Texas A&M can lead in solving the most daunting health-related problems.

Clinical Learning Resource Center

Inside the CLRC, students refine their fundamental and clinical skills in controlled, simulated health care environments. Highly specialized instructional technology is utilized, including computer-programmed full-body manikins with the capacity to realistically simulate a range of physiological states and responses. Additionally, our standardized patient program allows future health care professionals to work with individuals who portray patients from infancy through retirement. The CLRC also functions as a place where area hospitals and clinic groups can learn and practice new techniques.

Research Centers & Institutes

The centers and institutes at Texas A&M University College of Medicine allow for focused discovery in key areas of health research and implementation. Each group specializes in meaningful approaches to effecting change and advancing basic and clinical research.

Medical Education

Medical education is the thread that creates a singular vision for future and current students, researchers, alumni and practicing physicians. By impacting education and training at all levels, the Texas A&M College of Medicine fosters achievement of career goals and the transformation of health care for patient populations. Our curriculum brings flexibility and individualization to the education process, to create lifelong-learners and bring better health care to all.

#4 - Dell Medical School - University of Texas, Austin

What are the five most distinct opportunities/aspects of this program to highlight in your secondary essays and interviews?

Advancing Translational Research to Improve Health

Dell Medical School’s Health Transformation Research Institute provides leadership and infrastructure to support robust, innovative and world-class clinical and late-stage (T3-T5) translational research. This team supports training for Dell Med researchers and learners conducting translational investigation, as well as the development of an integrated learning health system in which research is embedded in, drives and reinforces excellence in clinical, educational and community-focused missions.

Taking a Holistic Approach to Commercialization, From Idea to Impact

The CoLab at Dell Medical School at The University of Texas at Austin supports Dell Med’s mission to revolutionize how people get and stay healthy by quickly translating and commercializing life-changing health innovations. It is a launchpad for transformative health solutions that provides resources for innovators interested in commercializing an invention, starting a company or collaborating with industry partners.

 

Factor Health

 

Our newest program, Factor Health, partners with community organizations to test and build programs at scale that deliver health outside health care with outcomes that the healthcare industry will pay for.

 

The Impact Factory

 

A collaboration between Dell Medical School and the LBJ School of Public Affairs, The Impact Factory is an engine for civic innovation, entrepreneurship and service learning at The University of Texas at Austin. A first-of-its-kind, cross-sector collaboration, The Impact Factory aims to measurably improve health and prosperity for vulnerable populations in the United States. Together, we are multidisciplinary practitioners, educators, researchers, advocates, community leaders and other trailblazers who favor big ideas that challenge conventional thinking. From hunger and homelessness to lack of economic opportunity, we are tackling our communities’ toughest problems because we envision an America where everyone thrives.

 

Innovation, Leadership & Discovery Block: Distinction in Research

 

Through individualized experiences in the third year — the hallmark of a curriculum created from scratch to turn future physicians into leaders — students make progress toward long-term goals and collaborate to improve health locally. A nine-month “Innovation, Leadership and Discovery” block affords the opportunity to complete a large, independent Distinction in Discovery and Inquiry project or dual degree. Students also continue clinical practice in primary care, family and community medicine with the option for other electives. Longitudinal courses in Developing Outstanding Clinical Skills, Interprofessional Education and Leadership continue.

 

#5 - UTMB John Sealy School of Medicine 

What are the five most distinct opportunities/aspects of this program to highlight in your secondary essays and interviews?

Office of Student Life

The mission of Student Life is to collaborate with students and the UTMB community to implement programs and activities that support students’ involvement on campus and in their community, enhance their personal and professional development, and play a significant role in their learning experience.

The Picnic Basket

The Picnic Basket has partnered with Galveston County Food Bank and the community of Galveston to provide free food for UTMB students in need.

The National Society of Leadership and Success (NSLS)

The NSLS is the largest leadership honor society in the United States. Our NSLS chapter at University of Texas Medical Branch was started in 2016. Our local chapter is part of the national organization with 700+ chapters and over 1.4 million members.

Research at UTMB

Since the beginning, UTMB has been at the forefront of medical research, with researchers studying the viruses common to a sub-tropical island climate. Today, our world-renowned investigators generate a portfolio exceeding $160 million, and work in state-of-the-art laboratories developing diagnostic tools, cures and vaccines to benefit the global community.

UTMB is home to the Galveston National Laboratory, a high containment research facility with BSL3 and BSL4 laboratories where emerging infectious diseases can be safely studied and medical countermeasures (diagnostics, vaccines and therapeutics) are developed in collaboration with national and international partners.

As members of the Gulf Coast Consortia, the Texas Medical Center and through our Clinical and Translational Science Award program, UTMB regularly collaborates with regional, national and international teams to advance health science. 

Education at UTMB

UTMB opened in 1891 as the nation’s first public medical school and hospital under unified leadership—already a pioneer. What began as one hospital and medical school building in Galveston is now a major academic health sciences center of global influence; a world-renowned research enterprise; and a growing, comprehensive health system.

#6 - McGovern Medical School at UT Houston 

What are the five most distinct opportunities/aspects of this program to highlight in your secondary essays and interviews?

Center for Humanities & Ethics

The McGovern Center helps students explore health care through the lenses of history, ethics, law, literature, religion and spirituality, social science, cultural studies, and the arts.

Center for Global Health

The Center for Global Health is committed to the advancement of clinical service, medical education, and research activities aimed at addressing health disparities within our local communities and globally. We support activities based on population needs that seek to promote well-being and improve health outcomes for vulnerable populations within Houston and beyond, using evidence-based interventions. We believe global health activities should be designed to address context-specific health needs identified in collaboration with partnering countries or organizations. These activities should further incorporate plans for sustainability and capacity building while considering relevant social/structural determinants of health. Our efforts in global health are grounded in the principles of social justice, health equity for all, and equitable partnerships that foster bidirectional learning.

Cardiovascular Electrophysiology Program

It is the vision of the ten Broeke Family Foundation Cardiovascular Electrophysiology Program at McGovern Medical School to create a dynamic training environment and educational program for aspiring Technical/Clinical Specialists in the fields of Cardiac Rhythm Management and Electrophysiology, and Structural Heart Disease. This one of a kind program in The University of Texas System will provide the breadth and depth of training that can be found only in the Texas Medical Center through our affiliation with Memorial Hermann’s Heart and Vascular Institute, and the Electrophysiologists at EP Heart.

Cardiovascular Perfusion Program

It is the vision of the Cardiovascular Perfusion Program at McGovern Medical School to create a unique training environment and educational program in the field of cardiovascular perfusion (the only one of its kind in The University of Texas System) that will provide the breadth and depth of training that can be found only in the Texas Medical Center through our affiliation with Memorial Hermann’s Center for Advanced Heart Failure. The mission of  the Cardiovascular Perfusion Program at McGovern Medical School is to provide the highest quality of education and training in cardiovascular perfusion through an accredited post-baccalaureate certificate program that meets the State of Texas licensing and national accrediting agency requirements.

Scholarly Concentration Program (SCP)

The UTHealth Scholarly Concentration Program is designed to enrich the student experience through learning and scholarly activities specific to an interdisciplinary health-related topic. The program goals for the Scholarly Concentrations are to:

  1. Complement and enhance the required curriculum
  2. Provide role models, mentorship, and guidance for students’ academic and personal development
  3. Increase interdisciplinary interactions
  4. Provide a longitudinal educational experience through structured and experiential learning activities
  5. Support student scholarship

#7 - Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine (University of Houston) 

What are the five most distinct opportunities/aspects of this program to highlight in your secondary essays and interviews?

Household-Centered Care Program

The Household-Centered Care (HCC) Program at the University of Houston works with families from two communities with the poorest health outcomes in Harris County – the East End and Third Ward. It consists of two parts:

  • Healthy Connections | Conexiónes Saludables
  • Interprofessional Teams

The combined efforts of Community Health Workers from Healthy Connections and interprofessional teams of nursing, medical and social work students and faculty, allow us to promote coordinated care to address community health and social service needs.

Engaged Health - Research & Data

Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine is strategically working to improve public health through community engagement, medical education and leveraging community assets. Each department will develop its own plans and initiatives for engaging the community to improve health and health care.

  • Humana Integrated Health System Sciences Institute
  • Health Systems & Population Health Sciences
  • Behavioral Health & Social Sciences
  • Biomedical Sciences
  • Clinical Sciences

UH Contact Tracer Program

Help your community fight the COVID-19 pandemic by learning a new skill that is in high demand. Contact tracers — known as “disease detectives” — are a powerful workforce that can help reduce the spread of infectious diseases such as COVID-19. To combat COVID-19 in Texas, we need thousands of contact tracers. The University of Houston has launched two contact tracing training programs.

Interprofessional Teams

In addition to Community Health Workers, we also have interprofessional teams of students with different expertise working together to care for participants of the Household-Centered Care program. They identify social risk factors and barriers for the community and work with the participants to find ways to overcome these challenges.

Humana Institute

Humana and the University of Houston have launched a strategic partnership to train future health care leaders with a focus on providing holistic, collaborative care to improve health outcomes. The Humana Integrated Health System Sciences Institute at the University of Houston (Humana Institute) fosters interprofessional team-based care in the colleges of medicine, nursing, optometry, pharmacy and social work. This collaboration will inspire health care professionals who are skilled in advancing population and community health and have a passion for working with the underserved.

#8 - Long School of Medicine, UT San Antonio 

What are the five most distinct opportunities/aspects of this program to highlight in your secondary essays and interviews?

MD with Distinction in Research

The distinction acknowledges medical students who demonstrate a dedicated commitment to enriching their medical education with independent research while maintaining high academic standards during medical school. Students are strongly encouraged to consider applying for the distinction as the distinction may support a competitive residence application. Please note decisions will be made in early Spring of your MS4 year by the Student Research Committee.

Distinction in Medical Education

The Distinction in Medical Education is an addition to the MD degree. The purpose of this Distinction is to help medical students prepare for a career in academic medicine or academic research. The program provides students with a general overview of various career paths in academia while encouraging academic research production.

MD with Distinction in Medical Humanities

The MD with Distinction in Medical Humanities & Ethics provides UT Health San Antonio medical students with the opportunity to spend part of their medical school career exploring the Center for Medical Humanities & Ethics' program offerings (CMHE).

MD/MPH Program

The MD/MPH dual degree is offered by UT Health San Antonio Long School of Medicine and UT Health Science Center at Houston School of Public Health in San Antonio. The MD/MPH is designed to prepare students to integrate medical and public health skills as practitioners and researchers. By combining MD training with an MPH education, students are better prepared to treat individuals and to address health issues in communities. The MD/MPH program is perfect for students interested in global health, community health, clinical research, infectious disease, health promotion, public policy or administration, environmental medicine, and preventative medicine.

Clinical Trials

Current studies being conducted:

  • Cancer
  • Cardiovascular
  • Diabetes & Kidney
  • Infectious Disease
  • Longevity & Aging
  • Neuroscience

#9 - Texas Tech School of Medicine 

What are the five most distinct opportunities/aspects of this program to highlight in your secondary essays and interviews?

Accelerated Family Medicine Program

The Family Medicine Accelerated Track (FMAT) is an innovative 3-year accelerated medical school curriculum that culminates into an MD degree and leads to a standard 3-year family medicine residency in Lubbock, Amarillo, or the Permian Basin. Our program is the first of its kind: this unique accelerated program condenses the traditional medical program to allow students a faster route to pursuing their independent interests and getting their valuable services into the field.

Medicine and Engineering

Together the integration of Medicine and Engineering can take healthcare farther.  We aim to fundamentally change how we see, learn, innovate, implement and carry out the practice of medicine and the healing of people.

MD/MBA

The Health Organization Management (HOM) joint degree program allows students to earn both MD and MBA degrees within the four years of medical school. Enrolled students complete 42 hours of coursework at Texas Tech University Rawls College of Business. Areas of study include accounting, management strategy, business decision-making skills and methods, business information systems, as well as other core skills in the business curriculum.

MD/PhD Program

If you are interested in a career in academic medicine as a physician scientist, this program may be ideal for you. It will provide the tools necessary for obtaining fulfilling physician scientist jobs, enabling you to become a medical practitioner and faculty member at a university medical center where you will be able to teach medical and graduate students. As a physician scientist, you will be involved with innovative biomedical research. After completion of the program, you will receive both the M.D. and Ph.D. degrees.

MD/MPH

The MD/MPH emphasizes the knowledge and skills of core public health disciplines and public health practice. A Master in Public Health can be earned by completing a minimum of 45 credit hours, including a practicum experience and a culminating experience. At this time, the MPH program offers a generalist MPH degree.

#10 - Paul L. Foster School of Medicine, Texas Tech

What are the five most distinct opportunities/aspects of this program to highlight in your secondary essays and interviews?

Diversity Statement

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso (TTUHSC El Paso) is a Hispanic-Serving Institution situated on the U.S.-Mexico border that is committed to diversity, inclusion, and health equity. Grounded in the compelling evidence that diversity of thought and perspective provides richer solutions to complex challenges, the Paul L. Foster School of Medicine strives to recruit, develop, and retain those best prepared to support its mission. With these intentions, and mindful of our setting, regional history, and status as a state-sponsored school in Texas, the Paul L. Foster School of Medicine particularly emphasizes and encourages diversity from the following categories:

  • Students who are from the U.S.-Mexico border region, who are economically disadvantaged, and those who identify as Hispanic or African American/Black.
  • Residents, faculty, and senior administrative staff who are from the U.S.-Mexico border region, or who identify as Hispanic or African American/Black.

Student-run clinic

The Paul L. Foster School of Medicine has students learn basic and clinical science through organ systems and learning in the context of clinical presentations. Students receive clinical exposure within the first semester and have an opportunity to volunteer at a student-run clinic, which provides primary care to all ages.

Enriched Cases Presentations

As compared to other medical education programs that stress months of studying microbiology and human anatomy, the curriculum is designed so that students will learn about symptoms such as ear infection, chest pain, shortness of breath, and stomach pain. They will need to identify the cause and the details of each cause and symptom. Through this process the relevant anatomy, microbiology, biochemistry, as well as the other traditional subjects will be integrated into the cases presentations of the 120 clinical scenarios.

MD/M.P.H Texas Tech University - El Paso (Foster)

The concurrent Doctor of Medicine/Master of Public Health (M.D./M.P.H.) is a collaborative program offered by the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso (TTUHSC El Paso) Paul L. Foster School of Medicine (PLFSOM) and The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Public Health (UTSPH). The M.D./M.P.H. program will prepare students to integrate medical and public health skills in their professional lives as practitioners, administrators, and researchers. The dual degree occurs concurrently with enrollment in the MD program and prepares students to address community, regional, and population-specific public health issues.

M.D. Program Anatomy Distinction

Students with a special interest in advanced instruction in anatomy may apply for the PLFSOM Distinction in Anatomy Program during the 2nd semester of their MS1 year. Students must demonstrate an ability to succeed in the core curriculum as a prerequisite to acceptance into the Distinction in Anatomy Program.

#11 - UT Health Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine

What are the five most distinct opportunities/aspects of this program to highlight in your secondary essays and interviews?

UTRGV MD/MS in Bioethics Program

The UTRGV School of Medicine along with the UTHealth Houston School of Public Health and the School of Biomedical Informatics are offering two dual degree programs.The program focuses on bioethics, social justice, and health equity allowing graduates to possess specific skills to create opportunities and manage resources effectively while remaining responsive to the diverse challenges within complex health care, social, political, and economic climates.

UTRGV MD/MPH

The UTRGV School of Medicine and UT Health School of Public Health join forces to provide MD students this unique academic experience. Dual enrollment in these institutions allows medical students the opportunity to complete courses in public health and partake in research throughout their four years of medical school. Upon graduation students will receive their MD degree and a Master of Public Health, having experience in both the clinical and public health research fields.

Scholarly Activities in the Curriculum

A medical education program is conducted in an environment that fosters the intellectual challenge and spirit of inquiry appropriate to a community of scholars and provides opportunities, encouragement, and support for medical student participation in the research and other scholarly activities of its faculty.

PreClerkship Curriculum

The foundational 21-month first and second-year pre-clerkship curriculum allows students to spend the majority of their time developing critical thinking and clinical reasoning skills. Through problem-based and self-directed learning students learn to apply their knowledge to clinical case experiences. This will be accomplished through: Problem-based learning, Self-directed learning, Team-based learning, Interactive learning

Interprofessional Education (IPE)

Interprofessional Education, also known as IPE, is when different health professions share their expertise in a collaborative learning environment as members of integrated health care teams to maximize health outcomes for patients. Interprofessional Education helps prepare medical students and health professions students to provide excellent patient care in a collaborative team environment. Interprofessional Education plays an essential role in the development of effective and efficient functioning health care teams that are needed to deliver high-quality care in an increasingly complex health care world.

#12 - TCU School of Medicine, Ft. Worth

What are the five most distinct opportunities/aspects of this program to highlight in your secondary essays and interviews?

Empathetic Scholars

Our graduates will be compassionate, empathetic, and prepared to discover the latest knowledge in medical care with the tools to ask and answer the medical questions of the future. Along with the ability to “walk in a patient’s shoes,” these physicians will excel in the science of medicine. Outstanding communicators and active listeners, Empathetic Scholars are lifelong learners and highly valued as physicians, colleagues, leaders, and citizens in their community.

Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship

The School of Medicine offers a one-of-a-kind educational experience, tailored to students’ learning preferences with the patient as the priority. Not everything a student needs to know can be taught in several weeks or even a semester. Years of intentional focus can establish competency and effective tools to explore the depth and understanding of life-long learning, the complexities of the modern health care system, and effective communication and patient care skills.

Scholarly Pursuit and Thesis (SPT)

The Scholarly Pursuit and Thesis (SPT) course is integrated longitudinally throughout the School of Medicine four-year curriculum. It is designed to develop physicians who are life-long learners capable of critical inquiry and medical information literacy to produce physicians for patient-centric care. Students will rediscover curiosity and skills needed to understand and use evidence-based approaches for basic and clinical research. The students will work closely with mentors they choose, course directors, and faculty to utilize these skills to develop a scholarly research prospectus. By the end of the SPT course, students will each write a capstone thesis and present their projects to the community at a research symposium showcasing their findings and innovative ideas for the future of medical research and patient care.

Physician Development Coaching Initiative

The School of Medicine has developed a Physician Development Coaching program that will pair each student with a coach and additional student team members. This cohort of coaches paired with students will serve as an integrated home within the school of medicine for students. This innovative and unique student experience is designed to foster a coaching relationship that will contribute toward student professional identity formation while providing an additional layer of support toward the student’s academic success. Our coaches will assist in the development of resiliency, collaboration, communication and continuous improvement for personal and professional development within our student body.

Simulation and Technology

Simulation provides an environment for students to apply their knowledge and experience; safely build confidence in clinical and technical skills; and make decisions without actual risk to patients. Collaborating with faculty, staff, departments, and the community allows us to construct simulated scenarios that compliment and support the curriculum. Information retention rate is higher when simulation is incorporated. (If I hear and see I may forget. If I do and explain then I understand.)

#13 - Sam Houston State University College of Osteopathic Medicine 

What are the five most distinct opportunities/aspects of this program to highlight in your secondary essays and interviews?

Academics - College of Osteopathic Medicine - Sam Houston State University

The DO program follows a vertically and horizontally integrated, biomedical sciences and clinical, systems-based curriculum. The program will utilize multiple teaching modalities like lecture, small group, case-based learning, clinical practice, simulation, and active learning to promote deep and complete mastery of the concepts. Research, ethics, statistics, and osteopathic principles and practices will be embedded within all realms of clinical and pre-clinical education. Students will complete this program as lifelong learners prepared with the knowledge and tools they need to be successful in residency.

Research - College of Osteopathic Medicine - Sam Houston State University

Consistent with this principle, SHSU-COM delivers a curriculum incorporating instruction of the scientific method to promote critical thinking, scholarly approach to practice, and life-long learning. SHSU-COM supports student-mentored research through mentoring and funding for scholarship development and dissemination of findings at professional meetings.

Clinical Education - Clinical Affairs - College of Osteopathic Medicine - Sam Houston State University

The Office of Clinical Education works collaboratively with SHSU-COM clinical partners to train medical students to provide holistic rural and underserved patient care. Students will demonstrate a strong foundation of osteopathic principles and practice, medical knowledge, patient care, professionalism, interpersonal and communication skills, learning and working in teams, health partnerships, practice-based learning and improvement, systems-based practice and scholarly inquiry. In addition, the Office of Clinical Education actively identifies, recruits and retains affiliated clinical faculty from SHSU-COM clinical partner hospitals and clinics for undergraduate medical education in years one through four.

Osteopathic Principles & Practice - Clinical Affairs - College of Osteopathic Medicine - Sam Houston State University

The mission of the SHSU-COM Department of Osteopathic Principles and Practices is to foster and support the use and integration of osteopathic philosophy and hands-on techniques for the delivery of quality, patient-centered medical care.

Graduate Medical Education and DIO - Clinical Affairs - College of Osteopathic Medicine - Sam Houston State University

 

Sam Houston State University College of Osteopathic Medicine (SHSU-COM) is committed to training future physicians for practice in areas of physician workforce shortage. To this end, in addition to having student rotations into these regions, SHSU is working with affiliated hospital and clinic partners to create Graduate Medical Education (GME) programs (residencies) that will train students in various specialties throughout the region. These residency programs will not only provide for the training of future physicians, but also create an educational focus attractive to physicians currently practicing at the facilities and help with recruitment efforts.

#14 - Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine | HSC Fort Worth 

What are the five most distinct opportunities/aspects of this program to highlight in your secondary essays and interviews?

Advisory College Program

The Advisory College Program is a mentoring network designed to promote greater interaction between faculty and students at TCOM. Each college serves as a learning community where faculty advisors facilitate curricular and co-curricular activities to develop skills which will aid medical students as future physicians.

Registered Student Organizations

All students are encouraged to enrich the HSC community and their own personal development by getting involved on-campus. One method of involvement is joining a registered student organization. There are many organizations on the HSC campus that represent a variety of interests within the health professions community. These groups are organized into Student Government Associations, Student Classes, and Student Organizations.

Institute for Health Disparities

Institute for Health Disparities (IHD) was founded at UNTHSC to advance career paths in biomedical sciences and health professions that reflect the diverse constituency we serve. The rapid growth and accumulation of specialized knowledge in today’s biomedical fields, combined with entrenched and emerging health issues that persist among certain groups within the US population, emphasizes the significant need to diversify the nation’s biomedical science workforce. The under-representation of minorities in science results in inadequate scientific input from divergent social or cultural perspectives and detracts from our nation’s ability to resolve health disparities.

Center for Human Identification

 

What We Do

  • Perform forensic genetic and anthropological examinations for criminal casework and missing persons identification
  • Manage local CODIS Operations
  • Manage the Texas Missing Persons DNA Database
  • Train students and professionals in various aspects of forensic genetics
  • Improve forensic identification capabilities through innovative research
  • Serve the State of Texas on various initiatives

ROME Program

As a top ranked U.S. Medical School in Rural Medicine, the Rural Osteopathic Medical Education of Texas (ROME) at the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine offers innovative programs in medical education to prepare participants for life and practice in rural environments. 

#15 - University of the Incarnate Word School of Osteopathic Medicine 

What are the five most distinct opportunities/aspects of this program to highlight in your secondary essays and interviews?

Innovative Curriculum

 

Your transformation from a student of medicine to a fully-reflective Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine begins with a better curriculum. The University of the Incarnate Word School of Osteopathic Medicine (UIWSOM) Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO) Program curriculum:

 

  • stresses independent study and self-directed learning
  • teaches and integrates biomedical sciences as they would be applied in clinical settings
  • provides early exposure to experiential learning and patient contact
  • fosters professional identity formation
  • emphasizes the interpersonal skills required of successful care teams
  • awakens in you a sense of social accountability and cultural awareness

 

Mentality Initiative to Nurture Doctors (MIND)

 

MIND is a student-developed and student-driven organization dedicated to advocating for mental, emotional, and physical health promotion of medical students at UIWSOM. Read posts from our students and faculty about school, life, mind, body and spirit

 

Student Organizations

 

Countless organizations dedicated to academic interest groups, cultures, identities, and service.

 

Service Opportunities

 

Don’t worry about trying to find an opportunity for service. It’s built into your curriculum through community engagement and clinical experience that begin the first week and continue through all four years. Some of the community organizations you will work with include:

  • Southside Independent School District
  • San Antonio Housing Authority
  • Department of Health and Human Services
  • Texas Immunization Partnership
  • Head Start

 

Office of Research and Innovation

 

The Office of Research and Innovation's mission is to train outstanding and professional scholars with an osteopathic focus on patient and justice-based research and scholarly activity. Through clinical and laboratory opportunities, our learners obtain the professional skills and experiences that will prepare them for intra- and inter-disciplinary research and scholarly activity.