2016-2017 Texas A&M Health Science Center Application Thread

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Space reserved for prompt.

Please post the essays or lack thereof (in addition to word or character counts) in this thread and tag me and/or @Ismet and we'll update the OP.

Good luck to everyone applying! :pigeon:

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Credit goes to osteo141 for this:
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://medicine.tamhsc.edu/admissions/apply/index.html
Secondary app deadline: October 1, 2016

Pictures of TAMHSC B/CS & Round Rock campuses/facilities, and student life: https://www.flickr.com/photos/tamhsc/sets/

(2015) Admissions Statistics of Acceptances:
(will update w/ 2015 entering class matriculants when they are posted, these are preliminary numbers including all acceptances)
- http://www.taahp.net/TAAHP 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://medicine.tamhsc.edu/admissions/apply/index.html
https://www.tmdsas.com/medical/education_Requirements.html
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:
1621602_orig.jpg


Year II (Pre-Clinical):
5888181_orig.jpg


Rotation Cities/Hospital Affiliations:

http://medicine.tamhsc.edu/campuses/index.html

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:

~35 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)

~25 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 at two different points during M1 year - several have switched already - however you are still able to spend a large portion of clinical years in other cities besides your main 'assigned' city if you choose.


M.D. Plus Program:

http://medicine.tamhsc.edu/mdplus/programs-study.html

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.

MedCamp Video:


Step 1/Match Lists:

2014 USMLE Step 1 average: 228/99% 1st time pass rate

Free USMLE prep course provided throughout M1 & MS2 years. A&M also provides USMLE Kaplan question bank. We are given 7-8 weeks time off for USMLE Step 1 studying.

You will get a detailed match list, including hospital name, on interview day.

2016 Match Results:
Text: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...lication-thread.1133943/page-18#post-17571348
Download: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...lication-thread.1133943/page-18#post-17564136

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 (during christmas break, spring break, summer, and a few throughout school) available through Global Health Outreach and Christian Medical Association (2015-2016 trips to Peru, Panama, Nicaragua, Houston, 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://schools.studentdoctor.net/school/tamushsc-com/survey/26#survey-result
(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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Does anybody know if the 3500 characters limit for the secondary essay is with or without spaces? It doesn't specify.
 
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Spaces are usually always counted. Easiest way to test - cut and paste something to see whether it exceeds 3500.
 
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Spaces are usually always counted. Easiest way to test - cut and paste something to see whether it exceeds 3500.

I'll play it safe and count spaces. I did cut and paste over 5k characters and it let me lol. Thanks for the advice though!
 
I don't remember. I think


I just tried it, it saved 5k character in the 3500 section.

I believe it may save, though if they download your application, it might only show the first 3500 characters. I would try to stick with the recommended limit just in case, so your essays don't get cut short when they download your application!
 
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I believe it may save, though if they download your application, it might only show the first 3500 characters. I would try to stick with the recommended limit just in case, so your essays don't get cut short when they download your application!

Yeah, I'm just being extra neurotic since this is one of my top choices. 3500x2 w/o spaces would be way too long! Thanks!
 
Could someone please post the essay prompts for this year? Thank you!
 
Could someone please post the essay prompts for this year? Thank you!
You can simply make an account for their secondary app and look at it.

Essay 1: Describe briefly any experiences and/or skills that have made you more sensitive or appreciative of other cultures or the human condition. (3500 character maximum).

Essay 2: The honor code for the Texas A&M College of Medicine is: “A Texas A&M medical student is a professional who exhibits leadership, honesty, integrity, compassion, respect and self-discipline.” Please briefly discuss what activities or personal attributes demonstrate best that you would be a good custodian of our honor code (3500 character maximum).

Essay 3: Describe any circumstances indicative of some hardship, such as, but not limited to, financial difficulties, personal or family illness, a medical condition, a death in the immediate family or educational disadvantage. (Do not leave blank. If not applicable, please so indicate. The character limit on this essay is 3500).

Essay 4: OPTIONAL QUESTION: List the area (or areas) of medicine that appeals to you and briefly explain. (Limit your explanation to 50 words or 250 characters for each area of interest you list.) Do not leave blank. If not applicable, please so indicate.
 
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For essay #3, is anyone just putting down "not applicable"? I haven't really had any big hardships throughout my life that I can think of putting here. Anything I think of would be kind of stretching it.
 
For essay #3, is anyone just putting down "not applicable"? I haven't really had any big hardships throughout my life that I can think of putting here. Anything I think of would be kind of stretching it.
I interpreted question 8 ("Check here if you want to be considered disadvantaged and explain in question #22.") to mean that if we did not check the box, we could simply put "not applicable" for question 22.
 
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For essay #3, is anyone just putting down "not applicable"? I haven't really had any big hardships throughout my life that I can think of putting here. Anything I think of would be kind of stretching it.

That sounds like the right thing to do. If nothing meaningful comes to mind, I wouldn't risk sounding too melo-dramatic about first-world problems.
 
That sounds like the right thing to do. If nothing meaningful comes to mind, I wouldn't risk sounding too melo-dramatic about first-world problems.

The way I went about this one is really state that you have been fortunate enough not to have any problems, but than write about a certain experience that you overcame. That way you are writing something, talking about how you overcome challenges, and you admit that you aren't just answering the prompt (by saying you are fortunate enough to have no serious hardships).
 
The way I went about this one is really state that you have been fortunate enough not to have any problems, but than write about a certain experience that you overcame. That way you are writing something, talking about how you overcome challenges, and you admit that you aren't just answering the prompt (by saying you are fortunate enough to have no serious hardships).

Yeah, this would work because it must have been meaningful to you. If someone were to try to make a small problem into a big problem, I think the adcom would read right through it. My only problem with this is that you shouldn't talk about anything beyond the prompt, because it might make you look incoherent about following instructions. Maybe I'm a bit neurotic about it.
 
Hey guys, Im a graduating student from TAMHSC if any one has any questions lemme know!
 
The way I went about this one is really state that you have been fortunate enough not to have any problems, but than write about a certain experience that you overcame. That way you are writing something, talking about how you overcome challenges, and you admit that you aren't just answering the prompt (by saying you are fortunate enough to have no serious hardships).

I actually did pretty much the same thing but in my optional essay for tmdsas :/
 
I actually did pretty much the same thing but in my optional essay for tmdsas :/
Oh I understand. Yeah, I had some unusual circumstances I talked about in TMDSAS, which left the door open for me. I am sure it is not an issue to simply say you are fortunate enough to not have anything at all (worded differently of course)
 
In the Honor Code essay, would it be reasonable if only one of the several values is highlighted in my essay? I find it difficult to provide an experience that encompasses all these values/to provide several examples that would illustrate each.
I would try to show them at least 3 or so. Maybe choose an experience that did have those values?
 
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For the Honor code essay, did y'all write about all the attributes as a whole or was it like one paragraph- one attribute?
 
Does anyone else have an "Under Review" for their status? I still haven't gotten my LOE submitted, but I did turn in my secondary.
 
So my PS and unique circumstances in the primary app address my hardships pretty well. Should I still do the 3rd essay? Or should I just summarize everything I said in my PS and unique circumstances essay?
 
Does anyone else have an "Under Review" for their status? I still haven't gotten my LOE submitted, but I did turn in my secondary.
I have under review status. My LOE were submitted today, but it's been saying under review for a long time now
 
My stats course is under the Psych department at my school, but that specific class at my school classifies under BCPM as it always has.

Idk if this meets A&M's requirements. Who should I contact about this? :/
 
My stats course is under the Psych department at my school, but that specific class at my school classifies under BCPM as it always has.

Idk if this meets A&M's requirements. Who should I contact about this? :/
Shoot an email to TMDSAS. I think they do all the classification of subject areas. I'm not sure how responsive A&M would be but doesn't hurt to call or email and ask.
 
Is the site with the secondary down? I can't access it.
 
Are all of you guys answering number 4? "Essay 4: OPTIONAL QUESTION: List the area (or areas) of medicine that appeals to you and briefly explain. (Limit your explanation to 50 words or 250 characters for each area of interest you list.) Do not leave blank. If not applicable, please so indicate."


I'm not really sure what field of medicine I would like to go into, would it look bad if I left this blank?
 
Answer every essay you get. it gives you a chance to show more of your self in the application which ultimately helps.
 
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Are all of you guys answering number 4? "Essay 4: OPTIONAL QUESTION: List the area (or areas) of medicine that appeals to you and briefly explain. (Limit your explanation to 50 words or 250 characters for each area of interest you list.) Do not leave blank. If not applicable, please so indicate."


I'm not really sure what field of medicine I would like to go into, would it look bad if I left this blank?

I'm in kind of the same boat, so what I did was list a couple of areas that I think are interesting based on shadowing, but then I said that although those areas sound interesting to me, I'm by no means set on one thing and am very open to which field I end up actually practicing in.
 
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So I answered Essay # 3 "Describe any circumstances indicative of some hardship, such as, but not limited to, financial difficulties, personal or family illness, a medical condition, a death in the immediate family or educational disadvantage. (Do not leave blank. If not applicable, please so indicate. The character limit on this essay is 3500)."

But then question 8 says "Check here if you want to be considered disadvantaged and explain in question #22.". I was wondering if we have to check this box if we answered that question. My answering of the question dealt with a close family member passing by and how that affected me, but I'm not sure that I would consider myself disadvantaged because of that. It didn't have a large negative impact in my grades or anything like that.
 
I think you should submit your essay without checking the box. A circumstance of some hardship does not necessarily mean that you are disadvantaged.
 
So I answered Essay # 3 "Describe any circumstances indicative of some hardship, such as, but not limited to, financial difficulties, personal or family illness, a medical condition, a death in the immediate family or educational disadvantage. (Do not leave blank. If not applicable, please so indicate. The character limit on this essay is 3500)."

But then question 8 says "Check here if you want to be considered disadvantaged and explain in question #22.". I was wondering if we have to check this box if we answered that question. My answering of the question dealt with a close family member passing by and how that affected me, but I'm not sure that I would consider myself disadvantaged because of that. It didn't have a large negative impact in my grades or anything like that.

For essay 3, if the close family member was immediate family, I would go for it. Even if not, you may want to mention that you understand that they were not an immediate family member, but that it was still a hardship of some sort.

A death of a family member does NOT make you disadvantaged though. The meaning of that is having some financial hardship rather. Or living in a disadvantaged area where you may not receive proper schooling (which usually also means you have a financial disadvantage). If you did not consider yourself disadvantaged on TMDSAS, do not do it here either.
 
Still stuck on this honor code essay :( did y'all mention all 6 of the attributes they list in their honor code?
 
Still stuck on this honor code essay :( did y'all mention all 6 of the attributes they list in their honor code?
I think I mentioned most of them at least indirectly, but not all
 
Still stuck on this honor code essay :( did y'all mention all 6 of the attributes they list in their honor code?
My approach to the honor code essay was to tell them what I've accomplished instead of assessing the moral implications and philosophical dilemmas in describing the attributes of the code. Just do your best!
 
I already talked semi-extensively about a hardship I had in the optional TMDSAS essay. Should I just rewrite it for the A&M hardship essay?
 
I already talked semi-extensively about a hardship I had in the optional TMDSAS essay. Should I just rewrite it for the A&M hardship essay?
I would talk about a different one. Try not repeat anything sent to the school.
 
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My status changed on the secondary site to "under review"

Your application is: Under Review

Your status will remain Under Review until you are either invited for an interview or your application is released (end of January). The Office of Admissions does not provide applicants any further information concerning your application when you have the Under Review status. If you are UNDER REVIEW, then the Office of Admissions has received all of your application materials.
 
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My status changed on the secondary site to "under review"

Your application is: Under Review

Your status will remain Under Review until you are either invited for an interview or your application is released (end of January). The Office of Admissions does not provide applicants any further information concerning your application when you have the Under Review status. If you are UNDER REVIEW, then the Office of Admissions has received all of your application materials.

When did ya submit your primary and secondary?
 
Transmitted 5/25. App completed yesterday (mcat). Secondary done 6/11.

Oh sweet, thanks! I wonder when mine will go under review. I got transmitted 6/14, MCAT 6/15, secondary done 6/16.
 
II today! TMDSAS submitted 5/7, Secondary submitted 5/9. Texas LizzyM ~ 72, OOS student. I'm so excited such a nice surprise this morning!
 
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II today! TMDSAS submitted 5/7, Secondary submitted 5/9. Texas LizzyM ~ 72, OOS student. I'm so excited such a nice surprise this morning!
That's amazing! I hope you rock it! What date did they give you, if you don't mind disclosing?
 
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