2019-2020 Baylor

[beowulf007]

Just got the call! Accepted!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Penguin_MD]

Just got the call! Accepted!

When did you interview?? congratulations!!!

 

[beowulf007]

When did you interview?? congratulations!!!

13JAN

 

[Penguin_MD]

Anyone else interview in August and sitting in silence? My heart is breaking

 

[axr4862]

Don't worry I'm there with you. Seriously anxious about this waiting game.
How many wrote a letter of intent and got admitted? Does it really help?
Baylor--my dream school

 

[Wooglin]

Anyone else interview in August and sitting in silence? My heart is breaking

Interviewed 9/16 and still waiting. 5 months waiting. GPA 4.00 MCAT 516. Prematched to 5 schools. None made me wait longer than 4 weeks after interviewing.

 

[Silac]

Interviewed 9/16 and still waiting. 5 months waiting. GPA 4.00 MCAT 516. Prematched to 5 schools. None made me wait longer than 4 weeks after interviewing.

The waiting game is agonizing but you know you’re going to medical school so it’s not all that bad.

 

[wysdoc]

Interviewed 9/16 and still waiting. 5 months waiting. GPA 4.00 MCAT 516. Prematched to 5 schools. None made me wait longer than 4 weeks after interviewing.

Baylor tends to release some decisions about once a month. They are predictable and systematic.

 

[Wooglin]

The waiting game is agonizing but you know you’re going to medical school so it’s not all that bad.

Congratulations on your 6 acceptances. Obviously very qualified. Maybe we will be classmates somewhere.

 

[mysslyss]

Accepted!! Got the call at around 6pm EST. Interviewed mid August, so glad the wait is finally over

 

[glitterysuccs]

Accepted!! Got the call at around 6pm EST. Interviewed mid August, so glad the wait is finally over

Congratulations!!!

 

[rmag17]

A!! Got the call today! Interviewed 12/6

 

[deleted993768]

Accepted to MSTP earlier today! Interviewed around 1/9

 

[beethoven123]

Anyone who interviewed here in November received an acceptance yet?

 

[cheese puff]

I have a question about research at Baylor for any students willing to chime in! When do students usually do research/get their pubs in? Is it common/feasible for students to do research throughout the year? I noticed MS1 summer is really short and there’s not really a dedicated/protected time for doing research like at some other schools. How do people find time for it??

 

[Reformedforchrist]

Has anyone who interviewed in Jan received any news ?

 

[deleted993768]

I have a question about research at Baylor for any students willing to chime in! When do students usually do research/get their pubs in? Is it common/feasible for students to do research throughout the year? I noticed MS1 summer is really short and there’s not really a dedicated/protected time for doing research like at some other schools. How do people find time for it??

when I was there Interviewing for MSTP, they said they don’t even let us start research until after we finish the 18 month preclinical curriculum. Idk if it’s different for MD students, but I’d assume they might follow a similar trend.

 

[cheese puff]

when I was there Interviewing for MSTP, they said they don’t even let us start research until after we finish the 18 month preclinical curriculum. Idk if it’s different for MD students, but I’d assume they might follow a similar trend.

Really? I feel like it would be way way harder to do research during clerkships than during preclinicals? That might be an MSTP thing

 

[Kracin]

I have a question about research at Baylor for any students willing to chime in! When do students usually do research/get their pubs in? Is it common/feasible for students to do research throughout the year? I noticed MS1 summer is really short and there’s not really a dedicated/protected time for doing research like at some other schools. How do people find time for it??

I particularly like research. I have 2 pubs since i started doing research in september with 2 more on their way by the end of the year. Preclinical provides tons of time each day to get research in. Lots of people do research during MS1/2 because its pretty chill (my guess is like 50-75%). No one forces you, but opportunities are endless in the Texas Medical Center. Also clinical research can be easier / less time commitment than what premeds might expect.

Unsure about MSTP side of things.

 

[cheese puff]

I particularly like research. I have 2 pubs since i started doing research in september with 2 more on their way by the end of the year. Preclinical provides tons of time each day to get research in. Lots of people do research during MS1/2 because its pretty chill (my guess is like 50-75%). No one forces you, but opportunities are endless in the Texas Medical Center. Also clinical research can be easier / less time commitment than what premeds might expect.

Unsure about MSTP side of things.

That’s awesome, congrats! Is your success with pubs pretty common/achievable or is it rare? Do you have any tips for being productive with research at Baylor? Also random but what does a typical class schedule look like in MS1/2? Sorry for all the questions haha

 

[Kracin]

That’s awesome, congrats! Is your success with pubs pretty common/achievable or is it rare? Do you have any tips for being productive with research at Baylor? Also random but what does a typical class schedule look like in MS1/2? Sorry for all the questions haha

I feel like mine is more successful than most, though not particularly rare. The key is picking a research PI who publishes a lot, and can hand you projects that you know won't kill your time. Doing a retrospective study / review article will take less effort than many prospective studies. There are a lot of videos out there discussing how to find success in research as a med student. Baylor has easy access to researchers at Baylor, MD Anderson, McGovern, Methodist. Fundamentally the same concept as doing research anywhere, just many many options to choose from ranging between general medicine projects down to niche subspecialty work.

Also typically we have 3 mandatory things each week: a team-based learning session, anatomy lab, and our "doctoring" course. So a normal week for me will be stream lectures and do anki (30ish hrs a week), go to the mandatory classes (10ish hrs a week), and then have usually 10-20 hrs available for research each week. This is for myself specifically, and med students will vary a lot. Like if you do the bare minimum you could get by with like 20 hrs of studying + 10 hrs mandatory stuff each week. A long-winded reply but I hope you find it insightful

 

[cheese puff]

I feel like mine is more successful than most, though not particularly rare. The key is picking a research PI who publishes a lot, and can hand you projects that you know won't kill your time. Doing a retrospective study / review article will take less effort than many prospective studies. There are a lot of videos out there discussing how to find success in research as a med student. Baylor has easy access to researchers at Baylor, MD Anderson, McGovern, Methodist. Fundamentally the same concept as doing research anywhere, just many many options to choose from ranging between general medicine projects down to niche subspecialty work.

Also typically we have 3 mandatory things each week: a team-based learning session, anatomy lab, and our "doctoring" course. So a normal week for me will be stream lectures and do anki (30ish hrs a week), go to the mandatory classes (10ish hrs a week), and then have usually 10-20 hrs available for research each week. This is for myself specifically, and med students will vary a lot. Like if you do the bare minimum you could get by with like 20 hrs of studying + 10 hrs mandatory stuff each week. A long-winded reply but I hope you find it insightful

This is super helpful thank you

 

[axr4862]

Did anyone else here from Baylor about acceptances? I thought that someone mentioned today would be the next round of A’s. This waiting game is killing me!

 

[wysdoc]

Did anyone else here from Baylor about acceptances? I thought that someone mentioned today would be the next round of A’s. This waiting game is killing me!

I've noticed that they release acceptances once a month. There were some in mid February, so I think March will be the next time.

 

[axr4862]

I've noticed that they release acceptances once a month. There were some in mid February, so I think March will be the next time.

Seemed like their were so few for Feb.

 

[wysdoc]

Seemed like their were so few for Feb.

remember the SDN members are a fraction of Baylor applicants, and even SDN members are sometimes private about their news!

 

[chicken adobo]

Hi, I have some questions about grades during clinicals! It would be super helpful if any current students have input! What’s the clinical grading system like? For example, are shelves or evaluations weighted more heavily? Are there certain cut offs for what % of students can get honors, high pass, etc? Do students feel like the grading is fair or does it feel arbitrary?

 

[fightthatebola]

Clinical grades are very subjective, and unfortunately Baylor is also one of them.

Grading scale is ~30% Honors, ~40% High Pass, ~30% Pass. Pediatrics (Texas Children's Hospital egos) tend to be the hardest to honor.

Evaluations generally make up ~40-50% of your grades. Shelf exams about 25-30%. We have a clinical skills standardized patient exam lasting about 30 minutes that make up 10-15% of your grades.

Attendings, residents, and sometimes interns evaluate you on a scale of 1-9 (9 means superb, 7 means good, 5 means meet expectations). There is a lot of luck involved with the "nicest grading" residents and interns and attendings. Which translates into the subjectivity of your clinical grades and selection for AOA. An 8/9 becomes an 88% and a 5/9 (meeting expectations) becomes a 55%, which is actually highly unfortunate. Working hard does NOT always mean better evaluations relative to your peers. And they're worth twice as much as the shelf exam you study for your entire rotation.

BCM is trying to address this grading issue, especially grade inflation with some attendings, but not much has been done about the subjectivity

Besides grades, the clinical training is amazing. Wide diversity of patients to see.

 

[chicken adobo]

Clinical grades are very subjective, and unfortunately Baylor is also one of them.

Grading scale is ~30% Honors, ~40% High Pass, ~30% Pass. Pediatrics (Texas Children's Hospital egos) tend to be the hardest to honor.

Evaluations generally make up ~40-50% of your grades. Shelf exams about 25-30%. We have a clinical skills standardized patient exam lasting about 30 minutes that make up 10-15% of your grades.

Attendings, residents, and sometimes interns evaluate you on a scale of 1-9 (9 means superb, 7 means good, 5 means meet expectations). There is a lot of luck involved with the "nicest grading" residents and interns and attendings. Which translates into the subjectivity of your clinical grades and selection for AOA. An 8/9 becomes an 88% and a 5/9 (meeting expectations) becomes a 55%, which is actually highly unfortunate. Working hard does NOT always mean better evaluations relative to your peers. And they're worth twice as much as the shelf exam you study for your entire rotation.

BCM is trying to address this grading issue, especially grade inflation with some attendings, but not much has been done about the subjectivity

Besides grades, the clinical training is amazing. Wide diversity of patients to see.

Thanks for such a detailed & candid response!!

 

[The English American]

Are we expecting another acceptance wave next week? :O

 

[Dc522749]

Is it worth writing an LOI here? I know Baylor doesn't typically waitlist people (which is when one would typically send an LOI), and I'm not really sure how much of a difference it makes either.

 

[zeerabiscuit]

Clinical grades are very subjective, and unfortunately Baylor is also one of them.

Grading scale is ~30% Honors, ~40% High Pass, ~30% Pass. Pediatrics (Texas Children's Hospital egos) tend to be the hardest to honor.

Evaluations generally make up ~40-50% of your grades. Shelf exams about 25-30%. We have a clinical skills standardized patient exam lasting about 30 minutes that make up 10-15% of your grades.

Attendings, residents, and sometimes interns evaluate you on a scale of 1-9 (9 means superb, 7 means good, 5 means meet expectations). There is a lot of luck involved with the "nicest grading" residents and interns and attendings. Which translates into the subjectivity of your clinical grades and selection for AOA. An 8/9 becomes an 88% and a 5/9 (meeting expectations) becomes a 55%, which is actually highly unfortunate. Working hard does NOT always mean better evaluations relative to your peers. And they're worth twice as much as the shelf exam you study for your entire rotation.

BCM is trying to address this grading issue, especially grade inflation with some attendings, but not much has been done about the subjectivity

Besides grades, the clinical training is amazing. Wide diversity of patients to see.

Do you think clinical grades will matter even more now that Step 1 is P/F? Aka the grading will cause even more stress than it sounds like it does now

 

[axr4862]

That's what I think will happen and won't the stress be shifted to Step 2?

 

[fightthatebola]

Agree with both posts. Unfortunately there will be a heavier emphasis on these subjective clinical grades, AOA ranking (mostly based on clinical grades at BCM), and Step 2 CK. Baylor recently cut back on several core rotations (12 weeks to 8 weeks for internal medicine, 8 weeks to 6 weeks for OB/GYN, Peds, Psych) which will slightly lower the clinical exposure, I wonder what the deans are thinking about that decision now that Step 1 is P/F. Students will definitely be trying even harder to find those easy grading attendings and residents for their evals.

As far as clinical grades being pass/fail, that's only at Harvard, Vanderbilt, and UCSF off the top of my head.

 

[brickram]

When are we expecting more acceptances to go out?

 

[glitterysuccs]

When are we expecting more acceptances to go out?

They seem to be going out in the second or third week of each month...so if they stay consistent, the next round should be somewhere that time in March

 

[brickram]

They seem to be going out in the second or third week of each month...so if they stay consistent, the next round should be somewhere that time in March

But didn't they say they would start sending out more acceptances in March/April? Does that mean more frequently or a larger volume all at once?

 

[The English American]

Judging from the thread from last year, a wave came out on the last day of February (2/28) and the first of March. Those were Thursday and Friday, respectively. Is it reasonable to expect some notifications this week...?

 

[Wooglin]

Judging from the thread from last year, a wave came out on the last day of February (2/28) and the first of March. Those were Thursday and Friday, respectively. Is it reasonable to expect some notifications this

 

[mass-premed66]

Sadly withdrew here today....GL to all!

 

[creamyJ]

Clinical grades are very subjective, and unfortunately Baylor is also one of them.

Grading scale is ~30% Honors, ~40% High Pass, ~30% Pass. Pediatrics (Texas Children's Hospital egos) tend to be the hardest to honor.

Evaluations generally make up ~40-50% of your grades. Shelf exams about 25-30%. We have a clinical skills standardized patient exam lasting about 30 minutes that make up 10-15% of your grades.

Attendings, residents, and sometimes interns evaluate you on a scale of 1-9 (9 means superb, 7 means good, 5 means meet expectations). There is a lot of luck involved with the "nicest grading" residents and interns and attendings. Which translates into the subjectivity of your clinical grades and selection for AOA. An 8/9 becomes an 88% and a 5/9 (meeting expectations) becomes a 55%, which is actually highly unfortunate. Working hard does NOT always mean better evaluations relative to your peers. And they're worth twice as much as the shelf exam you study for your entire rotation.

BCM is trying to address this grading issue, especially grade inflation with some attendings, but not much has been done about the subjectivity

Besides grades, the clinical training is amazing. Wide diversity of patients to see.

Agree with this. Only thing I'll add is that everyone at some point will get unlucky with a hard-ass attending who gives no higher than 5's and at some point you'll get one who gives straight 9's. It's not a perfect system, but it ~generally~ comes out as a wash and you'll have other evals that will be closer to your true performance. Plus, residents also fill out evals and are more often than not pretty forgiving.

There's also an 'early clinical learner' thing where your clinical grades are slightly padded for the first 6 months. The idea is that for the first 6 months of clinics, you're still learning how to be a useful clinical student, so they help you out a lil bit. Makes the transition into clinics a little less terrifying, at least in terms of grades.

 

[MoBio29]

Just got the call! So happy, it’s been my dream school for the longest time.

 

[diasterdream]

Accepted! Dream school. Love Houston.

 

[brownPiano]

Just got the call! So happy, it’s been my dream school for the longest time.

Congrats!!

 

[Reformedforchrist]

Just got the call! So happy, it’s been my dream school for the longest time.

Congrats!!!!when did you interview????

 

[MoBio29]

Congrats!!!!when did you interview????

Thank you! February 7th!

 

[rose403]

Interviewed 2/7 and got the call!! Been my dream school since forever

 

[Silac]

Accepted today! Baylor has been my dream school since I started this process.

 

[glitterysuccs]

Accepted today! Baylor has been my dream school since I started this process.

Congratulations!!!

 

[Reformedforchrist]

Hey guys!congrats to all of you who were accepted today! Just wondering, I interviewed the second week of January. Should I be worried if I havent heard back from them???