SeattlePostBach said:
I just read through all the comments on this post. They were very helpful, thanks. I have a couple other questions about life at Baylor and in Houston too. Could current students guess about what percent of your class or how many people in your class were older than 25 when they started med school? Also, did any of you move to Houston from the west coast? How do you like it? Is the culture significantly different? And is TX as super-conservative as it has a reputation for being?
When I started, ave. age of class was 22.9 -- that should give you an idea of how many "older" students are there. As someone who was 25 starting med school (and single), I definitely felt that the general social atmosphere was more geared to those just graduating from college, and of the older people in the class, I didn't necessarily have much in common with them either because they tended to be married, having kids, etc. However, I would not call Baylor unfriendly towards older students -- you just might have to work a little harder to find your niche.
I moved to Houston from the west coast, and from an extremely liberal area on the west coast. I was very pleasantly surprised, and have really enjoyed living in Houston for the following reasons:
1) I don't hate the weather. Yes, it's much more hot and humid than California. However, when the sun goes down, you aren't freezing in the middle of summer the way you are in San Francisco. I love the balmy evenings. And, you have air conditioning. All in all, I've found the weather to be quite tolerable, but I'm probably in the minority.
2) Cost of living -- so, so, so much more reasonable than the west coast. Not only is housing relatively cheap, but so is going out to dinner, going to the theater, going to the opera, going to the ballet, the museums, etc. Stuff like that was technically "available" in SF, but I couldn't afford to take advantage of it.
3) Politics, culture, etc. Personally, I've found Houston to be a very dynamic city, and haven't found it to be overwhelmingly conservative, or oppressively conservative. First of all, it's incredibly diverse ethnically -- a huge African-American population, a huge Nigerian immigrant population, a huge Vietnamese population (2nd largest US concentration after Long Beach), a huge Indian population, and of course, a huge Hispanic/Latin American population. As for politics, you have a moderate Democratic mayor in a state that has tended to vote solidly Republican in the last several elections (the last Democratic governor was Ann Richards in the late 80's or early 90's). Texas in general is conservative, suburbs more so than the big cities (exception being Dallas). If it's important to you, there are large pockets of liberal, bohemian perspectives in Houston (try Montrose, the Heights, Midtown), and you can find them fairly easily. Check out the Houston Press or KPFT online sometime. Honestly, I think it's misleading and disingenuous to try to write off the entire city (and state) with a blanket label of "conservative." Like most things, it's just not that black and white.
4) Is the culture different? You may get a better answer to this question if you are more specific. In what ways are you expecting the culture to be different? Personally, I much prefer Texas (specifically Houston) to the west coast now after having lived here for four years. For one thing, people are much, much nicer in my opinion. There is something to be said for the sense of "southern hospitality" and that definitely is alive and well in Houston. I'm now amazed by the general rudeness and incivility when I travel to Boston or San Francisco, and it makes me appreciate Houston even more. The culture is different in other, small ways as well, but I generally have found the changes to be positive rather than negative.
Hope this helps.
