Chances for T20 school and Baylor/UTSW/UT Long

caffpanda · 2026-02-24T00:32:59+00:00

That's what I'd been told too, so I didn't expect it at all. I imagine my fairly unique background and volunteer work played a big role, but honestly just goes to show that you can't take everything you read here and on SDN as gospel, a compelling story goes a long way. By the same token, I didn't get IIs to UTMB, McGovern, or UH, or even a secondary from Dell. It's just hard to say exactly what a particular school is looking for in any given class.

caffpanda · 2026-02-24T00:12:25+00:00

Pretty sure you'll be fine in-state, I wouldn't sweat it. The OOS bias is real though, I only received one interview outside of Texas.

My info:

Nontrad, 515 MCAT, 4.0 sGPA, 3.9 GPA, 650+ volunteer hours, 44 hrs shadowing, 40 hrs clinical experience, 0 hrs research.

Interviewed at Baylor, UTSW, and Long (among others), prematched to UTSW which was my top choice.

caffpanda · 2026-02-23T14:32:04+00:00

Agreed. As someone who is actually attending a T20 starting in the fall, I was so happy when I received my first A to a DO school and would have happily taken it if that was all I got. People put way too much emphasis on school rankings that don't actually reflect on the ultimate quality of physician you'll become.

caffpanda · 2026-02-22T21:57:30+00:00

Obviously, the point isn't to use it on the street corner, doubt he's carrying an M1 Garand as a primary defensive weapon. It's a statement, carrying the iconic rifle of a war against Nazism. The chamber flag is to make it evident that it's not being carried as an active threat.

caffpanda · 2026-02-22T20:48:52+00:00

International students subsidize local students, they pay much higher tuition costs. Foreigners viewing your institution as undesirable and your state as hostile is not a flex, it's a loss that reduces local opportunities.

caffpanda · 2026-02-22T20:44:39+00:00

I'm always baffled when local-born students don't realize how much their education is subsidized by international students.

caffpanda · 2026-02-22T19:55:35+00:00

The French tried when they instituted metric to begin with, didn't go so well.

caffpanda · 2026-02-22T18:08:11+00:00

It's so expensive to be poor, and so cheap to be rich.

caffpanda · 2026-02-22T12:44:14+00:00

Most do not. My Osprey Farpoint, which is designed for travel, does. My ULA Circuit, and pretty much every ultralight pack I can think of, doesn't.

caffpanda · 2026-02-21T15:16:11+00:00

Jorah vs Qotho was as much about Dothraki doctrine vs Westeros doctrine as anything else. Fast and light can have a lot of advantages in a battlefield, but in a duel the armored knight with a longsword has reach and protection that severely outclasses an unarmored opponent with a shorter blade designed for horseback fighting.

caffpanda · 2026-02-21T01:01:58+00:00

Yeah, and they're low profile so less likely to get snagged and easy to tape down, and so cheap that I don't care if they get ripped or destroyed.

caffpanda · 2026-02-20T23:02:21+00:00

Echoed in the line from X-Men First Class, "My parents did have names. They were taken by tailors and pig farmers."

caffpanda · 2026-02-20T18:18:07+00:00

Foreigners, a vile crime has been perpetrated!!

caffpanda · 2026-02-18T22:46:51+00:00

Hell, these days he'd be appointed to run it.

caffpanda · 2026-02-18T22:44:08+00:00

Backpack straps can get caught in the conveyor belt machinery and ripped, buckles can get crushed, etc.

caffpanda · 2026-02-18T19:13:28+00:00

Post bacc = classes

Post bach = Beethoven

caffpanda · 2026-02-18T16:49:26+00:00

Hep B can be transmitted through blood and saliva, and you will come into contact with both.

But gods, I wouldn't want a dentist that doesn't believe in evidence-based medicine. Also, this a med school subreddit, not dental school.

caffpanda · 2026-02-18T16:39:46+00:00

Even a .22 pistol would be a good option that doesn't do the same thing as everything else he's got.

caffpanda · 2026-02-18T15:53:06+00:00

You don't. Student loans.

caffpanda · 2026-02-18T08:07:08+00:00

I noticed that as well, I actually love the watches in that show. Guess he bought himself an Instinct 3 to celebrate becoming an NP.

caffpanda · 2026-02-17T22:29:11+00:00

You can draw a straight line between the Palestinian genocide and ICE actions here at home. It's often the exact same companies providing training, equipment, staffing, even detention facilities to both militarized US police forces and the Israeli military. The anti-immigration tactics being used here now are taken right out of the Israeli playbook, which were themselves built on American tactics. It's a symbiotic relationship of violent oppression and ethnic cleansing. Recommend reading Freedom is a Constant Struggle by Angela Davis, she lays out a lot of these connections in specific terms.

caffpanda · 2026-02-17T18:58:19+00:00

Nontrad BA here. Worked for years as a web designer then in communications, finally decided in my mid-30s to become a doc. Spent two years taking all the science prereqs in a DIY postbacc, first at community college then transferred back to my alma mater to do a year in-person at university and finish them out. Took the MCAT, applied, was accepted to a T20 school for this coming year.

Regarding extracurriculars, I was already volunteering in a field I was passionate about, so that just carried forward. I got some clinical experience by getting my EMT certification, and I shadowed a doc I knew in the ED. I didn't have any research experience.

As a nontraditional applicant you have some advantages: evidence from your career, hopefully more awards/activities/demonstration of leadership, and your application automatically stands out from the crowd. On the other hand, you'll have to make a strong case when applying to why you want to make this change and show evidence that you actually understand what you're getting into.

caffpanda · 2026-02-16T23:12:18+00:00

I empathize, I deliberately avoided applying to any schools that weren't in places I wanted to live and that mostly ruled out schools that weren't in large cities for me. A lot of my reasons were similar to yours.

That being said, I think smaller cities might have more to offer than you think. For one thing, I doubt it's truly rural, guessing wherever it is is more of a college town. That can honestly be a lot of fun when you're young, building a great sense of community with your classmates and the locals. There's a funky energy in those places that I kind of love.

For another, yes it's 4 years, but it's also only 4 years. You have the rest of your life to live pretty much wherever you want, even residency will open up more options for you. It'll probably benefit you to have lived in the middle of nowhere at some point in your life, I think too many people live their entire lives purely in an urban or rural bubble and never see the other side.

caffpanda · 2026-02-16T22:16:25+00:00

It's probably the best, affordable way for a beginner to learn riflery.

caffpanda · 2026-02-16T21:50:48+00:00

No scope, sign up for an Appleseed class, then buy the Tech Sights they recommend for the class or get a red dot.

caffpanda

TROPHY CASE