I feel like adding on to this comment.
1.) The schools in Dallas proper aren't the greatest, but if you live in the suburbs (Allen, Plano, McKinney, Frisco) they are great. As he mentioned, we have quite a few students with kids and they haven't had any complaints, and i know of at least one who commutes from a far out suburb in with no problems.
2.) As
@aggietxdent brought up, it is easy to call our curriculum outdated, but I personally don't know if i agree with that. We take all of our didactic material first year, and complete boards in the summer after D1, so because of this our courses are basically all board prep classes. It's easy to say that I wish our DA was updated more frequently (it is from like 2012) or that our other classes are boring, but our boards pass rates are excellent because they keep the formula that works, and they'll add in topics that they hear come up on the recent board exams as well.
@aggietxdent didn't like anatomy too much, but i actually really enjoyed doing the full body dissections, it has definitely been one of the most interesting things i have ever done in my life.
A lot of other schools are moving towards a more interwoven curriculum, and we are as well. I forget when it is being implemented but it might be as early as this next year, or the one after. The reason the curriculum changes are occurring is because of the mixed boards that are in the works, obviously my year doesn't have to worry about that so i don't see the benefit in changing up the curriculum now tbh, makes much more sense to wait until the next year or two.
3.) the guy i am renting my place from is currently a first year OMFS resident, and he claims that A&M prepared him very well for getting into his residency.
4.) Culture of the school - honestly, our class is very entertaining and fun, and the classes above us are always willing to go above and beyond to make sure we have all the things we need and are surviving. The professors are great for the most part, and definitely treat us like equals. There are 2-3 professors i don't like... but i don't really go to class so it doesn't affect me much tbh. I would definitely say the culture here has impressed me more than i thought it would. When I was in your position last year i was choosing between the 3 Texas schools. My choice came down to Houston and A&M because of warnings with San Antonio's culture. San Antonio just seemed really rigid to me and I didn't like how competitive it seemed there. If someone from SA chimes in they can clear this up though. Professors are great though, just wanted to reiterate that.
5.) School is pretty ugly.... not gonna lie. the new clinic should be finished by the second semester of your D2 year, and the current building isn't like so ugly you will be depressed everyday, but it definitely feels like it was designed in the 70's, because it was. The labs are better than i thought they would be coming in though, and like he said above, we spend most of our time in the ping-pong room so it really doesn't matter much.
6.) I personally feel like I have a lot of free time, but it also depends on your goals. I will say there are definitely a few people who hang out a lot still and go to events and are maintaining a 4.0 (or close) as well. If you want free-time to just chill with your family, it seems like the parents are the ones doing the best in our class. They come in, do their work, and head home. You basically determine how long you want to be here, other than during lab days.
I don't know how old you are, but if you are looking for a city where you can have fun when you aren't at school or home, Dallas definitely beats San Antonio and UNC to me.
If there are any other questions you have let me know, I am trying really hard not to study for finals.
One thing that is a big PITA is our grading scale here.
70-74 = D
75-79 = C
80-83 = C+
84-89 = B
90-92 = B+
93-100 = A
That being said, the averages on a lot of the exams is like a 94-6, occasionally it dips to like an 86-87 so it's not as if it is reeeeeaallly difficult to get an A, you just have to consistently work hard the whole semester for one.
Well we are D1's in our first semester, so other than a bunch of waxing we aren't really doing any lab work.
I've heard from other people though that the lab work doesn't really benefit them much. They always do praise the clinical experience they get here though, we do a LOT in our clinic so they always talk about how prepared they felt compared to other graduates when they work with them or go to a residency.
