I was @ Market Heights yesterday working, and I'm not shopper, but can tell ya there is a lot going on there

when they were building the place, I went to the developers website, Troy Aikman was on the front page as a major developer/player

I can say, there is a lot of activity going on,...movie theater, chain stores, etc,...

I do know, the company I do the most work for, has almost doubled the bidness they had in Killeen

(Coming from a recent medical resident in Temple)

Houston is an entirely different subject.

Given the choice of College Station or Temple, I'd probably op for the four years in Temple. Temple is very strong with Scott and White and a very large patient base and pathology network. College station is good but still working out a lot of their kinks. You'll overall see much more and get more experience as it is in Temple right now.

Living is great. You can OWN a home for very little money given real estate right now. As a student, probably better to still rent though. You can get back and forth to school/hospital in under 15 minutes no matter where in town you live. Good clean, safe working and living environment. Low crime overall. People are friendly and for most of what you need you can find it here. More restaurants have come in with more planning on coming in. Overall, I was very happy living and working in Temple for the 3 years I was there.

I grew up in Salado and we lived in Belton for my wife's MS 3&4 years. Make the decision based on the school. If A&M beats UTH (it did for my wife, but that was over 10 years ago), I'd suspect that Temple >>> BCS for your clinical years.

Your wife will have little trouble finding a PA job in centex. Much larger population base than BCS.

obviously school is important, but maybe not as important as many non-physicians think. You'll learn as much as you study, which is either going to be "more than I ever thought possible" or "oh ****, my brain just exploded". Then you'll graduate and realize that most of that stuff doesn't matter and it is really your clinical experience, finding out what kind of doctor you want to be (even though you may already "know", and most importantly what you learn in residency.

One big thing I would be thinking about is keeping your marriage going strong. You and your wife prob won't get mugged in BCS or Temple, but I know a lot of students from Houston that had some run-ins in those garage's at night. Also, when you're done with your work in Temple or BCS you'll be home in 5 minutes, not trying to keep your eyes open as you drag yourself across town. I realize many people live in Houston and do fine, but you may not know a lot of young married people in Houston that will be working as much as you will be. Free moments are few and far b/t, you don't want to spend 45-90 min every day in traffic.

It was a tough decision for me when I was in your shoes. I chose b/t A&M, UTSW and Tech... I ended up going with my gut choice and have never looked back.

I am currently on staff at S&W. If you want to ask me anything about living here feel free to email. joe_a_sullivan at yahoo dot com

good luck and congrats

ttt b/c (if anyone cares) I have chosen to attend A&M's med school, and I have chosen the Temple campus. Thanks everyone for the help!

Good job and congratulations!

Ooh, man. You f***ed up.






Just kidding. Welcome.

Beatlesphan:

I'm an M3 at A&M, and I spoke at the 2nd look thingy so shoot me a pm if you have questions.

Btw you won't regret coming here. As was mentioned earlier it's all about the clinical training, which S&W is an excellent place to learn. Great faculty here who for the most part are interested in your education. Doesn't have the "name" of UTSW or BCM, but you'll be well served here.