UTMB currently has medical students located in Austin and other Texas cities during their third year required clinical rotations. Some of these students do not return to Galveston for their MS4 year. Recently, some UTMB MS4 applicants and dermatology faculty reconsidered UTMB's current practice of interviewing all UTMB MS4 applicants at their convenience during December and January. Since it is recommended that applicants meet with all of UTMB's dermatology residents and faculty, more than one trip may be required of UTMB medical students, and this aspect is more inconvenient for applicants who do not reside in Galveston because of the additional travel involved. An alternative way to interview UTMB MS4 students applying for dermatology residency at UTMB is to schedule all applicants to interview on the same day. However, the later method could result in some students having interview conflicts with outside programs and missing the opportunity to interview at an additional program.
UTMB DIG officers recently surveyed MS4 DIG members about their opinions on this. The vast majority of UTMB MS4 students applying for dermatology residency prefer the current process because it provides more flexibility for scheduling outside interviews. UTMB MS4 students residing outside of Galveston should be aware the UTMB's dermatology program coordinator will be happy to assist with an interview schedule on a day when most of the UTMB dermatology residents and faculty are in Galveston.