<p>I recently received a shiny brochure packet from the Baylor college of Medicine in Houston Tx. I am interested in microbial pathogenesis (ideally the interface between bacterial pathogens and the human immune response). They sure make the school sound excellent from the brochure - enormous (quantity) of faculty in my area, super low cost of living, no state taxes, relatively high stipend, extensive core services, pleasant climate (I think they lied). Does anybody attend Baylor College of Medicine or have some experience with it? I am interested in learning more about the environment...for instance, what is the campus like? Are the other Houston universities (Rice, UT Houston etc) really collaborative? What is the character of the depts (competitive, cooperative, isolated, hierarchical)? Any feedback would be appreciated.</p>
<p>Baylor is a damn good college and is probably the BEST bang for your buck if you are a Texas resident.</p>
<p>Baylor and Rice do A LOT of collaborative work (they have many joint programs). In addition, Baylor is in the heart of the Texas Medical Center which will allow you to access anything and everything.</p>
<p>nshah9617, I don't think the cost of Baylor has anything to do with this post. The program will pay his tuition and stipend.</p>
<p>I actually interviewed at Baylor and I really liked it. The Texas Medical Center is absolutely huge, although Baylor only has a few buildings within it. The school was a bit smaller than I thought, but I really liked the campus. I interviewed with the Molecular & Cellular Biology program and the faculty there had some pretty interesting research.</p>
<p>However, I have heard some bad things about the school as well. A former post-doc said there isn't much of a collaborative atmosphere. Actually, I will just PM you his e-mail to me.</p>
<p>masta ace, by collaborative atmosphere do you mean between Baylor and other schools in the area, or between various labs within Baylor? The latter could be a much more relevant issue for some people.</p>
<p>I think he was referring to collaborations between or within departments, but I'm not 100% sure. Still, it's just one persons opinion.</p>