Briefly, UTH has the busiest trauma program in the country and the lion's share of the vascular in town. All the training is currently done at one location. Baylor has better tumor and peds training, but is a more fellow dependent program (MDA alone has 3-5 fellows/yr). Residents go to a ton of hospitals (Texas Children's, MDA, Ben Taub, St Luke's).
Arguing that there is a significant difference in research between the two is simply inaccurate, Baylor ranks #12 in NIH funding and UTH #13 (this is counting MDA, see:
http://www.brimr.org/NIH_Awards/2017/NIH...s_2017.htm). Tumor research is undoubtedly better at Baylor (Fred Lang: SPORE grant) while functional is better at UTH (Nitin Tandon: NIH brain initiative and RO1s).
The reputation of a place lags years behind the reality - this works in both directions. The actual quality of a place takes years to percolate down to the MS2s who post on this board. There is also a tendency to just regurgitate name brand places with no evidence. People retire or move on, some places reload and some places have to go through rebuilding. Look at BCM and UTH 10 years ago, honestly tell me which you think is getting better and which is losing ground. The BCM program was split in two - where do you guys think the Methodist program came from? Which program went from starting to 3 residents/yr in that time frame? UTH is one of the perenially "up and coming" places. That's going to continue to be the case for while. BCM is frequently cited as a upper/mid tier place.
To the guy posting articles about Art Day: ask anyone who has worked with Day and they will all tell you the same thing - operatively one of the best and a long time leader in resident education.
BCM is old guard with a tumor emphasis and UTH is new wave with a vascular focus. Both are busy. Both offer quality training far beyond most of the names that get tossed around here. But, the feel of the programs are very different. If you want to go to Houston, pick the one that fits you more based on the above info and do an away.
