BSW-Temple will have A&M, Baylor College of Medicine students for about a year

DAVID STONE | TEMPLE DAILY TELEGRAM

Baylor College of Medicine’s Temple campus plans to open its doors this summer to its inaugural class of 40 medical students, but those first students likely will have maroon-clad company.

The Houston-based Baylor College of Medicine announced in 2021 that it would be opening a Temple campus in summer 2023 in facilities currently being used by Texas A&M’s medical school. But, A&M will be using the campus for another year, setting up a scenario where the two schools will share the same facilities.

“Texas A&M School of Medicine will graduate their last Baylor Scott and White-Temple clinical campus medical students in May 2024,” said Dee Dee Grays, a spokesperson for Texas A&M Heath. “There’s going to be a bit of an overlap.”

Texas A&M is leaving the Temple campus to expand its presence in Dallas and Round Rock, she said.

Grays did not say how many A&M students will be in the final Temple class, but the medical school has averaged 88 students in Temple every semester.

While Texas A&M is leaving BSW, it will maintain a presence here through the Central Texas Veterans Healthcare System and its Olin E. Teague Veterans Center.

“Texas A&M’s School of Medicine is proud of our 45-year history of educating medical professionals,” Grays said. “We look forward to continuing our presence in the community at the Central Texas Veterans Healthcare System in Temple and at our other locations across Texas.”

Under Texas A&M’s system, medical students receive their first- and second-year classroom instruction in College Station before spending their third and fourth years in hospital settings such as Baylor Scott & White Medical Center in Temple.

Baylor College of Medicine, however, will operate a full four-year campus in Temple using the same curriculum as its Houston campus.