- Joined
- Jan 23, 2016
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Gosh - I'm sorry you didn't get to see more of Tufts! I don't blame you for being hesitant. Here's a little bit about the facilities:
-All our main lectures are taught in one lecture hall. Our conferences (occasional, smaller groups meant to go over more difficult material) and some electives take place in regular classrooms in the same building as the library.
-The library is part of a larger building that's connected to the hospital. The library itself has 4 floors. The first of the four has a cafeteria area, computers, microwaves, etc. and tables for eating, studying, and talking. The floors get progressively more quiet as you move higher up. Some of the floors also have study rooms available that you can either snag if they're open or book online if you have a group to study with. There's also a pseudo fifth floor of the library where some classes take place as well as tiny rooms for medschool applicants who are interviewing. When interviews aren't going on, you can also snag one of those.
-MBS students also have access to a lounge in a third building. It has computers, a TV, a couple study rooms, a fridge, microwave...I think maybe a Keurig and a couple other appliances (it has a little kitchenette).
-There's also a small gym on the bottom floor of the library building that we have access to, and I believe they also offer discounted passes to the YMCA if you need something bigger.
As far as advising beyond your advisor - there are three sort of "big shot" professors you'll meet in the first semester who are also majorly involved in running and coordinating the program. All three of them are honestly fantastic, no exaggeration. I've never met professors in the premed world who've cared about their students as much as these guys do. All of them consistently offer themselves up to give a second opinion when it's needed. One of them told us that he does not want us to leave this program feeling like we didn't get enough advice. So yes, there are definitely people to talk to outside of your main advisor.
There is one thing I do want to mention because I didn't know this when I started at Tufts. Especially in the first semester, we take the same classes as the medical students with the same professors. For some classes, there are different professors teaching different lectures. Some of these professors are actual, real practicing physicians and their time is limited. Thus, for certain lectures they live-stream them to our lecture hall from the lecture hall where the med students are taught. I was pretty annoyed with this honestly when I found out, but it ended up not bothering me. This is because they always have someone available to us in our lecture hall at the same time. After the lecture, that person was available for the next half hour to answer any of our questions about anything. I think this applies to all of Genetics, some Immunology, and some Pharmacology. For Immunology and Pharmacology, it was actually advantageous to have that person there for an extra half hour because they answered our questions but also went over what they thought were the most challenging concepts to make sure we understood them. For Immunology there was one professor who stayed in our classroom with us, and then the one teaching the class walked across the street to our lecture hall once he was done with the med students to make sure our questions were answered. So again, this ended up not being a problem for me, but it's another thing to consider.
Thanks for your description of the facilities! How often do you watch the live-stream instead of having a professor come teach in person? Are all lectures (including these live-streamed ones) recorded so you can re-watch?