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2013-2014 Tulane University Application Thread
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Accepted yesterday, could not be happier or more surprised! Interviewed 12/2. Sending good vibes to all other Tulane hopefuls out there!!!
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A couple of people have asked for my opinion of Tulane, so I thought I'd share with everyone:
Advantages: You're in New Orleans, the most unique, fun city in the US. Every weekend has some reason to have a good time, like jazz fest, seafood fest, a Saints game, white linen night, and various pub runs and crawls. I'm afraid I don't know much about all that. All I know is that the library is air conditioned and fluorescent. Tulane has a great reputation and students do well in the match. There's P/F grading and a noncompetitive atmosphere. Students are friendly and help each other out. The school gives lots of flexibility for scheduling rotations during clinical years. You can do your core rotations in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, or a few smaller towns.
Disadvantages: Tuition is outrageously high. If you're planning on using loans to cover tuition it's above the Stafford loan limit, so you're going to need to take out more grad plus loans, which have higher interest and a higher origination fee. In terms of facilities and technology, you don't really get what you pay for. You're in New Orleans, a city with Third World infrastructure, bureaucracy, and corruption. The school is transitioning to a systems based curriculum, which is a good idea, but at least this year they still haven't gotten it right. Biochemistry is very poorly taught. Everyone in my class studied twice as much for biochem as we did for the other three classes combined, and the average on yesterday's exam was still barely above passing. I know the student curriculum representatives are going to be recommending some changes, so hopefully things will be better for next year's class.
I think in the end, the decision will come down to whether you want to live in New Orleans or not. If you like the music scene, the restaurants and the bars, come here for sure. If that doesn't matter much to you, there are other med schools out there that will save you a lot of tuition money.
Advantages: You're in New Orleans, the most unique, fun city in the US. Every weekend has some reason to have a good time, like jazz fest, seafood fest, a Saints game, white linen night, and various pub runs and crawls. I'm afraid I don't know much about all that. All I know is that the library is air conditioned and fluorescent. Tulane has a great reputation and students do well in the match. There's P/F grading and a noncompetitive atmosphere. Students are friendly and help each other out. The school gives lots of flexibility for scheduling rotations during clinical years. You can do your core rotations in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, or a few smaller towns.
Disadvantages: Tuition is outrageously high. If you're planning on using loans to cover tuition it's above the Stafford loan limit, so you're going to need to take out more grad plus loans, which have higher interest and a higher origination fee. In terms of facilities and technology, you don't really get what you pay for. You're in New Orleans, a city with Third World infrastructure, bureaucracy, and corruption. The school is transitioning to a systems based curriculum, which is a good idea, but at least this year they still haven't gotten it right. Biochemistry is very poorly taught. Everyone in my class studied twice as much for biochem as we did for the other three classes combined, and the average on yesterday's exam was still barely above passing. I know the student curriculum representatives are going to be recommending some changes, so hopefully things will be better for next year's class.
I think in the end, the decision will come down to whether you want to live in New Orleans or not. If you like the music scene, the restaurants and the bars, come here for sure. If that doesn't matter much to you, there are other med schools out there that will save you a lot of tuition money.
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More importantly, any insight into the acceptance range waitlist?
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Oh get off of it. Not 3 years ago the same people taught my class biochem and while it wasn't the most engaging class in the universe (its freaking biochem, go ahead, you try to make it exciting) nobody in their right mind studied more for it than physio. Our average was routinely in high 80's. Stop with your needless exaggerations.
For anyone who cares, the advantage of coming here lies in more than music/food scene of the city. Early clinical exposure, electives for 1+2nd years (many of them clinically based...like mine), ability to impart change on healthcare delivery and/or medical education as a student and tremendous faculty support for this type of ventures, amazing breadth of clinical experiences and direct management of your patients' care (with oversight, duh), great clinical teachers and mentors, research opportunities with ample opportunity to get some first author papers, passionate and widely present alumni are all in one way or another a unique benefit of being a Tulane student.
I am not going to get into an argument with someone upset over their grade in Biochem but I offer them as well as all of you the counter point that my experiences here have put me in a good position to match my #1 choice program which is widely considered one of the very best for the field. Try to see the forest, every school has some less awesome trees.
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What are some areas Tulane could improve upon to make the 4 years there better?
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk
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This is the first year that Anatomy is taught by itself and finished by about mid October at which point Biochem, Physio, Histo start. It is also the second year of the pilot "PhD to MD" program that starts on a parallel track to join the rest of the class at clinical years. So your question is probably going to be better answered once the details of these changes are smoothed out.
However here are things I think are in motion to change already:
As I already mentioned, Biochem is not a work of educational marvel (to be completely honest, I don't know of a school where it is). I personally think it spends too much time dissecting details that are not particularly relevant to our Step 1 prep. Instead, I think the class should discuss the big important concepts. For example: ATP production in tandem with role of the things like essential amino acids/vitamins/etc. Rather than first having us memorize the Krebs cycle and then later on memorize the cofactors needed for the different reactions that are taken out of the context of Krebs cycle, we should memorize them all in context.
Basically pare down to just the things that will be relevant for Step 1, because unless you are an MD/PhD, you are going to forget all the rest anyway.
Embryo is the devil, I think if it were possible to integrate it in the second year pathology/mechanisms of disease courses, it would be a better fit. I studied for Step 1 like this and I did well.
Those are the two courses that have been undergoing major changes. Physio is awesome, favorite preclinical class. Histo is so easy it hurts (and yet somehow taught me enough to understand Pathology in second year). Pharm is pretty on money I would say and resembles what I described as my idea Biochem class.
As far as non-class things that I personally wish were different about my experience:
I was in the second class who could participate in Debakey Research Scholars Program. At that time it was pretty unstructured, didn't have specific mentors to direct you to and had no specific funding. One had to be real persistent to get work done. I recently learned that there is now funding available for students who choose to stay to work on projects between 1st and 2nd year and the structure of the program has more definition while still letting you do what it is you want to do. The thing they still need to tackle is vetting of the research mentors and perhaps compiling a list of "go to" researchers and clinicians. I personally had a lot of "false starts" because I chose a mentor who I later found out wasn't the best option in terms of advocating for my career. I have a new mentor now who not only gives me all the projects i can handle (first author X4 since about March 2013) but also introduced me to some incredibly important career contacts within my field. It would've been amazing to have met him 3 years ago, maybe I will go talk to the head of the Debakey Program about doing something like that.
/end novel
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I wasn't exaggerating. Maybe things have changed since you took the course, maybe the test questions have gotten harder, maybe my class is just dumber on average than yours, I don't know. I do know that everyone I have talked with spent far more time studying biochem than they did anything else. The average on the last exam was still barely above passing. Whether I am in my right mind or not is up for debate, but I estimate that I studied for biochem roughly three times more than I did physio. Even so, my physio grade was 23 points higher than biochem. I don't think that one class, no matter how badly taught, should be the deciding factor in choosing a medical school, but it is something to consider. But then, like I said, things might be different for next year's class anyway, in which case it wouldn't matter.
It's true that the early clinical experience is a great thing about Tulane. There is a nice variety of free clinics, health fairs and other activities that you get credit for volunteering at. You can get real hands-on clinical experience beginning your first week of school if you wish. Tulane also does a great job teaching with standardized patients. You'll learn clinical skills like taking a history and doing an exam from professional standardized patients who can teach you exactly what you need to say and do when you are working with real patients. All in all I think Tulane is pretty good, but there are some disadvantages to coming here that prospective students should consider.
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Sorry, I don't know anything about it except that last year nobody got in off the waitlist. Because they ended up with a bigger class than usual it's possible that this year they'll give fewer immediate acceptances and take some people from the waitlist, but I don't know. Don't get too discouraged; just getting an interview at Tulane is 90% of the battle.
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Let me first apologize for downplaying your experience. You are right that the course could've changed or the questions could've gotten harder.
What I will disagree with you on is any suggestion that your class is somehow deficient in intelligence. I helped pick each one of you, you are all so smart it is scary as @#$% (you too current applicants, what the hell do your mothers feed you?!). The hangup could very well be that this is still somewhat new for all of you (especially with course timing change, some of the sage advice of us ancients may not be quite so sage).
I will however reiterate that I have yet to meet a single med student from anywhere who just cherished their biochem experience. Almost universally, there is too much time between when you finish the course and when you take Step 1, so most people I know had to relearn it anyway.
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I liked this part too. I work in an ER but I still found that it managed to take me out of my comfort zone a little (and part of that could have been the fact that it was a medical school interview). I didn't get any negative feedback--the guy had some nice things to say and it was mostly conversational--but would it have counted against me if I didn't execute a neat finish before the time was up?
Sorry for the anxiety question, but I'm probably not going to hear back until after break (I interviewed 12/9) and even though I thought the interview went well across the board, I feel like I should really steel myself for an acceptance range just because I was such an underdog applicant to begin with vis a vis my stats.
Also, thanks to all the Tulane students who have been having discussions on here about student life, classes, etc. Your posts have been very helpful, and a welcome break from checking my email 40 times per day.
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Accepted a while ago, but will be withdrawing my app after the New Year. Hope it goes to one of you!
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Sorry, the standardized patients aren't allowed to give out specifics on grading or discuss details of the SP exercise. If you feel like things went well then they probably did.
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Most likely not. I ended my scenario very abruptly without even a "Bye" and was accepted less than three weeks later, so take that as you will. Your feedback sounds very similar to mine, so you should be ok. It seems like they're looking to see if you can interact with strangers in a normal way, so as long as you're not a robot or a sociopath, then you're fine. Your guy had nice things to say, so you did well enough. Relax and enjoy the holidays. Good luck!
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i had a similar experience to @augeremt -- my nerves got in the way and I didnt even think about closing out i just said "okay, time out!" when I felt as though I had more or less accomplished the objective. My SP gave me positive feedback and I was accepted less than three weeks later, so I think you will be totally fine! Like @augeremt said, I think they are just making sure that you can be sociable and make another person feel comfortable talking about personal matters with you. They know that we dont really know what were doing in the doctoring sense; they just want to see how we interact with others. I actually think it would be really funny if they played the recordings of the SP interview at graduation or something just to show how far weve (hopefully) come, but thats just me haha. anyway I'm sure you did perfectly well, and I wish you luck with rest of the app process!!
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II today! So excited, what a great Christmas present!! Totally wasn't expecting to hear anything this week...
congrats!! when were you complete / when did you schedule it for?
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yeah I am gonna piggy back off of this comment and say the reason Biochem is worse this year (at least what I have heard from people in my class who are good friends with second years) is the condensed it from a 8 month long course (august to april or something) to like 3.5 months, so we end up averaging more than one biochem lecture per day of lecture (I think the last exam was like 19 biochem lectures in 13 days) which makes it damn near impossible, and worse causes other classes to get neglected in studying. i.e. I spent maybe 1/4 time on physio and got 28 points better on physio than biochem.
however, anyone who would be worried about it, don't be. we have gotten plenty of acknowledgment from the administration that there need changes and quite honestly it seems that they really do wanna get this figured out. the curriculum committee reps work hard to get out feedback to them and so constructive changes can be done. Honestly from my experience so far, the way Biochem has been run has pretty much been the only real negative about the school. I love everything else about Tulane (well except the price tag...but most private schools are really expensive). but coming from a completely different area than New Orleans, I have to say this City is fantastic for culture and new experiences and I have heard rotations are great because of the pathology. hands down I would choose Tulane again
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Thank you!! I received the complete email from them way back at the end of August. They invited me to interview on 1/24.
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Yes, I forgot to mention that. You will get to see Third World pathology, with lots of stuff that got left untreated much longer than it would have in a more developed part of the country. For example, end-stage syphilis is not unknown here. In addition to the pathology, the local knife and gun clubs will make sure you're well prepared for a career in trauma surgery or emergency medicine if that's your thing. As my neighbor put it, "Yo, Tulane hospital's the best! If you get yo'self shot or stabbed, make sho' yo' buddies take you there. Dem residents and students at Tulane'll take you in and fix you up even if you got no insurance or nothin'!"
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Though, just to be clear, there are no students or residents working in the Tulane hospital ER. Just LSU interim hospital. Same stuff though.
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RTA doesn't serve the airport. The cheapest way into town is to take the JeT (Jefferson Transit www.jeffersontransit.org) bus. The JeT takes about 45 min to get downtown. It only runs into the CBD during the day on weekdays, though. So if you take it after 6pm or on a weekend, you'll get dropped at the parish line (where you can get onto an RTA bus). The JeT/RTA interface can be pretty sketchy, though, so I wouldn't use the JeT option at night or on weekends. The 2nd cheapest (and the fastest) way to get into town is to share a cab with someone. Cab fare from MSY to the CBD for 2 people is about $16/person before tip and the trip takes about 15 minutes. Another way is the Airport Shuttle. It's $20 each way plus you get a $2 discount if you prepay for your return trip at the same time. Airport Shuttles are usually packed with people going to different places, so the ride takes anywhere from 30-90 min.
Regarding neighborhood safety, it's best to maintain a state of awareness about your surroundings and use common sense (avoid sparsely populated areas and dark alleyways, don't wander around the city alone, don't let your iPhone distract you from potential dangers around you, etc).
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I had never seen the city before I interviewed and now I'm accepted. Just get there a couple of days early and get to know the city a bit. You will get a bunch of extra points if you can really talk about New Orleans with your interviewers!
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I was asked by several people what I liked/will enjoy about the city.
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I am an interviewer at Tulane. You can get a bunch of extra points if you can really talk about New Orleans with me.
Interview Invite yesterday! Unfortunately the date they gave me is impossible for me to make, and their email makes it sound like they aren't very accommodating to changing the date. Has anyone had success with rescheduling theirs?
A girl on my interview day was able to reschedule hers. I think they say that so people don't just change them for trivial reasons
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I interviewed on the 9th and still nothing :/ I figured I'd have to wait until after their winter break, since the student interviewers/faculty interviewer all have to submit their input. I think classes started again yesterday, so hopefully soon!
My little bro just got in as an undergrad, so I'm hoping now more than ever it works out. It'd be pretty cool to have my lifting buddy move to NOLA with me!
Makes sense. Thanks for the response!
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If tulane accepts update letters that would be a good thing to include. Shows some connection to the city, I think.
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Miss Orleans, I was not planning on sending an update because I thought I'd hear this week anyway and didn't want to bother anyone, but this was all I needed to change my mind. I didn't write a novel, but since I know I'll be attending if I get in, I guess I might as well tell them. Thanks <3
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As long as they didn't say anything about not sending update letters at the end of your interview. If you're still in undergrad you could add in if you were on the dean's list fall semester as well of something extra.
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They'll give you somewhere in the admissions office to put your bag.
Most people share cabs. Talk to your fellow interviewees the day of and find a group to share a cab.
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If you can't find someone to share a cab, there is a bus stop a few blocks from the school (E2, next to the Superdome Holiday Inn). The last stop is the airport. http://www.jeffersontransit.org/e2airport.php
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There is also an airport shuttle that will take you to the Holiday Inn two or three blocks from the school.
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At my interview, they seemed pretty enthusiastic about having interviewees following up post-interview with their impressions, and I can't remember hearing anything about not sending updates. Either way, I think it ended up being a good thing. Everyone in admissions has been super friendly and receptive. Then again, it's not like I've been sending them mixtapes or taxidermied squirrels.[http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/1syhp1/people_working_in_college_admissions_what_are_the/] I guess as long as your updates are reasonable and not too frequent, it isn't a bad thing.
Did you send your update letter by mail? If so, who'd you address it to?
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No, I emailed it using the contact info we were given in our interview folders.
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What email address is that? I sent my update to the medsch@tulane of whatever it was
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I don't think anyone gets rejected post interview
