2013-2014 Tulane University Application Thread

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neuronerd24 said:
If anyone's wondering, Dr. Beckman confirmed that all the merit scholarships have already been awarded.
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Even for the MD/MPH program? I got an Email about applying to that earlier today.
 
Does "awarded" necessarily mean the recipients have already been notified? 'Cause I didn't find out about mine until June.
 
I think they've simply been allocated, but maybe not everyone knows about it. The exact words from the email were:
"At this point we have no available"

So I suppose it can be interpreted in different ways.
 
I suppose there is still hope on the scholarship front... if somebody declines an acceptance + scholarship, I bet that the money would go to the next student on the list. An endowed scholarship, for instance, is legally required to distribute 5% of its assets every year.

Maybe that is what happened to Missorleans in June? Scholarships are so confusing.
 
sazerac said:
I suppose there is still hope on the scholarship front... if somebody declines an acceptance + scholarship, I bet that the money would go to the next student on the list. An endowed scholarship, for instance, is legally required to distribute 5% of its assets every year.

Maybe that is what happened to Missorleans in June? Scholarships are so confusing.
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That's a good point... I can still keep hope.

I'm also going to apply for MD/MPH which makes me eligible for additional scholarships that haven't been given out yet, I think.
 
Can any current student comment on the MD/MPH program? Are you happy you did it?
 
Pandaeac said:
Can any current student comment on the MD/MPH program? Are you happy you did it?
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I think it depends on which department you choose. I'm in epidemiology and everything builds on itself from one class to the next, like you have to take an intro and then intermediate and then an upper level so if you don't learn things well the first time then it might be a bit of a struggle. And of course you'll be putting your MD learning first so you may fall into the trap of cramming for MPH classes and not actually learning anything. However, I feel like my epi background is helping me prepare for the evidence-based medicine and biostats type questions on Step 1. Other departments are easier 'cause in some of them you can basically take whatever classes you want and it will count towards your degree. It's not too much of an extra time commitment. Somewhat of an extra money commitment, an extra 32k.
 
Missorleans said:
I think it depends on which department you choose. I'm in epidemiology and everything builds on itself from one class to the next, like you have to take an intro and then intermediate and then an upper level so if you don't learn things well the first time then it might be a bit of a struggle. And of course you'll be putting your MD learning first so you may fall into the trap of cramming for MPH classes and not actually learning anything. However, I feel like my epi background is helping me prepare for the evidence-based medicine and biostats type questions on Step 1. Other departments are easier 'cause in some of them you can basically take whatever classes you want and it will count towards your degree. It's not too much of an extra time commitment. Somewhat of an extra money commitment, an extra 32k.
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Thanks for the reply! Do you think the extra money is worth it?
 
Pandaeac said:
Thanks for the reply! Do you think the extra money is worth it?
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I hear that it will make us stand out in residency applications. But only if you can think of a way that you might use your MPH knowledge in the future. Otherwise, it's just fluff.
 
Does anyone have a good grasp of how the scholarships work for MD/MPH? I understand that applying makes you eligible for particular scholarships available for MD/MPH students only, but does anyone know how many scholarships there are and how much they're worth?

Basically, I am very interested in MD/MPH, but I can't do it if it's going to up the price tag a lot more. If I didn't get any scholarship money for the program, I probably wouldn't do it.
 
neuronerd24 said:
Does anyone have a good grasp of how the scholarships work for MD/MPH? I understand that applying makes you eligible for particular scholarships available for MD/MPH students only, but does anyone know how many scholarships there are and how much they're worth?

Basically, I am very interested in MD/MPH, but I can't do it if it's going to up the price tag a lot more. If I didn't get any scholarship money for the program, I probably wouldn't do it.
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I doubt it would be very hard to drop the program when you find out whether you've got a scholarship or not.
Only MD/MPH scholarships I know of are for half the price of the MPH tuition, so about 15k.
 
Remember, with an MD/MPH, you will still earn an MD. The extra MPH tuition is what, a couple months of your future salary at most?

Get an MPH if it is important to your career plans and you think you want to do some work in public health.

If MPH was my only degree, I might be worried about tuition cost, but as a combined degree the only concern I could think of would be MPH coursework interfering with the vastly more important MD coursework. But from what I hear from my MD/MPH friends, even that isn't really an issue because you are basically highly efficient study-machines.
 
Did most people who interviewed early feb. hear back yet?
 
I know a few from 2/7 who have been waitlisted, but know of no one from 2/10 who's heard back. Keep in mind that Nola is currently on Mardi Gras break and I wouldn't expect to hear anything before next week.
 
sazerac said:
Remember, with an MD/MPH, you will still earn an MD. The extra MPH tuition is what, a couple months of your future salary at most?

Get an MPH if it is important to your career plans and you think you want to do some work in public health.

If MPH was my only degree, I might be worried about tuition cost, but as a combined degree the only concern I could think of would be MPH coursework interfering with the vastly more important MD coursework. But from what I hear from my MD/MPH friends, even that isn't really an issue because you are basically highly efficient study-machines.
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I definitely agree. I'm interested in public health, but choosing to attend Tulane's MD program over my other (in-state) option will already cost me so much more. It's hard to justify it, I guess.

I am most worried about balancing all of the course work but I'll probably apply anyway.
 
Is the Tulane office closed all week for Mardi Gras?
 
It seems like the office was indeed opened yesterday.

Me in an email Tuesday: Hey Tulane, you're a great school, I'm a great fit, still interested, just wondering about my app status!
Tulane yesterday (Wednesday): Standard rejection e-mail
Me: Touché, that is an application status update. LOL

I think they're done interviewing anyway, now it's not just a silent rejection.
 
Missorleans said:
Does "awarded" necessarily mean the recipients have already been notified? 'Cause I didn't find out about mine until June.
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I got mine with my acceptance letter 4 years ago. Typically during admission file evaluations- people's files definitely got singled out for scholarships. I never personally state "this person deserves a scholarship" mostly because its not really my place to say I think. But I do comment strongly when I come across an applicant who would not only "fit" Tulane but elevate it to whatever it is supposed to become.

I think its really hard to expect a scholarship through that part of the process because the competition field is huge and just really accomplished. Once some of the people who were offered scholarships decide to go elsewhere, I think the more "fish in a barrel" the process becomes....since you are only offering to people who are already accepted and may be somewhat ambivalent about matriculation vs random bunch of applicants who could whose likelihood of matriculating is fair at best.
 
Tatastrophy said:
I got mine with my acceptance letter 4 years ago. Typically during admission file evaluations- people's files definitely got singled out for scholarships. I never personally state "this person deserves a scholarship" mostly because its not really my place to say I think. But I do comment strongly when I come across an applicant who would not only "fit" Tulane but elevate it to whatever it is supposed to become.

I think its really hard to expect a scholarship through that part of the process because the competition field is huge and just really accomplished. Once some of the people who were offered scholarships decide to go elsewhere, I think the more "fish in a barrel" the process becomes....since you are only offering to people who are already accepted and may be somewhat ambivalent about matriculation vs random bunch of applicants who could whose likelihood of matriculating is fair at best.
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I'd be happy to ease those worries if I got an acceptance from the waitlist 😀
 
Any current students have any thoughts about living in Papillon? Can't really find much info on it. How is the building/ rooms, neighborhood, value, etc, etc? Seems nicer (and cheaper) than Deming, but then again I know nothing.
 
Brownshorts said:
Any current students have any thoughts about living in Papillon? Can't really find much info on it. How is the building/ rooms, neighborhood, value, etc, etc? Seems nicer (and cheaper) than Deming, but then again I know nothing.
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It's great. I lived there last year. Would have stayed if they allowed pets. It's fairly quiet, and probably the nicest, cheapest one bedroom apartments you will find. It's a block off St Charles and there's a bunch of restaurants around within walking distance. You could walk to fresh market if 0.8 miles isn't too much for you. The Tulane shuttle stops there and runs downtown to the med school and uptown to the undergrad campus, and to the mall in Metairie and whole foods on the weekend, so it's a good choice if you have no car. If you have a car, gated parking is like $70 a month.
 
Anyone who interviewed early Feb hear back yet? I interviewed 2/10 and haven't heard anything. I'm going nuts.
 
Missorleans said:
It's great. I lived there last year. Would have stayed if they allowed pets. It's fairly quiet, and probably the nicest, cheapest one bedroom apartments you will find. It's a block off St Charles and there's a bunch of restaurants around within walking distance. You could walk to fresh market if 0.8 miles isn't too much for you. The Tulane shuttle stops there and runs downtown to the med school and uptown to the undergrad campus, and to the mall in Metairie and whole foods on the weekend, so it's a good choice if you have no car. If you have a car, gated parking is like $70 a month.
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Thanks for the info! On their website, it looks like they don't allow students to share the larger apartments. Am I reading that wrong? I think I want a roomie until I settle in to my new budget and have made a few friends in town. 🙂
 
That is bizzare. I wasn't aware of this rule, but I lived by myself and now that I think about it, so did my classmates who lived there. I would email Jeff, the manager, if his email is on the website, and ask if students are really not allowed to share apartments.
 
Soooo, a few options:

1. No acceptances in the past couple of weeks
2. No SDNers got acceptances
3. People are being stingy with sharing good news!

Anyone? Anyone?
 
ritz2367 said:
Soooo, a few options:

1. No acceptances in the past couple of weeks
2. No SDNers got acceptances
3. People are being stingy with sharing good news!

Anyone? Anyone?
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4. Everyone in New Orleans, including the admission committee, was busy celebrating Mardi Gras two weeks ago and spent last week shaking off the hangover. You can't ever be in a hurry around here, especially this time of year. The interview season is winding down though, so there probably aren't going to be that many acceptances handed out from now on.
 
Missorleans said:
That is bizzare. I wasn't aware of this rule, but I lived by myself and now that I think about it, so did my classmates who lived there. I would email Jeff, the manager, if his email is on the website, and ask if students are really not allowed to share apartments.
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Thanks! 🙂
 
I apologize if this has already been addressed, but is Tulane TRUE pass/fail the first two years? Or is it like pass/fail/honors/etc?
 
it is true pass/fail. All it counts for is one sentence in your deans letter in which your pre-clinical academic performance is placed into a quartile. However, they don't even actually say which quartile you're in, they give some vague descriptor like "strong," "excellent," or "good" to define their quartiles.
I think it might also factor into making the cutoff for selection to AOA somehow, but I think it's mostly clinical year stuff that goes into that.
Clinical years are honors/high pass/pass/fail.
 
Missorleans said:
it is true pass/fail. All it counts for is one sentence in your deans letter in which your pre-clinical academic performance is placed into a quartile. However, they don't even actually say which quartile you're in, they give some vague descriptor like "strong," "excellent," or "good" to define their quartiles.
I think it might also factor into making the cutoff for selection to AOA somehow, but I think it's mostly clinical year stuff that goes into that.
Clinical years are honors/high pass/pass/fail.
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Thanks! I've heard true pass/fail is very important for a pleasant atmosphere. Do you think it has helped a lot? Do you feel like there is much competition between classmates rather than camaraderie?
 
Also Missorleans- after looking at your MDApps, I noticed you are a Louisiana native. May I ask why you chose to attend Tulane over LSU?
 
neuronerd24 said:
Also Missorleans- after looking at your MDApps, I noticed you are a Louisiana native. May I ask why you chose to attend Tulane over LSU?
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I wanted to go to school with a bunch of people who were not all from Louisiana. Their interview day rubbed me the wrong way, I had an interviewer who was a community member on the admissions board who was like, on a power trip. She kept asking difficult questions and then was continually cutting me off before I could finish my answer. Then on the tour I asked the student guides if they use standardized patients and they said no, which is bizarre and probably untrue. LSU I think still uses a letter grading scheme. Ultimately I did not like the vibe I got from it. Shreveport was another story, I did like LSU Shreveport and felt it was a lot more relaxed. I decided I would rather go to Tulane and live in New Orleans and get an MPH at the same time as the MD.
 
neuronerd24 said:
Thanks! I've heard true pass/fail is very important for a pleasant atmosphere. Do you think it has helped a lot? Do you feel like there is much competition between classmates rather than camaraderie?
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I think it helps a lot, there is a lot of camaraderie, people always post stuff they find helpful on the fb page and give everyone a heads up when something is due the next day. There's a few gunners, as there are everywhere, but overall I think the pass/fail grading scheme makes everyone less inclined to freak out about exams and instead just say "30%".
 
Thanks for all the input! One more thing- someone in another thread stated that they "have heard that between Tulane and LSU there are so many med students/residents in the city that there are often not enough opportunities for hands-on learning in some rotations." Have you found this to be true?
 
neuronerd24 said:
Thanks for all the input! One more thing- someone in another thread stated that they "have heard that between Tulane and LSU there are so many med students/residents in the city that there are often not enough opportunities for hands-on learning in some rotations." Have you found this to be true?
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I'm still a first year, but I seriously doubt it. I've never heard any of the 4th years complain about a shortage of experience. The family practice residents I've talked with said that as Tulane students, they were highly sought after when they went looking for residency spots, because program directors knew they were trained well. Tulane has their own hospital, and there are plenty more in the city. There's also a new VA hospital being built; it'll probably be done in time for your class to rotate there. If you really want lots of hands-on experience, you can do all your core rotations in Baton Rouge or a few smaller cities in Louisiana, where you will have almost no competition from other med students, sometimes to the point where you're the only med student in the hospital.
 
neuronerd24 said:
Thanks for all the input! One more thing- someone in another thread stated that they "have heard that between Tulane and LSU there are so many med students/residents in the city that there are often not enough opportunities for hands-on learning in some rotations." Have you found this to be true?
Click to expand...

Haven't started rotations yet, so I can't say for sure, but that's definitely not a problem with family med as you will surely be sent out if the city. Haven't heard any 3rd or 4th years complaining about this either. Tulane has several hospitals all around the city that students rotate at. As far as I know, no LSU students rotate at Tulane hospitals. But we do rotate at LSU's hospital.
 
Does anyone know anything about wait list movement for Tulane this year?
 
sstackhouse said:
@Missorleans do you know tulanes reputation in terms of academic medicine?
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You mean the reputation of our faculty, or for tulane graduates going into academic medicine?

From what I've heard at the residency match panels, Tulane has a good reputation, the name carries weight. If you were asking about either of those options above, I don't know.
 
For anyone else waiting to hear back post-interview, the school seems to be a little behind. I interviewed Feb 10 and called yesterday to ask about my status. They said Dean Beckman, who I interviewed with, still has my file and anticipates she will have a decision by early next week. That's about a 6 week turnaround. Just wanted to bring a little peace of mind to other students eagerly waiting to hear back!
 
Can any current students comment on what the day to day schedule is like for first and second years? Also, when can you start getting involved in the student run clinics? Thanks!
 
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