2018-2019 Tulane University

Discover Your Odds of Getting into Medical School
This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
Did anyone get a post-II rejection? I am now worrying that most of these waitlists are rejections in disguise 🙁
 
Last edited:
rejected pre-interview. submitted 9/13, under review 10/22.

first i’ve heard back from any school this cycle. as a service-oriented applicant with a 75 LM – this hurts a bit.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
sleeper_service said:
rejected pre-interview. submitted 9/13, under review 10/22.

first i’ve heard back from any school this cycle. as a service-oriented applicant with a 75 LM – this hurts a bit.
Click to expand...
I will say that at my interivew, they said they’re not just looking for service oriented applicants but really for those that have a lot of experience with different cultures/types of people especially underserved populations.
 
medschoolzombie said:
I will say that at my interivew, they said they’re not just looking for service oriented applicants but really for those that have a lot of experience with different cultures/types of people especially underserved populations.
Click to expand...

If this is true, this gives me a tiny bit of hope of getting off the "on hold" status...
 
For those of you who have Tulane as your first choice, what makes it your top choice? Is it mostly the location?
 
SnP500 said:
For those of you who have Tulane as your first choice, what makes it your top choice? Is it mostly the location?
Click to expand...

-Location that also has a unique population
- super support from the admin that’s also very responsive to what students need/want
- true p/f curriculum
- no one there isn’t excited to be there and the whole day is spent talking about how collaborative it is
- nice weather most days
 
medschoolzombie said:
I will say that at my interivew, they said they’re not just looking for service oriented applicants but really for those that have a lot of experience with different cultures/types of people especially underserved populations.
Click to expand...

If this were true, I wouldn't have been placed on hold 🙁. Jk, but for real though.
 
SnP500 said:
For those of you who have Tulane as your first choice, what makes it your top choice? Is it mostly the location?
Click to expand...
Adding on to @medschoolzombie
  • Access to live jazz music and swing dancing any day of the week. Test on Wednesday? Can literally dance of the stress that same night. Thanks to those particular hobbies, I will have a life outside of medicine and be able to make friends with other New Orleans residents.
  • Teaching kitchen sounds like an exciting way to explore a new hobby, develop a new skill, and share that skill with a community. Mutual beneficence.
  • I've spoken with leaders of a couple of NGOs in New Orleans for a school project, so I'm somewhat privy to the impact of Katrina
  • I'm interested in psychiatry, and people in New Orleans are still suffering from PTSD, homelessness, and other issues related to mental health as a result of Katrina. No shortage of patients that need help.
  • No classes during Mardi Gras
  • My friends outside of medicine will visit me. Most people are down to visit New Orleans for a fun weekend!
  • I have an interest in international health, specifically in mental health epidemiology, mental health access, drug pricing for psychopharmaceuticals, and cross-cultural psychiatry. Although Tulane's global health opportunities focus on tropical medicine, I am sure that there is at least some Tulane faculty member that has a connection to the World Health Organization. Through the WHO, I can probably find an opportunity to do research in a country that I'm interested in.
  • Also interested in forensic psychiatry, and Tulane has a forensic psychiatry program, so it'd probably be a good place to get started on research there, too
  • DeBakey Scholars Program offers mentored research opportunities. Very important to me to have a mentor across all four years because connections are important in medicine, and it will be helpful to have someone bat for me when it comes time to apply for residencies
  • Students emphasized that they are social and down to have a good time. The only place that I have interviewed at where students told me that they like to have fun (without me or another applicant having to ask them), that was Yale.
  • In case of an emergency, my hometown is only a one hour flight away.
  • I could see myself living in New Orleans for residency and beyond
I think the last point is the most important...I want to live in New Orleans. I think it'd be a good fit for my mental health!

No other school has a list of pros that appeals to me as specifically as Tulane does. So it's really a no-brainer...but I'm definitely praying for a scholarship, that tuition + COL is no joke!
 
Last edited:
medschoolzombie said:
-Location that also has a unique population
- super support from the admin that’s also very responsive to what students need/want
- true p/f curriculum
- no one there isn’t excited to be there and the whole day is spent talking about how collaborative it is
- nice weather most days
Click to expand...

But it’s not a true p/f. There are internal quartile rankings during the first two years that you don’t have access to, which gets put on your dean’s letter.
 
Boola Boy said:
Adding on to @medschoolzombie
  • Access to live jazz music and swing dancing any day of the week. Test on Wednesday? Can literally dance of the stress that same night. Thanks to those particular hobbies, I will have a life outside of medicine and be able to make friends with other New Orleans residents.
  • Teaching kitchen sounds like an exciting way to explore a new hobby, develop a new skill, and share that skill with a community. Mutual beneficence.
  • I've spoken with leaders of a couple of NGOs in New Orleans for a school project, so I'm somewhat privy to the impact of Katrina
  • I'm interested in psychiatry, and people in New Orleans are still suffering from PTSD, homelessness, and other issues related to mental health as a result of Katrina. No shortage of patients that need help.
  • No classes during Mardi Gras
  • My friends outside of medicine will visit me. Most people are down to visit New Orleans for a fun weekend!
  • I have an interest in international health, specifically in mental health epidemiology, mental health access, drug pricing for psychopharmaceuticals, and cross-cultural psychiatry. Although Tulane's global health opportunities focus on tropical medicine, I am sure that there is at least some Tulane faculty member that has a connection to the World Health Organization. Through the WHO, I can probably find an opportunity to do research in a country that I'm interested in.
  • Also interested in forensic psychiatry, and Tulane has a forensic psychiatry program, so it'd probably be a good place to get started on research there, too
  • DeBakey Scholars Program offers mentored research opportunities. Very important to me to have a mentor across all four years because connections are important in medicine, and it will be helpful to have someone bat for me when it comes time to apply for residencies
  • Students emphasized that they are social and down to have a good time. The only place that I have interviewed at where students told me that they like to have fun (without me or another applicant having to ask them), that was Yale.
  • In case of an emergency, my hometown is only a one hour flight away.
  • I could see myself living in New Orleans for residency and beyond
I think the last point is the most important...I want to live in New Orleans. I think it'd be a good fit for my mental health!

No other school has a list of pros that appeals to me as specifically as Tulane does. So it's really a no-brainer...but I'm definitely praying for a scholarship, that tuition + COL is no joke!
Click to expand...
Adding onto what everybody has said, being able to have the opportunities and experience of treating patients that are diverse and seeing all the different tropical diseases is amazing in my opinion.

On my interview day, everybody was so nice and accommodating. The faculty, staff, and students I talked to were awesome. Also, I was having trouble finding the bus stop and I stepped into the front desk area of the hospital and asked a security guard where the stop was. He literally went out of his way to help me - walking me out to the bus stop that was a few minutes away.
 
SnP500 said:
But it’s not a true p/f. There are internal quartile rankings during the first two years that you don’t have access to, which gets put on your dean’s letter.
Click to expand...
All the students said that almost nobody cares about the rank and it's really not emphasized at all in your letter.
 
SnP500 said:
But it’s not a true p/f. There are internal quartile rankings during the first two years that you don’t have access to, which gets put on your dean’s letter.
Click to expand...
According to the students and the dean, it is a true p/f. They have quartile ranking but it’s apparently only for internal purposes and not reported to residencies
 
athorcommens said:
All the students said that almost nobody cares about the rank and it's really not emphasized at all in your letter.
Click to expand...

Your quartile does matter and it is reported in your letter. Pass fail is kind of a hoax. I know this from current students. Tulane also has AOA honor society for juniors and seniors, which distinguishes the top 7 juniors the top 25% of seniors who also have significant leadership experience.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
The_Notorious_Not_MD said:
Your quartile does matter and it is reported in your letter. Pass fail is kind of a hoax. I know this from current students. Tulane also has AOA honor society for juniors and seniors, which distinguishes the top 7 juniors the top 25% of seniors who also have significant leadership experience.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

The students at my day said it’s a true p/f first 2 years due to high student interest. Everyone there really emphasized that this school doesn’t want gunners/a intracompetitive environment so they’re doing everything possible to limit that.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
medschoolzombie said:
According to the students and the dean, it is a true p/f. They have quartile ranking but it’s apparently only for internal purposes and not reported to residencies
Click to expand...

Sorry I heard from students that Dean Khan does indeed include your quartile rankings in your letter for residency. Can any current students clarify this?
 
SnP500 said:
Sorry I heard from students that Dean Khan does indeed include your quartile rankings in your letter for residency. Can any current students clarify this?
Click to expand...
That’s the mba guy right? This is what the deans of admissions told us along with current M1s/M2s. They said it’s what contributed to keeping such a chill environment there. There’s no need to worry about it being reported out.
 
They told us on interview day that it's one sentence for each of the first two years of school and the emphasis is far more on years 3 and 4.

I got the feeling that if one cares a lot about rank, Tulane probably isn't the student body culture to fit that.
 
athorcommens said:
They told us on interview day that it's one sentence for each of the first two years of school and the emphasis is far more on years 3 and 4.

I got the feeling that if one cares a lot about rank, Tulane probably isn't the student body culture to fit that.
Click to expand...

At the same time, it seems like they want students to not get hung up about rank while they still report it and while they still differentiate higher performers with quartile rank and AOA.

The preclinical grades don’t count much toward the class rank; all of them are weighted the same as 1 rotation, if that’s any consolation. However, I take issue with the fact that students and faculty insisted preclinical were true p/f when it’s "almost true p/f"

Just because a student doesn’t care about rank, and just because it’s "not emphasized in the dean’s letter" doesn’t mean that residency programs are gonna gloss over it. They’ll note it and it will play a role in their decisions. Granted, class rank matters less for the most populated specialties, but if you want something competitive (derm, ortho, etc) then you really ought to closely heed your class rank.

I’d imagine that although Tulane puts less of an emphasis on stats, with tuition alone rapidly approaching 70k, students that attend will be more interested in the competitive specialties (and perhaps EM, IM sub specialties, and whatever else pays well), and will be slightly more gunner-ish, regardless of who is footing the bill.

I don’t want this to be taken as an invective toward TUSOM, and I welcome any and all counterpoints. I was very pleased with the school overall on my interview day. Part of me hopes someone can soundly prove some of this wrong.


P.S. I’m pretty sure all schools have to report a class rank of some kind. What differentiates schools is how they determine the rank. Some people loathe the systems where clinical grades determine everything, because these grades are less in their control than preclinical.
 
Does anyone know when Tulane hands out scholarships and such? Is it not until later in the spring or did some go out with initial acceptances?
 
scrapy said:
At the same time, it seems like they want students to not get hung up about rank while they still report it and while they still differentiate higher performers with quartile rank and AOA.

The preclinical grades don’t count much toward the class rank; all of them are weighted the same as 1 rotation, if that’s any consolation. However, I take issue with the fact that students and faculty insisted preclinical were true p/f when it’s "almost true p/f"

Just because a student doesn’t care about rank, and just because it’s "not emphasized in the dean’s letter" doesn’t mean that residency programs are gonna gloss over it. They’ll note it and it will play a role in their decisions. Granted, class rank matters less for the most populated specialties, but if you want something competitive (derm, ortho, etc) then you really ought to closely heed your class rank.

I’d imagine that although Tulane puts less of an emphasis on stats, with tuition alone rapidly approaching 70k, students that attend will be more interested in the competitive specialties (and perhaps EM, IM sub specialties, and whatever else pays well), and will be slightly more gunner-ish, regardless of who is footing the bill.

I don’t want this to be taken as an invective toward TUSOM, and I welcome any and all counterpoints. I was very pleased with the school overall on my interview day. Part of me hopes someone can soundly prove some of this wrong.


P.S. I’m pretty sure all schools have to report a class rank of some kind. What differentiates schools is how they determine the rank. Some people loathe the systems where clinical grades determine everything, because these grades are less in their control than preclinical.
Click to expand...

No idea how but at my interview day, the students made sure to tell us that the adminstration shuts down gunners asap

The students themselves didn't seem very concerned about rank/grades. They were all talking about how they failed a few tests and were completely fine. At least on my day, they said it's a very non competitive environment because there isn't a gunner mentality and ranks aren't reported outside the school. Whether that's really the case, who knows
 
medschoolzombie said:
No idea how but at my interview day, the students made sure to tell us that the adminstration shuts down gunners asap

The students themselves didn't seem very concerned about rank/grades. They were all talking about how they failed a few tests and were completely fine. At least on my day, they said it's a very non competitive environment because there isn't a gunner mentality and ranks aren't reported outside the school. Whether that's really the case, who knows
Click to expand...

Quartiles are on your letter. I know this from actual fourth year students applying for residency right now. Yes the students are friendly, but it’s not true that your quartile isn’t reported.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
M1/M2's were at our interview day. From what I remember, M3 and especially M4 are when students begin to care about the quartile rankings. This is probably why it didn't seem like a concern. (and it really shouldn't be a big one but just a small factor) I personally think the rankings are a good thing in case you go for something uber competitive.

If you really want to see it from another perspective, this (#4F) is a good read that covers the topic.
 
MTVL said:
Does anyone know when Tulane hands out scholarships and such? Is it not until later in the spring or did some go out with initial acceptances?
Click to expand...
I think it is later in the spring. You should have received an email regarding logging into an online portal concerning financial aid.
 
I'm not sure if it was mentioned somewhere in this thread but I was placed on hold about 8 weeks ago and I was wondering if anyone knows what my chances are at this point?
 
Freddywap said:
I'm not sure if it was mentioned somewhere in this thread but I was placed on hold about 8 weeks ago and I was wondering if anyone knows what my chances are at this point?
Click to expand...
There are so many applications...I would say just be patient at this point and then maybe send a letter of interest in December.
 
medschoolzombie said:
No idea how but at my interview day, the students made sure to tell us that the adminstration shuts down gunners asap

The students themselves didn't seem very concerned about rank/grades. They were all talking about how they failed a few tests and were completely fine. At least on my day, they said it's a very non competitive environment because there isn't a gunner mentality and ranks aren't reported outside the school. Whether that's really the case, who knows
Click to expand...

Devil's advocate: what if someone might seem like a gunner at first, but they're really just working hard or something like that? There are multiple students there now that do in fact care about where they rank. Are they gunners? Will them inquiring about their class rank damage their reputation? Also, the rank is in fact included in the quartile letter. Dean Kahn or whoever was presenting about that said that its mentioned in-passing with "good", "great", "excellent", etc, but PD's will take note of it and will likely be able to determine what your quartile actually was.

Again, I think we really should clear this up before the next batch of students goes there next year and >80% of them pay 68k or more in tuition. It's awesome that the students didn't seem overly concerned with grades. That's the vibe I got, but I think the finer details should be laid out for all to see.

Something else that ought to be brought to surface is the exam schedule. From what I remember, it's no joke, and on average there is a test once every two weeks. I realize that lots of other med schools have it like this but preferences for exam spacing is something often overlooked when choosing a school.
 
scrapy said:
Devil's advocate: what if someone might seem like a gunner at first, but they're really just working hard or something like that? There are multiple students there now that do in fact care about where they rank. Are they gunners? Will them inquiring about their class rank damage their reputation? Also, the rank is in fact included in the quartile letter. Dean Kahn or whoever was presenting about that said that its mentioned in-passing with "good", "great", "excellent", etc, but PD's will take note of it and will likely be able to determine what your quartile actually was.

Again, I think we really should clear this up before the next batch of students goes there next year and >80% of them pay 68k or more in tuition. It's awesome that the students didn't seem overly concerned with grades. That's the vibe I got, but I think the finer details should be laid out for all to see.

Something else that ought to be brought to surface is the exam schedule. From what I remember, it's no joke, and on average there is a test once every two weeks. I realize that lots of other med schools have it like this but preferences for exam spacing is something often overlooked when choosing a school.
Click to expand...


That’s true. True gunner mentality includes sabotaging others, not sharing resources etc. I think the other students can tell after a few weeks.

Where are the current students on here when you need them lol.

The exam schedule is interesting. They have shelf exams after every block which I’ve never heard of in pre clinical years. At least in anatomy they have a test every two weeks but the students liked that cause that means there’s more grades to buffer your final grade and it’s not all based on a cumulative final
 
medschoolzombie said:
That’s true. True gunner mentality includes sabotaging others, not sharing resources etc. I think the other students can tell after a few weeks.

Where are the current students on here when you need them lol.

The exam schedule is interesting. They have shelf exams after every block which I’ve never heard of in pre clinical years. At least in anatomy they have a test every two weeks but the students liked that cause that means there’s more grades to buffer your final grade and it’s not all based on a cumulative final
Click to expand...

The buffer thing is of course true, but it reminds me of my high school days where there were so many tests and I was more sleep deprived than in college...
 
scrapy said:
Devil's advocate: what if someone might seem like a gunner at first, but they're really just working hard or something like that? There are multiple students there now that do in fact care about where they rank. Are they gunners? Will them inquiring about their class rank damage their reputation? Also, the rank is in fact included in the quartile letter. Dean Kahn or whoever was presenting about that said that its mentioned in-passing with "good", "great", "excellent", etc, but PD's will take note of it and will likely be able to determine what your quartile actually was.

Again, I think we really should clear this up before the next batch of students goes there next year and >80% of them pay 68k or more in tuition. It's awesome that the students didn't seem overly concerned with grades. That's the vibe I got, but I think the finer details should be laid out for all to see.

Something else that ought to be brought to surface is the exam schedule. From what I remember, it's no joke, and on average there is a test once every two weeks. I realize that lots of other med schools have it like this but preferences for exam spacing is something often overlooked when choosing a school.
Click to expand...
In case anyone was interested, here is the exam schedule for first years for 2018-2019.

MD Program ~ Curriculum ~ Year 1 Calendar | medicine
 
medschoolzombie said:
Unless I'm looking at it wrong, there's an exam every 2 weeks but that's just about the only thing you have that week total. There's no other classes at least 2 days before that test or until the following week
Click to expand...
Yeah, exams are like every other week and they give you at least 1 free day before the exam day to study, which is nice! I honestly really like their curriculum schedule and how they space out their exams.
 
medschoolzombie said:
I will say that at my interivew, they said they’re not just looking for service oriented applicants but really for those that have a lot of experience with different cultures/types of people especially underserved populations.
Click to expand...

that was my impression as well. i've got 500+ hours volunteering with underserved/marginalized patients and it's sorta the core theme of my app, which is why i felt particularly disappointed this school wasn't interested. oh well! i'll chalk it up to a late app, i guess...
 
Last edited by a moderator:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

wysdoc
2024-2025 Tulane
19 20 21 22 23
Replies
1K
Views
282K
optic-mistic Chiasm
O
wysdoc
2023-2024 Tulane
22 23 24 25 26
Replies
1K
Views
360K
lanadelxray
lanadelxray
chilly_md
2024-2025 Boston University
21 22 23 24 25
Replies
1K
Views
275K
an2five
A
wysdoc
2024-2025 Saint Louis University
6 7 8 9 10
Replies
498
Views
111K
Sue C
Sue C
wysdoc
2024-2025 University of Washington
10 11 12 13 14
Replies
680
Views
150K
stew_md
S
Top