TCOM vs Tulane

[pbh2024]

TCOM
Pros

• TX resident so lower COA (59K)
• closer to home (fort worth) and family
• lower cost of living
• already familiar with the area
• solid 2025 match results, possibly comparable to mid-tier MD schools, so competitive fields aren’t off the table

Cons

• not interested in OMM
• double board exams for competitive specialities
• still some DO bias, even in primary care fields (not just the competitive ones)

Tulane
Pros

• well-known school with a good reputation
• md/mph option with a focus in tropical medicine (something i’m interested in)
• nola is a fun city so good for work/life balance?
• no OMM
• stronger research and more extracurriculars
• better match results

Cons

• OOS so higher COA (100K+ 😭)
• love nola, but concerned about traffic and overall chaos/noise of the city. also city may be more expensive to live in.
• slightly lower 2024 step 1 scores than national… do y’all have a reason for this?

Summary: i’m unsure about my future specialty, so i’m not solely focused on primary care. i’m leaning more towards tulane because of my interests in tropical medicine and public health — they have a strong pbh program so great pbh research opportunities. however, higher COA is such a huge turn off and i’m worried about regretting it when i’m paying it off in the future. i’m really torn because tcom is also a solid school, but tulane offers better opportunities, and i’ll avoid the double board exams. pls help 🥹

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[imoka]

I also had to decide between TCOM and an expensive MD school. Everybody I spoke to about this said to go MD, including successful TCOM students, UNLESS you are 100% set on going primary care.