Tufts Med Students: Happy?

[2009doc]

hi, i will most likely be attending TUSM in September and just want some insight...are you happy? it seems that alot of people are negative about tufts and i'm really not sure why. i know that most students come in off the waitlist- does that mean the majority of your class is thrilled to have gotten in, or bitter that they're not somewhere else? i've heard conflicting things about tufts med students. i want to be surrounded by excited enthusiastic classmates, not by people who really wish they were somewhere else. what's the class vibe? thanks.

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[WVmed]

i want to be surrounded by excited enthusiastic classmates, not by people who really wish they were somewhere else. what's the class vibe?

That's just downright way too much to ask of your fellow man. I couldn't care less how my classmates act when they think about their school. In fact, I'm the exact opposite of what you would want in a classmate: quiet, up and down mood, and not overly outgoing. I just don't like those chipper club-met people that join 6,000 activities in college and always want to do more and show they are the "best." come on, we all die alone. what are you people trying to prove?

 

[Sheral]

hi, i will most likely be attending TUSM in September and just want some insight...are you happy? it seems that alot of people are negative about tufts and i'm really not sure why. i know that most students come in off the waitlist- does that mean the majority of your class is thrilled to have gotten in, or bitter that they're not somewhere else? i've heard conflicting things about tufts med students. i want to be surrounded by excited enthusiastic classmates, not by people who really wish they were somewhere else. what's the class vibe? thanks.

You Tufts ppl better be happy, you're living in the best city in the world, IMHO. 😀

 

[Suzanne Hutton]

Hi:

I am deciding on whether to go to Tufts or McGill(Montreal) for my premed (undergrad). Tufts is $ 44,000 a year and McGill is $ 21,000 per yr. Both have good reputations.

However some folks have told me that iit is very hard to get into a US medical school if I have a degree from a Canadian University. Is this true?

Also will it be hard for a US citizen to get into a Canadian medical school?

Your feedback would be greatly appreciated as money is an issue.

Suzanne H.

 

[AJM]

I've worked with a few 3rd and 4th year Tufts med students, and they seem to be happy. They are friendly, very enthusiastic, and more hard-working and conscientious than med students from other schools that I have worked with. Of course, I never asked them if they wished they went to a different school 🙂 , but I got the impression that they were happy where they were.

 

[2009doc]

I've worked with a few 3rd and 4th year Tufts med students, and they seem to be happy. They are friendly, very enthusiastic, and more hard-working and conscientious than med students from other schools that I have worked with. Of course, I never asked them if they wished they went to a different school 🙂 , but I got the impression that they were happy where they were.

thanks. that's encouraging!

 

[ears]

I'm finishing at Tufts this spring.

I agree that the negativity about Tufts is pretty unwarranted. The school has a number of strengths: it does pretty well at emphasizing humanistic aspects without losing the science. The many teaching hospitals (lots of community-hospital-plus type things around Boston) are almost all great. The pre-clinical curriculum is good, and there's serious continuous effort to integrate it all, and make a coherent structure out of it. There's a serious effort to move more and more clinical education into the first two years (and there might be an impending revolution on that front). They're also in the midst of some great physical improvements; the major lecture hall is in a newly built building; they recently re-did the library; and they're working now on student lounge areas. And then there's Boston. It's not to everyone's taste, but it's a great place to live, especially as a student.

The major downsides? The school isn't in a very nice area (Boston's Chinatown). The major teaching hosptial (New England Medical Center, or NEMC) is constantly having financial troubles as it struggles to find its identity in the array of Boston teaching hospitals. (Though as I said, lots of time is not at NEMC but at surrounding hospitals, which tend to be incredibly good.) And then there's the big downside: the cost. TUSM is just way too expensive.

Bottom line: Basically, it's a good, strong medical school in Boston. Most med students are happy (for med students). But the cost is a huge issue; if your major financing for med school is debt, and you have another, cheaper option that's even reasonable, I'd recommend the alternative.

 

[Gulliver]

hi, i will most likely be attending TUSM in September and just want some insight...are you happy? it seems that alot of people are negative about tufts and i'm really not sure why. i know that most students come in off the waitlist- does that mean the majority of your class is thrilled to have gotten in, or bitter that they're not somewhere else? i've heard conflicting things about tufts med students. i want to be surrounded by excited enthusiastic classmates, not by people who really wish they were somewhere else. what's the class vibe? thanks.

Medstudents are not "happy". Period. Don't kid yourself.

 

[Acherona]

Hi:

I am deciding on whether to go to Tufts or McGill(Montreal) for my premed (undergrad). Tufts is $ 44,000 a year and McGill is $ 21,000 per yr. Both have good reputations.

However some folks have told me that iit is very hard to get into a US medical school if I have a degree from a Canadian University. Is this true?

Also will it be hard for a US citizen to get into a Canadian medical school?

Your feedback would be greatly appreciated as money is an issue.

Suzanne H.

That's not true. What matters for med school admission is being a US citizen. There is absolutely no disadvantage going to McGill over Tufts in terms of medical school. If you are really concerned about this why don't you contact the admissions office and ask them how many premed American students get into US schools. But they are both great schools. If money is an issue, go with McGill. But Tufts, like most private american colleges, will probably baby you more. McGill is of course a big state funded university and there is a lot of red tape so you'll have to make your own way. Also my impression was that there was less grade inflation because they didn't have the education-is-a-consumer-item mentality there. Most importantly though, remember that the drinking age in Canada is 18 👍

 

[phoenixsupra]

Medstudents are not "happy". Period. Don't kid yourself.

Well, that's not exactly productive, but there is some truth in it.

 

[irlandesa]

another Tufts student here, matched in IM..

IMO:
Pros: located in a beautiful city with a huge focus on education, great variety of hospitals, including a major affiliate in Western Mass (Baystate, a very nice happy place) and several places where you get to work with faculty, residents, and students from Harvard, BU, and UMass (i.e. Lahey, Faulkner, NWH, Metrowest). Very strong nationwide reputation and great residency placements all around.

Cons: as ears mentioned, NEMC has its share of problems, and the teaching/attitudes in certain departments there really leave a LOT to be desired. The Ob/Gyn course director and residents there are really pieces of work, to put it nicely. I was willing to risk going unmatched rather than rank NEMC for residency, though fortunately, that turned out not to be an issue. The administration is also notoriously unhelpful and unfriendly to many students on issues like schedule changes and ANY kind of academic difficulty, and don't go to anyone in the OSA who doesn't have an MD for advice on residency applications unless you want your schedule totally ****ed up. Lots of people really get obsessed with grades and competition and prestige too, which can be hard to take, but not everyone is like that.
The cost bites too, I totally agree with Tom Slavin that you should go to your state school if you get in. It's hard to say whether people as a whole are happy here as many of my original classmates are taking the 5-yr route to do research, have babies, etc and I don't keep track of them that well.. Personally, I will miss living in Boston next year as I love the city, but am very happy to be moving on to a new med school system for residency. Good luck!

 

[Pinesinger]

I have a very good friend who is an MSII at TUSM, she seems to like the school and is happy with her program, but as mentioned by other posters, feels the cost is a huge burden. Her tuition alone is more than the total cost of my loans for tuition and living expenses.

As far as Tufts undergrad, a lot of students who go there didn't consider Tufts a first choice, and there seems to be a lot of bitterness about not getting into "better" schools. Clearly it is a good school and a great city, but I would recommend visiting the school for a weekend and staying with students before you make up your mind about your future classmates.