Tufts vs Penn

[bluejay1876]

I know a lot about each school's program, but what was the deciding factor for people who chose each school? I really loved each school and am trying to figure out how to decide between the two.

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[WildZoo]

@PippyPony for Tufts

@Skimble @raf2769 @staff_wielder for Penn


Sorry if you've already been PM'd or conversed elsewhere

 

[Skimble]

For me, penn was my top choice because I’m a single parent and I live with my parents (rent free) and penn is a commutable distance for me. I do like the school for the most part. It’s not perfect, but no school is. They do genuinely want you to succeed, and they will help you if you are struggling, or at least try to point you in the right direction. I may not have passed first year if I went to a different school, but now I’m about to graduate, so I’m glad they gave me a chance.

 

[PippyPony]

@PippyPony for Tufts

I can't help too much with why I decided on Tufts vs. elsewhere...I only applied to Tufts

But in terms of why I applied in the first place:
- Grew up in New England
- Did the AVM program here before starting my post bac classes
- New England small college feel
- Friendliness to non-traditional applicants
- Boston area offered the best job prospects for my spouse

 

[raf2769]

Hello Hello!
I'm from New Jersey, so Penn was closest to home for me. Both of my parents grew up in Philly, so I have a lot of family around here too, which has been nice. My fiance also moved to the city with me once he finished grad school, and was able to find a career that will let him keep his job when we move away, so it was a great choice for him too. I fell in love with the school the day I interviewed, the students were so welcoming and talked so highly about their experiences here. Since being here, I have to say it hasn't really disappointed. I love my class and I'm really looking forward to starting clinics with them in 2 months! Like Skimble said, it's not perfect, but neither is any other school. All in all, I'm really happy with my choice to come here

 

[Skimble]

@raf2769 brings up a great point. Penn is pretty open about picking students based on their personality. Yes, some people are great at faking it during an interview, but my class is my family and we all helped each other all through vet school. We shared notes, old exams (this is a known thing facilitated by the school, not cheating), quizlets, study guides, etc. There is a strong sense of community and Penn, and it's something they work hard to encourage in students.

 

[staff_wielder]

Congrats on having the ability to choose between two great schools. I don't think you can go wrong with either one speaking from my own 2c and having friends who have graduated from both schools.

In the end I was down to Colorado, Tufts, and Penn. I loved Tufts and Colorado for their outdoor spaces (thinking about my Labrador child) but I got a very strong sense of community feel at all three. I wasn't super keen about city living or ivy league folks, but Penn's tuition offer beat Colorado by 100k and Tufts came in the middle of the two. That's stupid money for me personally (but maybe not for you), so I chose Penn. I was torn between Penn and Tufts but thankfully my decision was made a lot easier.

The rest of it, I would make work, but in the end, I'm glad I chose Penn -- I like being close to my mom and sister (only family I have left), and I enjoy living close to civilization, not driving to class, and being only a couple minutes walk from home to let my dog out at lunch which honestly is of paramount importance to me. I enjoy the diversity of the class at Penn and most of the people are very nice and there is a strong sense of camaraderie and wanting to help each other out -- there is a very high number of non-trads in the class but such is the case at Tufts, I am told. The administration is highly invested in the students and in having us succeed and I love knowing I can meet with the assistant dean within 24 hours to talk about whatever I need. West Philly is urban, yes, but not crazy and there are green spaces to go to with my lab, and there are always people to have pet play dates with. I enjoy having restaurants/bars/grocery stores/airports/trains and whatever else I need close by. Sure, I miss the mountains and water but honestly, there has been no time to camp/backpack and I know it's 4 years. Did I get upset that our anatomy professors were all over 60 and only one was a clinician while the rest were paleontologists? Sure, but I was happy to see that in my year, they changed ICVM courses so that we were getting a lot more hands on experience with animals and they were in the process of introducing some new professors for anatomy. Every school will have their pluses and minuses but in the end most people make it work wherever they go.

Good luck!

 

[bluejay1876]

Thank you all so much for your responses, they have given me a lot more to think about!

To add: I am a traditional applicant, 22 years old, MD resident with interest in laboratory animal medicine. From what I know, both schools have really good opportunities with lab animal medicine and the main things that are tearing me between the two are curriculum and location.

Curriculum: I love the selectives program at Tufts, the ability to get into the clinics in your second year, and the use of teaching beagles in first year anatomy. At Penn, I have there is less hands-on exposure early in the curriculum but that you still feel ready for clinics when you get there.

Location: I am currently an undergrad at an urban school in a large city and absolutely love the city, so the idea of staying in a city (especially while I'm in my early 20s) is really exciting and a huge plus. I know Tufts is close to Boston but it would be a huge culture shock to move to a town like Grafton.

I'm just not sure which of the two to prioritize in my decision. Your comments have been extremely helpful so far though!

 

[Skimble]

Thank you all so much for your responses, they have given me a lot more to think about!

To add: I am a traditional applicant, 22 years old, MD resident with interest in laboratory animal medicine. From what I know, both schools have really good opportunities with lab animal medicine and the main things that are tearing me between the two are curriculum and location.

Curriculum: I love the selectives program at Tufts, the ability to get into the clinics in your second year, and the use of teaching beagles in first year anatomy. At Penn, I have there is less hands-on exposure early in the curriculum but that you still feel ready for clinics when you get there.

Location: I am currently an undergrad at an urban school in a large city and absolutely love the city, so the idea of staying in a city (especially while I'm in my early 20s) is really exciting and a huge plus. I know Tufts is close to Boston but it would be a huge culture shock to move to a town like Grafton.

I'm just not sure which of the two to prioritize in my decision. Your comments have been extremely helpful so far though!

Penn has a colony of research dogs and cats, and they often hire vet students to work with them. I worked with them one summer, and found it very rewarding and learned a ton. If you end up at Penn, let me know and I can help you get in contact with the person in charge of hiring students. I commuted for all 4 years, so working during the school year wouldn't have worked well for me, but the schedule is very flexible and you can switch shifts when you have an exam or things like that. The staff are all really awesome too, and you get to know some of the clinicians/researchers really well.

Edit: I wouldn't be surprised if Tufts had similar research/work opportunities.

 

[staff_wielder]

Thank you all so much for your responses, they have given me a lot more to think about!

To add: I am a traditional applicant, 22 years old, MD resident with interest in laboratory animal medicine. From what I know, both schools have really good opportunities with lab animal medicine and the main things that are tearing me between the two are curriculum and location.

Curriculum: I love the selectives program at Tufts, the ability to get into the clinics in your second year, and the use of teaching beagles in first year anatomy. At Penn, I have there is less hands-on exposure early in the curriculum but that you still feel ready for clinics when you get there.

Location: I am currently an undergrad at an urban school in a large city and absolutely love the city, so the idea of staying in a city (especially while I'm in my early 20s) is really exciting and a huge plus. I know Tufts is close to Boston but it would be a huge culture shock to move to a town like Grafton.

I'm just not sure which of the two to prioritize in my decision. Your comments have been extremely helpful so far though!

There are a couple Marylanders in my class, myself included. From DC, but before coming back to school, I was at NIH for almost 8 years. Someone else is interested in Pathology and did a summer stint at NIH with the Vets at one of the Path labs as well. The NIH-BI program which is available at both Tufts and Penn is great (a couple of us are doing that this summer) and there is no shortage of people to do that with here at Penn. I know that we don't have the combined master's program, but if I were to hop into a lab animal residency, I would hope that my prior work experience would make up for that and the no internship piece is great as well.

 

[altadama]

Thank you all so much for your responses, they have given me a lot more to think about!

To add: I am a traditional applicant, 22 years old, MD resident with interest in laboratory animal medicine. From what I know, both schools have really good opportunities with lab animal medicine and the main things that are tearing me between the two are curriculum and location.

Curriculum: I love the selectives program at Tufts, the ability to get into the clinics in your second year, and the use of teaching beagles in first year anatomy. At Penn, I have there is less hands-on exposure early in the curriculum but that you still feel ready for clinics when you get there.

Location: I am currently an undergrad at an urban school in a large city and absolutely love the city, so the idea of staying in a city (especially while I'm in my early 20s) is really exciting and a huge plus. I know Tufts is close to Boston but it would be a huge culture shock to move to a town like Grafton.

I'm just not sure which of the two to prioritize in my decision. Your comments have been extremely helpful so far though!

Hey! I'm at Penn and interested in lab animal so I can sort of weigh in on the lab animal side a little bit. I didn't apply to Tufts though so definitely take what I say with a grain of salt.

Penn does have a genetic research colony of both dogs and cats...I work in the cat colony and can vouch that the hours are manageable and fairly flexible (generally 2-4 hours once a week and then 4 weekend days per semester. And the weekend days its generally 4 hours max). Its also paid experience and while the pay is minimal, every tiny bit helps for me personally. And its also a good way to get physical exam practice (generally there are 1-2 physical exams to do on each shift) and get to be more hands on. I chose cats because I previously worked a lot with dogs in research and wanted a change (also cats are quieter). Definitely discovered that I would recommend the dogs, but that's just personal preference. Haha
Also, from what I've seen, if you show interest a lot of the lab animal staff here are super supportive. Hard to get a hold of sometimes because they're super busy, but truly nice and helpful when you finally do talk to them!

In terms of hands on experience, while there may be less in the curriculum, there are definitely opportunities in both lab animal and whatever else you feel like exploring through electives and wet labs. I've done wet labs with food animal, equine, lab animal, and wildlife that were all great experiences. There were also opportunities to volunteer at a wildlife clinics on weekends for an elective...also highly recommend doing that! Its definitely doable to get some hands on experience if its something you value.

I personally loathe cities so I can't help you there, but a lot of people seem to really enjoy it. Haha My biggest deciding factor for Penn in terms of location was that its not terribly far from home and I can go home for a long weekend if I want.

Hope some of that is helpful and definitely feel free to PM me if you want to.