tulane grads: is it worth it?

[idealist]

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hi, im trying to decide whether to go to tulane med or one of my state schools (suny downstate or buffalo). many have told me to go with my gut/heart, and that would definitely bring me to tulane. i was very inspired by the administration and students when i interviewed at baylor, and i think this could be a very unique and enriching med school experience for me. of course, tuition is twice as expensive than at my state schools, but this was the case for undergrad as well, and i wouldn't trade my expensive private undergrad experience at wellesley for anything. but i dont want to be naive and idealistic about tulane and nola, and some have said that the administration can be deceptive/manipulative. others have said that the undergraduate medical students can be naive, especially since they havent started to feel their debt yet. so i wonder what you older students think: was your tulane med school experience worth it, and do you have any thoughts about going to tulane now (post-hurricane)? should i go with my gut (of course i have visited nola and no matter how much info i gather, i cant seem to know for sure that the tulane med experience will be as good or better than it used to be). right now, im all about psychiatry, so any comments in terms of that specific residency and tulane would be greatly appreciated as well.

thank yoU!

 

[Puttmania]

I'm a Tulane 4th year going into a surgery subspeciality. I realize it is more expensive than most places, but I loved it and am glad I skipped my state school. I've never known the admin to manipulative, but I interact with them very little.

The thing I see as a problem is Tulane's psych dept. I think it is quite weak and seems to always be undergoing changes. Pre-Katrina you could see some great pathology at Charity hospital in their inpatient psych ward, but after the storm I'm not sure what's available.

In other depts, I can't say enough good things. Medicine is an example of a program that has really flourished in the past few years and is going strong after the storm.

 

[idealist]

thanks for your comments. should i be worried about tulane's psych dept? there seem to be a fair # of students who come out with good psych residencies still. and hows their neuro dept because i'd think those would be fairly connected?

thanks again.

 

[Puttmania]

I don't think there is reason to worry about Tulane's psych dept as a student. I'm not sure I would go there for a residency, well in fact, I know I wouldn't. I think Tulane students come out with great training and match very well. Psych is not the most competetive field, so that makes things a bit easier. I think Tulane prepares people well for the boards and performing on the wards, which are important when it comes to matching. The psych dept. is friendly and if you let them know you are interested you can get some great letters. The problem is that Tulane's psych residents are not the best around and the program is poor at inspiring a lot of people into psych. I had a great rotation and very much enjoyed it, however.

The neuro dept is good, but small. I have friends who have matched into great neuro spots.

I think the loans issue is big one, but all of my friends (and many are residents) are happy with their Tulane experience. A friend, who is a chief ENT resident at MUSC, wouldn't trade it for any school.

I think the upcoming year is going to be a bit hairy due to the hurricane, but the school is going to bounce back quickly and I don't see it being an issue by the time you are a third year (first and second years will be fine starting this year, but hospital space is limited at the time being).

I'm PMing to avoid publicly posting bad stuff about Tulane.

 

[Puttmania]

Or I guess I'm not PMing. I'm a message board master.

 

[DrNick2006]

Save you money for god's sake. It's not going to make a difference in the end to stay at the state school. You will meet new people, make new friends, get good training and oppertunities at both, the extra loot doesn't get you anything. Are your preceptions based on one day worth 60 K ?

 

[DrNick2006]

I love my medical school, that guy loves his, the tulane guys love their's. You will like the place you go if you like being in medical school. Psych is so uncompetitive that you can get a great residency anywhere by going to your state school.

 

[Samoa]

I love my medical school, that guy loves his, the tulane guys love their's. You will like the place you go if you like being in medical school. Psych is so uncompetitive that you can get a great residency anywhere by going to your state school.

While it's true you can go anywhere and get a good residency out of it, you are much more likely to do well at a school where you're happy. And I completely disagree with the statement that liking med school in general means you will be happy at any school. I love being at Tulane, but I can definitely think of places where I'd have hated med school. Happiness is entirely a function of the fit between you and a particular school, and there certainly are people who were unhappy at Tulane, who'd have been happier elsewhere. I'm not one of them, I'm quite thankful now that I didn't have a choice such as yours, because I'm sure I would have chosen less debt over my gut feelings.

 

[peptidoglycan]

It was very worth it -- an experience I could never have had at my state school. I met my husband in med school, so I have double the Tulane debt. But we'll both be doctors and I know we'll have no problem paying it off. And with interest rates so low, we'll happily pay it off over the full 30 years.

For the record, my roommate chose the cut-rate state school and spent everyday of med school wishing she was with me at Tulane. I know it's an isolated anecdote, but the point is that not everyone loves her med school.

 

[fourthyearmed]

I think the important thing to check into is how many of the physicians are left and how good is the school right now? I've heard a lot of faculty have moved away and they've lost Charity hospital. I'm not against Tulane at all, I considered it very strongly for both med school and residency pre-Katrina. And I'm sure it will build itself back soon. I just throwing this out since don't want you to choose a school that may not be at it's prime right now if money is such a concern.

 

[StudentDoc327]

I think the important thing to check into is how many of the physicians are left and how good is the school right now? I've heard a lot of faculty have moved away and they've lost Charity hospital. I'm not against Tulane at all, I considered it very strongly for both med school and residency pre-Katrina. And I'm sure it will build itself back soon. I just throwing this out since don't want you to choose a school that may not be at it's prime right now if money is such a concern.

^^^ yep. Dont rely on older Tulane grads opinions. Tulane may not be the same in the time period you will be there. And the excellent clinical training attributed by Charity is no more... at least for the next 2-4 years. Save your money. If Katrina didnt happen, then I would see why you had a dillema, but there really is no reason to go to a school undergoing major reconstruction of there whole program unless that is the only one you can get into... now it may be just fine but you are rolling the dice with the next 4 yrs of your life here

(im a 4rth year at a TX school, and ive made friends with a lot of current Tulane students because they still havent all been invited back yet)

 

[Samoa]

If I were starting out as a 1st year next year, I would come to Tulane. I'm a 3rd year, and my class has probably had the worst experience that any class will have because of the hurricane. And clinically, it's still equal to or better than what you'd get elsewhere.

That's probably the thing that surprised me most during this past year. It's actually the lack of hospital resources which makes Tulane such a good clinical school. It forces clinicians to rely on exam skills, knowledge base and critical thinking. And those are exactly the things that med students need to be learning, and which provide a good foundation for residency.

IMHO, all the technology and resources available at other places actually interferes with the development of good diagnostic skills. For example, I've encountered a patient at another institution with an easily auscultated heart murmur they've had since childhood, but whose charts repeatedly document a normal cardiac rhythm on exams by both students and residents. That kind of thing doesn't happen at Tulane. In fact, I'm not even sure you can get to 3rd year without at least trying to hear one, even if your ears can't identify it. And that's only one example of many.

So I guess what I'm saying is, the educational needs of students are different from those of residents, and Tulane is still a great place to be a med student.

And to answer the statement above about how not all students have been "invited" back: every 3rd year student who wanted to come back early and do rotations in New Orleans has been allowed to do so. Obviously the 1st and 2nd year classes need to be together in a single location, and it would be too big a disruption to make everybody pick up and return to NOLA in the middle of the semester. But that's the only reason they're still there.

 

[IBleedGreen]

^^^ yep. Dont rely on older Tulane grads opinions. Tulane may not be the same in the time period you will be there. And the excellent clinical training attributed by Charity is no more... at least for the next 2-4 years. Save your money. If Katrina didnt happen, then I would see why you had a dillema, but there really is no reason to go to a school undergoing major reconstruction of there whole program unless that is the only one you can get into... now it may be just fine but you are rolling the dice with the next 4 yrs of your life here

(im a 4rth year at a TX school, and ive made friends with a lot of current Tulane students because they still havent all been invited back yet)

Eh, I'd say take everyone's advice with a huge grain of salt. Us Tulane students love our school. And the entire school isn't undergoing major reconstruction. Yes, the rotations for 3rd and 4th year are being shuffled around to accomodate the new post-Katrina health system, but by the time you are a 3rd year that will all be worked out. If anything, there is an amazing opportunity now in New Orleans to experience the rebirth of the city and be a part of its development. The previous poster is right though, nothing is certain. I'm just an optimist who has faith in Tulane.

One of my classmates put it best: just like money is not a good reason to go into medicine, it's also not a great reason to choose your medical school. Whatever you end up paying, it's an investment in your future earning potential. I personally would not have been happy at my state school, but to each his (or her) own.

 

[konverse]

hi, im trying to decide whether to go to tulane med or one of my state schools (suny downstate or buffalo). many have told me to go with my gut/heart, and that would definitely bring me to tulane. i was very inspired by the administration and students when i interviewed at baylor, and i think this could be a very unique and enriching med school experience for me. of course, tuition is twice as expensive than at my state schools, but this was the case for undergrad as well, and i wouldn't trade my expensive private undergrad experience at wellesley for anything. but i dont want to be naive and idealistic about tulane and nola, and some have said that the administration can be deceptive/manipulative. others have said that the undergraduate medical students can be naive, especially since they havent started to feel their debt yet. so i wonder what you older students think: was your tulane med school experience worth it, and do you have any thoughts about going to tulane now (post-hurricane)? should i go with my gut (of course i have visited nola and no matter how much info i gather, i cant seem to know for sure that the tulane med experience will be as good or better than it used to be). right now, im all about psychiatry, so any comments in terms of that specific residency and tulane would be greatly appreciated as well.

thank yoU!

if i may say one thing -- and i am in no way any sort of an expert. but...
stick with downstate. or buffalo.
reason being is that even if tulane is the med school it's cut out to be, there appears to be at present a big cloud of *unknown* hanging over it...
no one can predict the future obviously. but i like to go into situations where i have at least a better idea of what is happening/will happen. with major variables such as weather, closing of hospitals and faculty movement being at play here, it's a tough call...

 

[person2004]

I wouldn't be worried about the quality of training at Tulane. You'll be learning from books for the next 2 years anyway. This summer all the students are heading back to New Orleans, so there are already adequate training facilities. They're not all the same locations as before, but what do you care about address? I actually thought it was pretty cool to be in the old Charity building, but doing psych at DePaul or Southeastern Louisiana State Hospital or wherever will be good too. The only rotations I did at Charity were psych, EM, and ENT, so not much of what I did was lost.

The other thing is, if you do forensic or child psych, your employer may pay your student loans for you. There is talk of this happening nationally for child psych, and I've seen lots of corrections/forensic psych jobs that pay your debt too. I don't know what you are going to do and you probably don't either, but debt may not be something to worry about.

If you go to SUNY, I'm sure that'd be fine. If you go to Tulane, you'll be fine. Just do what you want. It's win - win.

 

[Tinsley]

I would agree with Nick. Go with your state school. If you were debating your state school and Harvard/WashU/UCSF and maybe on a couple of others, I would say that the extra cost would be worth it (and then even then I would be doubtful). I'm sure that Tulane's training is good and I absolutely do not mean to knock it but it simply does not have the name to justify paying extra for. Also, if you want to go to a residency in NY or anywhere in the northeast, it's better to stay up there. there is some amount of regional bias in residency selection.

 

[Antigone]

Idealist, I definitely agree with Tinsley re: some regional bias in applying to psych, after having just gone though the match (although of course that isn't everything). Going to med school where you think you want to practice can also help you make a more informed decision in choosing a residency program, enable you to make valuable connections, etc. Of course, state schools are way less expensive and it will be so nice not having a huge debt--trust me! On the other hand, it may be nice to try a new area, you can always do away rotations, and from the tone of your post you seem to think the lower cost of the state school may not be enough to make you happy.

I hear Downstate's psych department isn't the best either. However, I know a lot of Downstate students are inspired to go into psych nonetheless.

I would try to address this question to students at Buffalo or Downstate as well to get their opinions, but in the end it's up to your gut feeling and, with regard to Tulane, the amount of uncertainty that is tolerable to you. Good luck!

 

[fourthyear]

I'm a Tulane grad, in the middle of residency now. I didn't have an acceptance to my state school, so I had an easy decision to go to Tulane...but it was a huge loan investment that I do worry about sometimes. I don't know if I can answer for you if it would be worth it to spend so much more than your state school if you would be happy also at your state school.

I can tell you I loved my time at Tulane, and so did just about all of my classmates. It was an awesome place to go to school - everyone was just happy there, I don't know how to explain it. It was a fun city, a school where they encouraged you to be involved in volunteer activities, other extracurriculars - way more outside-school involvement in the commuity than I've seen or heard of during residency or talking to other residents about their med school experience. Academics are excellent, and the school has a well-known name. I'm pretty sure it helped in matching to my residency that I went to a well-respected med school.

The clinical experiences were great at Charity, and Tuland and LSU will have to adjust the other facilities ot accomodate those patients as everyone moves back to New Orleans - you will still get a great experience, because it unfortunately will still be a poor city with lots of people in need of medical care but unable to pay for it - this is what makes new orleans such a good place to train. In places that serve indigent patient populations, students get to do more, take a more active role in patient care, and feel like they are really helping people. Like another poster said, lots of rotations were at hospitals other than Charity - Tulane hosp, Touro, Oschner, DePaul, and other facilites which are still there, up and running again already.

If you have a good feel about Tulane, a better feel than you do about going to your state school, don't listen to they nay-sayers above who don't know anything about the school - go there, have a good time, get a great education, and worry about the loans later. Tulane is one of the oldest med schools in the South, it will stay strong.