Tulane SOM

[jcopper]

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So I've been looking around online and on this website (sorry if theres a thread like this already i couldn't find anything) and i can't seem to find anything about tulane's reputation/ranking. I am trying to decide where I want to apply next year and New Orleans seems like an awesome place to live. Academically what other med schools is it comparable to? Was it affected by Katrina?

thanks

 

[LisaFrank]

I am a current T3 at Tulane, so my perspective is a litter different from PerrotFish. After the storm, Tulane SOM got a new dean, and slowly, his policies have been changing the school for the better. Therefore, I have seen more of the positive changes than PerrotFish, so I would have to disagree with him on a few points.

First, remember, Tulane med has not participated in US News since 2008 (I think). At that Time, Tulane was rated in the high 50's, and since then, the number of applications and mean MCAT score have increased.

Re, research: Tulane has created an MD-with-thesis track, and the med school heavily advertises it to first year med students (http://tulane.edu/som/debakey-scholars/pathways.cfm). The program was started when PerrotFish would have been a second year. That being said, Tulane does not have the research facilities of Stanford or Duke, but it does have ample research opportunities. In the years since Katrina, the med school has hired more research faculty, expanded facilities, and NIH funding is higher than it was pre-Katrina.

Re, advising: I will agree that unless you are proactive, you may not get much advising during your preclinical years. However, if you get involved with research or just get to know faculty, it's very easy to get quality advising. Again, it's about being proactive

Re, class size: I will agree Tulane has too many students. After the storm, the university increased its number of med students. Since then, they have opened a satellite campus in Baton Rouge for third year clinicals to handle the increase in students (it's actually a fantastic program). I should note that only students who chose to go to BR are assigned to BR for their third year. Once the new Charity and VA are built (especially the VA), the increase in class size will actually not be an issue because there will be an expansion of the current facilities. Currently are there too many students on my rotations? I'd say no, but we're probably close to capacity.

Re, Step I: the curriculum was changed after the storm, and it wasn't until my class (or the class before) that the benefits were apparent. My class beat the crap out of PerrotFish's class on Step 1. Why? Because we had a solid curriculum and higher admission standards (i.e. MCAT) than in previous years.

I got a decent scholarship from Tulane, so for me, the cost has not really been a big issue. If given the chance, I would still choose Tulane over the schools I was accepted to.

 

[LisaFrank]

My Peds Rotation: 4 MS3s, a Sub-I, 3 Pediatric Interns, and a family meidcine Intern rotating on a general pediatric floor that holds a maximum of 24 patients for both the General AND the Heme/onc team. Since then they've added 40 students to the class and no new facilities and they are talking about adding even more. Tulane is way past capacity.



I'd like to know where you got this information. The T-4s heard something similar, and we needed to find out through other professors that the failure rate was actually much higher than the previous year.

A cirriculum that teaches the same amount in less time with more TBL is not 'solid', or at least its a lot less solid then before.

Re space: again, they have opened the BR program, and they are expanding the number of spots in the program each year. They have also increased the number of spots for students in the TruMed program. While peds may be slow at Tulane, medicine isn't. Of the four hospitals (Tulane, University, Ochsner, and VA), some services are slower than others. Still, I totally agree with you that I wish Tulane had fewer students.

In terms of curriculum, there was thread on TBL/PBL a few months ago, and you went on a rant about how horrible it is. I'm not sure how many schools you interviewed at or have friends at, but Tulane, comparatively, does not have a lot of TBL/PBL. The school solicits student's feedback on TBL and makes adjustment. I thought TBLs and JiTTs were excellent, but that may be because they adjusted what didn't work for your class. For those of you reading this, during the second year, Tulane has one three-hour TBL no more than once every three weeks, with the exception of one or two three-week blocks which has several TBLs.

My source is the let's just say 'quintessential Louisiana guy' in the office of students affairs (I don't want to name his name on the internet). If you don't know who I'm talking about, PM me

 

[jcopper]

Thanks for all the info!

 

[Jay Gatsby]

Thanks for all the info!

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