Tulane vs FIU

[Chron17]

Tulane Vs FIU

Tulane:

Pros:

Name prestige

School culture: everyone seemed very supportive and easy going but also very intelligent

Curriculum is p/f and rankings are more centered around 3-4 years

New Orleans is incredible city with much to do (also potentially a con bc of distractions)

Separate campus/COL cheap-Ish

students and faculty are all happy


Cons:

Tuition is high (both schools bc OOS)

Some of the building and facilities seem a little run down

No family in the area

Limited research comparatively


FIU

Pros:

Location: love Miami and will have family about an hour away about 6 months out of the year

Heavily invested in research at FIU, potential for more publication and involvement

Step scores are high (taken after 3rd year, not sure if this is a pro or a con or neutral)

Cons:

Students are less involved on campus

Shared campus and while although beautiful not as of a cohesive environment

Not as well known

Summary:

Both schools will be very burdensome in tuition although NO will be slightly cheaper COL. I enjoyed my time at both of the schools and each our beautiful in their own way as well as both being very involved in their respective communities (reasons why I have applied) I’m really trying to weigh how heavily research opportunity vs name will effect future residency. FWIW I have no set plan of what specialty I want to go into but EM, Surgery (gen/trauma), ortho, and IM(ID) are my interests (obviously ortho requires a top high step), so I don’t want to close any doors. I know the choice is ultimately what makes me most happy and where insee myself as most successful but I’m stuck differentiating at the moment-Any help is appreciated!!

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[Blanky]

FIU if you love the area and have family support for half the year. I have no cons for Tulane but both are great schools and you have to shoot for living area and support. Where will you be happy?

 

[Chron17]

FIU if you love the area and have family support for half the year. I have no cons for Tulane but both are great schools and you have to shoot for living area and support. Where will you be happy?

Thank you for the reply! I know I have to choose which makes me most happy, but I can see myself very happy at both schools. I’m just wondering if having family in the area part time will have that great of an effect on me versus the school name for future residency (I’m a California resident most likely wanting to go back during residency-which I know is ultra competitive). I guess I should add someone mentoring me throughout the process (MD in California involved in hiring/admitting residents) said he’d never heard of FIU and while it may be a great school if I had the exact same portfolio from each school, he’d take the Tulane student 100% of the time. Wondering if this was just an n=1

 

[JaxJax17]

I think Tulane’s name holds higher prestige, although I did interview at FIU and their step scores ~241 on average...so with that being said I don’t think you would have to rely on school name. All else being equal I would suggest choosing the one that you “fit” best in

 

[SnP500]

What makes you say that research is better at FIU than Tulane? Tulane is more dedicated to research and has the DeBakey Scholars Program. They also have home programs in a lot of the competitive specialities while fiu doesn’t have any home programs of its own. Tulane also matches much better than FIU


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[Blanky]

I would prefer Tulane, although I live near FIU and so would decide on FIU to stay near home for that reason only. Having said that I don't particularly like the FIU area.

 

[CarpeDiem1993]

Tulane hands down. One has a name you can hang your hat on, the other you will spend your entire life explaining what FIU is. haha

 

[lolsmileyface15]

241 average step score and living in Meeeyammmmiii. Can’t beat it.

Going to Tulane isn’t the worst thing either.

Do what you think will make you happy during you 4 years and what will set you up best for your future.

 

[shmuley]

If you're thinking ID, Tulane would be a great opportunity. Very strong ID/tropical medicine focus.

 

[Pharaoh95]

I came across some troubling comments about FIU recently:

Please do not go to HWCOM unless you are prepared to spend 4 years hating the admins and knowing you can’t trust them. They act like they’re open to change and student input but they won’t change anything and won’t listen to students.

Don’t buy into their step scores, they’re so high because each year, about 10% of the class is asked to repeat an entire year. And lately they changed the student handbook to make it easier to expel students. Most med schools help you if you fail one course because a lot of students will fail a course in med school. At hwcom, if you fail, they’ll put a mark in your file and be waiting to be able to get rid of you.

Someone else posted to reddit about HWCOM but didn’t say it was HWCOM and then deleted the account. But in case you don’t want to believe me, here’s a screenshot and a link to the full post.

This is the worst MD school in the country.

(source: FIU 2018-2019 thread)

"My school is absolutely horrible. It’s got tyrranical cutthroat policies that are completely disgusting.

It average USMLE step one is in the upper 240s. Good, right? Wrong—this isnt harvard. This is some no name MD school that was started 7 or so years ago. How does my shool get this average then? They actively hold students back. The bottom 5-15 students are selected to repeat every year. If the admins feel you arent ready to take the step 1, they reserve the right to keep you from taking it.

Of those 10ish students that are chosen to repeat, the admins actively try to do everything to have these students withdrawn from medical school (eg they are placed under an academic probation where they must do above average or are withdrawn). Admins look for reasons to give those students professionalism reports, and trap them by twisting things student say just for ammunition to have those students removed to not taint the 240+ average USMLE. This happened to many stidents I know. One of the nicest people I know was accused of threatening a professor and I know he wouldnt hurt a fly. Ultimately he was reported for professionalism; and not because of any comment he made but because of his lower than average grades.

Another student had a meeting with a professor and at one point, the professor lunged across the table to hit him. This was all recorded on camera; my friend was recording the meeting because he previously had tension with this professor. He didnt even pursue this just because he didnt want any problems but he could have easily sued the school with how blatantly ridiculous it was.

They constantly change their student handbook and each year the students are forced to sign the new handbook which has so far given up more and more rights from the students (eg new rules about accepting random drug tests, progessively sticter rules about exam remediations/course failures, etc).

Just two months agor, one M3 student plagiarized a patient note and was caught. The school wanted to kick her out. She appealed the decision, the promotions committee didnt budge. She finally hired a lawywr and appealed to the dean of the whole institution—they finally gave her a chance to continue, under the condition that she repeat the year, and she send a public email to every student and faculty unanonymously explaining what she did and apologizing. Public shaming at this level is ridiculous and many students were roused but afraid to speak out bc how cutthroat the school is, and were unwilling to get put in the spotlight for defending her."

(source: )