I loved the school when I went there. I haven't been to a school yet where the kids were so happy about their school.
These are views from random people who are students at Tulane....probably already posted on previous sdn thread.
At Tulane, I was impressed with how many students were doing significant work in the community. I didn't see this so much at Pitt, but maybe I didn't meet the right people. I think the patient population students see in New Orleans would be great--very diverse, in cultural and economic ways. I also felt like Tulane had such a hands-on approach to learning, that students must feel pretty comfortable when they start doing clinical work.
Depending on what you want to do, Tulane offers some really strong features. Charity Hospital is absolutely awesome. There is so much to see, frankly, because people just don't take care of themselves so you get to see much more stuff (e.g. where else could you see 4th stage breast cancer, untreated??). Charity is basically run by the LSU and Tulane students, which allows you to develop strong "hands on" skills early on. Heck, even in first year there are intubation (on real patients!) clinics, suture clinics, ER observation (where T1s have been approached about doing spinal taps!), ambulance ride alongs (pretty fun, IMHO). Another neat thing is we have our own private hospital, a huge county hospital, a VA hospital, and a rural hospital in Pineville, LA (as well as affiliations with all the LSU hospitals), and a few local community hospitals, which means you can experience medicine from all different angles. Also, Tulane makes no bones about being primary care oriented. They are a specialty school, and I think that's cool because you get varied opinions instead of the party line of primary care. The students seem to be happy, the teachers here are great, the testing is fair, and if you like New Orleans, you really get time to experience it, as well as a million different opportunities to help the community. I think an urban school just has so much more to offer, especially for someone who has no idea what kind of medicine they are interested in.
Charity Hospital(MCLNO) here in New Orleans:It's an incredible asset for medical students. We're given tons of opportunities for hands-on experiences available in only a few other institutions. Sure, you could opt for the shiny white halls and private rooms of dozens of private hospitals throughout the country, but I hope you have a comfortable chair in which to sit, cause that's what you'll be doing. Sitting and watching. It's only in the county/state run facilities that you, as a medical student, will be able to place lines, suture, and otherwise directly interact with your patients.
As I've said before, I love Tulane. I think the best part are the people: the faculty, the staff, and most importantly, the students. The professors really care about you; they set up review sessions, they come find you if you do poorly on a test, they know your names, and they come in after hours. The testing/evaluation here is so fair. I never feel that I'm getting tricked or confused. Everything is straightforward. They tell you what you need to know, they teach it to you, then they evaluate you on exactly what they told you they would. The students are amazing. We do so much community service stuff, we're involved in many organizations, and it is such a diverse group. There is a good range of ages, professions, majors, geographic diversity, religions .. there are pro athletes, teachers, financial analysts, internet startup folks .. you name it, we got 'em. We have a lot of social events, but I guess there is some complaints about everything being alcohol oriented, so we are working on more family oriented stuff next time. I'm not going to say we aren't competitive, b/c I am proud of the fact that everyone wants to do well. We are also very cooperative, and that is what makes it cool (ask if you want details). Everyone helps each other, and it is great.
The clinical opportunity here is second to none. We get to do stuff early on, including patient interviews on real patients, shadowing of physicians, going on ambulance rides, the opportunity to go on Aeromed (helicopter) rides to pick up/drop off patients, visiting Charity Hospital's ER to observe for a shift (one student got the offer to do a lumbar puncture!), intubations clinics (on real patients!), EKG reading sessions. 3rd and 4th year set you up very good for your residency, our placements are good: check the list on-line. We are respected as clinicians locally and nationally. I don't know enough about it b/c I am just a T1 ... I do know that we have our own private hospital, a county hospital (2nd busiest in America, and the oldest continuously running), a rural hospital that you live at (a great place to do surgery or OB-GYN rotation b/c there is no interns or residents - just you), the VA hospital, and options to use LSU's hospitals (University, Children's).
