UVa, Tufts or Tulane (with $)

[Whiskey River]

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I have been very fortunate to end up with the dilemma of choosing between a few med schools this year. As of know, I think I have narrowed it down to University of Virginia, Tufts, or Tulane with some scholarship money tossed into the mix...

A factor that is complicating things is that my wife and I worry she will have a difficult time finding a solid, career-type job in Charlottesville, (also will she get bored while I am buried in the books?)

I plan on going into a competitive specialty... Will UVa provide a significant advantage over Tufts? Further, would Tufts provide an advantage significant enough over Tulane to offset the tuition difference of approx. 60k over 4 years? I also loved the students and attitude in NOLA.

These are all pretty unorganized thoughts so far, but I would appreciate any input. To further complicate things, BU and UVM are also options but I feel like the argument between Tufts and BU might get off topic. Also UVM felt very similar to UVa, (Charlottesville is like the warmer southern version of Burlington).

We have insignificant ties to any of the schools and are from the other side of the country. Additionally we will not be able to fly out for any second look days due to cost. Going to have to make a somewhat game-time decision i guess! Fire away with opinions...

 

[NatrixCaelicola]

I have been very fortunate to end up with the dilemma of choosing between a few med schools this year. As of know, I think I have narrowed it down to University of Virginia, Tufts, or Tulane with some scholarship money tossed into the mix...

A factor that is complicating things is that my wife and I worry she will have a difficult time finding a solid, career-type job in Charlottesville, (also will she get bored while I am buried in the books?)

I plan on going into a competitive specialty... Will UVa provide a significant advantage over Tufts? Further, would Tufts provide an advantage significant enough over Tulane to offset the tuition difference of approx. 60k over 4 years? I also loved the students and attitude in NOLA.

These are all pretty unorganized thoughts so far, but I would appreciate any input. To further complicate things, BU and UVM are also options but I feel like the argument between Tufts and BU might get off topic. Also UVM felt very similar to UVa, (Charlottesville is like the warmer southern version of Burlington).

We have insignificant ties to any of the schools and are from the other side of the country. Additionally we will not be able to fly out for any second look days due to cost. Going to have to make a somewhat game-time decision i guess! Fire away with opinions...

Did you walk away from any of them thinking "wow, how amazing!!!"?

 

[afob100]

Your wife could potentially find a solid job in Richmond, which is ~1 hour from cville. And you both could live halfway between Richmond and cville and commute opposite ways. Not a perfect solution but just a suggestion.

 

[Whiskey River]

Did you walk away from any of them thinking "wow, how amazing!!!"?

I thought, "wow, New Orleans was amazing", but I had some concerns about Tulane (lack of major affiliated hospital).

I thought, "wow, the people and program at UVa are both pretty amazing." I especially liked the shortened pre-clinical curriculum (1.5 years). However, I was concerned about Charlottesville as mentioned above... I also have heard rumors that UVa students do not get the procedural experience you get at other schools with higher volume of emergency room visits ect.

Tufts and Boston were more neutral, I didn't see anything that really jumped out and made me say "wow" but I also didn't see any real "risks" as far as cons go....
I give the slight edge to Tufts of BU just due to my "gut feeling".

 

[Whiskey River]

Your wife could potentially find a solid job in Richmond, which is ~1 hour from cville. And you both could live halfway between Richmond and cville and commute opposite ways. Not a perfect solution but just a suggestion.

How do you like the new curriculum? Also, can you address my concern about students not feeling they get enough procedural experience (even though you are finishing year 1)?

Thanks for your input!

 

[rad0nc]

In my opinion, UVa >> Tufts > Tulane

UVa is a no-brainer if you are on your own, but you should definitely looks into Charlottesvile. I've heard really good things, but I've never been.

I wouldn't go to Tulane because it has a state school reputation with a private school price. Most people in NOLA will tell you that LSU is much more highly regarded for what it's worth. Both schools are in a state of limbo with the Charity system in a state of flux.

 

[rad0nc]

.

 

[Whiskey River]

In my opinion, UVa >> Tufts > Tulane

UVa is a no-brainer if you are on your own, but you should definitely looks into Charlottesvile. I've heard really good things, but I've never been.

I wouldn't go to Tulane because it has a state school reputation with a private school price. Most people in NOLA will tell you that LSU is much more highly regarded for what it's worth. Both schools are in a state of limbo with the Charity system in a state of flux.

So are you just speaking in regards to reputation?
Would UVa provide a significant advantage when trying to Match over Tufts or BU?

 

[rad0nc]

So are you just speaking in regards to reputation?
Would UVa provide a significant advantage when trying to Match over Tufts or BU?

UVa is ranked #25 by US News. In my opinion it is top 10 and then everyone else when it comes to residency. In other words, you won't really impress anyone with any of these 3 schools, but they are all respectable. I definitely don't think any advantage of UVa would be significant when it comes to residency application, but you will probably have the opportunity to work with bigger names/more research dollars so your ERAS might look better.

 

[Whiskey River]

UVa is ranked #25 by US News. In my opinion it is top 10 and then everyone else when it comes to residency. In other words, you won't really impress anyone with any of these 3 schools, but they are all respectable. I definitely don't think any advantage of UVa would be significant when it comes to residency application, but you will probably have the opportunity to work with bigger names/more research dollars so your ERAS might look better.

So was was UVa>>Tufts a "no-brainer"?

I am not trying to be any sort of smart ass... I am just curious.

 

[rad0nc]

So was was UVa>>Tufts a "no-brainer"?

I am not trying to be any sort of smart ass... I am just curious.

Probably a little hyperbole on my part.

But I do think UVa is a lot better. Partly because I've heard great things about Charlottesville, and partly because it is ranked so much higher. Sometimes people talk about top 40 ranked NIH schools. UVa is in the top 40 and the other two are not.

 

[afob100]

How do you like the new curriculum? Also, can you address my concern about students not feeling they get enough procedural experience (even though you are finishing year 1)?

Thanks for your input!

Ok (sorry this may come off as a bit of a rant) but here we go:

I've addressed the curriculum concerns + how it's going here:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=12230057#post12230057

For concerns about 3rd year stuff, check out this uva vs emory thread - it pretty much summarizes the kinds of cases/people you'll meet as a third-fourth year (below my post as well):

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=12315933#post12315933

Now, don't underestimate the benefit of the 1.5 year curriculum. You start "third year" clerkships in February of second year and finish the following Feb. This means that you have a full 6-7 months before applying to residencies, which can give you a HUGE competitive advantage...more so than the lack of ER gunshot cases at UVA (or your perceived lack of procedural experience). You can spend 3-4 months doing research and get major pubs from hotshots in the field you want to go into...there are plenty of hotshots in most of the competitive fields here. You can even do away rotations BEFORE applying to your specific residencies, and you will have more options for away rotations because traditional curriculum students won't be able to go on them till later in the year (Sept to Jan)..aka you get to choose early and go on them before slots fill up later.

Trust me, you will see some bizarre pathology and "zebras" at UVA's ER and hospital...they are just a different kind than you would see at an inner city hospital. There are people/patients in Southwest/rural VA who have never seen a physician before and come to UVA with diseases/problems that could have easily been prevented (things you read about in textbooks/think you will never see).

Also, please look at UVA's match list for the 2012 class. Now, I'm no expert on these things but 7 people out of 140-some matching into Urology is nuts. Also, 7 matched into ENT. Look at the specialty you want to go into, and see how many UVA kids go into it. You can look at multiple years on the website:

http://www.med-ed.virginia.edu/handbook/residency/Match/12/match12d.cfm

If there was a perceived "lack of procedural experience" by top residency directors, then why would they accept UVA grads?! Our grads can get into all of the top places...Mass Gen, Penn, Pitt, Duke, Barnes Jewish, UVA, and etc.

Lastly, final note..I promise. Look at UVA's average board scores and tell me that Tufts or BU's even come close to them. UVA publishes their score report DIRECTLY from the NBME, so it's not some number pulled out of thin air:

http://www.med-ed.virginia.edu/handbook/pdf/usmle1-11.pdf

Mean = 233, SD = 20. Mind you, class board score avgs generally correlate with avg MCAT scores and UVA's avg MCAT = 34.5. This just shows you the caliber of students that attend UVA.

Now, I'm definitely biased in this issue, but I think this is a no brainer...the reputations of BU or Tufts IMO don't come close to UVA. I can say that living in Boston>>Charlottesville...but honestly med school is only 4 years, and you can move on. But you would be surprised at how much there is to do in cville for a suburban town.

If you have any other questions, feel free to message me. In any case, good luck with your decision!

 

[TheMightySmiter]

UVa.

 

[Whiskey River]

Anybody going to stand up for tufts or bu?

 

[RedSox10]

Anybody going to stand up for tufts or bu?

I was going to ask why you narrowed it down to Tufts and not BU? From what I've heard, BU is much better and people seem to like their experiences there more.

 

[mvenus929]

How do you like the new curriculum? Also, can you address my concern about students not feeling they get enough procedural experience (even though you are finishing year 1)?

Thanks for your input!

I liked the new curriculum, but my roommate hated it (actually, she hates just about everything at UVA... I think that's really just her personality). So it's not for everyone. But, as mentioned, regardless of whether you love or hate it, you're done in 1.5 years and start clinical rotations at the end of February.

One of my friends just finished up OB-GYN, and was able to deliver 3 babies on his birthday. One of them was 'solo', in which the resident wasn't guiding his hands directly in the birth. A number of the rising fourth years (who we're on the wards with right now) rotated at the VA hospital in Salem, and reported that they got to do a ton of procedures because there are no interns there. I can't really comment personally on procedures, because I've only been on interview-heavy rotations so far. But, in my limited experience, if you show interest and ask to do things, you'll be able to do them when the opportunity comes.

You're also required to do a certain amount of procedure skills in the various rotations. These can be everything from starting an IV to putting in a chest tube or intubating.

So, you might not get as much procedural experience as you might at a higher volume trauma center (which is why they recommend that if you're interested in ER, to do an away rotation in a big city hospital), but if you're willing to put in the work, you can pretty easily get procedures.


What does your wife do? I totally understand the concern about not being able to find a job, but we do have a substantial number of people who brought spouses with them that have been able to find jobs (one of my friend's wife works in marketing, another is a nurse). There are also those who are separated from their spouses for a time because of the lack of job market (one of my friend's fiancee works in DC at an accounting firm, and they see each other on the weekend). I'm not really connected in to the married crowd (as I'm single), but I know there is a 'support group' for the spouses as well, and a lot of them are out working.

 

[11235813]

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