Wayne State vs Tulane

[BuffNTurf]

Thank you in advance for your input.

Accepted to both programs, and having a difficult time deciding between the two. I'm out of state for Wayne, so cost of attendance would be comparable (barring any significant difference in financial aid packages). Both schools are P/F. Both seem to match well.

I'm non traditional, from large city in Northeast, married, will likely have children during med school. We plan on returning to the Northeast eventually. Previous EMS/ER experience, leaning towards urban EM, anesthesia, surgery etc. Not terribly interested in primary care or research. Wife will likely keep her job and work remotely with occasional flights back to Northeast.

From what I can tell, here are some pros/cons

Wayne State
Pros

• Easier flights back home for wife's job/family
• Facilities and nearby hospitals seem great.
• Detroit: exciting things happening there, opportunities for diverse patient pathology, more familiar to us in terms of weather, politics, etc, nice suburbs if we decide to move out of the city.

Cons

• Large class size?
• Reputation/name recognition? Not sure here or if it matters much.

• New curriculum - not sure if this is a pro or con, but according to an email received from current Wayne med student posted on SDN, curriculum is changing and we will be the first M1 class with the new curriculum. Makes me a little uneasy to potentially be the trial run of the changes. Maybe current Wayne students could comment here?
  
• Large class size? Not sure if this is a pro or con.

Tulane
Pros

• New Orleans: We love it there, but concerned about where to live with kids.
• Better name recognition? But intend to move to the northeast so not sure if that matters.
• Anatomy is front loaded and required attendance after anatomy seems minimal.

Cons

• Safety of New Orleans for wife/kids
• more difficult commute for wife back to Northeast. Further from family/friends.

Summary: I feel like we could be happy in either city. We love New Orleans, but further from wife's job/family/friends and where I will want to go for residency. Detroit could be easier for my wife with the kids and work, as well as what I think will be better options for housing outside of Detroit.

Thanks again for reading and for your input.

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[libertyyne]

career wise wayne is a better choice especially considering your interest in EM. The rest honestly is personal preference .

 

[btuck]

.

 

[jayjacks]

Wayne is the better choice since it has direct ties to the DMC and very good for emergency medicine

 

[Gilakend]

Just for reference I talked to a Wayne State student on here who was raving about how much better the new curriculum is.

 

[darkpauladin]

Just for reference I talked to a Wayne State student on here who was raving about how much better the new curriculum is.

How could s/he possibly even know? They're implementing the new curriculum next year.

 

[Gilakend]

How could s/he possibly even know? They're implementing the new curriculum next year.

Because it's fixing issues they had. So s/he's saying s/he'd much rather have the new.

 

[darkpauladin]

Because it's fixing issues they had. So s/he's saying s/he'd much rather have the new.

If I had a penny for every time admins said that, and then screwed up the execution...

 

[Siromas]

New curriculum - not sure if this is a pro or con, but according to an email received from current Wayne med student posted on SDN, curriculum is changing and we will be the first M1 class with the new curriculum.

Leaning more towards Wayne, but definitely look more more into this.

 

[DoctorStrange0101]

I went to Wayne (graduate this year) and I’d suggest going elsewhere. Yeah you get good clinical experiences (which I think you’d have anywhere else tbh) but the administration sucks, few people care about student success, and the class size is a huge detriment. There’s little student guidance and you totally get lost in the shuffle with so many students. Also the environment can be toxic (gunner students), but idk what other med schools are like. I’d really rethink things if I were you making this choice. New Orleans should have great EM (I’d imagine, though idk for sure bc I’m not doing EM).

Clearly I had the old curriculum, which legitimately sucked, but I think it speaks to the administration that it took so long to move away from the antiquated curriculum we had until this year, when other schools made changes many years ago.

Being near friends and family is a big deal during med school because you need support, so maybe this will end up being the deciding factor for you.

In terms of cities, I can’t wait to gth out of here asap. It’s expensive to live in the parts of the city close to school and while cheaper options exist, traffic is a hassle. Additionally, the whole “revitalization” movement is obnoxious and has led to a lot of segregation in the city. Just not the best place overall. Nearby suburbs are ok (Ferndale) but again, can be expensive. Obviously this is all my opinion and maybe I’m just so sick of the area because I’ve been here my entire life.

 

[btuck]

I will add that I do not know how much you would fit in as a non-trade at Tulane. I cannot speak for Wayne but I have heard that Tulane is mostly younger folks and is definitely geared towards students fresh out of undergrad.

 

[btuck]

What did you decide?