Pre-Health Advising Center

Factors Involved

Final consideration of a medical school encompasses many factors. You need to consider carefully the pros and cons of attending a given medical school. The following is a list of items you may wish to weigh in your decision:

• Costs (tuition, housing, transportation, books, etc.)
• Financial aid availability
• Location (nearness to home, university setting, city, cultural center, suburb)
• Climate
• Social life (extracurricular activities, availability, facilities, spare time)
• "Atmosphere" of school (relaxed, pressured, competitive)
• Special programs
• Clinical facilities
• Research facilities
• Curriculum (structured, innovative, flexible)
• Grades and tests
• Faculty/student ratio and contact with faculty members
• Students' performance on national boards (parts 1 and 2)
• Student population (diversity, colleges attended, percentage of women and minorities)
• Length of education
• Summer classes
• Wealth of school
• Faculty makeup (full-time, research interests, publications)
• Prestige of school (popular opinion, reputation in medical circles)
• Team teaching, early clinical correlations
• Instruction in the care of the terminally ill, medical ethics
• Noted programs
• How well students "match" with one of their top three residency choices

Consider speaking to: current medical students; Tulane alumni currently enrolled; the faculty at medical school; and admissions’ officers, student services personnel, and financial aid officers.