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#1
11-21-2005, 04:16 PM
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Tulane Medical School - potentially spending the next 4 years in NO?
Hey all,
So I'm not sure how many of you are familiar with the medical school application process, but it sucks. It is one of the most time-consuming, frustrating, worthless, jump-through-hoops processes EVER. Anyway, I was a pretty average applicant who took the MCAT late and applied late last year. I got 4 interviews late in the cycle (which is rolling) and got 4 waitlists out of those interviews. Last year I applied to Tulane and had a good interview there, all medical schools interview applicants first before accepting them. Acceptance is based on a variety of factors, figure most people say if you make it to interview you have a 30 - 50% chance of getting in. Tulane says that sometimes if you have a good interview but are waitlisted, next year if you reapply they may waive your interview and just use the old one. Fast forward, I have reapplied everywhere this year, and I get an email from tulane a few months ago asking me to come for an interview (they are doing everything at baylor in the interm), I obviously agree and get an interview date the 2nd week in December. I ask the secretary if they still have my old interview stuff because I think it went fairly well, she says everything was probably lost in the hurricane so don't count on it. This past friday, before my interview, I get a letter of acceptance. Obviously I have very mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, I am finally in, and it's such a burden off my shoulders and I'm psyched about how I will be in medical school next year. On the other hand, this area/city has just gone through one of the worst natural disasters and is devastated. I'm unsure how I feel about spending the next four years of my life there. Keep in mind, I may very well not know what I am talking about, as the only information I have is from TV concerning the city/the school, rebuiliding process, etc... Also, FWIW, I was reading some article in discover talking about random periods of warming/cooling of the Earth. Some suggest that we are in a current warming period that may or may not be related to CO2 green house stuff, bottom line being, because of this current warming period, storms of this nature will NOT be uncommon for the next several years in that region. Obviously I am still waiting to hear from other medical schools, and there are several that I would much rather go to, but in the event that I don't get in, then this is it. Which would mean I would go (barring a WSOP 1st place finish). So I guess my mind is kinda made up, just would like to hear other perspectives. Thanks. 
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#2
11-21-2005, 04:20 PM
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Re: Tulane Medical School - potentially spending the next 4 years in N
I wouldn't worry about the storms much, you're not buying expensive beachfront property, and they are not hard to avoid, just GFO when one's coming.
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#5
11-21-2005, 05:15 PM
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Re: Tulane Medical School - potentially spending the next 4 years in N
AZK--
As a displaced New Orleanian, I have been keeping a pretty close eye on things from my place of exile in Las Vegas. This is what I know at the moment that is relevant. Habitable housing is in short supply and great demand. Tulane will likely make housing available in dorms or trailers, and that would be probably your best bet. At the moment there is no landline telephone service and cell phones are iffy. Mail service is sporadic. Some stores, restaurants, gas sations are open, but for many items it is necessary to go to the suburbs. At the moment only two hospitals are open--Touro and Children's. In Jefferson, East and West Jeff and Ochsner are open. Big Charity will not reopen (a major blow to medical education in NO). I think University Hospital is also condemned, but I'm not sure. Conditions should improve by the fall, but by how much I don't know. As for the coming hurricane season-- The violence of the last couple of hurricane seasons is not due to global warming. The number and intensity of hurricanes go in cycles of roughly 30 years. We were warned for the last few years that a period of relatively few and relatively mild hurricanes was coming to an end and that we would soon see much worse hurricane seasons over the next roughly 30 years. And obviously that is what we are now seeing. It should be remembered that the hurricane caused very little damage in New Orleans--although it caused a lot of damage to our east in Slidell, Washington Parish, the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and Alabama. The flooding occurred after the storm passed when the floodwalls and levees gave way. The city was not flooded because it is below sea level, except in a very indirect way. My neighborhood had water to the roofs not because it is below sea level--it is right about at sea level. My house is the low point in the area at less than a foot below sea level. (In comparison Schiphol Airport outside of Amsterdam is 30 ft below sea level and is low and dry.) My house flooded because it is a block away from the London Avenue Canal midway between the breaches at Robert E. Lee and Mirabeau. As we now know the engineering and construction of the 17th Street and London Avenue floodwalls was grossly (and maybe criminally) inadequate. Supposedly our friends the Army of Corps of Engineers will jury-rig levees and floodwalls between now and next hurricane season. I personally don't have masses of confidence in this plan. With proper levees, floodwalls and pumps, New Orleans will be as habitable as the western Netherlands. Without, well, who knows? Uptown (where Tulane is) did not flood as much as some areas (between the river and St, Charles it didn't flood at all--there was flooding above St. Charles where the universities are located). This is partly because there is a natural levee right along the river and partly because the control structures in that area held. And, also, although no one mentions it, the water control systems have been designed to protect Uptown at the expense of the lakefront. The 17th Street Canal which drains Uptown was widened a few years ago (and the crappy floodwall built) specifically to provide better drainage for Uptown. If you go to Tulane, I am sure you will get a good medical education. You will also be a sort of urban pioneer participating in what I hope will be the rebuilding of one of the world's great cities. Your choice.... LOL
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#7
11-21-2005, 05:26 PM
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Re: Tulane Medical School - potentially spending the next 4 years in NO?
[ QUOTE ]
IMHO, go to a school that is located in a place that is not 9 ft. below sea level. [/ QUOTE ] With the exception of Katrina, New Orleans has always been one of the greatest cities in the world. It will once again be that way, although it may take some time. I have no doubt you would get a tremendous education (both in medicine and humanity). I grew up in the suburbs of New Orleans, and I highly recommend the entire Gulf Coast. .......And if you must think about the city being below sea level....get out when the rain starts. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]
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