<p>I have two offer now</p>
<p>1, Tulane university, biomedical science center, stipend 25000USD/year</p>
<p>2, UTHSCSA , cell and structural biology, 21000USD/year</p>
<p>Because I am not an American, I want to hear some advice from American people. May be I will take the USMLE examination, so oral English is very important to me. </p>
<p>It seems that in a university like tulane, I will meet more people to practice English. And the rotation in different departments will give me more chance to choose my favorite major. But it seems that the ecnomic in New Orleans is not very good especially after Katrina and it is not very safe in New Orleans.</p>
<p>UTHSCSA is an institution, and the rank is not very good. But the cell and structural biology department has much funding, rank top 8 in USA.</p>
<p>I will appreciate your kindness if you can give me some advice to help me make the choice. Which is better in all aspect such as the prestige, the academic, finding job after graduation, the locution and so on.</p>
<p>There is a bulletin board on the Tulane site that either has some of the answers you are seeking, or where you can pose some specific questions: </p>
<p><a href="http://messageboard.chatuniversity.com/tulane/%5B/url%5D">http://messageboard.chatuniversity.com/tulane/</a></p>
<p>Safety on the campus is addressed there, and also on this forum, but in general - like many US campuses - security is taken very seriously. New Orleans does have crime, but most of the crime is far away from the campus. Economically, the NO mayor just announced a new recovery plan which seems to have support from a lot of those who were opposed to previous plans - my suggestion would be to do some online research (just google New Orleans and you'll find a lot of articles to read - go back a month or so).</p>
<p>I don't know enough about the biomed departments, so I'll leave that to others.</p>
<p>I can only comment on the safety issue. Tulane is in a very safe neighborhood, and the campus itself seems to have excellent security. Most of what you have seen on the television and web regarding crime in New Orleans takes place in the worst parts of town.</p>
<p>Both New Orleans and San Antonio are large cities. Having a p/t home in Texas an hour from San Antonio, I can tell you that San Antonio also has bad neighborhoods and crime, as well as good neighborhoods. Same for New Orleans. When I visited New Orleans this past fall, it did not strike me as different from any other major city. There are areas that would not be safe for students, and they would not be areas that you would seek out or even have reason to find yourself in. </p>
<p>I live near New York City. There are safe and dangerous areas in NYC as well, but I would never advise a potential NYU student not to come here because of the crime. As in any large city, don't take chances and stay in the safer neighborhoods.</p>
<p>Nothing against San Antonio, but NOLA strikes me as a more diverse, cosmopolitan city. When I visited there I met people there from all kinds of backgrounds and countries. San Antonio has a large hispanic population, but not too many people from other countries. Its visitors tend to be American.</p>
<p>One other thing to consider - NOLA is a much friendlier town for those without a car than San Antonio. </p>
<p>Sorry I can't comment on the academics, but I'm sure others will be able to. My opinion? If you are leaning towards Tulane, don't let crime reports scare you off. The campus is absolutely beautiful and seems very safe. I've sent my own 17 year old son down there this past weekend for an Honors Students reception, and I was not overly concerned about his safety.</p>
<p>I am the mother of an only child/son, and we are a pretty obsessed lot, as mothers go. I am not worried about my son's safety at Tulane. The school takes safety very seriously (you can get concrete details about that from their website under Emergency Preparedness and other topic headings), and my son has good sense. The combination makes it a reasonable place to be. I know it to be safer than it was in years past when we visited for conventions.</p>
<p>As for medical school I have no personal experience, but I will throw in the fact that two of my own doctors--my dermatologist and my ob/gyn--are products of Tulane med school, and both are very skilled, very popular doctors who are proud graduates of the school (I am quite picky about my docs).</p>
<p>Congratulations on having a good choice to make! My best wishes to you.</p>
<p>PS to CT2010Dad--mine's a "she" so I know we're not talking about the same person! Funny, isn't it? Docs with personalities aren't quite the norm, so maybe choosing Med School in NOLA says something for one. </p>
<p>**to the OP: I just remembered this: My derm told me that she had a bio prof who told her, when she was accepted to Tulane and to another school (whose name I cannot now remember) that she would get the same training at either, so she might as well go where she could have a really good time as well! I didn't remember that earlier, so it's a good thing you mentioned something that made me edit, CT2010Dad!</p>
<p>ctymomteacher: my dermatologist is also Tulane Med School graduate - and he sounds just like yours - very skilled and very popular - and very personable as well.</p>
<p>Thank you for your advice. What I am worried most is that many excellent professors have transferred to other institutions. Because a good mentor is the most factor for a Ph.D student.</p>
<p>Yup. It looked like you were talking about grad school. I know that Tulane had to make rather huge cuts in faculty after the storm, and it is my impression that the vast majority of those cuts were made in the medical school. How that would impact your specialty is something you do need to give consideration to. </p>
<p>On the other hand, I don't know anything about the San Antonio program, so you should try posting in some U Texas forums or maybe the medical school forums to get imput on that. San Antonio is a nice town and certainly much larger than New Orleans. Yes, it does have a large hispanic population, but so what? New Orleans is acquiring one. As for public transportation, 2/3 of the public transport in New Orleans is still not functioning. Plus affordable housing is scarce (although I think Tulane bought an apartment building for the grad students and maybe they can get you in there; if it is on the St. Charles line or has a shuttle to the downtown medical center you should be fine).</p>
<p>There are bad parts of San Antonio too, and you would probably need a car there (not much public transport), but right now I'd worry about those medical school faculty cuts most.</p>
<p>The Biomedical sciences Center graduate programs are downtown in the central business district not on the Uptown Campus where the undergraduate, Law, and Business Schools are located. The entire medical enterprise was hit pretty hard by Katrina and the loss of a client base for the hospital and clinics. I don't have any specifics on your programs but would suggest contacting faculty directly.</p>
<p>Or perhaps even better than faculty you might want to contact a few current students. This page has email links. One thing about Tulanians and NOLA in general is that folks on the whole are very friendly.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.biomedicalsciences.tulane.edu/students.php%5B/url%5D">http://www.biomedicalsciences.tulane.edu/students.php</a></p>
