Two major resources exist on the undergraduate campus, uptown. Another uptown campus resource is the University's Center for Educational Resources. The Medical School also offers completely confidential counseling services through the Phoenix society, a student operated and faculty-advised organization which ensures psychiatric consultation and treatment for medical students through the services of Tulane University School of Medicine's psychiatric faculty and residents at no cost. Each of these services has a long record of providing superior care. All records are kept in strictest confidence.
Students are free to choose any of the above services depending on convenience or preference.
The choice of a career specialty is one of the most critical decisions facing students as they progress through the medical school curriculum. The contemporary medical education system challenges students to chose an area of specialization on the basis of limited clinical exposure and experience with only a few medical specialties. Although this decision can be postponed for at least one year by enrolling in a transitional internship, most students feel obligated to enter a specialty directly upon graduation from medical school. Making an appropriate decision about a career specialty late in the third year or early in the fourth year of one's medical school education requires considerable introspection, research, and deliberation. At Tulane, students are encouraged through the Office of Student Affairs to begin that process as freshmen.