By Wallace K. Tomlinson, M.D.

Events of the first decade of the Twentieth Century gave clear indication that medical education in the United States and at Tulane was beginning to undergo significant changes with increasing emphasis on academic admission requirements and scholastic achievements. This first decade witnessed considerable acceleration of efforts to improve medical education, an important impetus for the Flexner Report of 1911. Twelve years before, in 1899, Tulane's delegates to the joint meeting of the American Medical Association and the Association of the American Medical Colleges in Chicago received instructions to press for stringent enforcement of current rules and guidelines and for higher standards of academic achievement on the part of the student.

At the turn of the century, there were about 25,000 enrolled medical students in the United States, and perhaps 15% of these were college graduates, while the balance held only a high school diploma. There were about 150 medical schools most of which were of marginal or mediocre quality and admission to which depended on the ability to pay tuition. At Tulane, and at other schools whose records have survived, there was a litany of complaints about the semi-literacy of applicants for admission and, indeed, the enrolled students themselves.

Follow the history of the Alpha Omega Alpha chapter at Tulane from a history of the founding society through the three developmental stages of the Tulane chapter below:

1. Alpha Omega Alpha Honorary Fraternity - The Founding Society
2. The Skull and Bones Society at Tulane
3. Alpha Omega Alpha At Tulane
4. The "Amalgamation" of the Two Societies