Tulane

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Timely topic as our DC is seeing many of their friends sharing Tulane ED admissions. Every child we’ve known who has chosen Tulane is looking for the fun, party scene first and solid academics second. They are certainly solid students, but they are partying extroverts above all else. Let’s call a spade a spade.

So they have fun and get a good education. Sounds like a smart move.

That's what I told my DD who was accepted. I'm excited for her. I went to a pressure cooker school for undergrad and an even tougher law school. I had no fun and ulcers. My DD is academically inclined enough that she will be responsible and do her work, and throw herself into it. She likes being a good student. But she also wants a social life and to some fun.

She'll be able to do both at Tulane.

I'm dancing around for her instead of wishing for her what I endured.

I feel the same way for our DD that was accepted. This is a pivotal time of self growth. DD’s friend is a freshman and he finds Tulane academically challenging, but he’s had opportunities to make great friends and is truly happy there. DD plans to visit in the spring to check it out more closely (covid-permitting). Tulane also has a great environment for service and giving back to the community. I’m hoping this will be a time for her to not be all about herself (i.e., stuck in the grind) and spend some of her time helping others. There will be plenty of time later to grind it out during grad school and beyond.

[Anonymous]

Tulane admissions officer was featured in a book by Selingo- they definitely are doing yield management with all the deferrals of EA and pushing of EA to ED2 as soon as the EA app is submitted. He came across a bit sleazy in that book. My DC is in another school ED, but reading about Tulane’s admissions practices was a turn off. But, I am sure a lot of schools do it.

[Anonymous]

Actually thinking about it that admissions officer was probably signaling- show Tulane love early or else ... probably intends to discourage people with high stats treating it as a safety, which it is for some in the NE.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:DD was accepted with great merit aid. We toured - lovely part of New Orleans.

DD was totally turned off by the dorms. I know - fickle kids. And I wanted to be open minded but I couldn’t pull the trigger on sending my DD to New Orleans.

Years ago I was at an annual sales meeting for a large software company. On of my colleagues called down to the hotel lobby to complain about the noise in an adjoining room early one morning.

Turns out it was one of the subcontracted AV guys being murdered in the room in a ritualistic black magic slaying.

This is not an urban legend.

A lot to like about New Oreans and I liked Tulane.

Not happening.

Do you think Tulane students are at high risk of being exposed to black magic and being murdered ritualistically? This is a serious question.

PP here.

Never in my life did I think anyone I had any remote connection to would be at risk of such an act. And yet it happened. So with all the schools in the world why am I going to send my DD to an environment where I know it's possible. College students are young and by their very nature they lack maturity and my DD did not grow up having to be street smart. New Orleans can be a dangerous city. So short answer as much as I tried to have an open mind - I didn't.

My DD also looked at Fordham and that wasn't happening. My DD does not have the street smarts to be on Fordham Road so why am I going to put her in that environment.

Ironically, I would have been ok with DD attending Columbia or Barnard because we know the area and we would have advised her accordingly. Morningside Heights is quite nice but it's an enclave that is surrounded by some dangerous neighborhoods. And it is sad to say but folks that do not respect that do so at their own peril.

So, to answer your question yes I think Tulane students do have a higher risk than most college students of being the victim of a violent crime.

Knowing what you know,
Why did your DD apply.

Fair question.

1. We were looking for merit aid. And I do think given their level of merit aid Tulane offers an excellent education for a very good price. So, very good value.
2. We went to a local Tulane presentation and frankly, by far, it was the best presentation we attended. By far. It was a young alum who was working in admissions, and she presented very well and did an exceptional job of representing the school.
3. Given the admit stats, I thought the student body would be smart, hard working, and yet not too serious. You could see the stress on the faces of the students at Columbia so we wanted an environment where we would not be worried about the mental health of student body. The students looked completely stressed out at Columbia. At NYU they have a net in the library to prevent kids from jumping to their deaths. When we eventually visited the Tulane students looked like they were having fun.
4. My experiences in New Orleans were from around the year 2000 so I thought perhaps things had changed. We are from the NY metro area and the changes to NYC in the past 15-20 have been substantial. So again wanted to keep an open mind.

In the end we just couldn't make the leap. Life has taught me, through some very tough lessons, that you ignore your gut at your own peril.

So how much more merit aid would Tulane have had to offer for you to put your daughter at risk of being part of a black magic ritualistic slaying? If they upped it to 15k would you have taken the gamble?

I have attempted to offer my views and some folks have taken them to be racist. I think there is a reality that when college campuses full of the have's are surrounded by the have nots - I don't really give a sh$t what color they are - resentment sets in. You'd beyond naive to not think that's the case. So when the 19 yr old without a pot to piss in and no hope see's the young rich entitled kid walking around with 1000.00 coat, 1000.00 phone, and not a care in the world bad things happen. And I hate to say it but that's what happened at Barnard this year. And often in life there are prey and there are predators. All the way from the streets of NYC to the corner office in the corporate america. It's just a different jungle with a different set of rules and a different set of outcomes.

And for the record I have just as much apprehension for my DDs to go to a school with a bunch of frat bros - that ain't happening either. They are predators - make no mistake about it. And yes that meant that we turned down a couple of highly rated SLACs that gave the wrong vibe. And the same goes for a couple of the service academies.

So that said, had I gone to New Orleans and seen a transformed city - post Katrina (which btw the service orientation espoused by Tulane was also quite compelling) I would have considered it. Tulane were very generous - my DD received 30k in merit - that's a chunk of change - and I thought it made Tulane a compelling value. But we went and we spent the weekend. Listened to some great Jazz. But again, I have learned the hard way to listen to my gut and my gut said no.

You do what you have to do for your kids and I'll do what I have to do for mine.

I'm really grateful you answered this in such detail. I find it helpful as a parent whose European kids in a US school system will be faced with US college applications soon. I really only know California, the East coast (north of MD) and Canada so hearing about experiences with these Southern schools is instructive.

And that other poster full of vitriol. Bit of an arse I think.

[Anonymous]

A practical question for DMV parents with a kid at Tulane - do you drive there to drop off? How long of a drive and where do you overnight? If you don’t drive, how do you get all the form stuff to campus?

[Anonymous]

collegeboxes, UPS and FedEx were popular with my cousin and his family. He had his bike broken down and shipped in a case when they all flew down together. There were direct flights from Chicago, though, and the Amtrak looong journey. It got costly after a while. I don't know about the trip from the DMV.