Tulane University of Louisiana Top Questions

It's impossible to describe the students at Tulane without heavily stereotyping so I will preface my answer with this: I AM stereotyping...and this is just MY perception of the Tulane student body. We got a lot of New Yorkers, a lot of "Chicagoans" from the suburbs (myself included), a very large Jewish population, not much racial diversity (most people of color at Tulane are athletes), tons of business majors (aka folks that just wanna 'make money'). We have the girls that wear leggings and UGGs, the guys that wear polos and sperrys. That being said it is totally acceptable to wear sweatpants to class and Bruff (our cafeteria). I rock athletic shorts on the reg. Tons of folks interested in or that play music. A great Ultimate Frisbee team (my fave humans on campus...!). In general, just lots of rich white kids from the North spending their parents money on drinks/living it up.

This school is very chill. It's a lot of east-coast, white, straight people but that doesn't mean there aren't alternative lifestyles, and that they aren't respected. I came from a super-liberal high-school which brainwashed me into believing that everyone had to tolerate everyone else because that was the law of compassion and sacrifice. I was then shocked when I moved to this much more moderate University and realized no, the reason you respect everyone else is because otherwise you're a jerk who no one will want to talk to. One shouldn't expect big LGBTQ rallies or black power protests because they don't exist. What one should expect is a calm, smart, respectful community which does not really care what you are, so long as you're not bothering anyone else. I like to think the best change between high-school and college is how much people care. In high-school, everyone cares about everything. In college, no one cares about anything, including what you like to do in your free time. That kind of freedom is part of the real reason college (and Tulane) are awesome.

Far from the alternative/indie student body I was expecting. It's easy to describe what Tulane students are not, but more difficult to describe what they are. Not jocks, not geeks, not alternative, not preppy, not stoners, not political activists. Imagine upper-middle class, well-educated, relatively liberal, pretty Jappy and primarily white. Definitely your typical wealthy suburbanites, but rarely obnoxious about their money. Everybody is very sociable and its the right size where you pretty much know the faces of most people around you, and its almost impossible to walk to class without running into someone you know. Too much Greek, but not nearly as much as most southern or state schools. Generally you get a really bland, relatively smart and social suburban kid, with an occasional hidden person who is really interesting and different. A large amount of 'gap-year' students who spent time living in South America or something, and talk about little else. Most people have some form of language or travel experience under their belt. Not competitive at all and almost overly friendly, getting to the point of fake quite often. For such a public service and worldly oriented student body, there is little talk of current events or politics. You will feel out of place if you don't fit the mold, as the entire student body seems to do exactly the same things and travel in groups. Students struggle to get outside the Tulane social bubble and experience the cool and interesting city of New Orleans.

Far from the alternative/indie student body I was expecting. It's easy to describe what Tulane students are not, but more difficult to describe what they are. Definitely your typical wealthy suburbanites, but rarely obnoxious about their money. Everybody is very sociable and its the right size where you pretty much know the faces of most people around you, and its almost impossible to walk to class without running into someone you know. Too much Greek, but not nearly as much as most southern or state schools. Generally you get a really bland, relatively smart and social suburban kid, with an occasional hidden person that is really interesting and different. A large amount of 'gap-year' students who spent time living in South America or something, and talk about little else. Most people have some form of language or travel experience under their belt. Not competitive at all and almost overly friendly, getting to the point of fake quite often. For such a public service and worldly oriented student body, there is little talk of current events or politics. You will feel out of place if you don't fit the mold, as the entire student body seems to do exactly the same things and travel in groups. Students struggle to get outside the Tulane social bubble and experience the cool and interesting city of New Orleans.

I think students at Tulane are pretty diverse, but one of the things that keeps students more divided is the fact that the rich, sorority girls are also often business majors, and the LGBT students are often psych or gender and sexuality studies majors or things like that. It's not so much that there are uncrossable lines, and most people have friends in all sorts of different groups, but since we spend so much time with people in our classes the type of people tends to narrow. The general political feel of the school is usually pretty left, but being in the South there is still a fair number of right and center students. These students seem to get along fairly well as most of the focus is on awareness, and encouraging students to vote, rather than on tearing each other down. I think Tulane does a good job of creating an environment where no student feels automatically out of place. It may take some time to find the right video game club, the right sorority sisters, or that one other kid on your floor who likes heavy metal, but it can be done. That's one of the great things about the small size, whatever you're interested in, there is someone else who is too. And they aren't too hard to find if you keep looking.

Most students at Tulane are well-off and white, and hail from the Northeast. There are a lot of Jewish students. I think it is somewhere near 40{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} Jewish. Other races are present on campus, but the divide is pretty harsh. This is not to say that someone from a different background would be uncomfortable, but they would be in a fairly small minority. Tulane is not a religiously affiliated school and I don't think I know a single person who attends services. Most students are laid back in terms of clothing. There is not much pressure to be incredibly well-dressed at all times. Political activism is pretty much non-existent, but most Tulane students are pretty left-wing and liberal, though generally apathetic and certainly not radical. If there were four hypothetical tables of students in the dining hall, one would be frat guys and sorority girls, one would be an uncomfortably racially segregated table of athletes, one would be "hipsters" and generally interesting or intellectual folk, and the last would be miscellaneous geeks. We certainly have enough geeks for there to be a healthy game of Humans vs. Zombies going down on campus!

WASP - White Anglo-Saxon Protestants. JAPs - Jewish American Princesses. Black sheep - the individual free thinkers

Most students at Tulane fit into 4 of the 5 categories: White, Jewish, Upper-middle class, from a wealthy suburb of NYC, DC, Chicago, Boston, Atlanta, LA. That said, Tulane is geographically very diverse and while everyone on campus isn't white/jewish most come from similar socioeconomic backgrounds. However, Tulane is very generous with scholarship money so there are a few kids I imagine who are more in the middle class range. Tulane can often seem very high school-esque. Greek Life sort of separates students into cliques and the size means you know a lot of people but not everyone. There are also some kids (mostly the kids on scholarship) who spend their life studying and are afraid of living in "the scary city of New Orleans" From my experience there isn't a lot of in between.

I would say my classmates are varied because not a single one is alike and we all come from many diverse backgrounds which makes for a very multicultural campus.

There is a good mix of students at Tulane but it is predominately white upper/middle class. There are people from all sorts of political backgrounds. If you are not a social person or are not into partying it might be harder to find a niche...not that one does not exist you just might be annoyed by a lot of the students. Students where a range of clothes to class from gym shorts/t-shirts to cute dresses with flats.

Well-to-do, conformist, fraternity/sorority students with few or no original ideas, no original tastes in clothes, who are always lost in their own heads, listening to their iPods, never making eye-contact with or greeting people, and oblivious to their surroundings.

We're all on the same page and we help each other get through that page and turn to the next one.

My classmates are rich, sometimes rude, sometimes nice, northern kids who have no sense of what it's like to work for money and save for things.

Tough to nail down, actually. The greek population is pretty small: less than 1/3 of the student body. But if you do decide to go to Tulane, why would you join a frat?! You can go to all of the parties and they're not the only show in town. The city is full of places where (even freshmen) can wet their whistles. No need to join a frat. There is an activist crowd that is into environmental initiatives. Tulane is quickly moving toward a 100{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} green campus, with the new university center being an award-winning environmental building. There is also an artsy crowd and numerous opportunities to visit funky galleries and the like. The majority are best described as those people from high school who were in all AP classes and involved in some extracurricular activities, but not the "overachiever" - the really smart people who didn't really have to try that hard but might have tried harder if properly motivated. I'm sure most people were relatively popular and well-liked, and many of the people who come here are extroverted. Pretty cool student body overall with some exceptions.

Tulanians are generally wealthy, kind of spoiled, and very entitled--but they're also generally nice people, friendly, happy, and fairly intelligent with their own interesting life stories.

My classmates were smart, fun, and interesting people mostly, though many have lived sheltered lives.

Friendly

rich liberals.

party people that still know how to study and get the job done.

My classmates are mostly very wealthy and privileged, and many spend their free time drinking and going out. However, it is easy to find the right niche at Tulane, as there are so many diverse people that it is impossible to not find someone who shares your interests. In general, everyone is really outgoing and friendly, and all Tulanians are incredibly proud of their school.