Tulane University of Louisiana Top Questions

To be completely honest, I am disappointed with my time at Tulane, and almost all of that disappointment arises from the university's administration or policies. The administration presents a facade of a university dedicated to public service and rigorous academics. In doing so, they attract some really creative and intelligent students, but then are unable to follow through on their promises. Students tend to just brush off their poor classes and grow generally apathetic when they find things aren't at all what expected. Also, as far as bureaucracy is concerned, there are absurd amounts of hoops to jump through as far as the simplest tasks are concerned, like registering for classes, studying abroad, or paying your bills. Tulane is behind other schools in many of the simple administrative aspects, including technology, food services, and general organization, but most things get shrugged off using Katrina as an excuse. It's a bit sad, but because the students are fairly cheerful, optimistic kids, you get this phrase a lot with a shrug, "Yea, sure I don't like Tulane, but I love New Orleans." That sentiment seems to be accepted as a sad underlying truth, even with professors, but people just make the most of it with the incredible surroundings and good social life. Students in general are happy, but very little of that has anything to do with Tulane. Things are definitely improving, but at a New Orleans pace.

Generally, Tulane students are regarded as being party animals who are either native to Louisiana or from the Northeast. Tulane is also considered to have an ethnically diverse student body which a lot of school spirit and affinity for greek life. Additionally, being in New Orleans, students are considered to be humanitarians looking to rebuild the city post-Katrina. Partying is definitely a huge aspect of life at Tulane and in New Orleans! Most of the bars only require an ID of 18+ to enter. This allows freshmen and sophomores a wide range of places to go including The Boot, a bar so close to campus, most students pass it on their way between classes. While nights in New Orleans are filled with infinite numbers of things to do, places to eat and even more places to drink, the students are all miraculously motivated. Lectures are taken seriously and upper classmen in particular mature into thoughtful, intellectual young adults. Underclassmen are another story. Greek life consumes about a third of the incoming freshmen. Within a year or two, many have dropped their sororities and fraternities. We have kids from all over (my class oddly has no one from Vermont) though I would say it seems most students are from Louisiana, Texas, New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, or California. If I had to guess, I'd say 85{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of the student body is Caucasian. Community service is a big part of who the students are. We are required to do 2 classes while enrolled that are community service oriented. I had expected to be given a hammer and some nails and literally rebuild homes and schools that had been destroyed or damaged by the hurricane. In reality, most TU students are assigned to tutor students from local schools or lead debate teams for schools in the New Orleans area. Students looking for a real feeling of satisfaction should seek out Habitat for Humanity or any of the numerous programs readily available and eager for help in NOLA.

I think the best thing about Tulane is the opportunity to live in New Orleans, and every student should take advantage of that. New Orleans gets a national reputation as a party city, and there is no denying that part of it, but it's a city with so many great other opportunities too. Tulane Uptown Campus is situated right across from Audubon Park and right on St. Charles Ave. It's an incredibly beautiful and historical part of town. My favorite thing to do freshman year was walk or bike through the park with a friend to get groceries (there is a Whole Foods on the other side) and then stop and have a picnic by one of the many ponds on the way back. Tulane's campus is beautiful, but spending the $1.25 to take a streetcar ride down town, see the antique shops, street artists, and to of course grab some beignets (donut type things) and coffee is probably my favorite thing about this school. In terms of some of the more practical things, the campus is great, very beautiful and everything is easy to get to. One of the major complaints from students is the food, we have a nice area near the bookstore with some good options and two coffee shops, but the cafeteria tends to be pretty bad. But, even with some of the usual complaints, the administration isn't always on top of everything, trying to do unique projects requires lots of paper works, I find that students are usually glad about the choice to come here. My friends and I often talk about how glad we are that we have this great experience while many of our friends at home are talking about going to parties in dorm rooms for Halloween and we went to Frenchman St., which was packed with costumed people for almost a mile. And, when I tell my family or family friends I go to Tulane, they are always interested and proud, citing what a good school it is and in such an interesting town. I think Tulane is a great place, it's wonderful in terms of size because every time I walk to class I see at least a few people I know which is always nice. But I also see a lot of people I don't know, and its fun to have the opportunity to always meet new people.

Tulane University is a great college for business, pre-med and public health, but unfortunately, not so much for liberal arts. While a lot of liberal arts professors are great and the classes offered are interesting, the facilities for business students, for example, far surpass those for liberal arts majors. The campus is fairly nice and the library is decent. The food on campus is pretty awful, and it's really a shame that there is an obligatory meal plan for the first two years when you're in New Orleans. New Orleans is a great city to go to college in. The bars are great and fairly cheap, as is a lot of food. There is always something to do. If you are looking for a university that rallies around its sports teams, Tulane is not the school. I myself, have never been to a single sporting event. Word is that a football stadium is going to be built on campus--we have our games in the Superdome currently--so this may change. The best experience I have gotten from Tulane is being a DJ and staff member of our radio station, WTUL. We broadcast over an FM frequency throughout the city and the audience and DJs are not just limited to Tulane students. WTUL has introduced me to a lot of great music and interesting people.

The best thing about this school is the different types of people that attend Tulane. Everyday you might meet someone from your hometown, from another state, or from another country. Tulane is the most geographically diverse school in the US. In regards to size, I think Tulane is perfect both in student body population and in geographic size. Half of my classes have 10-15 students in them. The other half that have about 60 students get broken down into groups of 10-15 per professor. People are genuinely impressed when I tell them I attend Tulane. It's academic programs are respected and recognized nation wide. Like architecture students at any school, I spend the majority of my time in the studio working on projects. However, non architecture students spend lots of time in the library; I think Tulane students are big on putting academics at the top of their priorities, but also find plenty of time to have fun downtown, seeing jazz bands, and giving back to the community. New Orleans is a great college town. There is always somewhere to go and something to do. The school can be somewhat separated from the city at times, but generally students really make an effort to make it off campus to go to concerts, bars, restaurants, or to help out around the city through community service. I have no complaints about the administration at Tulane. Any problem that I've ran into be it scheduling classes or advising issues has been resolved. There are certainly times where you will need put forth a good amount of effort to resolve things, but that's life. The staff here cares, and does everything within their power to help you plan out and execute your academic path. For a university that's not so focused on athletics, I think there is a lot of school pride at Tulane. People are proud to say they go here.

Its a great size, for starters: it's big enough to be a medium-sized college, but it's also not too big like state schools. People love coming to Tulane because it's a great school in a great city sure and there's Mardi Gras, but there are also a lot of unexpected perks: wearing flip-flops and shorts in November, festivals every week-end within 10-20 mins like the strawberry festival, the Jazz festival or the po-boy festival, amazing music everywhere, really friendly people (really), and so much more. There are lots of opportunities for students to get involved around the city, be it interning for a non-profit to save the Gulf of Mexico, working at a PR firm, or interning at a public health clinic that still deals with the aftermaths of Hurricane Katrina. The city loves Tulane and Tulane loves the city. Because we are a top-tier school in a metropolitan city, we always have important people passing through, and being students, we always get in for free or at a steep discount.

Tulane offers every student a veritable cornucopia of activities. I manage a radio station here and I love it. There's very strong student organizations for ANY hobby. I mean ANY hobby. Student-faculty ratio is low, the campus is beautiful and safe, the city of New Orleans is amazing..I would not go anywhere else if I could decide again.

When I was looking for the right college for me, I was extremely picky. I knew I wanted to be in a city, but still needed a campus. Not only is Tulane in an amazing city, it has a beautiful campus atmosphere. Tulane has been everything I hoped for in a school. I am able to take classes outside of my major, including dance and art. Through the school's community service requirements, I have found a passion for the arts, entertainment, and festivals, which I once interned for and now get paid to work for. The city is easy to maneuver, when one wants to get off campus and out of the college bubble. It is easy to get along with and interact with the locals as well. Tulane and New Orleans have a southern charm while still having a big city mentality.

I honestly can say that choosing Tulane was the best decision I ever made. I believe the size of the student body is perfect. You will always be meeting new people, while almost always seeing someone you know around campus. Tulane's location is also ideal. In my opinion, New Orleans is one of the best cities in the United States. The city has so much to offer and there is always something to do, whether that be a festival, parade, or just visiting parts of the city. I'd also have to say that Mardi Gras is a big plus, however many people overestimate how family-oriented it really is. It's an extremely fun week filled with festivals, despite many people's misconceptions that it is revolved around Bourbon Street.

Tulane is a wonderful learning environment. The classes are really interesting and the professors actually care about students doing well. Students have access to invaluable resources like the tutoring center and writing center, which helps students stay on board with classes. Professors are accessible and the majority will meet with you outside of class if you ever get confused. New Orleans is an amazing city and students will never be board. The only down side is that Tulane is uptown and students really don't spend a lot of time downtime given potential safety hazards in downtown New Orleans. Tulane offers amazing extra curricular programs and clubs but its the responsibility of the student to get involved and take advantage of all the resources. Students have the opportunity to network with alumni and set up connections that will last once they graduate. The student body is not very diverse but there is a group of people for everyone. I have not seen any cat fights of ill natured girls, but that could just be me. The sky is the limit at Tulane and I can't imagine a better place to spend college. Students understand the balance of party hard and work hard which makes Tulane the perfect combination.