<p>I read on an old CC post that Tulane was ranked as high as 11 not too long ago. What happened? </p>
<p>Tulane lists its student teacher ratio as 8/1 which is surprisingly high. At 5900 undergrads that is in the range of schools like Wash U which tout their size. </p>
<p>Is Tulane fairly liberal politically? ( a plus for us). It is known for being liberal socially; how about politically? It does have about 1/3 from NYC greater area for some reason unknown to me.</p>
<p>How important is the relatively low endowment? With a small undergrad enrollment it is only twice the size of some LAC's. Is the enodwment more important for grad students thatn undergrads?</p>
<p>Unless you consider greater NYC to encompass everything from the Potomac to Bangor that 1/3 number is incorrect. It is 30% from the Northeast.</p>
<p>The school is not particularly political. If you want liberal politics and New Yorkers try my Alma Mater George Washington. The intra-state politics of LA is complex and not easily interpreted in terms of the liberal/conservative dichotomy as understood in the rest of the country. It is more of a clan oriented kleptocracy. That plus the rich cultural and music environment tends to divert the passions of students in a different direction.</p>
<p>textad, I think the No. 11 ranking was quite a while ago. What happened? who know, not enough $$, poor guidance, too much reliance of reputation rather than moving forward? I am not sure. What I find important now is that Tulane is moving forward.</p>
<p>I would say the politics are 60/40 conservative/liberal. We were there during parents' weekend, and were surprised by all the "W" supporters. Here in Oregon it was all Kerry.</p>
<p>Well, the low endowment, in my opinion, has probably hurt Tulane in two ways: facilities and faculty. I think Tulane is behind schools like Wash U. in terms of its physical plant, and has a hard time holding to some profs. But, they are in the process of a major fund-raising venture, and at least from my perspective, they are pouring a lot of money into merit aid which benefitted my family.</p>
<p>I just saw that Tulane was ranked 34 in 1995 by USNWR. Those old ranks are hard to google up. At least I had a hard time.</p>
<p>In my attempt to research the ideology of the students I pulled up an old Hulabaloo articel by a conservative who felt that he was badly outnumbered at the school, but who knows.</p>
<p>They do have a historic public health school, which tends to be liberal, as conservatives see public health as a socialistic threat to private medicine profits.</p>
<p>Yes the Public Health Service dates to Teddy Roosevelt and William Howard Taft administrations with its predecessor organizations the Marine Hospital Service and the Commissioned Corps getting their major reorgs in the Benjamin Harrison and Grant administrations. Tsk tsk all those Republicans opposed to public health.</p>
<p>On the ranking issue and US News and World Report all I will say is that their rubric for rating colleges is at least as flawed as the College Boards rubric for rating scholastic aptitude. And yes the small endowment has hurt as much as anything.</p>
<p>I find it hard to compare ratings that are more than a year or two old. It seems that USNWR tends to add and subtract ratings components. It's hard to know what went into the mix at the time they were rated #11. They tend to put a high value on peer assessment, which may have had something to do with the variance since schools tend to cycle in and out of fashion. Good luck and a couple of wealthy alumni can make all the difference.</p>
<p>I have read reviews critical of the former president. Perhaps some of the reason lies there. However, as of the last update, the Promise and Distinction Campaign is at 65/5 or its goal with 454.47 million pledged.</p>
<p>Yes but to put that in perspective Harvard's endowment is $22 billion. They will have nearly as much in annual giving this year as Tulanes entire endowment. They have endowment investment managers who collected $35 million in compensation and bonuses last year making them undoubtedly the highest paid university employees in the world.</p>
<p>Of course Tulane isn't the only school with a skimpy endowment and some of the others are still ranked much higher - Tufts for one. I think it probably hurts to be in the South, especially the Deep South. At the same time a school like Tufts literally in the shadow of Harvard and MIT has its own work cut out for it. On the other hand they have a big pool of academically talented students near at hand and not much competition from regional state supported institutions. No state school in the NE is going to make anybody forget Michigan, UVa, William and Mary, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Texas or any of the UC's.</p>
<p>Well, look at at what Wash. U was able to do in a relatively short time with a billon raised in the same sort of concerted effort Tulane is now engaged in.</p>
<p>WUSTL was always a good school. It just didn't have a high profile and it was always well endowed though I think their endowment took a bigger hit than some in the stock bubble. Still it is many times the size of Tulane's which may explain why it has the best maintained buildings and grounds I've seen. The place looks like a Disney set.</p>
<p>Harvard's endowment of $22 million is quite impressive. Too bad they don't turn loose of some of it in the form of merit aid. I realize that some will benefit from need-based aid and many more won't need any financial help at all. This system seems to work for them. However, many other universities don't have the legacy and money draw that the Ivy's do. They must then market themselves and their programs by offering up the kind of merit aid that has students walking away from Ivy offers to attend schools that show them the money. Tulane's endowment might indeed be larger if they had kept some of the merit money. However, it may be money well spent if they produce a large number of successful alumni who contribte to the university. I have to say the generosity of the merit aid has benefited our family greatly.</p>
<p>I have to imagine in the day to day life of a college student that there is a "benefit ceiling" of an endowment. Not all of the good profs in the country are at Ivy's and there is only so much research an undergrad student can engage in. Granted, Tulane needs to increase their endowment, which they are doing. They need infrastructure improvements and are working on those and I am sure the faculty has a list of things they want in the way of compensation packages and research facilities. I just think they can accomplish a great deal of that without a $22 billion endowment. Call me Pollyanna!</p>
<p>Well to be honest Harvard's endowment is SO big that it is hard to figure out what they are doing with it besides growing it. In fact there comes a point when maybe their non-profit status ought to be looked at but that is another story and I don't want to get flamed on that so lets forget I said it.</p>
<p>Right now growing the research grants and contracts - which they are doing in a fairly dramatic fashion, is probably the most important move Tulane is making. The huge bulk of this money as at nearly all research universities is NIH and other government medical related money. Of course some of that can filters down through other schools and departments.</p>
<p>We will see what kind of money Cowen can pull in during the public phase of this capital campaign. This is what college presidents get paid the big bucks to do.</p>