American University vs. Tulane

<p>If you had the to decide between American and Tulane, and chose American, please explain why. Thank you.</p>

<p>Hi @ireneb, as you may know from having seen my posts in the same threads as you, my D was admitted at both Tulane and American. Although we’ve not visited Tulane, I’ve done a lot of reading up on it and have hardly read a negative review. It seems like a beautiful good size campus, in a great area in a great city, and filled with smart happy kids. Sounds ideal, right? Well, I think it would be for my daughter, but for us it came down to money - we got a lot more from American than from Tulane, so that is how we made our decision. That said, D applied only to schools in the first place that she could see herself attending, which included American, so she has thrown herself into the American Facebook page, we paid our deposit and she hasn’t looked back.
I started to write the pros and cons of both schools in my opinion and it came out as a love letter to Tulane, which is not where I wanted this to go. Once again, I think Tulane is an overall great sounding place and imagine that most students will be happy there.
From what I have read at American, it isn’t a slam dunk there - it caters to a specific type of student and if your son falls into that, I think he could be very happy at American. I feel it will be a great experience for D for the following reasons: she loves DC and is very excited about studying there. She is an independent kind of person - likes the rah rah of a university but it isn’t really important to her - she may never attend a school wide sport game in her entire 4 years, by choice. She loves the idea of hanging out with smart, motivated kids who are less into partying and more into exploring the city, taking internships and studying abroad, has no worries about getting on the metro to the city for the evening with friends. But someone wanting more of a college experience based around those kind of sports events, etc, American may be a bit of a let down.
My D absolutely wants a real college experience and wanted a real campus, like American. But we looked at large universities with cute main streets and tons to do on campus and those didn’t interest her - I think American offers a bit less on campus experience in exchange for more opportunities in the City (equal amounts of fun opportunities, but more in terms of work, international, political etc).
If someone is studying international affairs, relations, politics etc then American is definitely a stronger contender than Tulane.
The last factor for us, is that American is much closer to our home in Boston. While my D has studied abroad and has no problems being away from home, Tulane is a long tough trip for us and while if everything had come together (i.e. money) I’d have sent her off to Tulane with no regrets, I’m selfishly thrilled to have her closer to home, yet still far enough away for her to be totally independent.
By the way, as an extra bonus, American is disproportionately female, which is a slight negative for my daughter, but might appeal to many guys ;-)</p>

<p>We paid our deposit, bought plane tickets for our visit, put the AU sticker on our car and are absolutely happy with our decision.</p>

<p>Sorry if I’ve rambled a bit, but since we’ve been in completely the same boat, wanted to answer your post. Best of luck to you and DS!</p>

<p>Congrats on your daughters decision and than you for such a detailed post. American also makes more sense for us financially. It is further away from us (Colorado) than Tulane, but that is not a factor. My son visited American for an overnight on his own last week and liked it. My husband and I are visiting Tulane with him next Thursday for Destination Tulane (an admitted students’ event). Although we previously visited Tulane, it was the Friday before Christmas, and there were hardly any students/professors on campus (and most of the buildings were closed). I think this visit will either solidify his decision to enroll at American or make him question it (which will definitely add more stress to an already stressful situation). Either way, he’ll have a week and a half after this visit to decide. </p>

<p>Let us/me know how it goes. I can’t imagine he won’t like Tulane from what I hear, but from your other posts sounds like he liked American as well. I’ts a stressful decision but still a nice dilemma to have - two great schools to choose from!!. There was just no way we could justify the cost of Tulane, even after we got some aid, so our decision was a lot easier!
Good luck</p>

<p>Your daughter sounds a lot like my son, and i think he likes American for those same reasons. I also noticed that there seemed to be way more girls there. I think he would benefit from talking to a guy about what campus life is like there. I haven’t checked out Tulane so far. Thanks so much for the detailed post. </p>

<p>Please note the following HUGE grain of salt: my experience is from almost 20 years ago. With that caveat, I am in the unique position of having gone to AU for my final two years of undergrad, and then straight to Tulane for my master’s. I think the first question is what will your child be studying, as in my mind it makes a huge difference in comparing the two schools. American’s School of International Service (SIS) is much more highly regarded than any of its other programs. I’d say SIS is on a par with Tulane academically, but otherwise Tulane would have a definite advantage. The SIS students were a fairly diverse group but (throwing political correctness to the wind here) the “vibe” in the dorms and in non-SIS classes was straight out of an episode of Jersey Shore. Tulane struck me as less cosmopolitan than AU/SIS, but more so than AU as a whole. Both have “ok” campuses in very nice residential areas easily accessible to the attractions of two great cities.</p>

<p>Think you should pay a visit to your old alma mater and watch less reality TV.</p>

<p>Attended Tulane and lived in New Orleans for five years. Lived in New Jersey for three years. Attended AU and currently live in DC area. I’m trying to be helpful to OP. You’re trying to be…what?</p>

<p>

@rrobb, I wouldn’t waste a grain of salt on that comment. My D graduated from AU’s College of Arts and Sciences, as did most of her friends. There wasn’t a Jersey Shore type among them. They were nice people and serious students (non-partiers) who held responsible internships, studied diligently, and graduated in four years, in some cases with honors. Despite your disclaimer, I don’t think it’s appropriate to vilify an entire population of students you know nothing about. And given Tulane’s reputation for partying, your comment makes even less sense.</p>

<p>D and I had a great visit to American this week and came away feeling very good about her decision to attend. The school did a great job - IMO - on the UC overnight, the campus looked great - lots of activity going on and improvements in the works (from plantings, to construction) and my daughter really felt the AU students seemed like a good, diverse, interesting and smart group of people. She totally came away psyched to attend and I couldn’t be more relieved.
Good luck to everyone still deciding on schools. It’ll be over soon :-)</p>

<p>Irene what did you decide? </p>

<p>Irene’s son decided on Tulane. </p>