<p>I got accepted into Tulane recently and was selected as a Founders Scholar, which is a scholarship of $20k a year... I am seriously considering Tulane as destination next year as I really like everything it has to offer, but my number one concern about it right now is the surrounding area. I have heard several bad things about the area and NO in general, but i don't want to make any assumptions because every city has good and bad parts. I am from a pretty safe suburban/growing area in between D.C. and Richmond that isnt huge but isnt a small town either. So i am really just wondering, if i went to Tulane, how safe or dangerous is the area around the campus? I read some really nice things on this site but they were posts from a few months before Hurricane Katrina. And to be honest I don't know how much it has been rebuilt since then so I am a little hesitant to go only by what i read from before. Any help is greatly appreciated...</p>
<p>Tulane is located uptown. It’s “safe” enough (just don’t go walking alone at night, but that holds true for all college areas).
No clue what you heard that’s “bad” about the area. Yes, there are a few blocks you should avoid, but you have to be an idiot to not be able to tell which ones they are.</p>
<p>I’m from the area (and I went to high school only a few blocks away from Tulane), so if you want an honest reply about New Orleans, send me a pm and I can write a longer/more detailed response.</p>
<p>There are also numerous threads on the Tulane part of CC that address this, and they are from last year and this year. Bottom line, Tulane is in a beautiful area of multi-million $$ homes (with far more moderate but still nice homes nearby to be sure) and is, indeed, as safe as most other universities. Johnson is 100% right, as long as you use even an ounce of common sense, you should be fine. My D is a sophomore there and feels quite secure, and she goes off campus frequently. This years freshman class is 62% female. Not to seem sexist, but I don’t think that many parents would send their daughters to a place where they thought there was that high a risk of trouble. I would also remind everyone that a coed was killed in normally bucolic Chapel Hill a few years ago, and of course there was the tragedy at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, a fairly rural setting.</p>
<p>You hit it right on the nose, erossell. There are neighborhoods in New Orleans no one would go to, but they are not around Tulane. It is similar to WUSTL in St. Louis. If you just looked at the crime stats for the St. Louis area, you would be horrified. But if you know the area, you also know that the vast majority of that crime is miles from the campus. Does that mean there is no crime around WUSTL? Of course not, and the same is true for Tulane. Criminals will always try to steal (especially) from college kids, they think they are easy marks. But it really isn’t a huge problem.</p>
<p>The bad things that I have heard was that my friend’s dad said when he went down to NO, he wouldnt have wanted to spend a night in the area. Like that it was so shady looking i guess. The other thing that seems to be brought up a lot when i talk about Tulane is that the area is predominantly African American. Now, im from a somewhat rural VA town so race does play an issue for some people. Even though it doesnt for me and Im not really worried about it I have researched it and found that the area and the University is predominantly white, so its obviously just stereotype. Basically I have heard of lot of how its a shady dangerous area thats dirty. Thats pretty much the concensus description that people give me, and i try not to listen to.</p>
<p>I appreciate the info, after i posted i went and looked around a bit at the area online and it actually seems quite nice so Im just gonna wait til I visit myself sometime in the spring!</p>
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That is absolutely the way to go. Only seeing for yourself can truly put these erroneous stereotypes to rest.</p>
<p>New Orleans is majority African-American. So is almost every major city in the USA now, I think. Certainly a lot are. I never thought much about it, it just never seems like an issue to me. I don’t mean to sound naive or Pollyanna, but 30 years ago when I was a student there and now as well, I have always found more of an atmosphere in New Orleans of people just being people. I guess it can be whatever you want to make of it. I suppose it is interesting that the previous mayor was black and the current mayor is white. I think that shows that New Orleans is not all about race.</p>
<p>^I’d say that’s more in the south. Minneapolis is 70% white, Boston is 56% white, Chicago is 42% white 36% black. That’s compared to New Orleans at 67% black and 28% white and Atlanta at 51% black and 41% white. New York City is 45% white and 27% black but there’s a ton of diversity there.</p>
<p>I believe the race demographics have actually flipped since Katrina.</p>
<p>Last I saw, the city was 60% white according to the Times Picayune. Can’t find that proof, but here is one thing I found:
<a href=“http://iwpr.org/pdf/D490.pdf[/url]”>http://iwpr.org/pdf/D490.pdf</a></p>
<p>Clearly that’s only women, but it paints a general picture. Not like it really matters anyway. Although I’m a huge fan of how the Saints have really become something that the whole city supports (and it doesn’t fall along race lines like most things do).</p>
<p>But yeah, definitely visit for yourself. The people you’ve been talking to have no clue what they’re talking about. St. Charles is a gorgeous street. And a thousand times nicer since they repaved the stupid road this summer.</p>
<p>I go to Tulane and I don’t think it’s really unsafe. Don’t walk alone at night in certain areas.</p>