<p>@rach345 @hugoblack is pretty much spot on with their description. I had 7 AP credits coming in and got a resgistration time where I got the exact schedule I wanted. My friend had none and a time two days later and got none of the classes she wanted and had to scramble to make a schedule. </p>
<p>This problem with registering for classes is very concerning. My daughter is a junior and very interested in Tulane. She will have 4 AP credits max when entering. I am not thrilled that I may be paying 60k per year and my daughter won’t be able to get classes that she needs to take. The idea of being forced to take needed courses over the summer at home because you can’t get into them at school after paying so much money is just appalling. Is it really this bad? Is this common?</p>
<p>This is a common situation at just about any University. Freshmen register last, classes get filled. I work at a University and we deal with this constantly, and I hear from my sons friends they face the same problems at their schools. My son is a freshman at Tulane and the only problem he faced registering for spring was he didn’t get the section of Spanish that he wanted. So he chose a different section. </p>
<p>@me29034 I would highly recommend taking courses over the summer to lighten your load. I did that when I was in college. It is so much easier to take 15 credits vs. 18 credits. </p>
<p>I recently spoke to another mother that has a child at Wash U and is taking organic chemistry 1 and 2 at Harvard over the summer. She said the med students usually do that and it is so much easier to get through org. chem when you have no other courses to worry about. So yes, it happens but usually I only hear people taking summer courses to benefit them. </p>
<p>I’m currently trying to convince my daughter to take Physics over the summer as well. Her schedule is way too hard and demanding which is because she is taking the most difficult major at Wash U. AP credits definitely help too!</p>
<p>My son had to take a course over the summer too so he could minor in French. He didn’t want to take 18 credits a semester so that is why he took a course over the summer. </p>
<p>So it all depends on your child and what she is majoring in. I mean if it is an easier major then you probably dont’ need to take summer courses. If it is a hard major or if she is double majoring or getting a minor then it complicates things.</p>
<p>So I highly recommend taking summer courses just to lighten your load and that in turn may help your GPA too. Right?!! :)</p>
<p>However, I will say for state schools scheduling is always a huge problem. You usually don’t find that at private schools. They have said it takes 5 years to graduate from a state school now because they are overcrowded. </p>
<p>Both of my kids are at private schools and they haven’t had a problem with registering for their courses. </p>
<p>My son is taking 22 credits in the Spring. At Tulane you can take up to 25 credits as long as you maintain a 3.5 GPA. I think he’s crazy but his intent is to graduate in 3 years. He transferred in AP and dual enrollment credits so he is already a sophomore credit wise. </p>
<p>Interesting note. We were talking about this with my in-laws over Christmas and they said when they were in college it was required to take 21-22 credits each semester. They are both in their 70’s now. Now we think it’s a big deal to take 18! </p>
<p>Watch with Community College courses, Tulane doesn’t accept those credits. </p>
As far as the party scene, I agree it is very robust at Tulane. But ridiculous rankings aside, most schools have equally robust partying. See this from the Chronicle of Higher Education, just for example. http://chronicle.com/article/Maps-6-Campusesthe/150225/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en They have had an extensive series of articles in early December about college drinking and partying, and it becomes clear very quickly that most schools have serious issues with this.
My D just finished her first semester. She started with no AP credits. While some of the courses she wanted were not available when she registered she found that by contacting the prof she was able to register for the ones in her major. She wait listed for others and got in. First semester she got into the sections she wanted from the wait list. I would not consider this a problem. She has learned to juggle the classes and find the balance she wants.
I have two students at Tulane currently. One went in with 3 hours of AP credit and the other 23 hours of AP credit. It is easier for the one with more hours to get the classes he wants right away, but the one with fewer hours has always been able to get the classes he wants/needs by wait listing for the sections he wants. Occasionally he has had to take the class in a different time slot or possibly a different teacher, but it has always worked out. It is a bit nerve racking at times, but the situation is at least as bad, and more often than not worse, at the schools many of their friends attend. There are ways to navigate the system: emailing the professor, showing up on the first day of class and talking to the teacher after class, etc. It has always worked out in the end for my two students.
Absolutely right, @kreativekat. It sometimes takes a bit of effort, but most of the profs are softies and will let you in if you show up the first day and ask them to sign the form that lets you in.
My D also went in with no AP credits but found out about department overrides when she needed a math class or two. I’m not sure exactly how that works or if it’s just a math department thing since she’s a math major.
I have a question about freshman dorm selection.
My son has been admitted to the Honors Program at Tulane. Although he is still considering other college options, Tulane is one of his top choices. He has narrowed his dorm choices down to Monroe/Sharp vs. Butler.
Some of the current or recent Tulane students he knows have told him to live in Butler, the honors dorm, so he can avoid around-the-clock parties in Monroe and Sharp (or finding barf in the bathrooms even on week nights) and so he can bond with his fellow Honors students. But others have said that the Honors dorm is too nerdy and is a big magnet for engineering majors (which my son is not). I would describe him as VERY social. He is an only child who would much rather be with other teenagers than on his own reading, playing music, etc. I’m sure he’ll want to play a lot of intramural sports at Tulane and maybe join a fraternity. But he is NOT a party guy. His idea of being “social” is hanging out with his girlfriend or spending weekends with a small group of friends doing something active (touch football, tennis) or watching NFL games, following his Fantasy Football team, maybe playing video games with several others … i.e., not loud, crowded, boozy situations. He doesn’t seem to care much about concerts or bands, and I don’t see him as someone who will ever get into the club scene, even when he’s legally able to do so.
He has lived in dorms during several different summer programs and always seemed to love dorm life … especially when there was action in the lounge or when the students on his floor kept their doors open and enjoyed a lot of camaraderie. I’m sure he’d love to play on intramural sports teams with his floor- or dorm-mates.
So for those of you at Tulane now, do you think my son should request Monroe/Sharp or Butler, if he ultimately picks Tulane? I don’t think that this is a concern that he’s especially worried about but, on the other hand, he values advice from those in the know. Thanks for any advice you can provide.
He doesn’t only have to choose between Monroe/Sharp or Butler. There is also Greenbaum, Wall, and Patterson.
@dolphnlvr6 --Yes, thanks. He knows that, but he seems to have narrowed down his choices to those three already.
@BeingRidiculous
Well, my reply won’t be very satisfying, but might at least add some perspective. Neither dorm (talking as if Monroe and Sharp were the same dorm, which they might as well be) is as completely stereotypical in either direction as people make them seem. It is just easier to talk about them that way, of course. I have known NUMEROUS honors program participants that chose Monroe/Sharp and were very happy there, while being highly successful in the classroom. Quite a few have gone on to top med schools and grad schools, great engineering jobs at energy firms and companies like Google, and I even know a couple that have started their own companies right out of school and so far are making a go of them. I have known NUMEROUS honors program participants that have chosen Butler (no surprise there, of course), including my D, that say its non-social reputation is very exaggerated. In fact, the descriptions of the socialization tend to run along the lines of what you describe for your son,
but there is a lot of that kind of socialization in Monroe/Sharp as well. One of the nice things about being at a warm weather school is that a lot of the crazier activity takes place elsewhere, since there is no real barrier to getting out.
Still, there is no question that Butler is quieter than Monroe/Sharp on a more consistent basis. Besides, as he makes friends that live in other dorms, he will spend time with them either in those dorms or elsewhere on and off campus. After a short time, what dorm you are in doesn’t define your social life. But the thing I hear most from the Butler crowd is that they are glad to have a quiet place to go “home” to. It just depends on what he is looking for. But since it sounds like he will join a couple of clubs at the very least, I think the dorm he picks should probably reflect which will give him the most flexibility. Since it sounds like he values being able to balance quieter time with his social life, perhaps Butler would be the better choice. Because the ones I have known that picked Monroe/Sharp have usually said something like “I want the ‘true’ freshman experience”, which I take as being somewhat raucously social. That doesn’t sound like your son. But again, I just wanted to point out while there is some truth underlying the stereotypes, it is only a partial truth. They are not as black and white as they are sometimes portrayed.
I’ll take a stab at this one. My freshman son was facing same dilemma regarding dorm choice. A little background on him. High achiever in the classroom (as are many Tulane students), not a partier in the traditional sense of the word (doesn’t drink, smoke, etc…), pretty athletic but grew weary of the jock mentality at his high school. Anyhow, he was pretty set on honors dorm prior to orientation. He met his future roommate at orientation and his roommate really wanted Monroe. So he ended up in Monroe. A little bit of an adjustment in the beginning. The first weekend there, he was the only kid on his floor who didn’t go out to the bars. The novelty of the bar scene quickly wore off and he found plenty of people to hang out with. Monroe can be loud at times but he has no problems studying. He is in BME program and pulled off a 4.0 his first semester we aren’t concerned that Monroe is too loud or social for him. He has made some really good friends and him not being a drinker has been no problem. I think the worries about Monroe/sharp being too social or too wild can be a little overblown at times.
@fallenchemist and @6kids2boxers1cat --Thanks so much for your feedback. Both of you were very helpful. I hadn’t considered that the warm-weather factor would keep kids outside more than they might be in a colder climate. Good point!
And my son seems quite a bit like @6kids2boxers1cat’s son, so it sounds as if he’d be fine in either dorm … which I sort of suspected all along.
My son requested a room in Butler when he stays overnight for Top Scholars Weekend in March. I had suggested the opposite … that he stay in Monroe or Sharp to see if it felt too raucous or distracting. But he said, “I know what a typical dorm is like” (courtesy of multiple summer programs … the one he was in this past summer in particular apparently got a little crazy), so he said that, instead, he wants to check out Butler to see if it meets his social-interaction standards.
Again, thanks for everyone’s help.
@BeingRidiculous
He should really look into the other dorms, my son sounds similar to yours and he went with Wall. He rolled the dice and is so happy he got this dorm. It is a good balance between the “extremes” and there are many Honor Students in Wall with tons of activities (if you so choose to participate) along with quite rooms to study.
Really the bigger item is if he likes his roomate or not, that seems to be more of an influence than the actual dorm from what I gather from the students.
He needs to go visit each dorm while he is there for Top Scholars Weekend. When we visited for Top Scholars Weekend we went to the dorms and this helped narrow down his choices as he didn’t like Wall too much on paper but he applied to Wall because of the size, cleanliness, suite arrangement, and atmosphere - best decision he made for living arrangement.
In general it seems that the kids love whatever dorm they get assigned and find friends and balance within the first weeks.
@dbcbs5 --Thanks. I will urge my son to check out all the dorms in March. My husband and I will be there, too, so we should be able to snoop around a bit ourselves, even if our son is tied up at various events.
@BeingRidiculous from what you have described about your son, I think that he could have a fun time in Monroe or Sharp, but I feel that the best fit for him would be Wall! It has a great atmoshpere and amazing rooms!
also a side note- I recently rushed and joined a sorority, so now I have some experience in that area if anyone has questions about that!
*I am going to merge this thread started by @silvertippedcities with the thread started by @texasteen. It is CC policy that “ask me” threads are open to all for both asking questions and answering them, rather than only getting one point of view for the answers. So it doesn’t make sense to have two threads with the same purpose going.
Having said that, your willingness to answer questions is highly appreciated, @silvertippedcities. Also it is great that Tulane has turned out to be the ideal choice you hoped it would be.*