So my post is being reviewed but rankings on the Princeton review, Niche and here on cchttp://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/tulane-university/2043153-is-tulane-a-party-school.html
All claim its a known party school. Of course no one makes someone party if they don’t want to.
@homerdog…I want to apologize if I created confusion.
When I relayed the conversation that I overheard in Starbucks, my point was that that these stories are common at every school in the country (whether they are true or not). That is why I didn’t name the school…because the actual school doesn’t matter.
I really just intended to show that parties are all over…at schools that all of our kids apply to.
Ok…now I will move on from this topic.
I think your D will get into Syracuse if she applies, but I also recall you saying that you didn’t want to spend that kind of money on what might be a safety …in other words, you would want merit (don’t blame you). I do know a few students who received merit to Syracuse (it might be too big for your D).
Party school and going out 7 days a week are not the same thing.
I have zero connection to Tulane. None. FWIW
In Boston. Harvard parties are notoriously rowdy and the most fun for local first years are the mit frats. Parties every weekend.
Neither are party schools. These types of surveys are a bit reliant on bad data and process also. I think they are wholly unreliable other than the prurient interest.
And New Orleans is a fun place. Why not.
For what it’s worth Niche ranks Tulane the #1 party college in the U.S. but I think that has a lot to do that it’s located to a party city, New Orleans! The college is located in Uptown, away from the insane French Quarter (think Bourbon St).
The people I know that graduated from Tulane are successful in their careers, doctors, PhDs, business owners. The overall feeling I get is that Tulane has a work hard, play hard culture and has a friendly, smart, and community service oriented student body.
Oh, my goodness, UT-Austin is a huge party school. So what? If you don’t want to party seven nights a week, you don’t. I knew people were going out a lot - good for them. I was there to earn my engineering degree and it didn’t matter two flips what other people did.
I get that kids don’t have to party at a party school. D21 would freak if kids were throwing up in the dorms on a regular basis. Not saying that’s any particular school. We have one good friend whose D found the honors dorm at Indiana like that. Kids not serious about school. Almost every night someone was wasted on her floor. Even that would be too much for D. S19 at Bowdoin says kids do not drink until Friday. I think she’d prefer that sort of partying scene.
We both just read the sections for Emory, Rice, and Tulane in the Hidden Ivies book. I really like that book. Way better than Fiske at explaining the vibe of the school. Tulane matches up. Rice does not. At all. Sounds very similar to University of Chicago. Emory is a maybe I guess.
That’s my point @homerdog A comment like kids vomiting all over the place is tough to get out of the old memory banks.
I went to u mass before it became this super selective computer science and stem hotbed. It was called zoo mass. It was an awesome experience and such great academics.
I don’t know anyone who saw vomiting all over the place. There wasn’t even a party available really until Thursday night.
And when I attended it was not in the same zip code of the schools and your looking at with d21.
One of the challenges for my nephew in acclimating to Syracuse first year was that his roommate was frequently (during the week not just on weekends) coming back at 3AM and throwing up in the trashcan in the room. Obviously this is one kid, and it can happen anywhere, but I do think there can be an overall culture that leans more heavily into it or not, making a student perhaps more likely to end up with more of those kids on their dorm floor or as potential roommates, etc.
@nichols51 our neighbor’s D had a roommate like that at SMU. It was really awful. There are schools where that is not a thing.
@homerdog Sadly I think one can find a few kids behaving like that at virtually every college. My S went to a Jesuit college, lived in the freshman wellness dorm, and still ended up with a roommate who stumbled in drunk virtually every night.
My friend’s daughter had same drunk roommate every night issue last year at Elon. Fort., she was able to move rooms at the break. It was rough!
Great conversation right before dinner. Lol. I still think there are schools where this is very unlikely. I just asked S19 and and said no way could anyone be getting sick multiple nights a week at Bowdoin. It’s just not a thing. Kids are studying in the evenings and on most of the weekend days. Kids who expect a lot of parties just wouldn’t be there. It’s not in the tradition of the school. Kids have parties on Fridays and Saturdays. He and his friends don’t usually drink on Fridays because they have practice or a meet every Sat morning, so Saturday nights are the only night that they partake!
When I was at NU, parties were Wed, Fri, and Sat. On Saturdays, kids would study until ten and then go out. That’s just how life was there. Good to fess out how that works at the schools on D’s list
If your daughter doesn’t end-up at Wake I’ll be shocked. I lost count of how many schools we’ve visited over the last few years. One of the few that still sticks out is Wake. We stopped while on vacation one summer. The tour was packed. Best presentation and speech from all our stops. I wanted to go back to school. Campus is beautiful. We stopped at UNC as well. It’s a little larger than your target but it’s not huge. Warm weather, beautiful campus, and school spirit.
Emory…nice area but one of those schools you didn’t get a feeling either way. Love Atlanta though. S20 will be attending Georgia Tech.
Stopped at Northeastern for S20 and Emerson for S21. I forgot how much I like Boston. Great place for college kids. BC, BU, or Tufts should be on the list.
S21 did a HS film camp at Syracuse. Campus was nice enough. If D21 is interested in communications or journalism I think Syracuse wouldn’t be a bad option.
Miami could be an option. S20 liked the flexibility with classes and majors. A close friend’s daughter will be a senior. She’s enjoyed her time there. She’s very outgoing but works hard. She says that she’s challenged there but likes it. I think they’re improving the dorms and keeping kids around campus. The campus is nice. It’s Miami.
Good luck.
Dartmouth? I feel like it hits all her boxes other than warm weather! And I believe she could spend a summer there, which would be beautiful!
My D is a sophomore at Wake and in a sorority. Wake’s sororities are not at all “southern” like the deep south’s sororities at state schools. Wake has students from all over the country which makes a very nice geographical and cultural mix.
@Massmom10 For the last five year, Dartmouth has taken no one from our school but recruited athletes in ED! So, good idea, but not going to happen. 
I just realized that we’ll probably have to wait until March for the happy ending to this story, unless she’s able to visit all of her top options and decides to ED. March seems so far away. Nov 1, on the other hand, is in about five minutes.
Aw thanks for assuming a “happy” ending. I hope that’s true! Wake has rolling ED answers and we could have known much earlier than Nov 1 if we could have gotten down there to visit this spring!
My niece graduated from SMU. Her freshman year dorm roommate didn’t even make it one semester…she was partying so hard she got alcohol poisoning about 2 months into the term. Went back home and never came back.
I’m born and raised in Dallas, have known many, family and friends, that have gone to SMU and not all have succumbed to the party scene but all admit it’s rampant. That frat-party-drinking-drug- pretty-rich-kids scene is not something my son wants any part of so he’s not applying.