<p>I am worried that I will not fit in at this school.</p>
<p>Let me give you some background information about me and on my situation in the form of bullets.</p>
<ul>
<li>Senior in high school</li>
<li>ACT 31</li>
<li>Atheist, Libertarian</li>
<li>I got accepted into Tulane and they are offering a $20000 scholarship annually if I decide to enroll there.</li>
</ul>
<p>The problem I have is when I think of New Orleans and Tulane University, I think of partying. I don't like partying at all. Will I be stuck in my room every weekend why everyone else parties? Or are there other people that share the same views as I do and participate in other forms of entertainment? Also I am socially awkward, will that matter much at Tulane?</p>
<p>Sour - There are at least two other similar threads. You might consider reading those as a start.</p>
<p>Links? I couldn’t find them.</p>
<p>I was sitting here with my D when I read your post, so I asked her. She just finished her first semester. Her reaction was “There is tons of stuff to do besides drinking and partying. There are lots of different clubs that do everything from board games to photography, there are shuttles that take kids to the malls and theaters, there is Audubon Park right across from campus to just lay out on a blanket and read with a friend, and of course there is all the volunteer community service activities. Some of the clubs are a casual commitment (come as much or as little as you want) and some are high commitment”. I will add that my D does not drink or go to all the parties, it isn’t her style. She has lots of friends that like to go to the French Market near the Quarter and shop the stands, go to Magazine Street and look around, she is involved with the literary magazine and doing book reviews, and she is helping to rehab a church home in the area. This is all with a pretty demanding course load.</p>
<p>My advice would be to take an honors course or two and get to know some of the kids in the Honors Program, they might be more your type. You can earn your way into the Program by making a 3.6 your freshman year. Also, even though you won’t be directly eligible for the Honors dorm, it is possible you could find a roommate that is in the Honors Program and get in that way. There are a couple of web sites devoted to roommate matching. Otherwise, if you are female, ask for JL. It is quieter than the big freshman dorms, Monroe and Sharp. But I think you will find plenty of kids with your proclivities. No one will care that you are an atheist, and Tulane has a fairly strong Libertarian minority from what I can gather.</p>
<p>Don’t get me wrong, Tulane has a good group of partiers of course. So do nearly all colleges. But Tulane’s reputation in this regard is exaggerated. After seeing what goes on at a lot of rural universities and hearing the recent NPR’s “This American Life” segment on what goes on at Penn State, I can say that Tulane is actually not as bad as many of them in terms of a drinking/partying problem.</p>
<p>Bottom line, you can find a niche at Tulane and be very happy, but you will have to find it. It won’t just come to you, some effort is required, although it shouldn’t take a great deal. While some kids are very outgoing, most will be in somewhat the same boat as you, looking to find friends and groups that fit them.</p>
<p>Thank you for the advice and the link fallenchemist, I appreciate it.</p>
<p>Thanks so much guys! I really appreciate this post because I had the same thought in my mind these last few days! :D</p>
<p>I’m glad you posted this thread too. Will show to straight-as-an-arrow, introverted son ;o)</p>
<p>My S just finished his 1st semester and was very happy to get back to his friends and his studies after his long winter break. He is also a non-drinker/non-smoker and his HS friends did not smoke or drink. However, some of his Tulane friends do one or both; but, importantly, they are not his friends BECAUSE they smoke or drink or BECAUSE they don’t. He tells me that no one really cares if you do either, and he feels that most people who do smoke and drink do not do so to excess. That being said, he also has told me that a small group of kids will get wasted on a regular basis, but he does not think that this goes on at Tulane any more than at most other schools. He also feels that these kids overindulge because that’s what they did in HS (probably without their parents’ knowledge) or because they have no self control now that they have no parental control. He has seen guys and women passed out in the middle of the quads and has had to call TEMS a number of times to rescue these people. However, seeing the results of overindulgence has made him even more determined never to get that way. He does go to parties to meet people and have fun; however, he does not go parties to “party” (or “par-tayyy”), and no one has ever said anything to him about not drinking or has tried to force him to do anything that would make him uncomfortable. He also does not go out on weeknights other than to participate in club activities, take a coffee break, etc. His main point is that you should be true to yourself, that you certainly can have a lot of fun at Tulane without drinking, but that you should not to be judgmental when it comes to the behavior of others. He has a roommate who is a self-professed straightedge and was miserable his first semester because he never went out and turned away potential friendships because of his zero-tolerance attitude. Hope this helps somewhat.</p>
<p>Excellent post, KyKidsmom. I hope everyone, both potential students and their parents, read it. It does get less as they become sophomores and above, because either the kids that got wasted didn’t make the grades or at least did poorly enough that their parents said “no way I am paying $52,000 for you do to this” and make them transfer to a local school, or because the novelty of the sudden freedom wears off. Your son sounds very mature.</p>