<p>That is one post that stands completely on its own merits, with one exception.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Yet somehow in the Princeton Review, which is based on student responses, Tulane ranks #10 for Happiest Students and #13 for Great College Towns. Doesn’t quite track.</p>
<p>Seriously Bgizzle, bitterness doesn’t look good on anybody.</p>
<p>Bgizzle91,
So instead of Tulane, will you be attending the school of Hard Knocks or Sour Grapes?</p>
<p>whine whine whine because you can’t get scholarships from a “B” school, right? You should probably just go to “whichever state you live in” State University, then.</p>
<p>That’s funny…not. No, I didn’t even apply to the B school and I’m just commenting from my own personal experience that life in “Jewlane” is not the ideal setting for everyone. And in case you’re wondering, I’m going to BU next year. I’m sure you can go on and on about how I shouldn’t even be mentioning BU students in this forum. Well, at least I’ll be in one of the best college cities next year as opposed to being in that dump New Orleans. FYI, you step one foot off Tulane’s campus, which is actually nice, and you’re in the ghetto. Putting my own sentiments aside, Tulane is a pretty decent school in what I think a not so decent area. Pretty much all you have to look forward to is a big frat scene and a lot of drinking. I guess that sounds pretty good to most people, as long as you can balance studies and driking. And to all the Tulane alumni on this board, stop thinking you’re something that you’re not. Tulane has been increasing SAT/GPA requirements and still isn’t a top 50 university. Yeah, both BU and Tulane fall short of Penn State according to US world and news.</p>
<p>Bgizzle-
Not sure what you are getting, other than a bad image, by posting your comments here. Go enjoy BU. It has about a 20% Jewish population, compared to Tulane’s approximately 30% Jewish population. By the way-- do the math-- that means 7 of every 10 students at Tulane will NOT be Jewish. They are still a minority represented religion, FWIW. If you didn’t qualify for any scholarship $ at Tulane, I am sorry to hear that. Sounds like BU is a better fit for you, and enjoy Boston. Oh, by the way- be careful. My friend’s s attends BU. He got mugged twice… the first semester of his freshman year.</p>
<p>** And by the way, I really, REALLY hope you aren’t gauging schools predominantly by their US NEWS rating (which is currrently based on 2007 admissions data). That would be really sad.</p>
<p>To add to jym’s comment, and further point out how misguided Bgizzle is, Bgizzle totally ignores the unique “hit” Tulane took in the way USNWR calculates its ratings because of Katrina. It would be too long, not to mention useless, to get into a debate with a high school senior that is not particularly well informed as to the vagaries and arbitrariness of the parameters USNWR uses to do the rankings. After all, he calls it “US world and news”, lol. I will summarize that the guy that started the rankings admitted he had a predetermined result in mind and then tweaked the formula until he got the result he thought made sense. Or so he told the New York Times. So it only measures what he thinks is important, others could just have easily have picked different parameters. Do they make some sense? Sure. Are they weighted correctly? Who knows. Are there parameters left out? Are some things subjective, like “reputation”, and favor high density areas like the northeast, or schools with big time sports? Absolutely. This has been independently studied and reported in academic journals. And of course, now that they have been out a while, different schools have altered their behavior to look better in the rankings. Does that really make them better schools? Not likely. Despite all that, it is quite likely that when 2008 and 2009 stats are taken into account, Tulane will rank higher than it did based on 2007 stats, which still reflected Katrina issues that USNWR did not correct for.</p>
<p>Now, to say that:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I won’t completely embarrass him by posting pictures of what is around Tulane for an area of many blocks, but people can easily look. What they would see is that to the south of Tulane is a gorgeous park that is a center of activity for students and residents. On the southern edge of that (between the park and the river) is Magazine Street, which has trendy shops, restaurants, a great Whole Foods store, houses that are lovely, well kept, and rented by many students, and clubs/bars frequented by students. To the immediate west is Audubon Place, which has large expensive homes, and then more modest neighborhoods all the way to Carrollton, which has the famous Camillia Grill and shops. Nothing fancy, but certainly far from a ghetto. I have walked from campus to there well over a hundred times and never worried at all. Would I walk through there alone at night? I have, but I don’t think it is probably the smartest thing in the world. It is hardly a ghetto, and I never had any trouble, but I would say the same is true for at least half the campuses in this country, and many are in far far worse areas.</p>
<p>To the immediate east is Loyola University, and east of that along St. Charles are huge classic southern homes. If you go back north from St. Charles towards Freret the homes gradually become less expensive, but in the area of the campus for some blocks the homes and neighborhood are not bad at all. To the south of St. Charles, east of the park is the Garden District area, which is also full of lovely homes and is a popular area for tourists to walk through. Finally, to the north of the main part of campus (north of Willow Street) you have the things that replaced the original Sugar Bowl after it was torn down. Some dorms, a parking garage, the student recreation center, and other facilities, and then finally you get to Claiborne avenue and the interstate. This is many blocks from campus, and while it is not a very good area on the other side of the highway, there is also no reason for any student to go there.</p>
<p>So that is a fairly complete description to say Bgizzle has no idea what he is talking about and again, is clearly bitter for whatever reason. His comments are silly and incorrect. There have been numerous postings comparing crime and safety around Tulane to many other city schools, and it holds up very well. Knowing Boston fairly well (worked for a company in Cambridge for 2 years and now live about an hour south of there and get in a couple times a month), I bet crime in the immediate area around Tulane is no worse and might be better than around BU. Boston/Cambridge is a GREAT college city, and so is New Orleans. Bgizzle’s vitriolic rants are immature and I would have ignored, except they are also factually incorrect.</p>
<p>Sounds like Bgizzle is going to Sour Grape University. You’re upset you didn’t get any scholarship money… yet you admit you are not qualified…</p>
<p>AC574 - I know. I mean let’s read that quote again.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>LOL. Does the phrase “sense of entitlement” spring to mind? I suppose technically he is correct, they certainly COULD have. Thank goodness they didn’t.</p>
<p>I didn’t get scholarship money because I didn’t fill out the forms for Fafsa and css, but thats besides the point. After sending 3 kids there, and 1 to med school, my family should have been given some sort of alumni scholarship, regardless of whether or not i filled out those forms.</p>
<p>^^ Yup, areacode574. As I mentioned in post #22. School of hard knocks or sour grapes. </p>
<p>Boston is a great town, but a very expensive city to live in, should students want to live off campus.
And I am confused about the put-down of the football team. I didnt thing BU even HAS a football team, so why address sports?</p>
<p>Re: post # 29, Bgizzle,
It sounds like you are painfully unfamiliar with the scholarship process at Tulane. They are extremely generous with merit-based scholarship money,much of which doesn’t require a separate application. So, if you didnt get a penny offered to you, that means they probably didnt feel you qualified for it based on your academic profile. As for the need-based aid, if you (or your parents) don’t fill out the FAFSA or CSS, thats the end of that. That isn’t <em>besides</em> the point, that IS the point. You have to apply for and qualify for it, and if your parents have already put 3 through college, they are surely aware of this process. I am not aware of an “alumnae scholarship” , but if they give a scholarship for bad attitude, you’d have been at the top of the list ;)</p>
<p>*** there are lots of scholarships available at TU. If you were too lazy to fill out the application, don’t gripe because you think you were “entitled” to a discount. You family should know the TU $$ process well, if they truly graduated 3 kids from there (which I am now starting to doubt)… Did you ask your parents to fill out the FAFSA or CSS? Did you consider applying for any of the other scholarships (eg the community service scholarships) or did you just think they’d give you a discount b/c of your sweet disposition? Noted too that you worried about “nerds” showing up at some BU orientation meeting. Maybe its time to start looking at the positive side of things.</p>
<p>OMG, lol.
</p>
<p>First off, apples and oranges. Those forms are for financial aid, not scholarships. Second, there is no such thing as an alumni scholarship, at least not when I checked the Tulane scholarship site. Besides, if your siblings were already given 3 scholarships, as you imply, it strikes me as completely backwards that you think that entitles you to more money, especially since you are not qualified. You are clearly young and immature. I am truly saying this compassionalely, please stop posting, as everything you say is just cringe-worthy.</p>
<p>I’m not sure if i’m really under qualified, as I did get accepted into the school. Yeah, if my siblings had not gone, my chances would have been much slimmer. Sure my gpa was on the lower end, 88 unweighted to be specific, but I think a 1920 SAT and 30 ACT is not exactly unqualified. And the reason I mention the CSS profile and FAFSA is because I know BU offers scholarships to familes who are not eligible to receive financial aid, as long as they send out those forms. Mabye Tulane does the same thing, I’m not sure because I didn’t really look into it. And my parents, who after sending 3 kids to college are still clueless, didn’t advise me to apply for financial aid because two of my siblings received half scholarships and times were much different back then (this is 5-9 years ago.) But you’re right, what’s Tulane’s reason for offering my family money after we spent tens of thousands of dollars on educations. I’m obviously not as knowledgeable as you guys are, but I have my reasons for visiting these forums, as I’m going to be a freshman in college next year. What exactly are yours fallenchemist?</p>
<p>Bgizzle,
There is a difference between being qualified for acceptance, and being qualified for a merit scholarship. According to TU’s website, re: merit scholarships,
Looks like they didnt think your stats fit the bill.</p>
<p>Without getting into any judgment calls here, I highly recommend you consider filing the appropriate FAFSA and CSS forms. If too late for this year, make sure you will be ready next time. S qualified for a small, but very helpful scholarship, via this process which was determined based on some level of financial need AND a certain stats profile, which he needed to maintain throughout his 4 years to keep.</p>
<p>Unless your parents are really wealthy, you might be surprised at what you can receive.
Based on looking carefully at nearly 20 colleges and their financial aid for both D and S, we believe that Tulane is one of the more generous institutions.</p>
<p>Bgizzle, I have no dog in the Tulane fight, but it’s not dealing in reality to suggest that you step one foot off Tulane campus and you’re in the ghetto.</p>
<p>Thanks for your points, curiouser and pizzagirl. The recommendation to complete the FAFSA and CSS is a good one, regardless of what school one attends. Given today’s economic climate, things can change quickly, and the schools will need the current information on file in order for you to do an updated profile. </p>
<p>As for the area around campus, there are lovely areas and there are sketchy areas. Same can be said for UIUC, Penn, Yale, Hopkins, to name a few.</p>
<p>Stepping back from this thread and taking a broader look for a moment, I have to ask, Bgizzle,why did you choose to post here and take an unnecessary swipe at Tulane? If your siblings all attended, they must have found something positive about the school. One is in med school, so must have gotten a good undergrad education. And you applied, so must have had an interest. Why now are you so critical of the school and the environs? I realize I came down hard on you, but perhaps you can see why the tone of your post #20 got the responses it did.</p>
<p>Jym, there are other types of merit scholarships than those received by students with “outstanding academic merit qualifications.” Surely Tulane could have offered me even a few thousand dollars just to say, " Hey, we acknowledge your family’s interest in our school and your siblings’ contributions." Well I kind of half-assed the application there, mainly because I had little interest in going, even when they offered me one of those express applications with no costs. Mabye they got the idea that I wasn’t going to go, but the fact that they didn’t offer me a cent after the amount of money we invested there doesn’t give me the impression that Tulane is one of the more “gernerous institutions,” as you said earlier curiouser. And I fully agree with you jym about there being great universities in sketchy areas.</p>
<p>Maybe TU did pick up on your lack of demonstrated interest, Bgizzle, and maybe that is why they didnt consider you for a merit scholarship. Perhaps there are other types of scholarships available, as curiouser said, but merit scholarships are for academic MERIT, not for sibling discounts. If there is a nepotism scholarship, that would be interesting. But it would be for having swum in the same gene pool, not for academic merit.</p>