<p>turn on me - What is your impression of Wall? I like the idea of larger/nicer rooms, but I worry that I will miss out on the social aspect of being in either Monroe or Sharp.</p>
<p>I just got back from visiting New Orleans for the first time. I couldn’t be happier. The city was great and so unique. Two days weren’t enough. The school looked excellent, and now I can truly see the difference between what a lot of people think New Orleans is and what it actually is. I’m a lot closer now to accepting admission, and I think I’ve narrowed the dorms down to Monroe and Sharp. I will be visiting again for sure.</p>
<p>What a great post, Big. That is great. Ticks you off a little that people have such a wrong impression of Tulane and New Orleans now, doesn’t it? Anyway, welcome to the family!</p>
<p>Thanks fallenchemist. Yeah, a lot of people ask me why in the world I’d want to live in New Orleans when I tell them that Tulane is one of my top choices. It’s kind of annoying, but I guess it’s kind of a New York thing, as a lot of us are pretty arrogant. New York is a great place, but New Orleans is too, and I’m glad I know for myself what I can expect. The people were so nice, and the neighborhood surrounding Tulane was gorgeous. It rained the whole time I was there, but it didn’t put a damper on the trip at all.</p>
<p>LOL, yeah, it really doesn’t rain all the time. This season has been a relatively wet one though. Warmer than usual too, a bit. Which is good, more days in the 60’s and 70’s late in the season than usual.</p>
<p>Yeah, I’ll take mid 60s in the Winter for sure. It was nice to escape the bitter cold for a little.</p>
<p>All right so here’s the deal. I was accepted into the honors program which I guess means I would be eligible to live in Butler. While it sounds like a better choice as far as amenities, I’m wondering whether that would be enough for me. I’m a good student but have always been very social. I like balance. Work and Play. School and sports. I don’t want to segregate myself in a “quiet” dorm where I have a feeling I will be an oddball out. Is anybody else having a problem with this?
Thanks for your input!</p>
<p>I know exactly how you feel. Even though I’m also in the Honors Program, I never really considered Butler. I’m more torn between Wall and Monroe. Wall seems really nice, but I have heard that the people in Wall tend to segregate themselves. Monroe is really social, but the rooms are not the nicest. I think I’m going to apply for Wall and, if I get accepted, make my decision after attending honors weekend.</p>
<p>Elizn - I really don’t think you would be an “oddball” in Butler at all, lots of the students are just as social and into sports and other activities as anyone. But if you want to look at other dorms and if you don’t care about being in a coed dorm, I would look at JL (Josephine Louise). Nice balance of social but not too crazy, some nice rooms, worth looking at if, again, you don’t inisist on being in a coed dorm. At least this is what I hear. It was like that when I was at Tulane, but dorms just starting to go coed then. OK, stop laughing.</p>
<p>elizn- based on your description, i would probably not recommend butler. i’m a freshman in the honors program living in monroe, and while monroe can get crazy, i’ve never had any problem getting work done there. there are several other honors students on my floor too. monroe is about twice the size of butler, so it definitely gives you better opportunities to meet more people. there is no difference in the quality of the facilities.</p>
<p>My s chose not to live in Butler despite having been in the Honors program. He wanted what he called “the true freshman experience” so chose to live in Monroe. He was on a high floor and had one of those great views of downtown, and he had a lot of fun. He was a floor representative to the residence hall government, so wasn’t there just to “party”. He liked his floor and his friends, and his floor wasn’t one of the really rowdy ones, but we did get stuck paying some general dorm repairs that were caused by others, which is an annoyance. The biggest drawback? Hiking up all those stairs on move-in day! “Stuff” rode in the elevator-- people took the stairs!</p>
<p>RE: Eliz </p>
<p>I’d like to shed a little light on the “Butler issue.” Just for some background, I am a freshman in the HP, and I chose to live in Butler (and indicated that it was my first choice for housing). </p>
<p>On one hand, I do not doubt that plenty of kids have phenomenal experiences in Sharp and Monroe. In fact, I have a lot of friends in those dorms, and I know they like living there. </p>
<p>However, I think you may have the same misconception I once had about life in the honors dorm. As previous posters have said, Butler is noticeably more quiet than the other dorms. I’ll agree with that. I have never once heard of any resident having to wear ear plugs to bed, yet that happens from time to time if you end up on a wilder floor in the larger dorms. </p>
<p>While the amount of loud (and sometimes obnoxious behavior) may be limited in Butler, that <strong>absolutely</strong> does not mean that we are anti-social or anything of the sort. On the contrary, it is really easy to make good friends who like to hang out, play sports, go to concerts, etc. as much as you do. Many of them are focused on school. Those values don’t have to be mutually exclusive. </p>
<p>In short, don’t let the prospect of being housed with a pack of quiet geeks turn you off. Remember, these kids voluntarily decided to go to a school in arguably the most fun city in America. There are plenty of exciting and outgoing individuals to hang out with. </p>
<p>At any rate, no matter what dorm you choose, it is not hard to find friends outside of your building. Tulane is a “national university” by US News standards, but it is not an enormous school. Unlike a lot of state schools that span very large areas, traveling between dorms at Tulane is very easy. If it turns out that you don’t fit in as well as you would like in your dorm, I am sure you will find a lot of great friends anyway. </p>
<p>If you have any questions down the road, PM me. I can definitely give you my thoughts or point you in the direction of a friend.</p>
<p>Everything said in this thread has been really good so far. I just wanted to add a couple things. First, I don’t think that Butler is any less “social” than Monroe or Sharp - it’s just a different type of people. I really hate saying this and I feel sort of mean, but the Butler people are kind of nerdy, but they’re still social - just with each other. They don’t go out that much. Monroe and Sharp you’ll find both nerdy people, somewhat in the minority however, and very outgoing people who like to go out at night. There’s not much of a middle ground. Wall, as someone else said, is kind of cliquey. If you get in, you’ll find a really good community and make great friends, but if you don’t live in Wall, you’ll definitely notice that you feel like an outsider to all the Wall people. Paterson is called the wellness dorm sometimes, but there’s not really any reason why. There’s no substance agreements in Paterson that are different from the other dorms. The housing contract everyone signs is the same and they all say no smoking in the dorms, no alcohol unless everyone living in the room is 21. The only thing with Paterson though is that it has a mold issue that housing is trying to ignore for as long as possible without taking care of it. If you try to dry a pair of jeans by hanging them up in your room there, they literally get wetter, not drier.</p>
<p>I lived in JL as a freshman girl, but you can’t really do that, so I vote Sharp or Monroe.</p>
<p>We are NOT nerds! However the term “geeky” is perfectly acceptable.
(;^)</p>
<p>haha thank you! I was looking for a better term but couldn’t think of it</p>
<p>Big88Blue - A school friend of mine with lower GPA but higher test scores got into honors and I was shocked that I didn’t, so I called. The guy on the phone was a bit pessimistic saying that my SATs (1310/2070) are probably the reason I didn’t get into Honors (average, he said, was 2160), but he offered to put my file in for reevaluation by the honors committee… A week later I got another acceptance letter, with a paragraph specifying that I was in the Honors Program now. If you have great ECs and great grades (you obviously do with a 98.6 average), it’s worth calling and getting put in the pile for reevaluation! :)</p>
<p>Wow, that’s great 7049 (that sounds so sci-fi, “7049”). I think it is worth it myself, although you can take honors courses even if you are not in the program, except maybe for the colloquium course. But it will give you preference for Butler, if you are looking to be housed with quieter, more serious students overall (but I have to say again, still very social! Just not as much the heavy drinking, big partying type of social, again overall. Always exceptions, thank goodness!). That might be more your style.</p>