<p>I have been lurking on CC for a while now and I am so grateful for all of the information I have learned Hopefully in the future I will feel comfortable enough to give some advise also </p>
<p>I found an old thread about this topic but was hoping I could get some updated opinions -</p>
<p>My son is torn between attending Elon & Tulane and my husband and I don't know how to help guide him in making the right decision for him </p>
<p>He is the type of student who is very motivated by academically challenging classes and around kids who are academically motivated He sat in a class at U of Miami and only 60 of the 200 students attended, this turned him off In another smaller upper level class none of the students were engaged in conversation which sealed the deal for taking Miami off the list -</p>
<p>His ECs are soccer, tennis and volunteering on the local rescue squad which he would like to continue in college -</p>
<p>He will likely double major in Math & Biology and would like to go on to med school </p>
<p>He is also a very social kid - He likes to go out and have a good time but is disciplined enough to know when he needs to stay in to study...for the most part ;)</p>
<p>We are from the tri-state area and live in a typical suburban neighborhood not much different from Elon which I think is very comfortable to him Tulane was very much out of his comfort zone - </p>
<p>With Merit money both school will cost the same so this is not a factor -</p>
<p>He is on the alternate list for the College Fellows which he would really like to get into He did not get into the honors program at Tulane </p>
<p>We feel that his heart is telling him to go to Elon but his head is telling him to go to Tulane Whenever he is asked where he will be going to school next year, he says either Elon or Tulane and the response is either go to Tulane its a better school or Ive never heard of Elon </p>
<p>Any advice or thoughts between the two schools that could help us guide his decision would be very helpful!</p>
<p>1) They both seem like a good fit…if he is indifferent with the setting; obviously Tulane will have more going on in the surrounding area being that it is in a major US city</p>
<p>2) Better academically for what? is there a particular career path he would like to choose? if it is science and engineering, I vote for Tulane…unless he is pre-med…in which case, it is all about GPA for med school…given that he is an alternate for fellows, I would imagine he is near the top of Elon’s class in terms of qualifications…may be easier to get a good GPA</p>
<p>My son, a freshman at Elon, was also accepted at Tulane. We urged him to look further into it before he made his final decision, but it was never a serious contender. He had a lot of choices, but kept coming back to Elon(even though he had never heard of it when he initially started his college search). There is no denying the importance of finding the right fit in a school, and I am convinced that my son will have more success at Elon because it felt right than he would have had at another school because of name or prestige. College is what you make of it and it is true that it is not where you go that matters, but what you do once you’re there. </p>
<p>That being said, my son’s classes are no cake walk. As in any school, some are easier than others, but they all require that he do the work and go to class. I have seen some of the syllabi for his classes and they all have an attendance policy, and also strongly encourage class participation. Elon is definitely not a school where you can copy notes from someone and just show up for tests. He does not find the work to be overwhelming either, and finds that there is a nice balance of work and play(basically he’s having fun).</p>
<p>My daughter is trying to decide between Tulane and Elon. I just read a thread about Tulane and there not being enough classes for the students to sign up for. Sophomores are shut out of classes already. I am scared now. We hear the same thing: Oh, you are considering Elon OVER Tulane? It is very hurtful for my daughter to hear. I told her that it does not matter what anyone else thinks. Any advice is appreciated!</p>
<p>Thank you to everyone who responded and PM’d me - It really made me feel so much better in understanding that fit is so much more important than “prestige” </p>
<p>So happy to say that he made his decision last night -</p>
<p>Great choice, congrats and welcome to the Elon community! Now go get an Elon sticker for your car and start making people aware of the school! Better yet, do like Samtalya and get a NEON GREEN sweatshirt for yourself!! :)</p>
<p>Sweatshirts, tees, mugs, stickers, shorts, baseball cals. U will be very surprised how many will come over to u and tell u great school, my xxxx is going there and loves it. Happens to us all the time even while traveling in punta cana and zurich!!!</p>
<p>Thanks everyone! We ordered our gear and it’s arriving this week - Very excited to wear it around town - Any other good places to order logo items than the bookstore?</p>
<p>Just a few hours ago, my daughter decided on Elon over Tulane as well, based on “best fit” for her personality and interests. It was a tough decision but we are both very happy with it. I would rather see her thrive at Elon than to be average at Tulane. It was very reassuring to read through this thread!</p>
<p>congrats on Elon! You made the right choice-the misconception about Elon is that when most parents went to school, it was a tiny liberal arts school really treading water. Over the past 10-15 years, the school underwent massive changes, built all new buildings on a gorgeous campus, enrollment gets more and more competitive each year, and now guess what? it’s right up there in terms of rankings and employment stats as all the other more “well known” schools. </p>
<p>also, if youre looking for more sources of Elon apparel other than the official bookstore, check out socongear.com , its the official website of the southern conference and has tons of elon gear.</p>
I realize I’m late to this thread and decisions have been made (congratulations!) but for any younger students/parents reading… Elon limits their classes to approx 32 students. They don’t have 200 student lectures - not even for intro classes like Psych 101 or Economics 101. AND the attendance lists they give the professors have students’ ID photos next to their names. My daughter is a second semester sophomore, and every professor she has had has known her name. There’s no skipping classes without the professor knowing about it. (Some professors may say attendance doesn’t count, but they will still know if you are there or not.)</p>
<p>My daughter just finished her freshman year at Elon. It is a great balance of work and a little fun. She has had to work and none of her classes have been easy but manageable. There are plenty of activities to be involved in too. I think college should be about learning how to manage your time with your academics coming first and then hopefully finding time for a few things you enjoy and find your passion. Elon is a great fit for my daughter and she is very very happy there!!!</p>
<p>My daughter just finished her freshman year at Elon. She chose Elon over Tulane despite her best friend going to Tulane. She was actually sad when we were packing her things to come home. She has said more than once how much she misses Elon. She was challenged academically but still had a great time. She raved all year about her teachers. She already has time abroad planned. That school is a true gem.</p>