Help me choose please!

Colleges and Universities A-Z Tulane University
1

Hello everyone. First off, thank you for your time in reading this post, I truly appreciate it! I, like many other students, am having to choose my college soon and really need some help and input. I have done immense research on these schools and they seem to have many pros with few cons. I will be visiting Tulane and Indiana University soon and have already visited SMU. I compiled a list of the most important things I am looking for. Please feel free to respond to as little or many as you wish or even add something else I don’t list, every response is greatly appreciated!
P.S. I would like to major in Finance. I would like to have a smaller school for the individual attention, but as I have continually heard and read, Kelley is praised for its outstanding performance. Is this really a big deal?. Also, I am from Southern California (I don’t know if that matters).

Tulane- No scholarship
Indiana University- Direct admit to Kelley, $2000 a year
SMU- No scholarship

Money is not an issue for me too (don’t want to sound bad but I don’t want it to be a factor in what you are saying)

-School spirit (If students want to go there and if people go/support their sports teams (Mainly football and basketball. The teams don’t have to be great or anything, just if people go to support it))
-Business school (I’m aware of the rankings which matter but don’t mean much to me. I am concerned on how much/well I will learn and how I can apply it to my job)
-Reputation
-Internships/connections/jobs/alumni networking
-Food (not that important but still a factor)
-Intramural sports
-Teachers (How are they? Are they easy to reach? Are they concerned with the students or more into their own research?)
-Easy to travel around
-Social scene (easy to meet people, friendly) (I have repeatedly read that both school has very snobby and superficial kids and am wondering if this is/will be a problem) (I’m going to be realistic, I plan on partying a decent amount, which school is better for all types of partying) (I also plan to join a fraternity)
-Cost of living there
-Local area (NOLA vs. Bloomington vs. Dallas)
-Anything that you do/don’t like about the school(s)
-Overall, which school gives you a better bang for your buck

Thank you again for reading and responding. Have a wonderful day!

TL;DR: What school is better overall and what is your reasoning?

2

Tulane was ranked the number 1 party school in the nation at one time and New Orleans is consistently ranked highly in food.

3

All three schools have their strengths, and it is important that you go where you will thrive academically and leave with good friends and a lifetime of memories. I know about Tulane because I am an alum and my son is also an alum.

So, as long as we’re talking rankings. Tulane was ranked No. 4 for happiest students, No. 1 for best College City, No. 5 for Students Most Engaged in Community Service, No. 12 Best Quality of Life and No. 14 for “Their Students Love These Colleges.”

Rankings aside, Tulane is in the midst of a surge in applications and the caliber of student enrolling there is getting ever higher (1390 average SAT for admits this year). Academically, Tulane traditionally has been very strong in the life sciences (neuroscience in particular), with lots of pre-meds, International Studies, (Latin American in particular), biomedical engineering, undergraduate business education (entrepreneurship in particular), history and political science.

Tulane also provides wonderful opportunities for undergraduates to become involved in research with faculty. It is a major research university, with the feel of a Liberal Arts College. I would consult a particular department for opportunities with particular professors.

The two main trends in recent years are an emphasis on interdisciplinary studies, and a tremendous focus in community service, building on a long tradition of service to New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

I do hope people knowledgeable about IU and SMU weigh in as well. Best of luck to you!

4

Can’t help u much with IU, but SMU and Tulane are very similar in many respects, especially at the 50,000 foot level. As NJ suggested above, pay attention to the specific field you’re interested in and consider the strengths of each school re that. It may come down to which town you want to build your network in and where you want to lay down roots … Dallas or New Orleans. Both schools are king of their land, but Tulane may have a broader geographic reach.

5

Hi! So I cant speak for SMU, but I did go to Tulane (class of '15) and my younger brother currently goes to IU. I am obviously a little bit biased, but I’ve been to IU a handful of times now and can definitely speak to the college atmosphere.

In terms of the business schools, both are really good and well known. At IU the business school kids seem to be held in a higher regard than the business school students at Tulane - this stems from the fact that Kelley is IU’s most well known program (aside from Jacobs) and most competitive to get in where at Tulane the business school kids are being compared to students in programs of the same academic caliber. This isn’t to say one is better than the other, but might lead to different academic atmospheres within each business school. That being said, academics at Tulane are considered strong as a whole than at IU.

In terms of party/social scene, you’re going to get that at both places. At Tulane, it is definitely a going out/bar scene and a lot of going out options. At IU you are more isolated to drinking on campus especially if you’re under 21 and options are especially limited if you are not yet in a frat. The going out scene is part of what gives new orleans its character. you will never get bored going out or finding something to do in NOLA, that’s for sure. Little 5 is pretty cool at IU, but tulane has mardi gras, jazzfest, crawfest, among other large scale events

greek life is pretty active at both schools, IU is known for being pretty competitive. A much smaller portion of students are part of greek life at IU than at Tulane.

School spirit - well IU is part of the Big 10 so that’s a bit more exciting than Tulane i guess. Their basketball is excellent and their football is just okay. Tulane’s sports aren’t great, but they are not terrible. I’ve been to football, basketball, and baseball games at Tulane. With the stadium on campus, tons of students attend the football games every weekend. They say tailgating is great at IU, but i was there for the OSU v IU football game and the tailgating was just as fun and crazy as anything you’ll find at Tulane just much larger. (Also, pro for tulane, rarely do we have a cold tailgate). Tulane also has a different kind of school spirit in addition to the ra ra sports kind. people LOVE tulane, they love talking about tulane, they love telling people they went to tulane, etc

Location - you cannot get bored in New Orleans. It’s a city with such unique culture and a million things to do any given day - festivals, bars, new restaurants, concerts, events, parks, new restaurants (SO MUCH FOOD). There is nothing to do in Bloomington. The only thing in Bloomington is IU and IU’s campus feels like a small town. I think I have already been to every nice restaurant and breakfast spot that Bloomington has to offer and my brother still has 3 more years of school to go. I can tell you that I still have a list of things I want to do in New Orleans and I was already there for 5 years.

food - new orleans/tulane wins hands down over IU/bloomington. Tulane has few on campus dining options which can get boring, but theyre not terrible. but the food in new orleans is outstanding and it feels like a new restaurant opens every week. I could go on and on about the food in new orleans.

A huge chunk of students from IU come from Indiana and the midwest. It took my brother a little while to find his people (we are from the northeast). Obviously everyone goes through an adjustment period when they start college, but it was certainly great to go to a place like Tulane where there were tons of northerners (and a lot of people from california too) and people I felt like I could relate to a little bit. Also, IU is so large, as in the freshman class is close to the size of all of the undergrads at Tulane. Tulane is large enough that you’re always meeting new people, but small enough that you’re always seeing familiar faces

Another thing. the weather in new orleans 100% beats the weather in bloomington.

As I said, I’m biased, but whenever i leave Bloomington my attitude is always, IU is fun and big and has a lot going on and i’m sure i would be happy here, but im SO GLAD i went to Tulane.

hope that helps out some - let me know if you have any questions

6

Retention and graduation rates are slightly better at Tulane.

7

https://colleges.niche.com/southern-methodist-university/
https://colleges.niche.com/indiana-university/
https://colleges.niche.com/tulane-university/

8

Yeah, let’s rank universities based on parking.

9

Personal opinion on SMU vs Tulane because I grew up in Dallas ( a block away from SMU) and know a lot of friends (and now their children) who go to both colleges. I’m a graduate of Tulane . They are both incredible schools that have a great reputation, school spirit, ect. Tulane has an unparalleled culture for two reasons 1. it’s in New Orleans and 2. there are a lot of super cool kids from the Northeast that go there. SMU and Dallas are more homogeneous in culture. I think it is easier to stereotype an SMU student, whereas it would be difficult to stereotype a student at Tulane. My D did not apply to SMU for this reason , but I have many friends who applied there specificaly for this reason. Hope my comments are not too unpolitically correct for this forum because I am obviously biased toward Tulane.