<p>hmmm, that’s probably about it. I suppose in an abundance of caution she could put the number for Tulane University Police into her phone. Please don’t take that as alarmist, just good sense, I think. 1-504-865-5200. Everything is pretty well programmed for the weekend, so I can’t think of anything else.</p>
<p>My son went to honors weekend alone his HS senior spring and did fine. His honors hosts were very welcoming and he felt very comfortable. He actually came back with more money than he left with. He told me this was due to his poker skills at a game in the dorm. Not sure if this is the kind of thing Tulane wants advertised, lol. But at any rate, he was safe the entire weekend and it cemented his decision about Tulane. He is graduating this year and has done well.</p>
<p>I got a packet.</p>
<p>avenlea - What did they send you?</p>
<p>We received the packet today also. Just a letter with a couple of websites, one of which is not functioning (for me at least) with the class schedule for Monday, a parking pass for the weekend, and a list of various other things to do in town if there is time. There is also a map of Tulane and probably other bits of information, but that is the bulk of it. The emails sent earlier confirming the reservation for Honors Weekend told us to expect it. That’s how I knew it was coming FC.</p>
<p>OK, thanks. Sounds like it is pretty much as expected. I forgot about the parking pass.</p>
<p>Yeah, same thing as kreativekat</p>
<p>we recd the packet yesterday.</p>
<p>We got the Honors Weekend packet and it alluded to the list of classes the students could attend, but it didn’t list them. Supposedly, it was e-mailed to the students, but my daughter didn’t receive that one. I can’t find it anywhere online…
Can anybody help me out?
Looking forward to meeting some other newbie parents.</p>
<p>Here you go, DixieMom. <a href=“http://admission.tulane.edu/documents/spring2011cvl2.pdf[/url]”>http://admission.tulane.edu/documents/spring2011cvl2.pdf</a></p>
<p>Even though they kind of allude to exams and the like, I still recommend that your child pick out the class(es) they would like to attend this weekend and write to the prof(s) just to ask again and make sure they haven’t scheduled an exam for that day or that there is something else going on that would make sitting in not as worthwhile. It is obviously too late for those attending this weekend, but for you April attendees I strongly suggest this. Actually even for those of you going this weekend, if your child writes the prof(s) tonight they might answer tomorrow or Sunday, so an adjustment could still be made.</p>
<p>Could folks attending the honors weekend post an update when they get back? D couldn’t make it to this one due to scheduling issues and we will need to figure out the schedule for April - see if she should visit just on any regular day or if she should visit during the Honors weekend in April. Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>I’ll probably be posting a huge update on Monday night.</p>
<p>So, looking over the schedule, it looks like registration starts tomorrow at 10:30?
Also, do parents typically attend all the welcoming stuff that goes on tomorrow?</p>
<p>rjw - Yes, registration starts at 10:30, and parents often attend the first hour of remarks and the tour. Then, IIRC, they usually separate. Maybe some parents attend the lunch, but my personal recommendation is to leave the student on their own at this point and meet up again when it is all over on Monday.</p>
<p>When I went with my D last year, I attended the lunch as did many parents. After lunch there are some sessions for parents only while the students do their own thing. We met up again at the very end just to say goodbye. I took off before her host arrived.</p>
<p>My D is really excited about hosting today. I hope everyone has a great weekend!</p>
<p>Alright, so I’m going to start from the beginning.
Me and my mom flew into New Orleans and got here about 10:30 on Saturday night. The warmth was definitely new and comforting, haha. Our hotel was in Kenner because pretty much everything in the French Quarter was booked. We woke up Sunday morning and headed out to Tulane, saw the garden district in the process, which was really nice! Not really my style, me and my mom are definitely into the ‘modern-chic’ side of things but it was definitely beautiful in its own way. Getting to Tulane wasn’t really hard and parking was a breeze. We got to the LBC and dropped my luggage off, and went upstairs and had some food. Following that, President Cowen gave a wonderful speech that pretty much I think sold MY parents on Tulane personally, he was very frank and the speech was very well done. There was a speal from the honors director after which was okay, definitely not anything too special but it was good information on the honors program.</p>
<p>After that was broke out into our campus tours. The campus is beautiful, especially everything on the part of upper campus near Gibson. The dorms aren’t really that great in my opinion, and I think coming to Tulane’s tour after Ohio State was definitely different, haha. It’s a completely different style, but nice. Definitely has some ‘Southern Charm,’ per say. I didn’t really think it was anything particularly special, but I know a lot of kids on my tour were totally enchanted by the campus. Afterwards we broke out into groups for lunch with professors in the majors we were interested, which was really interesting. I got to talk to a neuroscience prof while eating, and I definitely got some great information there. Following that, we went to the informational session on the TAP-TP and Creative Scholars program. Afterwards, the student and parent panel on student life, which was pretty standard in my opinion, nothing I didn’t already know. The pre-professional advising session provided some cool new information, and it’s definitely obvious that Tulane puts a lot of care into its student rather than large state schools which I thought was really cool.</p>
<p>After I got lost trying to meet my host (haha) I met her and the other three girls I was staying with that night. I didn’t really have the best experience with my host, specifically because one of the girls I was with (who was also a prospective student) wasn’t really too friendly and it was a major turn off, and the other two were pretty nice but we all pretty much kept our distance, we weren’t too close. We didn’t hang out with our host a lot really, because some good friends of hers were also hosting and a group of twenty of us took the streetcar (WHICH WAS SO COOL!!!) and went downtown. Couple of us split up and got pizza, the rest went to get seafood. I really enjoyed talking to some of the guys my host was friends with who I ended up hanging out with when we got pizza, it was really informative and they seemed really cool. We got beignets after and hung out around the Mississippi near Cafe DuMonde (if any of you know that area) and it was really fun and gorgeous. We took a walk down Bourbon Street which was really cool and definitely a new experience, and headed home. We just hung out in my host’s room and then all went to sleep, and the next morning everyone just kind of went their separate ways and my host pretty much slept the whole time so we left her a note. Overall the hosting experience was okay, but I think the girls I was with really made me question whether the student body at Tulane was for me. I really felt like it was an extreme where people were really sheltered and anti-partying, others were the extreme opposite, and there are some that are in the middle, but I don’t know, it might have just been my experience. That’s pretty much the only qualm I came away with about Tulane.</p>
<p>I went to an advising session at 9 AM on Sunday with one of the girls who was staying with me, and it was definitely really helpful. I thought it was awesome that we were registering before everyone else, and I LOVE TULANE’S CURRICULUM! If I go there next fall, I’m taking some science classes but also history and anthro to look at my interests in them and see if I like them. I really thought that was helpful. I went to Bruff with my mom after, which I really enjoyed (the food isn’t that bad there…plus they had an Icee machine so I was sold :P). Toured Butler and Wall after, and I didn’t really like Butler (and therefore would hate Monroe and Sharp) so if I go next year it’s definitely going to be Wall that I stay in, it’s so nice! I guess my only turn off to Tulane’s campus is in the antiquity of it, I felt like it was kind of old and I’m really into new, modernized style architecture. Plus the heat and sun, while a plus to most, are not really a factor to me. It’s nice for a while, but I definitely get sick of heat and stuff after a while, but I can live with it. Me and my mom went downtown afterwards and then came back to Bruff for dinner because I just wanted to see a little more of the student body. I also had the chance to meet my admissions counselor about some financial aid stuff, and she was SO NICE and HELPFUL! Everyone I met at Tulane in terms of faculty seemed really nice. I sat in on a Psych 1000 class but was pretty exhausted so I left a little early, but it seemed cool. Me and my mom were so exhausted by the end, and a really nice guy on a golf cart gave us a ride back to where Reilly is so we could get our car.</p>
<p>Overall, like I mentioned, I really liked Tulane. My parents especially were sold after, and really want me to be able to go there, especially financially. My mom felt a lot better about the safety and partying situation after President Cowen’s speech, and my dad did as well. They both mentioned multiple times how great Honors Weekend is, and I definitely see why a lot of people are sold after it. I could see myself at Tulane, but I didn’t get the “amazing” I belong here feeling, but I only got a slight hint of that at my other school, Ohio State. I am basically down to a full ride at Ohio State vs a similar situation at Tulane if I get the community service scholarship. If I don’t get the CSS, I have no choice but to go to Ohio State. If I get the CSS I have no idea what I’m going to do, because I really love the student body and huge campus at OSU, along with the amazing games and pride, but I absolutely ADORE the academic programs at Tulane (which I don’t think Ohio State can compete with, considering Tulane is a private school and therefore more personalized attention). I am just really concerned that I’m not going to be able to fit in with the students there, considering my overnight hosting experience. I don’t know. We’ll see. If anyone else went to honors weekend and wants to talk, just shoot me a message and we can connect on Facebook 
I hope everyone had a great experience!!</p>
<p>I’m glad you had a good time overall. When I read that your host wasn’t the best, I was happy to hear that you went downtown… since I took my prospective student to Superior Grill I knew I wasn’t your host. lol</p>
<p>While I’m not too sure if Tulane is what you’re looking for in a school, I really wouldn’t judge it on your overnight experience. If I did, I sure wouldn’t be here. My host was horrible, saying things like “I was forced to go here” and “you have more school spirit than I do”…hardly a ringing endorsement.</p>
<p>I see that you have concerns about the students being “extreme”. I have found that most (including me) are somewhere in the middle, good students that like to have a good time. That’s not to say that I haven’t come across the types that you mentioned, I have, it’s just not the majority.</p>
<p>If you have any questions, feel free to PM me.</p>
<p>Wow! I would have thought that this post would be buzzing with everyone’s stories from this past weekend.</p>
<p>We took our S to the honors weekend and it was just great!!! We arrived on Saturday and went downtown to show my husband around (he didn’t come the first time). We also rented a car so we could really check out the surrounding neighborhoods etc. Magazine street is precious. Its reminded my of a beach resort town that you might see in the north east. We checked out the Boot, The Palms, (figured we should see where our s might be spending some of his weekend nights.) they were pretty typical college bars. The area surrounding the school is beautiful and since safety was a huge factor, having a car made it easy to really see that its as safe as one can be at any given time in life. It was no surprise to us that the average price of real estate of $1 million in the area. As a matter of fact, its quite apparent driving around. We drove to the Fly thats beautiful, we checked out the resturants on Carrollton (ie. Camelia’s and we ate at O’Henry’s - pretty good)<br>
As for the campus and the whole program I give it a perfect 10+. The students were all great. My S was hosted by a boy in Wall who was fantastic and even met us on Saturday evening for dinner. He told us everything about the school. We took advantage of all the seminar, luncheons etc and every professor, dean and counselor were absolutely amazing. The business school is wonderful. We loved everything that offer and the overall curriculum at Tulane is second to none. Its truly the only schoo that we visited that my S can switch from Business, to Premed, to Engineer, to accounting. The options are great, especially if your child is undecided or debating between 2 or more paths. </p>
<p>We left feeling really good about Tulane. As for the dorms, we actually liked Butler a lot. It was quiet but not nerdy. </p>
<p>Lastly, I want to say that I was extremely impressed by the general studen poplulation. Not only were the kids pleasant at all times and courteous but I loved the way they dressed. I would say 99% of the females on the campus were all in beautiful sun dresses and strappy sandals. The other 1% were in jogging shorts. The boys were also very clean cut looking. I didn’t one girl that had her chest hanging out of her shirt or shorts that were too short. It was really nice to see that everyone looked so presentable. In this day and age, as a parent, I appreciate when young people respect themselves enough to take of their outward appearance. </p>
<p>Again this was a perfect weekend… the weather was nice too…</p>
<p>My sentiments were almost exactly the same as avenlea. Tulane stayed pretty much in the same spot as it was before on my list. It was very nice, and I could see myself there, but there was nothing really jumping out at me saying “COME HERE! COME HERE!” The weather is definitely a plus, but not a deciding factor for me. I felt the same way about partying, there were kids who really liked to party, and kids who didn’t at all but I didn’t really meet anyone in between (which is where I’d be). I personally didn’t like Wall, the bathroom setup was weird with the sink outside of the bathroom. I think I’d probably want to live in Monroe if I go to Tulane… Sharp needs some work done, to say the least.</p>
<p>Yeah I just want to clarify -
I think my host was definitely out of the norm. She was nice and everything, but her and her roommate were basically chatting the whole time within themselves, and had left us with their guy friends who were also hosting, but their guy friends were REALLY nice and helpful so it definitely made things better. I think the kids I was with were also kind of out of the norm as well, just bad luck I guess, that’s how I’m trying to think about it because I really loved the academic program at Tulane…and overall, that’s why you go to college!
I do think there was nothing special about the school itself popping out at me though, cause I’m not someone who cares particularly lots about weather. The academic program definitely caught my attention, because I know I could thrive in it. The social scene comes after, I guess. I won’t get to visit NOLA again so I’m going to have to make my decision based on this! But thank you so much for your kind words, gabby, I wish I had a host like you or the one that dungareedoll mentioned because that would have definitely sold me on Tulane. I told my host going in that this was the swing night for me, and her guy friends definitely helped me out by telling me about Tulane, but she didn’t particularly do much. I just remain “unswung” per say, haha.</p>