How hard is it to get A's at Tulane?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Tulane University
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<p>Hey Guys,</p>

<p>This question was supposed to be in regards just to the Political Science and Economics majors but I am sure many other people are wanting to know so I'll leave it to a general basis.</p>

<p>Obviously, grades depend on how hard you work and what you are majoring in. Besides that though, in general, there are certain colleges that are stingier with their A's. How is Tulane in comparison with other schools?</p>

<p>Do the professors have some sort of weight in this? Are they notorious for being tough and hard?</p>

<p>Any Advice Is Appreciated</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

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<p>spt.leonidas- i’m neither an economics nor a political science major, but i can comment on the experiences of me and my friends taking some of the freshman “core” courses.</p>

<p>as expected, your grades really rely on the professor. some are stingier with A’s than others. for example, in my honors class of 10 people, every single person ended up with an A. in chemistry, however, the grading was very vague and many people ended up with B’s and C’s. most of the core, entry-level courses seem to be pretty fair. some classes grade via z-score (especially in the science department), whereas the liberal arts-y classes tend to be more subjective.</p>

<p>overall, i wouldn’t say there is grade inflation OR deflation at tulane. i got a 4.0 for my first semester and didn’t find anything too difficult (mostly because my HS classes were harder than many of the freshman courses here).</p>

<p>my advice would be to use ratemyprofessor and talk to upperclassmen before signing up for classes, no matter where you end up.</p>

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<p>i would agree with tulane14 for the most part. you definitely have to put time into your work and classes, but getting As is not impossible. overall i got all As with the exception of my architecture studio. i also found that my freshman core classes were somewhat easier than my HS classes and the things i had to work harder on in high school were the same things that i had to put more time into this past semester.</p>

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<p>@tenfifteen,</p>

<p>how was the architecture studio class?</p>

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<p>first, i want to begin by mentioning that i have only completed my first semester of architecture, so these are only my views and opinions thus far. Second, i really enjoy architecture studio a lot (despite how much i end up complaining to my mom and roommate about it) </p>

<p>studio takes place three times a week (MWF) for 4 hours. in addition to class time, A LOT of time is spent in studio (outside of class) completing projects and assignments. every student has studio at the same time, but the class is split up into 6 sections for the semester, each with their own design professor. the program is vigorous and requires time, patience, determination, and organization. i’ve heard (and would have to agree) that at tulane, architecture students are generally the hardest workers. </p>

<p>projects are generally long term, but have checkpoints for desk critiques or group critiques. Studio class time is mostly used for desk/group critique time, introducing new assignments, and final presentations, whereas the actual “work” or building of the models or drawing plans etc. takes place outside of the designated class time. and i’ll reiterate that a lot of time is spent outside of class working on projects/assignments and there are a lot of late nights.</p>

<p>people tend to work in different ways, some people are constantly in studio working nonstop, others spread out the work over time, and some save the work until right before it is due (which i wouldn’t recommend, EVERYTHING takes so much longer than you would think).</p>

<p>like i said though, i really love studio. being there hours on end working on the various projects is something i enjoy, especially when i have a lot of time to get the work done and nothing else to worry about/think about. even though a lot of time is devoted to architecture, (at least for me, it is much more time than my friends devote to their studies) i still have a social life and i am able to go out on weekends.</p>

<p>one last thing, just a couple of scheduling tips that i thought would be beneficial to anyone interested in architecture, don’t schedule a class right before architecture studio, the extra time before class and critiques especially is really nice to have. also, try to load up on classes (especially those taking 17-19 credits) in the beginning of the week and take tues/thurs classes. It is really nice to have the end of the week, especially friday, just devoted to architecture studio.</p>

<p>i know i kind of went on rambling for a while, but i hope i was able to answer your question and give a better idea about design studio</p>

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<p>tulane14- what is z scoring? could you please elaborate… thanks</p>

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<p>Check out these two links:</p>

<p>[How</a> your final grade is calculated](<a href=“http://intro.bio.umb.edu/111-112/explanation.htm]How”>http://intro.bio.umb.edu/111-112/explanation.htm)</p>

<p><a href=“http://nitro.biosci.arizona.edu/courses/EEB320-2005/zscore.html\[/url]”>http://nitro.biosci.arizona.edu/courses/EEB320-2005/zscore.html\&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Basically, it means you are graded in comparison to how everyone else did, or on a curve.</p>

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<p>just finished first semester, other than architecture and science classes you should get straight A’s as long as you go to class and do the work. Really didn’t experience or heard about any terrible graders. However the going to class part can be hard which often leads to not doing the work.</p>

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<p>Can any science students out there speak about there experience- grades, teachers, classes etc. My S is going the pre-med route and I would love to hear from someone who’s going through it now. Everyone says its hard, but is it unreasonable? Needless to say, science and math are always difficult but is it to the point of being unfair. My S is also interested in trying to get accepted into the Tulane Medical School program by junior year. Again, anyone out there familiar with this process? If so, I would really appreciate hearing your take on it.</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

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<p>Current students should of course answer the first part of your question. As to getting into med school by junior year, as far as I know there are only two formal programs that do that. The first is the TAP-TP, and they actually get accepted to that after freshman year. This is Tulane’s version of the 6 or 7 year med school program. It is very competitive and only the highest achieving students out of high school are considered. I think you apply in November of your freshman year, so naturally they are using your high school record a lot to make decisions, but they would have some college data after first semester. Then I think they do interviews during the second semester and let you know by June.</p>

<p>The other program is for non-science majors only. It is called the Creative Scholars Program and you apply for this during sophomore year. Of course you still have to take the required pre-med courses, even if you are a music or anthro or business major (etc.), but you actually don’t have to take the MCAT.</p>

<p>Otherwise I suppose there is nothing stopping one from applying to med school early, but would they take someone that is that far from graduating except for these special programs? I am not familiar enough to say.</p>

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<p>the pre-med route is def not unreasonable. like i’ve said, i made a 4.0 my first semester and took gen cell bio, chem I, & calc I. having had a good HS background really helped me out, but I think I still could have had similar success GPA-wise had I put in a bit of extra effort. the main class that seems to kill everyone is chemistry. feel free to PM me if you have any more specific questions.</p>

<p>also, i’d like to add something about the 2 pre-med programs. while they are awesome opportunities, i decided against pursuing either for a variety of reasons:</p>

<p>1) Tulane Med is ~70k/year. That is RIDICULOUS IMO, especially when I could pay a very small fraction of that to attend a state medical school. There is no way in this world I would pay that much for Tulane Med (Harvard Med, maybe) unless it was my only option.</p>

<p>2) The TAP program is for people who are 100% sure without a doubt that they want to be physicians. I think it’s hard to know exactly what you want to do with the rest of your life at 18 (at least for 95% of my peers that I know). </p>

<p>3) By cutting short your undergraduate years through the TAP Program, I truly believe you miss out on the college experience and maturing socially and outside the classroom.</p>

<p>4) I’d only pursue the Creative Med Program if you were going to be a non-science pre-med major anyway. That way, you could use your automatic acceptance to Tulane as a BACKUP and apply other places as well. With the TAP Program, you are locked into Tulane Med paying a discounted rate for the first year and then ~70k for your last 3 years.</p>

<p>5) This could just be a rumor, but a friend of mine looked up the acceptance rate for Tulane undergrads into Tulane Med who weren’t part of these programs and it was really high, especially given a competitive GPA (i think like 80-90%). I think if you have the stats and the ECs to be a competitive med applicant, you will most likely get into Tuane anyway.</p>

<p>These are just my opinions on the two programs. They are great fits for some people, but I just wanted to shed some light on the cons in opposition to the obvious pros (automatic acceptance to a medical school).</p>

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<p>Engineering Student here – having taken/will have taken all of the Pre-Med Science Courses (except Biology) I can say that they are tough, but for a pre-med it’s very do-able. I had Herman and Donahue for Gen. Chem I & II respectively, and liked both. Herman wasn’t generous with grades though and I had to work hard for my “A”, while Donahue curved pretty nicely. Organic is tricky… Zhang curves amazingly well from what I hear, but Dr. Ensley and Dr. Jay are tough (few A’s are given). I liked having Dr. Jay though and appreciated his teaching style.</p>

<p>Physics can be hard, but luckily I had fairly good teachers. I’d recommend taking the Calc-based “General Physics” over the Algebra-based one since it seems like more pre-meds take the Algebra-based one and run up the curve. As far as teachers go, I was in the Honors section for General Physics I and was pretty impressed. My General Physics II prof. was “alright”, but he did his best to help everyone (even making extra office hours). Just look on “ratemyprofessors” as I think that’s one of the better resources out there when it comes to making your schedule.</p>

<p>As far as your math classes go, I can’t recommend Tewodros Amdeberhan enough. That guy was AWESOME. Some people take “Stats for Scientists”, which I don’t know much about but reckon it likely depends on the professor.</p>

<p>Hope that was helpful!</p>

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<p>Tiptop Tulane- how much calculus do you need to take calculus-based physics? i was planning on taking non-calculus based because i thought it would be easier…</p>

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<p>^^ for calc based physics, you have to either have calc 1 credit or be taking it currently with the physics course. </p>

<p>I’m a freshman physics major, and last semester I was tutoring someone who was taking non calc based physics, and I can tell you that the difference in difficulty level of each class is not significant, and in fact I think non calc based might be a little more difficult, because physics actaully makes a lot more sense when you explain it through calculus.</p>

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<p>

Amen, brother! I always found calculus to be far easier than using algebra when it comes to solving physics/engineering/chemistry problems related to real world “stuff”. I almost can’t imagine trying to get very deeply into it using algebra and other non-calculus methods.</p>

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<p>So if I got an A in calc 1, I should be good for calc-based physics?</p>

<p>Any suggestions for calc-based physics professors?</p>

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<p>Even I can tell you that you should be good for calc-based physics. Are you taking calc 2 now? If yes, then you should be completely set. The others can weigh in on the profs.</p>

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<p>FC- I’m not in Calc 2 right now because none of the classes worked with my schedule. I might end up just taking Statistics for Scientists, instead, although I’m not sure yet. I won’t do my second math credit until fall of my junior year. I’m planning on taking physics next year.</p>

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<p>As bright as you are, I am sure you will be fine. As long as you remember your integral calculus pretty well (being able to do differentials is a given) it should be no problem.</p>