<p>My father attended Tulane in the mid-late 1970s and he would like if I went. I received the 108k scholarship so Tulane is fairly appealing. How is the school now different from how it was in the 1970s and how my dad remembers it?</p>
<p>My D was in much the same situation as you. I also attended mid-70’s (maybe your dad and I know each other, lol) and she received a major scholarship at Tulane. She is now in her 4th year.</p>
<p>Some of the changes just reflect how society has changed. While New Orleans is still quite a unique place, back then many of the “traditions” of the decades prior to that were just starting to fade away. For example, it is a small thing but emblematic I think, that there was a shoe shine stand in Bruff that was attended every day by Roland. Now that would just seem bizarre. Greek life was more dominant then, I think. The percentage of people in it wasn’t probably a whole lot higher than today, although I think it was more like half. But again, it was probably just past its peak then and declined from that point forward. Things like that are really different, there are far more choices of things to do associated with the university itself, more clubs and things like that. And a big change is that there were no co-ed dorms back then. Well, they were just starting, but at that time (and I think 1976 or 1977 was the first year for this) only Irby, one of the smallest dorms and only for upperclassmen, was co-ed by floor.</p>
<p>As far as academics and the like, some things have definitely shifted. There were even more people that were premed back then, I think. Now the business school has a much larger presence. Obviously there are the physical manifestations of these trends, such as the business school building and the new law school building, among others. There is the service requirement, which only came post-Katrina. I think this has helped attract a different kind of student to some degree. There is no doubt Tulane is more academically competitive to attend now. And the geographic diversity is even higher. It was pretty good back then too, but I think the percentage of students from the Southeast has declined somewhat in favor of more from the Northeast/mid-Atlantic and the West Coast.</p>
<p>Then again, to a huge degree everyone’s experience at Tulane is quite unique. It is like a small city within a larger one, and just like if you lived in a city of 15,000 or whatever Tulane’s student+faculty+staff population is, it is hardly homogeneous. Then add being in New Orleans, as opposed to a distinct small town that is more “stand-alone”, and you have so many possibilities. So we will all remember it differently, but there are touchpoints of commonality for sure.</p>
<p>Anyway, just off the top of my head that is what comes to mind. In short, I would say that Tulane today is more diverse in almost every way, more dynamic, and has undergone quite a bit of modernization in the past decade, with more to come. I would be interested to know how much of that your Dad agrees with, and/or what he would add.</p>
<p>Well there are a few of us who can speak to this with Fallen Chemist being one. I was there in the mid 80’s for graduate school, which is admittedly a little different from undergrad and I currently have a son attending, but I can tell you that my feeling is that the school is much more vibrant and ambitious in what it is providing for students now in comparison to when I was there. I received a great education at Tulane, but there weren’t near the programs back then that are available to Tulane students today. Tulane is a very exciting place to be and striving to improve every day in so many ways. The facilities are much improved and there are plans in the works to continue with additional improvements in dorms, dining facilities, academic buildings and a campus football stadium. The campus is far more aesthetic than when your Dad was there since they have closed McAlister at Freret to make the campus more pedestrian friendly. They did a really beautiful job with that. New Orleans itself is more progressive and cleaner too. There are even more neighborhood places to frequent now than there were back then, particularly in the Freret area. Since your Dad’s Tulane days there is a new business school and a new law school. Both are extremely nice facilities. If your Dad has not been back in a while, he will be impressed and even more excited about the idea of you attending.</p>
<p>That’s a really good point about the aesthetics, kreative. That prompts me to add that they have continued with that McAlister project onto Newcomb Place. I have not seen it personally yet, since that was quite recent. But I think that was Phase 2 of 3 to make the campus even more pedestrian friendly, as well as even more beautiful. I thought closing McAlister like that was brilliant.</p>
<p>It also reminded me that when I and his dad were there, the old Tulane Stadium was still standing, although it was closed after my sophomore year. It wasn’t torn down until the early 80’s I think it was, and the new dorms put there, along with the incredible Reilly Center. That is another huge physical improvement from the “old days”.</p>