<p>I recently received an email from Tulane regarding their personal application. It is an application which does not require a fee, nor a formal essay. I filled it out and already have a rough-draft of my essay and all that remains for me to do is edit my essay and send a copy of my transcript. I obviously did some research on Tulane and it seems like a very interesting school; the students seem to be very smart (their stats for incoming students place them in the top 30 schools), and also involved in the community, especially after Katrina. The biggest cons that I have found are the safety and the high-price of living in New Orleans. If anyone has any insights or opinions in the school that can not be found by browsing the internet, it would be much appreciated.</p>
<p>While I may not have the best credentials to support my opinions since this is my third/fourth week here at Tulane (I’m an entering freshman!), I can nevertheless still offer my point of view. The impression I have so far is that people here either are from wealthy families that can pay their tuition or were offered a substantial amount of scholarship money. I myself did not qualify for any merit-based scholarships such as the Deans but in case you don’t know, Tulane has something called the Tulane No-Loan Assistance (something like that) which offers you full tuition if your family’s income is sub $70,000 annually. As for safety, there have been two incidents since school started and they both occurred off campus and at about 1:00AM to females who were traveling alone. Hope that helps and best of luck to your college application process! I’m so glad that’s over with… I just wish I knew I was going to Tulane ahead of time so I could have been stress-free after submitting the personal app!</p>
<p>That’s great that you’re interested in Tulane. There is a wealth of information on these threads already from students, parents, alumni, and in my case alum/parent.</p>
<p>There have been numerous threads on the crime issue, and I will post some links. Let’s just say that safety at Tulane is comparable to most urban universities, and better than some. As you will see in the stats, most of the offenses are theft, drug/alcohol related and the like. This is true of all college campuses, not just urban ones. Naturally in some of the more rural college towns, fewer drinking related incidents get reported.</p>
<p>I am not sure that New Orleans is that much more expensive than other cities, and certainly less than Boston, New York, LA, San Fran, etc. Sales tax is high because tourism is such a big part of the economy. Otherwise, I don’t think it is out of line.</p>
<p>I would add that I have a D that is a sophomore that goes off campus a lot, but does it intelligently. Tulane’s freshman class is 62% female. Somehow I don’t think all these people would send their daughters to a school where they felt they would be at that much risk. I sure know I wouldn’t, no matter my affiliation to the school.</p>
<p>I’m currently studying abroad, so I’m having a bit of Tulane nostalgia. If you have an questions these people don’t answer clearly enough, you can PM me anything, or address me on the thread. I credit myself (probably unfairly) as being the most unbiased, blunt person on CC when it comes to Tulane. </p>
<p>To address one issue–New Orleans doesn’t strike me as having a high cost of living, but I’m also recovering from my meeting this summer with the “Euro.” Tulane will get you by the housing and food cost, but otherwise, unless you go to concerts every week/drink every night, you shouldn’t have a problem budgeting.</p>
<p>Living in New Orleans can get expensive if you choose to move off-campus during your junior/senior years at Tulane. There’s tons of housing options, with those on the broadway side of campus (nearer to greek houses, bars) being more expensive and those on the calhoun side of campus being very comparable to the fees you pay to live in residence halls</p>
<p>I’m also curious as to how safe Tulane/New Orleans is.
Since the city is so big, it makes sense there’s some crime. But what about within the actual school? For example, can students leave their dorm room doors opened/unlocked without worry?</p>
<p>The city is great, but the actual school is where we’d spend a good amount of our time :)</p>
<p>By the way, sorry if I sort of hijacked the thread =/</p>
<p>That’s OK. The answer is that there is almost NO school where you should leave their dorm rooms unlocked and empty for any length of time. Petty theft is the #1 problem at all college campuses, I think. Other than that, with common sense you will should no problems on campus or in the vicinity of the campus. As has been pointed out a number of times, the VAST majority of serious crime in NOLA is drug-on-drug and gang-on-gang crime, fairly far removed from the campus area.</p>
<p>No, students can’t leave their doors unlocked. It’s not the best idea to do that anywhere. I know a few dorms last year had problems with a person coming in and systematically going through, finding every unlocked door, and stealing things.</p>
<p>Theft is the only “problem” at Tulane. I’ve never felt unsafe on campus (I frequently make a fool of myself jogging in circles around the campus at night), unless the Boot counts. I’ve been known to brave the Boot at insane hours for early morning pizza cravings, and it has been “sketchy.”</p>
<p>Ditto what everyone else said. Not a good idea to leave a room open/unlocked on any campus. Many college dorm doors lock automatically when they close.</p>
<p>Every dorm on Tulane’s campus requires card access to enter through the front doors - the older dorms still use key locks on individual rooms, but the housing office is moving towards all card/keypad access into individual dorms within the next few years (imagine a hotel room key card + a 4-digit code you must enter). Puts all the more emphasis on students not to loose their student ID card. The key access dorms do lock behind you when you leave, although many students leave them open by propping open their deadbolts.</p>