I got into Tulane EA and their honors program, so I’d most likely be staying in the Honor’s dorms at Wall if I end up going there. I got added to the Tulane class of ‘22 Facebook, and I’m in two of the GroupMe’s for the class of ‘22, one with just girls and the other with any admitted people. Tulane was one of my top choices after I didn’t get into Vanderbilt ED but now I’m getting a little worried because the people in the group messages are all talking about how drunk and high they get, and about fake ID’s, etc, and while I’m okay with other people doing that stuff and still being friends with them, that’s under no circumstances what I want to spend all of my college time doing. I don’t mean to sound like a killjoy or a snob by not wanting to go to a school categorized as a “party school,” but I just wanted to ask here what everyone would describe Tulane as. My ideal ratio of college is probably like 65/35 study to party, but that doesn’t mean I want to be drunk and high all the time lol. So yeah, in you guys’ opinion, is Tulane a party school?
yes look it up its #1
You can find likeminded people at Tulane. There are 1600+ students in the incoming class. Will there be those who party? Yes and there will be those who don’t! Join clubs and meet people who think like you do. Every school will have parties. Yes Tulane was listed as a party school, but it’s in a party city!
For what it’s worth, several of these schools are also great schools, including Tulane. If you have the discipline, you can do both. Wisconsin is also on this list. Of all of the schools I visited with my kid, Tulane and Wisconsin had the most alive campuses and both are great schools. Tulane has great academics, the students have a great time, and they also are heavily involved in community service. If you like Tulane and don’t choose to go there because of this, you might regret it.
Princeton Review’s Top 20 Party Schools Of 2018:
- Tulane University
- West Virginia University
- Bucknell University
- Syracuse University
- University of Wisconsin-Madison
- University of Delaware
- University of Colorado-Boulder
- Colgate University
- Lehigh University
- University of Maine
- University of Iowa
- University of California, Santa Barbara
- University of Mississippi
- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- University of Vermont
- University of Rhode Island
- University of Florida
- Wake Forest University
- University of Kansas
- University of Alabama
@htyt3bre My daughter is a freshman there and she has found a nice friend group --they all are serious about academics, and while they like to go to have fun on weekends —like most freshman do, they do not get “drunk and high.” My daughter is in the honors program and has found the academics rigorous. Students who don’t take academics serious and put in the required studying effort will do poorly. There will always be some students at every school that party too much, you just need to actively seek out friends with similar values and interests. There will be plenty of opportunities to do so --as well as an ample number of students. Tulane has increased dorm space to accommodate the larger freshman classes the past few years due to skyrocketing applications (35,622 applications last year) and enrollment. Tulane admit rate last year was 21%, the current freshman class has 1897 students and the trend will likely continue.
My daughter is a senior at Tulane and a very serious student with a challenging double major. She likes to have fun, but it is by no means the only way to do the school. She plays club sports and that is where most of her friends have been found. She knows that school comes first and she spends plenty of hours in the library. So don’t worry, while there are always kids, especially freshmen who may be experiencing their first taste of “freedom,” it is an academically rigorous school.
I asked my son about this tonight and he assured me there are no parties there. 
I actually applied Vanderbilt ED as well and got denied 
but then I got into Tulane with $30K a year!
Tulane is a party school in the frequency of parties, not the outrageous-ness of parties. While there are no wild parties everyday, you CAN find a party or a bar event or a New Orleans event for every single day. Students also go out frequently, usually it’s from Wednesday to Saturday. The party scene dies down every semester after midterms though. So I guess the motto is work hard play frequently, until midterms.
hi!! I also was accepted EA and I’m in the same groups, having the same worries!! at least we both know there’s at least one similar person now 
Every university is a party school. Always has been, always will be.
That said, I believe honors students in honors housing and associating with like minded students are more likely to find a better balance between partying and academic success than those not similarly situated. I also believe the Tulane student body has become more competitive because of the rankings increases, like 50% of the 2016 freshman were top 10% in high school. If you want to compete for high grades, then you’ll have to consistently put in substantial work to have a chance. There are more organized, committed, high achieving students vying for one of the A’s than ever before.
The wonderful thing about college is that you can be yourself. The Tulane campus has over 8,000 students, the ones who party are loud so everyone knows about them, but there are plenty who don’t party or party infrequently. If you search you can find like minded people! Good luck-- Tulane is a fabulous place!
WineDrinker - There are definitely varying degrees of partying, though, and it does affect the atmosphere. I went to 2 schools - one on the “stone cold sober” list (non-religious, just hard core studiers), and one on the “Party School,” “Reefer Madness,” and “Lots of Beer” lists, also highly ranked academically. Both had strong academics, and I learned a lot at each, but they were definitely DIFFERENT. It depends on your personality which is a better fit for you.
I have never been a student at Tulane, nor do I have a kid there. However, I know several people who work there or have worked there. It is indeed a party school. However, it is big enough that you can certainly find friends and groups of people who rarely or never party. What you need to ask yourself is how you feel about living with and being around people who party a lot. This probably doesn’t matter as much in later years when you can move off-campus, but it will affect dorm life. New Orleans is a party city, but there are lots of great things to do without drinking - music, dancing, festivals, etc.
From the WAPO article this week re: a recent 2017 Tulane survey of sexual assault/drinking:
"Drinking is deeply ingrained in the campus culture, as it is at many schools. The study found that 43 percent of undergraduate men and 39 percent of undergraduate women drink three or more times a week.
When they do imbibe, many say they drink a lot: 16 percent of women and 39 percent of men report typically having seven or more drinks on those occasions. (President) Fitts said that, too, is an issue Tulane wants to address. He noted that fraternities and sororities recently stopped serving hard liquor at parties. “We’ve made a very concerted effort to reduce excessive drinking on the Tulane campus,” he said."
@twicemama You created a separate stand-alone thread on the exact same subject covered by this article. Is that not enough that you need to post again on a different Tulane thread? Are you carrying some grudge against the school that warrants you to post twice about a subject that you note is “disturbing” about the school? Just want others to see your motivation–You mention the school was a “top contender” for both of your daughters --perhaps they did not get accepted or perhaps you did not get sufficient aid for them to attend? Not sure why else you feel the need to post your own stand-alone thread and now this one, since you admit neither you or your kids are involved with the school. What schools do your kids attend? I am sure those schools have similar alcohol related occurrences, just that it is not being widely publicized as is the case here.
@trackmbe3 I have no grudge re Tulane as both my Ds seriously considered going there and were accepted with nice merit packages. In the end, both chose elsewhere due to outstanding scholarships that were hard to pass up and one didn’t see herself on NOLA.
I posted the article here bc it’s a party school question and I simply quoted the self-reported alcohol use rates mentioned in this article. Some might be interested in that. I re-posted the article as a separate item bc not everyone looks at a party school item and sexual assault is a serious issue in our society today. This is a report Tulane made public themselves.
I find the “party school” thing to be so tired. Tulane is and always will be in a “party city”, but it’s also a large, diverse, culturally significant city and decent sized-school with tons of other things going on. I’d rather that then be in some place in the middle of nowhere when all there is to do are parties involving a keg and red solo cups, no matter what any “rankings” say.
I went to an elite Ivy in a much more innocent time and I couldn’t believe the amount of binge-drinking and drug-using that I encountered. It’s many, many years later and I can still smell the vomit. Kids were hospitalized or asked to take a break from school pretty regularly. But there wasn’t social media or CC so nobody knew about much of it who wasn’t there in person. Stupid young adults on their own will do stupid young adult things wherever they are.
And why anyone would bother with a CC forum for a school their child neither attends nor is currently considering is far beyond me.
@twicemama Your daughters attend a different school, trying to make sense of why you are posting about Tulane specifically and not other schools who in the past also reported findings? Just last year there was a horrific Stanford assault. I also cannot help but notice your grudge against the school. You are trying to make a statement about alcohol and sexual assault, no doubt there are similar numbers at your daughters’ college too. If you think otherwise you are not paying attention. Perhaps their school is not as transparent and involved as Tulane, and did not receive the same feedback from their current students when surveyed? It is a very serious issue that many other colleges are not actively engaged in combatting. What are you doing to make a difference at your daughters’ school?
@booksmart20 I’ll help you out as to why twicemama is on CC worrying about Tulane’s party culture/sexual assault survey. Some people are victims at heart. These are people who live day to day with a victim mentality because it makes them feel good to have someone or something to blame and they cannot ever resist the opportunity to insert themselves into any story or situation where there is a potential victim involved. She is not singling out Tulane, and I’m sure she realizes that all the same stuff goes on at the lesser priced schools that she sent her daughters too. When you see stories on CC about problems at other colleges involving potential victims you will see her posting stuff there too I promise.
Tulane is in NOLA which is one of the main reason’s it’s labeled as the #1 party school. My daughter is wait listed at Tulane and she will attend if offered a spot(fingers crossed). My daughter is not a partier and she’s hoping to find other like minded students if she’s lucky enough to be taken off the wait list. 