<p>Any thoughts? Trying to decide</p>
<p>Are you serious?</p>
<p>Are you serious?</p>
<p>Looks like they are telling you that it is clearly Tulane</p>
<p>but why tulane?</p>
<p>Michigan .</p>
<p>You need to tell us several things:</p>
<ol>
<li>cost for each?</li>
<li>major?</li>
<li>climate preferences?</li>
<li>atmosphere preferences?</li>
</ol>
<p>Only then someone can recommend which college would fit you better.</p>
<p>Cost is equal at both
Major is either public policy, history or american studies
live in chicago so am used to the cold but love the beach
want to play club volleyball - very athletic
serious student but also very social
high interest in newspaper staff
law school in the future - communications attorney</p>
<p>Michigan hands down.</p>
<p>Absolutely no question–U of M dominates Tulane.</p>
<p>This is a Michigan site, so no surprise at the responses. However, let me just point out:</p>
<p>Tulane has slightly higher average test scores than UM (SAT: Tulane=2000, UM=1980 but we can call that a tie. ACT Tulane=30.5, UM=29)</p>
<p>UM is huge, with very large classes freshman and most of sophomore year. Tulane much smaller with far smaller average class sizes.</p>
<p>Weather favors Tulane, obviously.</p>
<p>Professors are great each place, but it takes far more effort to get close to profs at UM. At Tulane you are quite likely to see them all over campus, eat with them at the UC, have a beer with them at a local place, etc. etc.</p>
<p>Obviously sports favors UM. Not sure how easy it is to get a ticket though. Not saying that as a negative, I just really don’t know.</p>
<p>New Orleans vs. Ann Arbor - totally a matter of personal preference. Although the food in New Orleans blows Ann Arbor away. But then it blows almost every place away.</p>
<p>So hyperbole aside, I don’t think it is as much of a slam dunk as the UM boosters make it sound like. They are extremely different atmospheres, about as polar opposite as you can get except for the great academics. The OP has to decide which kind of place is more suited to him. Surely with such contrasting features something should make it easier to decide.</p>
<p>fallenchemist thanks for your “unbiased” opinion.
Let’s find some stats on the two schools:</p>
<p>Tulane:</p>
<p>60% in top 10th of graduating class
88% in top quarter of graduating class
97% in top half of graduating class
30% had h.s. GPA of 3.75 and higher
24% had h.s. GPA between 3.5 and 3.74
20% had h.s. GPA between 3.25 and 3.49
17% had h.s. GPA between 3.0 and 3.24
8% had h.s. GPA between 2.5 and 2.99
1% had h.s. GPA between 2.0 and 2.49</p>
<p>(not a very strong student body)</p>
<p>University of Michigan: </p>
<p>92% in top 10th of graduating class
99% in top quarter of graduating class
100% in top half of graduating class
62% had h.s. GPA of 3.75 and higher
27% had h.s. GPA between 3.5 and 3.74
6% had h.s. GPA between 3.25 and 3.49
4% had h.s. GPA between 3.0 and 3.24
1% had h.s. GPA between 2.5 and 2.99</p>
<p>(strong student body)</p>
<p>USNWR Ranks Michigan at #27 and Tulane at #50 (overall) </p>
<p>Guess what? You want public policy- yeah we have a school for that, and it’s in the top ten in the nation ([Bachelor</a> of Arts in Public Policy | Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy](<a href=“http://fordschool.umich.edu/curriculum/ba.php]Bachelor”>http://fordschool.umich.edu/curriculum/ba.php)). History? We’re tops in that too. Take a look at where the grad school places (it’s indicative of how strong the undergrad program is): [Rankings</a> - History - Graduate Schools - Education - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-history-schools/rankings]Rankings”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-history-schools/rankings).</p>
<p>Michigan wins hands down as I said earlier.</p>
<p>fallenchemist, as I always point out, SAT and ACT averages do not determine quality of academics. WUSTL has slightly higher SAT/ACT averages than Stanford and equal to MIT and Princeton. Does that make WUSTL as good as MIT and Princeton and better than Stanford? And in terms of SAT averages and ACT averages (Tulane’s mid 50% ACT range is 28-32, vs Michigan’s 27-31), Emory and Michigan are almost even (their SAT ranges are identical), but one must remember several things:</p>
<p>1) Michigan does not superscore
2) Michigan places more emphasis on GPA and class rank than on standardized testing
3) Michigan is much larger, and as such, having a student body that is on average as good as Tulane’s is very impressive.</p>
<p>[Tulane</a> Admission: Getting Into Tulane](<a href=“http://admission.tulane.edu/apply/gettinginto.php]Tulane”>http://admission.tulane.edu/apply/gettinginto.php)</p>
<p><a href=“Office of Budget and Planning”>Office of Budget and Planning;
<p>I agree that classes at Tulane, particularly in popular majors (such as Econ, History, Political Science and Psychology), will be smaller for intro-level courses, but not for intermediate and advanced level classes. </p>
<p>The cuisine in New Orleans is average. I have eaten at four of New Orlean’s best restaurants (Bayona, the Grill Room at the Windsor Court Hotel where we were staying, Galatoire’s). Although they were certainly good, none of them were great. I agree that New Orleans is most likely better than in Ann Arbor where the restaurant scene is concerned, but that’s not saying much since Ann Arbor is a college town. Cities like Chicago, New York, San Francisco and Las Vegas all have better restaurant scenes than New Orleans, and by European standards, even those cities lag significantly.</p>
<p>I agree that New Orleans and Ann Arbor are very different, but when it comes to large cities, New Orleans isn’t exactly known to be a great place to live whereas Ann Arbor is concidered one of America’s great college towns. New Orleans has always had a poverty, drug and crime problem that does not exist in Ann Arbor. If the OP wants a big city experience, he might as well stay in Chicago, which blows New Orleans out of the water. In terms of atmosphere and quality of life, Ann Arbor is hard to beat. 70% of Ann Arbor’s population,compared to just 25% in New Orleans, has college degrees and 40% of Ann Arbor’s population, compared to 10% in New Orleans, has graduate degrees. Ann Arbor also has a very low crime rate. </p>
<p>[Ann</a> Arbor, Michigan (MI) profile: population, maps, real estate, averages, homes, statistics, relocation, travel, jobs, hospitals, schools, crime, moving, houses, sex offenders, news, sex offenders](<a href=“http://www.city-data.com/city/Ann-Arbor-Michigan.html]Ann”>http://www.city-data.com/city/Ann-Arbor-Michigan.html)</p>
<p>[New</a> Orleans, Louisiana (LA) profile: population, maps, real estate, averages, homes, statistics, relocation, travel, jobs, hospitals, schools, crime, moving, houses, sex offenders, news, sex offenders](<a href=“http://www.city-data.com/city/New-Orleans-Louisiana.html]New”>http://www.city-data.com/city/New-Orleans-Louisiana.html)</p>
<p>In all other ways, Michigan is superior to Tulane. Michigan’s History department is almost always ranked in or around the top 5 in the nation. Tulane’s History department is not that strong (not ranked among the top 50 anyway). Michigan’s Public Affairs program, named after an very pround and loyal Alum who went on to become President of the United States I might add, is also generally ranked in or around the top 5 in the nation. Again, Tulane either doesn’t have a Public Affairs program or it isn’t ranked among the top 50. Michigan’s American Studies department is actually supposed to be one of the top 3 in the nation, but I also hear good things about Tulane’s program, although I am admittedly not famliar with either program.</p>
<p>So Fallenchrist, even if “getting to know” one’s professors is easier at Tulane (I seriously doubt that as I never had any trouble getting to know any of my professors at Michigan), I personally expect (and prefer) to learn from my professors rather than about my professors.</p>
<p>Finally, Football tickets are guaranteed to all students for every home game. Basketball and Hockey tickets are also availlable, but each student will only be given tickets to a handful of games.</p>
<p>Wow - I tried to balance the field a little, saying nothing disparaging about UM at all, and you two just go off. I guess this is a nice example of UM manners. Thanks guys.</p>
<p>I could respond to each of your points, such as pointing out the fallacy of taking the crime statistics for New Orleans as a whole compared to the experience around campus, the anecdotal (and highly minority) opinion about those restaurants and New Orleans cuisine), the use of grad school rankings to comment about the undergrad experience, using Gerald Ford (a great man, btw) as an example of why that makes Michigan better (look up where Reagan went to college), etc. but it is useless since your minds are so closed. Thanks for the insight though.</p>
<p>While I usually cant stand Alexandre and definitely Novi’s homerism, this isnt even worth a debate. Michigan hands down.</p>
<p>Michigan is a target. Tulane is a complete non-target. That’s the biggest difference.</p>
<p>Just look at every single class profile of bulge bracket/elite boutique investment banks like GS, MS, BAML, CS, Barcap, Citi and Lazard, Evercore, Moelis etc and elite strat shops like Mckinsey, Bain, BCG etc, you would see a handful of Michigan kids at each place and virtually no Tulane kids. </p>
<p>From employers who recruit/hired Tulane students
No Goldman Sachs:
[Tulane</a> University - Employers F-I](<a href=“http://tulane.edu/hiretulane/employers/f-i.cfm]Tulane”>http://tulane.edu/hiretulane/employers/f-i.cfm)
No BAML:
[Tulane</a> University - Employers A-B](<a href=“http://tulane.edu/hiretulane/employers/a-b.cfm]Tulane”>http://tulane.edu/hiretulane/employers/a-b.cfm)
No Credit Suisse:
[Tulane</a> University - Employers C-E](<a href=“http://tulane.edu/hiretulane/employers/c-e.cfm]Tulane”>http://tulane.edu/hiretulane/employers/c-e.cfm)
No Barcap
<a href=“http://tulane.edu/hiretulane/employers/a-b.cfm[/url]”>http://tulane.edu/hiretulane/employers/a-b.cfm</a>
No Citi
<a href=“http://tulane.edu/hiretulane/employers/c-e.cfm[/url]”>http://tulane.edu/hiretulane/employers/c-e.cfm</a>
No Lazard:
[Tulane</a> University - Employers J-M](<a href=“http://tulane.edu/hiretulane/employers/j-m.cfm]Tulane”>http://tulane.edu/hiretulane/employers/j-m.cfm)
No Evercore:
<a href=“http://tulane.edu/hiretulane/employers/c-e.cfm[/url]”>http://tulane.edu/hiretulane/employers/c-e.cfm</a>
No Moelis:
[Tulane</a> University - Employers J-M](<a href=“http://tulane.edu/hiretulane/employers/j-m.cfm]Tulane”>http://tulane.edu/hiretulane/employers/j-m.cfm)
No BCG:
[Tulane</a> University - Employers A-B](<a href=“http://tulane.edu/hiretulane/employers/a-b.cfm]Tulane”>http://tulane.edu/hiretulane/employers/a-b.cfm)
No Bain
[Tulane</a> University - Employers A-B](<a href=“http://tulane.edu/hiretulane/employers/a-b.cfm]Tulane”>http://tulane.edu/hiretulane/employers/a-b.cfm)</p>
<p>Michigan on the other hand has students at virtually every single bulge bracket, elite boutiques and MBB every year. </p>
<p>The only time I saw tulane kids at a superday was for an energy supermajor’s nat gas trading internship my sophomore year. It was basically a superday consisting of sophomores from targets/semitargets like Duke, Cal, Northwestern, Michigan, Texas and juniors from crappy non-targets like Kansas State, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, U Houston, Oklahoma State and Tulane. </p>
<p>Face it, Tulane’s reputation is regional. Once you go out of the dirty south people barely even heard of it. Michigan’s reputation is international. And the caliber of companies that the top students from each school go to reflect that.</p>
<p>If you are comfortable with going to a huge school, then Michigan is clearly the better choice.</p>
<p>Again, a reasoned, polite, and civilized response from a UM person (Bearcats). Picking up a trend here, skinny? BTW bearcats, exactly where did skinny say he was interested in investment banking? I must have missed that. And as far as people not having heard of Tulane outside of the “dirty south” (no hate talk there), then why does half the incoming class come from the Mid-Atlantic/Northeast and the west? Doesn’t even take into account the percentage from the midwest. Mysterious. Take note of a UM grad’s analytical skills, skinny.</p>
<p>Maybe if you guys stop being so defensive (and believe me, you sound defensive since attacking others is the last refuge of the hopeless) and just focus on UM’s positives, which are numerous, you might be more convincing. I never said UM wasn’t a great school. It is, clearly. Before he went off, even Flipper noted there are factors beyond academics and statistics at play here, as I was also trying to say. Not that challenging a concept, especially with two schools with such different characteristics as Tulane and UM. I am sorry if any of you took any of my comments as an attack on UM, although I cannot see how they could be.</p>
<p>“So hyperbole aside, I don’t think it is as much of a slam dunk as the UM boosters make it sound like.”</p>
<p>Thank’s for your “civilized” way of saying our opinions don’t matter. Hyperbole? Really? How can we not go off. </p>
<p>“using Gerald Ford (a great man, btw) as an example of why that makes Michigan
better”</p>
<p>Can you find where this has been said on this thread? Gerald R. Ford is the name of the school of Public Policy.</p>
<p>Students at U of M generally love their school. I’d say they’re much happier attending Mich than kids at Emory/WUSTL/Carnegie Mellon are with attending their colleges. A very good amount of kids who go to those colleges do so because they got rejected by Ivies. Even though those kids are smarter, they aren’t happy, and it shows in their college environments. Tulane is pretty much the same, except the kids who go there are as smart as the kids who go to Mich. So even though Tulane would be a good choice, I’d go with the place where the students love it: Michigan.</p>
<p>Without getting into a whole thing here, the links provided that show zero bulge bracket firms show zero firms for a reason, it’s for Tulane-Newcomb college. That’s the liberal arts school hirings only. A.B. Freeman is the undergraduate business school with all of the business majors. So all finance majors are not represented on the link posted. Here an the accurate link: <a href=“http://www.freeman.tulane.edu/cmc/docs/BSM_2009_Employment_Profile.pdf[/url]”>http://www.freeman.tulane.edu/cmc/docs/BSM_2009_Employment_Profile.pdf</a> You’ll notice that when you aren’t looking exclusively at the section of the university that has english and history majors, Goldman Sachs IS a major hiring firm. :)</p>
<p>Also, Tulane has a very good b-school, particularly in finance. It’s not relevant if law school is the goal but since that was a point of contention I thought I’d post. </p>
<p>Some more on TU finance.
Energy Trading Video from CNBC:
[News</a> Headlines](<a href=“http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=615836031&play=1]News”>http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=615836031&play=1)</p>
<p>Tulane’s Finance Dept. ranked in Top 10 in World
[Tulane</a> University - Financial Times Names Tulane University Among World’s Top 10 Schools for Finance](<a href=“http://tulane.edu/news/releases/012808.cfm]Tulane”>http://tulane.edu/news/releases/012808.cfm)</p>
<p>[FT.com</a> / UK - A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN: THE TOP TEN SCHOOLS IN SELECTED CATEGORIES](<a href=“A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN: THE TOP TEN SCHOOLS IN SELECTED CATEGORIES”>A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN: THE TOP TEN SCHOOLS IN SELECTED CATEGORIES)</p>
<p>Tulane’s Equity Research Program
[Freeman</a> School @ Tulane](<a href=“http://www.freeman.tulane.edu/burkenroad/whatis.php]Freeman”>About Burkenroad Reports - Freeman School | Tulane)</p>
<p>Tulane’s Darwin Fenner Program
[Freeman</a> School @ Tulane](<a href=“http://www.freeman.tulane.edu/fenner/]Freeman”>http://www.freeman.tulane.edu/fenner/)</p>
<p>The biggest difference in my opinion is the style of college. Obviously both are fine schools but it comes down to large public vs smallish private as well as location. Tulane was ranked 10th happiest by Princeton Review in 2008. So while Wolverines enjoy their school, you can certainly say the same for Tulane. Again, that’s why you’re comparing Apples and Oranges. Visit both and best of luck!</p>