Northeastern or Tulane?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Northeastern University
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<p>I know, like comparing apples and oranges. Chowdah and gumbo. All depends on what you like. </p>

<p>However, though the cities themselves are quite different, they are both awesome places, filled with interesting people and the schools while different would be outstanding educational experiences.</p>

<p>Here's a few of the main things I noticed. At NE, there was TONS of attention paid to student activity options, clubs, speakers, honors programs, etc....at Tulane we NEVER ONCE heard anyone mention the number of student clubs were on campus. Clearly there's a ton of student involvement at both places, just noticed the different ways they sold their strengths.</p>

<p>At NE, it seems like there's more structure to helping kids adjust. The RAs on the floors plan activities and outings, while at Tulane it seemed much more spontaneous...this could be a pro or a con, depending on who you are. I worry a bit that my somewhat reserved D will be overwhelmed by the social life at Tulane.</p>

<p>NE dorms, dining, proximity to other students/universities are better than Tulane's IMO. I think the education at either place will be fine, the neuro major at Tulane is more "pure" neuro but the "behavioral neuro" at NE is a nice blend with a bit more psych emphasis (as far as I can tell).</p>

<p>NE's honors program was, according to the folks when we visited in Feb, more like a true honors college IMO. Tulane's less formal. Research opportunities for undergrads heavily touted. Stress/personality/competition in Boston vs languid pace and Southern hospitality in N.O.</p>

<p>NE offers the co-op and great overseas study/co-op options, at Tulane the study abroad doesn't seem nearly as popular (to their credit, the kids there all said they didn't want to miss anything in N.O., hence their lack of desire to spend a semester away!) nor as many options. Tulane has a 4+1, so after the BS is earned, you can get a master's in just one additional year. Since neuro is SO demanding to have advanced degrees to find jobs, this could be significant.</p>

<p>NE is just a short ride from NY/DC/New England, etc. VERY easy and less expensive to get home from Boston than N.O. though both involve flights. Merit money is about the same, she may have a slightly less expensive bill at NE but not make/break material.</p>

<p>Anyone want to comment? Help me help her? It's getting to be crunch time and while I don't think she can make a BAD decision, I'd really like to help her make the RIGHT decision.</p>

<p>If not, well thanks for letting me air it out!</p>

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<p>northeastern is better location. good dining food and co-op program.</p>

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<p>“Southern hospitality” very often translates to “getting wasted on the street”. No personal comment on Tulane (never been there), but I’ve got plenty of friends at cute southern schools, and no one has any “hospitality”. The idea of course is nice and maybe it does exist once you’re in the real world in those towns. But as a college student, college is college. There is only so much respect and sincerity that college students will show. Add to that the huge amount of northern students that go to southern schools… Just don’t get your hopes up that everyone will wave and say good morning on your way to class.</p>

<p>Also- I’ve been on those student panels. If a parent asked me why I only spent 6 weeks abroad, I’d say the same thing about not wanting to leave Boston. Truth: I had a lease in Boston and couldn’t find a subletter. They could be telling the truth, but don’t rest your whole opinion on student panels.</p>

<p>If your kid doesn’t like humidity, reconsider Tulane. I’m from Florida, and not a single one of my Boston friends will stop complaining about the humidity when they come to visit. Obviously it’s something you can definitely get used to, but the climate change is bigger than people realize. No weekend snow trips, no apple picking, no first snow. But you will get to experience hurricane season (personally something I enjoy from a homesick point of view).</p>

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<p>Thank you all for the responses, and the private messages, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this. Will be sharing with my husband, and we’ll decide what to share with my D! I’ve personally been leaning toward NE, and think he is too, but after we’ve shared ALL the pros/cons we can think of, it will be her choice.</p>

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<p>I can speak to neuroscience side of things. I am a behavioral neuroscience major here, and when I was looking at schools, not of them were completely within the biology departments and were essentially a biology major with a few neuroscience classe tacked on. One of the things I like about the BNS program here is that it’s in both the psychology and biology departments, so you get both aspects, and it really gives you the interdisciplinary perspective that neuroscience is all about. Having exposure the the bio and psych components early has also helped me figure out what I want to do, as well.</p>

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<p>I don’t know of a single “old money” kid at Northeastern, and I’ve been here four years. Most people’s parents are exactly like mine- middle class with loans to help pay for school.</p>

<p>To the original poster- the person above doesn’t go here. They’ve been posting on a bunch of threads trashing the school, despite never attending it. So they can say it’s “rich, stuck up, preppy and closed minded” all they want, even though they’ve never even spent a week with Northeastern kids.</p>

<p>And that link with Northeastern as an ugly school? Shows a building that’s not even on our campus. The factory mentioned is by Northwestern, not Northeastern. I don’t see anything “industrial” about our campus.</p>

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<p>hah. “Old Money”. In five years I think I met one person who I might describe as giving off an old money vibe. And yeah, that link of “20 ugliest campuses” is dated and uses a picture that isn’t even from northeastern campus.</p>

<p>Don’t you have better things to do than spam message boards for schools you don’t even attend? </p>

<p>Anyway, I can’t give an opinion either way. Both are solid schools and I don’t think one offers a significant advantage over the others. I’m a graduated behavioral neuroscience major and I was happy with the program, especially because it’s pretty broad reaching and gives students the opportunity to try out different areas in psychology, “real” neuroscience, and other areas of biology.</p>

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<p>Boston is a global city and NEU offers an education with a global perspective. Although we loved Tulane and NOLA, Tulane’s perspective definitely revolves around NOLA. You can gain a global perspective there but you have to go looking for it whereas at NEU it is in front of you every day.</p>

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<p>@dsterino: Everyone is biased. Not everyone is a jackass. </p>

<p>A bit more on topic, I strongly considered both Northeastern and Tulane, and was accepted to both. My decision was largely financial. </p>

<p>I have to say, I did enjoy my visits to both campuses. Tulane is probably the nicer looking of the two campuses, but I wouldn’t call Northeastern ugly. The newer buildings are all very nice, and though a few of the older buildings aren’t stunning, there aren’t any particular eye-sores (the image provided in the 20 Ugliest Colleges is the Dedham MA campus, which I know little about. I will agree that it looks unspectacular, but there isn’t anything on the main campus that looks anything like that. I actually didn’t know it existed until I tried to figure out where the image came from). Based on my memories of Tulane, Northeastern’s dorms are indisputably better. Academically, all I can say with certainty about Tulane was that when I applied (about two and a half years ago), Tulane was still having issues with staff retention following Katrina (which was way back in 06). </p>

<p>One thing to consider is that neither Boston or New Orleans have the best weather - so pick your poison there. That said, New Orleans has the advantage of being farther south, which means more daylight overall, which can be a plus. </p>

<p>In terms of geography, I’m not a fan of the southeast US. I spent fifteen years in that part of the country (Age 3-18), and though my choice of schools was largely financial, I was relieved to be leaving that part of the country. That said, New Orleans is an entirely different animal than much of the rest of the region, one I am far less familiar with. On top of that, a significant portion of Tulane students (based on how the school presented it, far more than would be anticipated), come from outside the region (I believe the statistic they used was ‘over 500 miles away’), so you won’t exactly be plopping yourself in the middle of cajun country. </p>

<p>Southern hospitality doesn’t really exist (perhaps excepting the food associated with it) much of anywhere in the southeast. There are some really friendly, nice people, and there are some really rude, awful people. That’s how it is anywhere in the US, they just gave it a name in the south.</p>

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<p>You don’t even know the students! You aren’t a student! I’ve reported you for your Northeastern-trashing. You can’t just go around saying rude and inappropriate things about a school and its students without anything to back it up. If you had a personal story of friends that were “old money” or experiences with “no socioeconomic diversity” then it’d be informative. But you don’t- you just say insulting things about the school without any examples or reasons.</p>

<p>The most expensive clothing/purse/whatever item I own is an 80 dollar suit from Marshalls. I’ve worked 5 jobs throughout college (2 food service jobs, 1 convention work and 1 internship all during full-time classes, plus 2 full-time co-ops). I’m lucky if I get a sizeable Christmas gift. And nearly every single friend I have is the same. Others are from families where they needed full scholarships to afford here, and some want to go do low paying jobs after graduation anyway (like inner school teachers). Plus then there are international students with gucci and prada. So I have no idea where you’re getting the “no socioeconomic diversity” thing from.</p>

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<p>Looks like the moderator deleted dsterino’s posts! Maybe they deleted him too.</p>

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<p>I actually go to tulane but am considering transferring out. I was accepted to transfer to NEU but am leaning towards BU.</p>

<p>What bothers me about Tulane is the lack of professionalism. Things are often disorganized and there isn’t a lot of direction on your future at least in liberal arts (I hear the opposite from buisness students). </p>

<p>Southern hospitality is no lie though. I feel so honored to have lived in New Orleans for the past 2 years. This city welcomes anyone into it’s culture. People are nice and want you to be involved in the community.
That said, I feel that people come here because they really get roped into the warm weather and fun city of New Orleans. Tulane puts a big emphasis on New Orleans, and sometimes I think it’s a bit much. I’d rather be having fun because of my college not the city it’s in.
Overall I’d probably choose NEU if I was looking for neuroscience. The program will present you with more professional opportunities. Our program is just fine after katrina though. The only problem I think Tulane is really having right now is with over-enrollment, that’s why it’s hard to get classes not because of professers not coming back.</p>

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<p>HI! May I please ask you for specifics about Tulane? My D is still undecided, and I want to make sure we have our ‘ducks in a row’ - you mention over-enrollment; is it difficult to get into classes? Also, a big point for me, you mention lack of direction in the liberal arts… My D is applying undecided at this point, and the idea is for her to try classes in different areas and in different schools in order to ultimately decide on one or two majors of choice. Do you think this is difficult there? Did you come in with a specific idea of what you needed/wanted? May I ask you which part of the country you come from? My D’s other choice is UCSD (not very social, and intense) and she is opting for Tulane at this point because of the smaller classes (?), more personal attention, the ‘usual’ for a private school. Did you feel you were challenged in your education there? In other words, are you transferring because of the academics, as well as the social? Please feel free to respond privately, if you wish, I appreciate your response.</p>

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<p>Update: We used this thread (and the many private messages I’ve received) as part of our meeting agenda last and this morning she’s leaning toward NEU. Of course now I’M thinking she may be happier at Tulane…I’m NOT helping at this point!! </p>

<p>Overall I do think NEU is probably a better fit but that Tulane may help her get “beyond” what her natural fit may be. Sigh.</p>

<p>Thanks once again to everyone for your thoughts, I can’t tell you how helpful they’ve been.</p>

<p>And I never even got to see dsterino’s comments, feeling a bit left out !! LOL</p>

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<p>Let’s go Huskies! </p>

<p>Thanks to all of you who helped on this and other threads.</p>

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<p>NE’s honors program was more formal probably because they have enough non-honors-type students to make that clear cut distinction. Tulane’s more “informal” honors program sends kids to best grad schools in the USA every single year.</p>

<p>I also want to point out that neuchimie’s post earlier in this thread was altogether ridiculous, especially for someone who self-admittedly has never even visited the school he/she discussed.</p>

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<p>I know this wasn’t for me but I’ll answer, too. </p>

<p>

Yes. Our yield rating is climbing ridiculously high and has been for the past few years or so. Which is a good and bad thing. Good, because it allows the acceptance rate to drop, and bad because it is a bit harder to get into classes. People try to have it both ways, though: they want 20 people in their class but get mad when they can’t register for the classes they want. What usually happens is that more sections of the course are opened prior to the upcoming semester. </p>

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<p>Tulane’s core curriculum engenders exactly what you’ve described. Using myself as an example, I’m pre-med and, last spring, I took cultural anthropology, a business computing course, intro to cell and molec biology, gen chem 2 (plus lab), introduction to the novel, and a second semester of calculus. It’s almost too easy to take classes across various schools and departments: all you have to do is sign up for them. </p>

<p>

Yes, very much so. </p>

<p>

I myself am a native New Orleanian</p>

<p>

Pre-med classes can get huge (because so many of our students are pre-med) but most liberal arts classes stay under 30. Writing classes try to stay under 20/15. The biggest class I’ve had was in the 130’s range. Intro to psychology can get big too, even tho it’s not pre-med per se. </p>

<p>

Absolutely the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life.</p>

<p>Then again, I took classes that were innately hard. I can’t speak for anyone else’s schedule.</p>

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<p>@smchls </p>

<p>My comments were directed towards a poster who was saying very untrue and insulting things about Northeastern. That poster was NOT from Tulane either, nor had they ever visited Tulane, and yet they made very broad statements about how incrediable Tulane was compared to how horrible Northeastern was. So for example, when it now appears like I’m insulting Tulane’s “southern hospitality”, it was actually that I was taking offense to the poster’s comments that BECAUSE of “southern hospitality” (their words) Tulane was a million times better than our cruel, disgusting, rude and heartless school up in the north.</p>

<p>With that poster’s comments still around, it would have made a lot more sense to what I said. On this thread, and several others, they would use school stereotypes as if they were always 100% true- and make it very clear that they thought Northeastern was a terrible school because we don’t have those (not always true) stereotypes. The poster was reported for their very rude and offensive comments by several people, and all of their posts were deleted. We think their account got removed by moderators.</p>

<p>Reading it now, it does look like I’m attacking Tulane. But it was entirely about this one poster who was removed, and if you’d seen the thread originally, you’d understand. Like I said, it got so bad that several people started complaining about him. If you read other posts carefully, you’ll see other people mention “dsterino” (the poster).</p>

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<p>neuchimie is absolutely correct. There was a poster here attacking NEU at every turn on many threads. Moderator withdrew all of those posts, but left some of the related posts live. So the messages left live don’t have a good flow. Many other posters objected to the offensive poster.</p>

<p>nuchimie has been very helpful to people like me (parent of an upcoming freshman NEU student), and likely other new students.</p>

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<p>More information about the overcrowding etc mentioned above can be found here:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/tulane-university/1327023-still-not-enough-classes-students.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/tulane-university/1327023-still-not-enough-classes-students.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;