<p>Patuxent
I seem to remember that you have knowledge of both schools. D is deciding between a few schools but these are both in the final 3.
Any imput?</p>
<p>Well I went to GW many long years ago and live in the metro area so have seen GW grow and prosper over the years. It is a much better school than when I went there with good facilities and a great location. You have easy access to the mall and all the museums and lots of opportunities to get involved with politics or government or with non-profits and a booming tech sector in the suburbs. If you like a big city and don't mind the absence of ivy covered walls and spacious lawns it can be a very exciting place to be.</p>
<p>My son is a sophomore at Tulane so I know a bit about it and New Orleans as well. It is a great town, more interesting in most ways than Washington but with somewhat fewer work related opportunities but probably more cultural ones.</p>
<p>Academically you can get a good education at either school and the party school reputation Tulane has is more myth than reality. From my own experience lo those many decades ago I am pretty sure we Colonials could party with the best Greenie. </p>
<p>S who went to a very competitive public IB magnet program is finding the courses demanding and is pulling pretty much the same gpa he did in high school. He is majoring in economics and in case you are wondering Tulane gives plus and minus grades so there are B+'s and A-'s and it doesn't take much to go from one to the other. Dean's List is a 3.5 for freshmen and sophomores and 3.667 for juniors and seniors.</p>
<p>From a parents point of view I was actually shocked and amazed that he came home last Summer with a books he wanted to read for pleasure. Tulane might be turning my jocket son into a pointy-headed intellectual. Over Spring break this year he went to the Dali exhibition at the art gallery in Philly. Will wonders never cease? Well he is twenty now and not 17 so maybe it is just the natural maturing process.</p>
<p>Anyway Tulane's unique benefits or pluses vis a vis GW would be weather, prettier campus, more geographically divers student body with slightly higher stats over all, a town with good music and architecture and food and possibly a little broader academic offerings.</p>
<p>GW's unique benefits or pluses would be excellent dormitories, politically active student body, great location near free public museums of all kinds, many opportunities to get involved with non-pofits, government, and politics. More local job opportunities after graduation.</p>
<p>Thank you so much.
A few questions if you don't mind.
Is your son still living on campus? Is it hard to find housing after freshman year? Do many students have cars? The party rep. is a main concern of mine. She has felt in high school left out due to partying not being her thing. She is not adverse to some partying and the party rep does not concern her at all.<br>
My D has visited all 3 of the schools in the final running. I have not seen any of them and probably will not. Just checked out some prices of doing a roundabout trip to see them next week and don't think it will be happening. She saw GW early in her Jr yr. so she is thinking she might try to get back to see it again.
All your pluses confirmed what I have been thinking. Both schools would be a major change from what she is used to. She has never lived anywhere that has any kind of extreme weather. She also I think needs some open space and greenery. She has looked into the Mt Vernon campus at GW but feels she might not like being away from the central campus.<br>
I think a plus for her is with GW and the 3rd school she has a clear idea as to what she would study. Tulane does not have the specific program she is currently interested in. She met with the Business School at Tulane and realizes straight business is not what she wants. They do have a business minor that would allow her to major in something totally of her choice just for the pleasure of learning. She is thinking she wants to run a hotel outside the US one day. GW has a major in tourism in their business school. The problem with a business degree for her is that she is so not your typical business student. Most people who know her would imagine her studying eastern religions or philosophy. But she feels strongly that she wants to come out of college and be able to make money. Her quote " I love yoga but dont want to be a yoga teacher."<br>
Her 3rd school would be an easy choice for her. More in her comfort zone. Still far from home but not as far and not nearly as interesting a locale as DC or NO would be.<br>
I just hope she decides soon.
You have helped in that the reality of whatever choice she makes she will be fine.</p>
<p>mom60 - S and I just spent a Thurs/Fri at Tulane, where he will be going next yr. He stayed in Butler (Honors dorm) both Thurs and Fri. S is not a drinker/partyer - has many friends in hs like him and a few who are more drinking/partying oriented. He simply doesn't hang out with them at those times. He had a GREAT time in his stay, finding kindred spirits to his own style. They did go into French Quarter on Friday night (4 of them), both to Bourbon St. and to have the beignets at Cafe du Monde. Of course, I did not have a spy cam, but he was his clear-eyed normal self on Saturday morning early. I met a number of students on this trip at the Engineering Scholar Day sessions and had the definite impression that there are plenty of folks of the same persuasion as your D and my S.</p>
<p>These were freshmen and they used bus/trolley to get around (don't know if Freshmen can have cars). Hope you will get an answer about that part from a current parent, but I would imagine it's not a large # just because so many Tulane students come from so far away (ave. distance =500 miles, I think). S would never plan to have a car, as it's just not the kind of thing you need in a city environment. Warm's his city mom's heart.</p>
<p>jmmom- Glad you had such a good visit. My husband loved Tulane when they visited. It is his 1st choice for her. He has seen them all. They did a few father/daughter bonding college trips.<br>
I still have my concerns but ultimately it is her decision. I know that she will have to search out like minded friends and they will be there. I just have the Mom's fear of friday night everyone is getting ready to go out and she is ends up either doing something she really prefers not to do or ends up spending the evening alone. And the reality is that this could happen at any of the schools on her list.<br>
She would not be in the honors dorm.<br>
I would not want or let her bring a car. The 3rd school she is considering many students have cars including freshman. She would not.
It kids of the parents on CC who are at Tulane or are heading to Tulane sound like a great group of kids. So I really need to stop being such a worry wart.</p>
<p>mom60 - Just an empathizing comment: I had similar worries to yours as to my S and the social scene. IE, not just the drinking. He has no trouble making friends, but he is not a self-starter socially, relies on others in his circle to make plans, etc. I was so pleased at how the time went for him at Tulane. I'm not saying Tulane was some magic bullet. I'm guessing it's a combination of him growing in self-confidence, feeling comfortable with the kids he met, and maybe it is that it is a friendly, welcoming campus. Hope you see similar results with your D wherever she chooses.</p>
<p>Yes, mom60, it'll be okay. Believe me, if I'm willing to let my only child (son) go there, it HAS to be okay! He spent two nights with a current student (a great guy!) and had a wonderful time but emerged clear-eyed and clear-headed at nine AM ON HIS OWN for class visits the following morning. Your daughter will find my son and plenty like him, I hope. I hope there will be many like your daughter there for him to find so there will be less of what you describe as the poor choices between doing what one would rather not do and spending more time alone than one would prefer. I know my son has stopped spending time with at least one large group of his friends in high school because they would invite him over for movies and he would wonder where the movies were after a couple of hours of watching them get drunk. </p>
<p>Anyway.</p>
<p>It sounds as if there are lots of kids who get bored with that sort of behavior very fast at Tulane.</p>
<p>Thank you both. I am feeling a bit better. Jmmom- my D is very much like your son. She easily makes friends but is not the plan maker. She would stay home before making the dreaded call to someone who also is probably sitting home alone.<br>
She is maturing and I hope that that is something that changes.</p>
<p>No cars on campus for freshmen. S did/does live on campus for sophomore year but will be moving off campus next year and has a place lined up. He won't have a car though. Close relatively affordable housing is much easier to find at Tulane than it is in Washington. On campus housing for upper classmen is by lottery with certain classes having preference for certain dorms or types of housing. Dorm space is fairly tight. All freshmen are guaranteed on campus housing.</p>
<p>Some students do have cars. Not sure how many but think it is definitely the exception and the rule. Was very glad he knew someone with a car this year because the school and the city were evacuated for one of those many hurricanes this year. It proved to be quite an adventure and hopefully not an annual occurrence. Natural disasters can happen anywhere though. Freshman year we were worried about hurricanes in NO and we got wacked with one in Washington instead. Our house was without electricity for five days.</p>
<p>In the greenery department Tulane wins over GW but GW has done some nice things with some very small spaces. For wide open spaces you have to head to the national mall a couple of blocks away. For Tulanians the wide open spaces are across the street in Audobon Park. Son particularly like cook-outs on the levee.</p>
<p>Freshman year S didn't do a lot of organized extracurriculars. Intramural basketball, a couple of canoing excursions through the rec department. This year he is playing club sports which involve a couple of wekend trips to Houston and one up to Baton Rouge. He likes sports and Tulane has a nationally ranked - right now #1 in some polls baseball team. They regularly get 3,000+ fans to games played on campus. Basketball team has not been good and the football program suffers some because it plays off campus and everyone in LA is an LSU fan.</p>
<p>For those of you worried about how your son or daughter will fare socially in college I think you can probably stop worrying. They grow and change a lot in a short period of time when they are thrown in with 1500 other 18 year olds away from home (in most cases) for the first time. These are bright talented kids and for many of your kids it will be the very first time they are in amongst a large cohort of intellectual and academic peers. They will do fine and find more people like themselves than they ever would in most high schools.</p>
<p>Oh BTW on the Tulane versus GW question - Scot Cowen the president of Tulane is a GW alum. Got his graduate degrees (MBA PhD) there in business. Undergraduate he went to UConn I believe. Also Tulane's provost (chief academic officer) last job was Dean of Columbian College at GW.</p>
<p>i am choosing between tulane and gw as well! i am SO torn between the two. i am planning on majoring in biomedical engineering. tulane has a great program.. but i got a full tuition scholarship at gw, which is exceptionally appealing as you may imagine. (tulane offered the DSA award which is nice also)</p>
<p>patuxent- you wrote "On campus housing for upper classmen is by lottery with certain classes having preference for certain dorms or types of housing. Dorm space is fairly tight. All freshmen are guaranteed on campus housing." are you referring to tulane or gw? or both?</p>
<p>by the way, thanks so much for the comparisons between tulane and gw so far. they are really helpful! keep it coming.</p>
<p>I was referring to Tulane. GW I believe has a better supply of dormitory space. The newer dorms at GW are supposed to be very nice. Most of them were not built as dormitories but rather are converted hotels and apartment buildings. In fact one is an old Howard Johnson's across the street from the Watergate. One of the rooms in it was used by the Watergate burglars as an observation post headquarters during the breakin that eventually brought Nixon down.</p>
<p>A few of the dorms were around in my day including Mabel nelson Thurston Hall. It was a girls doem back then and I believe it was originally be a hotel. It was a bit of a zoo back then with six girl freshman suites. I don't think they have six person suites anymore but if you get a choice you might still try to avaoid Thurston unless you are really the social type. Most the other dorms have relatively spacious accommadations compared to dorms at other schools because they were not built as veal fattening pens:-)</p>
<p>All things being equal I would probably pick Tulane over GW but if GW is giving you full tuition things are equal. Either way you will get an improvement in the weather. DC isn't exactly the Riviera in January but it might seem like it after a Chicago winter.</p>
<p>Good luck whichever school you choose.</p>