<p>Have a great time! Have all your restaurant choices lined up?</p>
<p>Maybe it is what idad said, that the students were nervous or whatever because it was the first one. In any case, it will be interesting to see if you find it the same, if you go to the panel.</p>
<p>Hope you both enjoy the trip and the school. That’s a pretty long ride for you.</p>
<p>Just an addition to all the food advice: while you are in New Orleans have a snoball! I understand Plum Street snoball stand is near Tulane, and there are others (Hansen’s for instance) you won’t regret it, this is NOT your average snocone!</p>
<p>On another Tulane thread I mentioned my d and I are traveling up and back in the same day on 4/20 for Destination Tulane. I’m wondering now if we should just forgo the student panel and spent time exploring the area instead…</p>
<p>My daughter and I are going down to Destination Tulane in Mid-April. We both know and love good food so I would appreciate any advice. I’ve been to New Orleans a dozen or so times and have hit the French Quarter spots but I think it would be more interesting to try some good spots nears Tulane, be they student friendly or Dad’s paying friendly.</p>
<p>This might be helpful for those exploring the area: [thehullabaloo.com</a> ‹Arcade A+ Awards](<a href=“Unavailable”>Unavailable)</p>
<p>Perhaps the good folks at the Tulane admissions office read this thread and have taken some steps to improve the panel.</p>
<p>If anyone goes to DT and the student panel has greatly improved, please let us know!</p>
<p>We attended DT today and I thought the panel was fine except there was only one male student. There was some diversity on the panel. Most of the discussion centered on academics with little to no discussion of greek life. It was a typical panel similar to what we have seen at other schools, certainly no worse. We also had the president of the university speak to us in first session and he was very engaging and set the tone for the rest of the morning. Apparently he does not speak at every session so we were lucky to hear him. I was sold and I think my S was. He is very difficult to read. I think the community service orientation will be great for him since he is very active in Habitat for Humanity and working with children at schools and camps. There seemed to be way more girls than boys today and people noticed that and asked about it.</p>
<p>When we visited the female to male ratio was about even, though some of the stats I have seen indicate about 55% of the student body is female. This is just fine from S2’s point of view. Good to hear about the discussion of academics at this panel. President Cowan is quite the speaker and seems to genuinely love his job.</p>
<p>Oh hey Mom222!
Just arrived home in NY from todays DT.</p>
<p>I was planning on skipping the tour and the panel since you guys didn’t seem to be a fan, and I’m happy I didn’t (tried to find a class. Got lost). My guide, Peter Gold, was super awesome. In a fraternity, double major, creative scholar, athletic, and was really sociable and open. I learned a lot more about Tulane life and the campus. </p>
<p>He was also the only guy on the panel today. And again he was informative, but my favorite member of the panel was the woman pursuing her masters at Tulane all the way on the right. Being from New York, the second she opened her mouth, I knew it. And I liked it. She definitely dominated the panel, but I felt she really knew what she was saying and doing. </p>
<p>I know someone upthread thought the panel wasn’t focused enough on academics. It’s probably because an unsubstantial amount of academic questions were brought up. Being that it’s a student panel, I think it’d be more productive to ask students about life on campus rather than focus on what they’re studying. If someone asked though, I doubt they’d skip the question.</p>
<p>As for the diversity. Yes, I was a bit worried, but it was expected. I swear I might have been the only Asian at DT today, and surely the only Asian male. But the campus is substantially White, and there is no skirting around that, and it’s logical that it’d have an influence on something like a student panel.</p>
<p>This has been a jumble of a post, but I gave the student panel a 4 on my comment card (because two girls, especially the African American girl, barely talked). While most of the panel was involved in Greek life and gave that slant of things, I think they were really good choices and they all sold the school very well.</p>
<p>leeduh–I did notice a tour of several Asians as we were leaving campus but not so many students already attending. Certainly not what we have at the University of WA which is about a third Asian. Diversity is a funny thing–where we live, we are clearly a minority and my S, who is Jewish, knows maybe one or two other Jewish students. Tulane, which has a substantial Jewish population, will be very different than anything he has ever experienced. I was most impressed with how friendly and open everyone was that we met today, both current students and those attending DT.</p>
<p>Hello Tulane Family!</p>
<p>I will be visiting Tulane University for Destination Tulane on Thursday, 15 April 2010. I just had a quick question. I know there will be opportunities to sit in on classes sometime in the afternoon, but a little confused as to how this happens. Are class schedules given when we arrive or do we have to sort this out before we arrive in New Orleans?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Schedule are available at lunch. My d went to a dance class and really liked it.</p>
<p>They might hand something out, but you are better advised to look ahead anyway and write the professor ahead of time. They might be giving an exam that day, so wouldn’t be very useful to sit in then. A really tough professor might make you take it. LOL, ok not true. But they really might be doing something that makes it not worthwhile to go that day. Or as Leeduh’s case showed, they could tell you if they were going to be out of town that day and a sub was in or class was cancelled. Besides, it gives you a chance to engage the prof a little, which makes it easier to introduce yourself before or after class.</p>
<p>Thanks Vitrac and fallenchemist!</p>
<p>I really appreciate your help, and I will definitely be looking through the class listings for that day. </p>
<p>P.S. I think Tulane University should endow a chair in honor of fallenchemst.</p>
<p>We actually got an email a couple of days before leaving home which had the entire Spring 2010 schedule of classes where professors had agreed to allow visitors. The classes where you need to contact them ahead of time are noted as well as some dates in certain classes that are not open for visitors. I just went through the list with a highlighter. Turns out we did not visit a class since we have S2 with us who is younger and I did not think he would tolerate sitting through an entire class/</p>
<p>Here is a link to the class visit list: <a href=“http://admission.tulane.edu/documents/Spring_2010_Class_Visit_List.pdf[/url]”>http://admission.tulane.edu/documents/Spring_2010_Class_Visit_List.pdf</a></p>
<p>I will just say that when my D went down for Honors weekend, there were classes she wanted to attend that were not on the list. She just e-mailed ahead, as I described, and the profs could not have been nicer. So you are not limited to the ones on the list, just be polite and ask the prof first.</p>
<p>When S and I attended DT a few years ago, it was the student panel which was the final “aha” moment for him–that Tulane WAS the place for him.</p>
<p>Our panel was outstanding but as I recall more focused on answering questions than any pre-programmed speeches. Maybe our group just asked excellent questions but we really felt the student panel gave us a true perspective on the experience, including academically. </p>
<p>I have given others advice since not to miss attending the panel if participating in Destination Tulane. It was the one thing that helped S make up his mind. Perhaps the structure of this piece of the weekend has changed, but I wouldn’t recommend skipping it…</p>
<p>Heading to DT week of April 19. This thread has been great. We’ll be doing three college visits in the next three weeks, including one that’s a waitlist school … son will have some choices to make. I’m trying not to influence him, although I did make etoufee tonight ;o)</p>
<p>tomorrow I’ll have to make NC barbecue to make up for it!</p>
<p>I just want to point out there about the whole addressing academics thing. Academic opportunities at Tulane are so diverse that I personally would find it irrelevant to speak about them in a big discussion panel. Each persons views and opinions depend on their major and I can assure you that for each to speak of them it would take forever. </p>
<p>That being said, as a parent (which it appears that most of you are) I think that you should focus on making sure that your children choose the right school for reasons other than academics. I don’t mean to trivialize how important academics are, but as a student in college, I can assure you that how good the academics and opportunities are won’t mean anything if the student isn’t a right fit for the college. I am not on GWA, so I don’t know for sure, but I think that DT is more to focus on the other (and honestly, more important) aspects in college. As a prospective student attending this session, I think its safe to assume that this means that Tulane’s academics are at a high enough standard. </p>
<p>I’m just saying this because I went through the decision process and was pressured into attending higher ranked schools for academics despite not feeling like I would fit in socially and with the atmosphere. I am glad I chose Tulane because I love it here which allows me to be happy and succeed in my academics… something I’m not sure would have happened at the other schools.</p>