<p>My son is a freshman and has asked if he could transfer to another school. I am heartbroken he wants to leave Tulane. He says he wants to attend a larger school with D1 sports. Ugh - I am so frustrated!!</p>
<p>Ouch. But fit is such a big factor, and if he really wants to not only go through these next 3 years, but the rest of his life as an alum having a team that will always be in the spotlight (or at least having a good chance of doing so), it is obviously something important to him. Neither of my kids cared about that at all, so I can’t say I know exactly how that feels, but I can imagine your frustration. It seems trivial to us, or if not trivial then certainly lower on the priority list. But given the number of people this seems to be really important to, it is hard to just dismiss it out of hand.</p>
<p>I wish you and him the best of luck. Who knows, maybe he will change his mind yet.</p>
<p>my neighbor left Tulane for the same reason… in the 60’s… she transferred to LSU… she has nothing but praise for Tulane… She met her husband at LSU… they both wear their purple and gold to our house when LSU is playing on TV</p>
<p>This makes me nervous.
We are arguing with my daughter about this sports thing!</p>
<p>She just recevied the DHS award and also found out that she got into the honors program at Michigan (but no scholarship money),</p>
<p>She wants to go to Michigan becuase of the sports and I am having a very hard time trying to understand this when there is significant money involved.</p>
<p>Our house is very tense at the moment!</p>
<p>But after reading your post I am worried…</p>
<p>Just my opinion, but sports should never trump that kind of money. She could attend a few Saints games for that kind of difference. You know, while the Tulane teams might not be the most competitive, it isn’t like there still aren’t great pre-game (and post-game) parties.</p>
<p>I guess this all makes me wonder why they applied to Tulane in the first place. If they already knew sports took that kind of priority in their lives, then why not just focus on schools with top level sports programs?</p>
<p>totally agree with FC…and I just deleted the rest of my comment because my distress at some of this thread was coming off as rude…</p>
<p>i totally agree with FC. sports should never trump money… in my neighbors case it was just the opposite… the sports school was cheaper</p>
<p>Not to sound 2 bitter but here is another example of someone getting the DHS and not sure if they are going to attend Tulane. I have spent all day long trying to figure out how to come up with another $10,000 so I can go to Tulane. Any ideas would be great…and no I wont sell my kidney…seriously any suggestions would be appreciated.</p>
<p>33dmjjm,
Such is the nature of the beast and we are still early in the decision cycle. My DD never thought about Tulane until the free application showed up and because of the lure of the scholarship. She got the presidential scholarship but didn’t get the DHS. But it doesn’t matter either because she got accepted into ChemEng at UT the day before the DHS announcement and she decided UT is where she is going. But who knows what’s next especially when March 30 comes and the flood gate is open.</p>
<p>I totally agree with FC, Rodney and Smile. It would be an added bonus to attend a school with top sports programs, but it would never be my deciding factor. If I had ever told my parents that my top priority was the sports program, I think I would have been on my own in the whole college process (that would be after my parents laughter subsided). Do I go to all the football games? Absolutely not. Would I go if our team was competitive? Without a doubt. I never missed a football game while I was in high school. </p>
<p>In my opinion, to give up the DHS and all that Tulane (and NOLA) has to offer merely for the opportunity to watch a few games is ludicrous.</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s all about sports in these cases. I happen to think that Michigan is an excellent school and I am not surprised at all by her decision. I don’t know about the cost difference but Michigan can’t be too expensive compared to Tulane even with scholarship. And if you are in state, the difference is probably negligible. There is an agonizing decision process going through their brains and I tend to give them the benefit of the doubt. Just my 5 cents!</p>
<p>Are you paying?</p>
<p>If you’re paying, just say, “You’re going to Tulane or we are not paying.”</p>
<p>If you’re not paying, I suppose you’ll have to let your child make up their own mind. However, I can pretty well promise you that picking a school by its sports is a one way road to disappointment. She’ll mature in two years and realize sports are about 1-5% of what serious college life really is. (Kids grow up quite a bit those first two years of college.)</p>
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<p>I guess it depends on your definitions of “too expensive” and “negligible”. Going by what’s posted on their websites the cost for tuition, fees, room and board during the regular two semesters (2010-2011) for Tulane and Michigan under the circumstances discussed here are as follows (morgsmom is OOS as per another thread posting she did, but I will include both anyway:</p>
<p>Tulane without tuition: $13,306 = $53,224 for 4 years
Michigan in-state: $21,029 first 2 years, $22,535 afterward = $87,128 for 4 years
Michigan OOS: $45,193 first 2 years, $47,721 afterward = $185,828 for 4 years</p>
<p>Details: 1) I left out books/supplies, personal spending and transportation under the assumption they will be similar for both schools. If they are within driving distance for Michigan or Tulane then transportation would be less for that school. 2) I realize costs will go up every year at both schools, but I can only use the static numbers for the calculation. Most likely the costs will increase at a similar rate, and for Tulane tuition increases are irrelevant. Also I think, given the current economic situation in Michigan, it is fair to say it might increase at a faster pace than Tulane. Even if not, the $ will increase more at Michigan for this student since the increase to both tuition and room/board would apply, while at Tulane it will only be the increase in room/board that affects her.</p>
<p>So at Michigan she is looking at a $132,604 difference over 4 years and most likely more. Personally I call that too expensive. Even if she was in-state, the difference would be $33,904 which I personally do not call negligible. That’s a very nice car, or a decent down payment on a starter home!</p>
<p>Those are the numbers, anyway. I guess the assessment of those numbers depends on each family.</p>
<p>Minor trivial point. Tulane HAS D-1 sports. The football team is, unfortunately, not very good, and the school team spirit is lackluster at best. The baseball team is good, and there is a nice stadium. I believe the girls… was it basketball or volleyball fc, that is/was very good. Both my s’s attend/attended schools with not-so-good D-1 sports teams. Neither cared. Younger s wishes Tulane had more team spirit, but is currently isnt to be. Add to that the fact that many alums do not live in the area, and the games are not well attended by current students or alum. Last year he went to a televised game and I saw him on TV! Wasnt hard to pick him out in the crowd of 8-10 students (his group of friends who went) LOL</p>
<p>didn’t mean to offend anyone</p>
<p>by sports I don’t mean just attending football games - i mean school spirit, shis the kind of kid who wants to paint her face etc…
she spoke to a student who is at Tulane from our town and he told her sports are not a big deal there. she doesn’t care about winning teams just the spirit thing…</p>
<p>another factor she is considering is the fact that she wants to study Classics and Mich has a very strong dept.</p>
<p>we have talked to her about students loans and the implication of bearing that burden</p>
<p>Don’t think anyone is offended, morgsmom. The reality is, sports isnt currently a big part of the Tulane life. FWIW, I went to an undergrad where sports was virtually nonexistent and to a grad school where it was THE focus of college life. Yes, going to games was a lot of fun, but I much MUCH preferred the smaller school/smaller classes option for undergrad. Good luck with the decision</p>
<p>Just to add, I also don’t think anyone was offended. Shocked maybe, but not offended. LOL, kidding, this isn’t terribly unusual, and we are just trying to help by pointing out some of the factors involved. Actually, I think Tulane has an amazing amount of school spirit. At least, that is what most of the kids that are there now say. It is just a more subtle form of it, and doesn’t revolve around sports. But one of the comments that comes back a lot from visiting students is how much Tulane apparel they see the students wearing. Apparently that is not the case at a number of other schools.</p>
<p>Personally, I would just hate to see anyone take on that kind of debt, or even spend that kind of money over the idea of “school spirit” at Michigan vs. Tulane. But that’s just me. I have no way of knowing what kind of value this holds for your D. I certainly know people that would gladly spend $200,000 to send their kids to Notre Dame instead of a free ride anywhere else, but they are alums. And we all know what Notre Dame alums are like. My point being that different people value different things differently.</p>
<p>Anyway, back to the main point, I just feel pretty confident that in the actual day-to-day of college life, she would find a lot about Tulane to enjoy more than she would at Michigan, and there would be things at Michigan she would like more than Tulane no doubt, the sports vibe being one of them. But as someone said, the sports thing permeates maybe 10% of an average student’s life, and then there is everything else. We just don’t know your D, so we cannot say how much she would like New Orleans over Ann Arbor (if at all) or any of the other factors. There are people that will tell you that a $132,600 difference makes it a no-brainer, and if you are talking about loans to make that happen then it would be for me. But I am not her or you. All we can do is try to point out what is mostly obvious and maybe one or two things you/she hadn’t thought about or couldn’t know, and then it is a family decision for you and yours. Best of luck!</p>
<p>You know, in thinking about this more, school spirit is a lot what you make it. I have seen numerous pictures of Tulane kids that paint themselves, and there are those that go to the games even though the teams are not very good right now (of course neither are Michigan’s!). And the tailgate parties are supposed to be awesome. I would never remotely suggest Tulane will compare to Michigan in this regard overall, but I also think it will be very easy to find the sports enthusiasts at Tulane and hang with them for the games. While it may not replace having 100,000 in a freezing stadium, it can be a very good time. Again, for the money difference she can get into the Saints fever and channel her energies there as well. It would be a similar experience. Just my 10 cents worth on that.</p>
<p>I have a feeling that Morgsmom’s daughter is probably very smart and knows a little about what she is doing. We parents are the team members of this college application team but they are the captains and they need to live the decision the rest of their life.
If we can’t make the numbers work, we explain to them, they’ll understand. I know people from OOS who spent a year at UT as OOS student and then applied to become instate without problem. And who knows, she is probably waiting for hear from 10 other schools. LOL.</p>
<p>FWIW, I was in NOLA a year or so ago for a conference with a friend whose son is applying to TU this year. We went, with my Ds to a big basketball game (apologies- I forget who they played, but it was a big game). The gym was PACKED!!! The pep band was there, cheerleaders, etc! Great turnout of Tulane students, faculty and Pres Cowen. I would liek to see them build a new gym/basketball arena. Not just practice facilties. The current one has some age on it…</p>