<p>It is really amazing how often a bad roommate match makes for a bad college experience. I guess that isn’t really so amazing, what I mean is how much it affects the opinion the student has for every other aspect of the school, even though the reality is that with a good roommate situation they would like most of the other aspects they currently say they don’t. It just drags everything down, and that is such a shame. Glad to hear things are going better.</p>
<p>fallen – it is NOT just a roommate issue, it is a campus culture issue, the roommate just exacerbated it. Son found what many people find attractive about Tulane, the school spirit, stifling. In many ways it was not a good fit for him, but in other ways it was. The roommate issues just made the transition that much harder. Believe me, the things he dislikes about Tulane are the very things that we, as parents, knew going in might be a problem.</p>
<p>I was speaking in generalities lololu. Sorry, I should have made that clearer. And I could have also made your perfectly correct point, that not only can a bad roommate situation make neutral or even good things seem bad, but can make negative issues far worse.</p>
<p>I have just heard too many stories at a variety of schools to not conclude that a bad roommate (bad for the other person, not in an absolute sense) is one of the most negative things that can happen to make the college experience seem awful. So many times when a person changes roommates and it clicks, they discover they love the school. I see it over and over. That is what I was meaning. Doesn’t mean that is 100%. It is usually at least a little more complicated than that.</p>
<p>The question of academics – Michigan vs Tulane, is incredibly hard, unless you treat USN&R Survey as unshakeable truth.</p>
<p>Even if you accept this and say that Michigan is a half step to step ahead of Tulane (not a statement I would necessarily make), I think you have to then ask – which department at each school. how much better is one over the other. Also, what will the academic experience be – large classes at one, vs small classes at another. How does the student feel on the campus. Etc., etc., etc.</p>
<p>Let’s say a student visited Yale (I’ll concede that Yale has a better rep than either Tulane or Michigan), and absolutely hated it. My guess is that Yale would be knocked off the apply list (in effect, ‘choosing’ every school applied to over Yale).</p>
<p>You can, of course, judge by the ‘numbers’ in one survey and say that one school is better. Even in this case, it’s the first step of the process, with many intangibles.</p>
<p>Zephyr - As anyone that sees my posts from time to time (and time and another time, lol) knows, I 100% agree with you. What I really wanted to add was a concrete example of what you are saying.</p>
<p>My D was accepted to 2 Ivies and a couple of other higher ranked schools. She did not like the feel of either of the Ivies for different reasons. Did I think she was right in her reasons? Yes in one case, no (or at least most likely no) in the other, but of course that didn’t matter. One of the other highly ranked schools, WUSTL, she liked equally with Tulane, maybe even a bit more to be quite honest. But finances were hugely different between the two, completely swamping the infinitesimal difference she felt otherwise.</p>
<p>I have heard at least a couple dozen other anecdotes of students that turned down top 20 schools for Tulane, including Ivies and Stanford, and not always because of the merit money.</p>
<p>I’m a bit confused:</p>
<p>“Believe me, the things he dislikes about Tulane are the very things that we, as parents, knew going in might be a problem”</p>
<p>which is preceded by this statement:</p>
<p>“hates the smallness of the campus. I know everyone raves about how close the kids all are, how it is like an LAC with all the advantages of a research University, how good the administration is at keeping in contact with the students, but that is all the stuff my son dislikes.” </p>
<p>I’m guessing that earlier in this process you thought your son would be better-suited to a larger university? This is fascinating. I thought most parents are worried about their kids attending Tulane because it’s smack-dab in the middle of a city that doesn’t give a hoot about drinking laws.</p>
<p>On the other hand, I have a S at Tulane and I’m worried that he’s not getting out enough.</p>
<p>My husband teaches at a small LAC and my son grew up around the LAC ethos. Lots of interaction with faculty and students, students to dinner, going to student productions, weddings, etc., etc. Both of our boys decided early on that they did not want that kind of experience. They wanted to on their own in the big cruel world. Tulane had much to recommend it, including the city of New Orleans, but our one concern was the push that Tulane made about campus “togetherness”. </p>
<p>When we would do college visits every time some Admissions Director would say " You really get to know your professors! They will invite you to dinner!" my son would mutter under his breath “And their kids will hate you.” This did not just happen at Tulane. Both of my kids are very independent and want to figure out the world on thier own terms. It can be a good thing, but it can also be frustrating to watch them struggle.</p>
<p>P.S. I don’t worry a lot about my son drinking. He is the world’s biggest cheapskate and I knew that when he found out how much a beer costs that would quickly kill any urge to be a partier.</p>
<p>LOL I have never heard of anyone going out to dinner with profs or really interacting with them much outside of the academic setting here. I think that is a good thing! 
I would feel so weird interacting with profs outside “their domain.”</p>
<p>Michigan is not better than Tulane, nor is it the best public. Ever heard of UVA, UCLA, Cal, Georgia Tech, William and Mary, UNC (just a few off the top of my head)?</p>