<p>I can definitely identify with the poster’s son’s friend. The climate here is definitely either you go out and party hard, or you’re a nerd who stays in and studies. It’s hard to find a good middle ground sometimes, and that’s one of my biggest problems with the school. Not many people here are the kind that would like to stay in and chill, even if it’s something “cool” like beer pong in the dorm room. There’s also a lot of pressure to be accepted into the greek scene, more for girls than guys, but still. I know where this kid’s coming from, and it’s not an easy place.</p>
<p>Trackie - Please tell me that this tapers off as freshman year goes on!</p>
<p>I got more details from the mom and you can PM me if you want them. I don’t want to post as it may be too much identifying information for this particular person. But in general, there is indeed too much partying for this kid, and a little too much “showy” wealth which affects the partying…in other words…expensive and “out there” party accoutrements.</p>
<p>^^^ Just what a parent spending $50K/year wants to hear … “what I like about this school is that plenty of kids prefer to chill in their dorm rooms doing beer pong.” Puh-lease.</p>
<p>My daughter is low key plenty of nights. Ordering in food and watching a favorite movie or tv show with a group of girls. Cooking in the dorm kitchen. Or just hanging out with a bunch of people in the dorm lounge. During finals, the kids got serious for the most part and hunkered down. Of course on regular weekends, the kids love to go out to dinner which can be expensive. But the food at bruff is so bad and there are so many cool restaurants in new orleans that it’s hard to say no. I think that happens at most city schools from what I hear. Also, kids feel that everyone is either drinking or smoking pot at any every school - I challenge you to find one where it;s not going on. It’s just a matter of finding friends who want to do what you want to do. Also, I hear the RAT always plays the major sporting events and is a cheap on-campus place to hang out.</p>
<p>btw, that’s happening in Sharp, supposedly the big party dorm.</p>
<p>I can certainly understand his situation. My son lived in Patterson last year and witnessed quite a few ambulance scenes on weekends taking drunk kids out of Sharp dorm. </p>
<p>Too bad your son’s friend was not able to make friends with the same interests. My son is pretty close to what trackie10x describes as “middle ground”. I can tell you that they are definitely out there. Although they are not into parties that much, they watch movies/TV, play pool, video games/music together, and on weekends drink a bit in their dorm. They are all good students with ambitions for post-graduate education. Most of these kids are from upper middle class family but they don’t do stupid things to waste money. They go out on weekends (one of the kids has a car) and their idea of splurging is to get Crispy Creme and good fried chickens 
Yeah the wealth is definitely abound. One just needs to take a look of the kind of cars parents drove on the move-in day. However, I’m not sure if that’s any different from other private schools.</p>
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<p>This might explain why Tulane seems to be taking a much tougher stance towards excessive drinking, especially on campus. At least, that is the way it sounded at Orientation. It will be interesting to see how successful this has been. Clearly drinking is a part of college life pretty much everywhere. I think they are trying hard to get to a more balanced lifestyle, but these things take time.</p>
<p>Take a look at the roomate discussion on the Tulane 2014 facebook page. Pretty much every prospective freshman stated that they drink and smoke (most not cigarettes). It is pretty frightening.</p>
<p>LOL, mom222. You cannot take those things seriously. I looked at a couple of other schools much higher ranked than Tulane to see what they said and it was pretty much the same. Kids are just kids.</p>
<p>3bysmom - I think it tapers off as you begin to find the people with the same values as you. It’s just hard sometimes, especially freshman year when you’re trying to fit in with everyone around you.</p>
<p>I definitely agree with what RTR said about the showy wealth in the partying - it’s so hard to want to go out with people and have fun when they’re paying all the high-priced covers and cab fees with Daddy’s money and you just can’t do that. </p>
<p>I was one of those kids, and I think the son about to transfer that we’re talking about was too, that played sports in high school, was very popular within the high school, was smart and got great grades, and went out occasionally, but not the kind of money-spending going out that Tulane has. It might not be the right school for the kind of kids like us - but I was lucky enough to find a core group of friends that I do love, and I also kind of have to stay here cause of the financial aid.</p>
<p>I actually really disagree with trackie10x regarding the money situation…Sure there are a some kids who are paying with “daddy’s money” but to insinuate that this is a majority of the student body is a huge generalization. This is an expensive private school and wealth is not something you can avoid entirely, but the majority of people I know come from middle class families or lower and are certainly not throwing around money from their parents</p>
<p>I have not heard my son say that many people are “showy” with money. His roommate is from a very modest background and the other suitemates, even if they had a lot of $$, you wouldnt know it. Haven’t heard that this was a big issue at all with the student body. Some sorority girls were a little flashy, but it was a significant minority, IMO. My s does enjoy spending time with friends, but they dont go to frat parties (did a bit freshman yr but not this year) and I have been pleasantly surprised at the number of times I’ve called him and he was in the library or studying in the lounge on his floor. Sure there is partying (probably especially tonight–go Saints!) but there are other activities and events. When I was on campus in November, we went to the TU- G’Town basketball game. It was well attended! Too bad the football team is another story (though I did get to see my s on TV in the super dome when he and a few friends went to a game. Lets just say it was easy to spot them in the “crowd”, LOL</p>
<p>It’s too bad that Tulane continues to play their games in the Dome. Any small school the size of Tulane would have trouble filling a stadium that seats approximately 73,000 people. I think a more appropriate venue for Tulane would be Tad Gormely stadium in City park, which has a capacity of around 26,000 and is where UNO plays their home football games. I’m sure that there is a reason why Tulane doesn’t play there, but it is too bad. It is a gorgeous setting and would be a great place for tailgating, etc.</p>
<p>cmb,
The homecoming game/parents weekend was at the city park statium when we went in 2008. Agree, it was a smaller (outdoor) venue, and reasonably well attended. I am guessing that when the Superdome was built in the mid 70’s and the Saints stopped using Tulane’s facilities, they must have offered some deal to Tulane to use the dome, given that the Saints had used Tulane’s stadium for many many years. [Tulane</a> Stadium - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulane_Stadium]Tulane”>Tulane Stadium - Wikipedia) Sadly, I think the reason students don’t go to the games is that the team isn’t very good!! Older s had a similar issue with a not-very-good-division-I team and a HUGE stadium that was all too often pretty empty during games. And their stadium was on campus, so the students couldnt blame it on transportation issues-- just apathy :(</p>
<p>Tad Gormely was so awesome for that homecoming game! The athletic director did explain to USG last year though that the reason we don’t play there anymore is because the field isn’t very high quality and a lot of our players got injured on the mud :-/</p>