<p>what is the opinion of Tulane University across the USA? If you have never been there then what is your perception of the school and why.</p>
<p>Hi,</p>
<p>I hope you get some information. I just looked up Tulane yesterday on the College Board site and was stunned that the tuition, board and fees are about $60K per year. I knew Tulane was private and expensive but that is ridiculous. Harvard, by comparison, costs $38K for tuition and another $12K for room and board. Of course, if you get into an Ivy and you are in the middle class you will pay far less. </p>
<p>Tulane’s AVG FA package, according to the CB, is $34K and they meet 92% of demonstrated need. $60k-$$34K is $26K net. </p>
<p>That’s a lot of money in the days of great FA if you can get it. </p>
<p>Tulane has about 7,800 undergrads and another 4,800 grad students. That is a great size. Not to huge but not to tiny. My sister lives in New Orleans and, as you know, the city and region simply aren’t the same anymore after Katrina. You might think all cities are dangerous but there are degrees there. Some are Juarez, Mexico dangerous and some are Orlando, FL dangerous. </p>
<p>Literally 15 people a day get murdered in Juarez. None of the crimes are investigated. No one cares. The justice system is a joke. In Orlando, a big city, murder is rare. So not all big cities are the same crime wise and I would suggest New Orleans is on the bad side of that scale. </p>
<p>So, frankly, I don’t get it about Tulane. I think it is a school that is more reputation than reality although for medical programs it might be worth it.</p>
<p>I think it’s fairly pointless to contrast Tulane with Harvard. Tulane’s acceptance rate is a highly selective 26%; Harvard’s is a stratospherically selective 7%. Top students can feel they have a reasonable chance of acceptance at Tulane; the same students have a lottery ticket at Harvard. Tulane has a generous merit aid program for outstanding students, and a strong finaid program for students with need; Harvard has a generous need-based aid program. </p>
<p>For many students - those whose parents are in the full-tuition donut hole, those who want an education at a highly-respected school away from the Frozen North in an urban center with great athletics and opportunities - it makes a whole lot more sense to send an application to Tulane than to Harvard.</p>
<p>You should look at the Tulane forum, if you haven’t already. fallen chemist is the resident expert there.</p>
<p>As the parent of a Tulane student that just nearly had a heart attack at the thought that the cost had risen to over $60000.00 I am happy to report that the college board is incorrect. They included room board and fees in their tuition number then listed them again separately.</p>
<p>Cost of attendance is listed here [Cost</a> of Attendance](<a href=“http://financialaid.tulane.edu/idxcoa1011.htm]Cost”>http://financialaid.tulane.edu/idxcoa1011.htm) as $53860. for freshmen. </p>
<p>Bad enough.</p>
<p>Tulane is very generous with merit scholarships for many students.</p>
<p>Thanks for the update with accurate figures, Septmbr! $60K for tuition certainly didn’t sound correct. Hope someone lets collegeboard know about the error - their site had the wrong numbers as well.</p>
<p>Tulane is in a category of “serious, legitimate private university that is a regional leader and attracts a national student body”. That group of universities – including places like, say, Washington University in St. Louis, Duke, Vanderbilt, Emory, Northwestern, USC – has seen a tremendous upswing in prestige and student quality over the past generation, as the traditional top-tier (Ivies, Stanford, MIT) had to start turning away perfectly qualified students, and the regional universities upgraded their faculties and facilities (and marketing).</p>
<p>Tulane is very much in a category of its own, though, because it had a near-death experience with Hurricane Katrina – the physical and economic damage was so bad that for a while it was an open question whether the university would survive, and it only did thanks to what were effectively contributions from dozens of other institutions that took Tulane students but let Tulane keep their money. So it’s not quite as spiffy or as high-prestige as they other places I mentioned, but it works very hard to attract quality applicants from all over the country and to get some of them to attend, including extensive use of merit scholarships (otherwise known as “discounts”).</p>
<p>New Orleans is more fun than any college student ought to be exposed to, which is both a challenge and an attraction for Tulane. Post-Katrina, it also faces crime and depopulation challenges, yes. Tulane is in one of the ritzier (and quieter) areas of the city, fairly well insulated from stuff like regular street crime. But New Orleans isn’t that big, and all the fun and danger a kid could want is a short trolley ride away. Tulane is NOT the place to send a recovering addict.</p>
<p>We visited Tulane for my son 6 weeks prior to Katrina. We were impressed with the school of engineering, their hands on approach and the spirit of the school. My son would have like it very much, but they dropped civil engineering after Katrina. </p>
<p>They offer lots of scholarships and provide a quality education. Tulane is definitely worth considering for many students.</p>
<p>JHS has many good points.
I agree with everything, although I have never been to NOLA.</p>
<p>One of my Ds friends is in med school @ Tulane, it was her first choice & she loves it.
They also offer quire desirable scholarships that are successful in enticing students from other schools- as they realize that the area still has a long way to go.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, before Katrina, another one of D’s high school classmates had a fatal accident as a freshman during Mardi Gras ( nothing to do with the school)</p>
<p>Also before Katrina, a story one of H’s friends tells ( he was a linebacker in college @ Tulane). This wasn’t even during Mardi Gras. He & his friends who were * big* strong guys, were heading down to certain section of town- they were not used to ever being afraid of anything.
However, a local sitting out on his front porch, looking out for foolish college freshmen , convinced them to turn back the way they came. They never did venture into that area again.</p>
<p>An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
:)</p>
<p>laughwithme - Tulane offers a really unique educational experience. I won’t even attempt to describe how or why it’s different. I’d suggest you start with this thread in the Tulane Forum: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/tulane-university/687971-101-reasons-attend-tulane-university.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/tulane-university/687971-101-reasons-attend-tulane-university.html</a></p>
<p>Our D had some of the same concerns about Tulane’s reputation. She contacted members of the Tulane Alumni Association around the country (Seattle, San Francisco Bay Area, Boston, NYC, and Washington DC). She was reassured to hear that Tulane graduates were well-respected in those areas. None of the individuals she spoke with had any regret about attending Tulane.</p>
<p>Good luck with your decision.</p>
<p>As a New Orleanean, Tulane has an amazing reputation. Great business program. Beautiful campus. If I wasn’t a music business major, I’d go there (if I could afford it…)</p>
<p>I called collegeboard, they checked with Tulane to make sure I was right (of course) and the error has been fixed. It now reflects the correct tuition, about $9,000 lower than what it said before.</p>