Thoughts after freshman year

Colleges and Universities A-Z Tulane University
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<p>So as the semester comes to a close, I figured it may be helpful if I recount some of my freshman year experiences at Tulane for those who might be considering it. It is also a good distraction from studying for exams. Here are some pros and cons that I have experienced personally. Feel free to add to this list:</p>

<p>Pros: </p>

<p>Academics: i really enjoyed the academic experience during my freshman year. Tulane definitely lives up to its reputation of small class sizes and accessible professors. Although I didnt seek out preofessors as often as I should have, I never ran into a problem with getting extra help. The majority of my classes were <50 students except Bio101. Although there were some definite exceptions, all my professors have been fantastic. (Just remember to use ratemyprof.com. It is extremely helpful and accurate!!) Also, my specific program (Public Health) has been great so far. i knew coming in that I wasnted to study Public Health and I will definitely continue with it. Its a really small program and there are many opportunities.</p>

<p>Advising: (This only applies to Public Health students because I have the Public health advisor.) My advisor is incredibly nice and always willing to help in whatever problems arise with my schedule.</p>

<p>City: I have heard this said multiple times and I completely agree: new Orleans is the best city in the country for college. I love the culture of the city and it is definitely true that there is ALWAYS something to do. Social life does not revolve around Greek life (in my opinion, although I have heard otherwise.) Downtown is just a streetcar ride away and when you get sick of going downtown there are things to do uptown. If you like the party scene there are frat parties every weekend (first semster) and there are countless bars which do not ID. However, my friends who do not like to drink have said that they do not feel isolated.</p>

<p>Music: There are so many opportunities to experience music in this city. I have seen national acts at the House of Blues at least ten times; I have also been to venues like Dragon's Den, Tipitinas, Howlin Wolf etc. In addition, there are several fantastic festivals like Voodoo (Kiss, Eminem, Janes Addiction, Flaming Lips), Jazzfest (Allman Bros, Van Morrison, Pearl Jam etc), Crawfest, and French Quarter Fest. You have to make an effort to find the best spots to catch local bands (ie Frenchman) but when you do it is well worth it. </p>

<p>People: Ive made more friends here than I have in my whole life. People for the most part are very down to earth (especially in Butler) and very social. I never go a day without having someone to hang out/go to Bruff/go to a concert with. Just make an effort and it wil be easy to find friends.</p>

<p>Campus: Very nice campus with lots of trees. Audobon park is across the street. Facilities are great for the most part</p>

<p>Cons:</p>

<p>Campus Food: You will hear this time and time again when you are a student here: Bruff is pretty bad. The quality of the food is not good and the workers are impolite for the most part. However, this is easily remedied by simply walking across Freret to the Loyola dining hall which is much better and you can eat there whenever you want. </p>

<p>People: I know I included this in pros too but I have some issues with the people here. I'm sure this applies to every school, but there are some students here who are snobby, entitled, and just plain annoying. Some seem to value partying over academics. However, these students are easily avoided, and there are just as many who are down-to-earth.</p>

<p>Random: Okay, I realize that Tulane is trying to recover financially from Katrina but the school will often nickle-and-dime you when they get the chance. Some examples: the sophomore meal plan which is required even for students living off campus (follow the debate here: Login</a> | Facebook;%5DLogin">http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=115271101834826&ref=ts);) replacement room keys cost $90 (after my roomate lost his he got a replacement off campus for $2.50!)<br>
Also, Tulane makes some strange investments (ie spending a million dollars on McAlister Way) and the housing situation seems to be getting worse (Login</a> | Facebook)</p>

<p>So all in all I have enjoyed my first year and Im glad I chose Tulane. In retrospect the Pros seem to definitely outweigh the cons.</p>

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<p>woops…i dont know if those links will work for everyone</p>

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<p>Great post! Thanks for your input. What do you have planned for the summer? Any Public Health Internships? What will you do with your degree? And how do you feel about the 5 year program for Public Health?</p>

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<p>The reason keys cost $90 if lost is because they redo the entire door lock for security purposed. Better to pay $90 than lose all of your stuff to whomever found the key. They don’t have room numbers on them but if someone knew an ra they could easily link the key code to your room.</p>

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<p>also with Tulane building an entirely brand new dorm right now I cant understand how you say they are not investing in housing ;)</p>

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<p>mcel123 - what a wonderful post. I appreciate you taking the time to write it, as a parent of an incoming freshman. It sounds like you had a really great first year. Our first visit to Tulane was last week and we just loved McAlister Way. I couldn’t image that not being there. It appears that this was a donation from a family for this particular purpose whose other beneficiaries include the NY Botanical Garden. Taken from this article [Tulane</a> University - Make Way for Green Space](<a href=“http://tulane.edu/news/newwave/032210_mcalister.cfm]Tulane”>http://tulane.edu/news/newwave/032210_mcalister.cfm) “Designed by a team of architects, the new promenade was the gift of Clement and Stephanie Benenson, both of whom received their undergraduate degrees from Tulane in 2004, and his family, who made the donation through the Vesper Foundation.” This was another interesting article i just read as well: [Tulane</a> University makes McAlister Place a pedestrian mall | - NOLA.com](<a href=“http://www.nola.com/education/index.ssf/2009/12/tulane_university_makes_mcalis.html]Tulane”>http://www.nola.com/education/index.ssf/2009/12/tulane_university_makes_mcalis.html) Looks like this family likes to donate money where it will help to beautify the space. I honestly don’t know if my D would have liked the campus nearly as well if it had been a street with cars instead. In particular, she really loved the chalk writing all over it. </p>

<p>I did have a question for you about Bruff. When we were there, I really was expecting the worst, based on what I’ve seen on CC. To my surprise, and maybe we just hit it on a good day, the food was actually much better than average - average campuses that is. Is the food repetitive or awful tasting and not fresh normally? The other parents and I were delighted with our meals - it was no downtown New Orleans, but it was really fine for college food. Believe it or not, we thought about going up for seconds. lol We had the salad bar, buffalo chicken wrap and mushroom paella. Were we just lucky?</p>

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<p>mcel123…great post…seems my d, a senior, could have written this and most of all, good luck on your exams!</p>

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<p>nj_mom, I hate to say this, but if you went during the prime visit times (like honors weekend/destination tulane) I’m almost 100% positive that they make bruff taste better than it actually is at other times. I’m pretty sure they do it on purpose and honestly it makes sense.</p>

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<p>ellie - well that would really stink if that was the case. we were there for one of the destination tulane weekends but there were soooo many dates to choose from. do you think they’d actually do that for all those dt dates? I was hoping everything we saw was the real deal and that they weren’t putting on a “show” for us… :(</p>

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<p>When I wandered through Bruff asking random students questions, one of them said, “Oh, it’s an admissions weekend? I was wondering why there was so much fruit out today.”</p>

<p>Maybe he was kidding, but it made me laugh.</p>

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<p>@Lollygal–I will be at home in RI for the summer. I applied for an unternship at the RI Department of health. But, seeing as we have the 2nd highest unemployment rate in the country, I dont think this will work out. Most likely I will end up at my old job at the grocery store!!
As for what i will do with the degree, I honestly do not know. Most likely something with infectious disease (epidemiology, maybe) but what specifically, Im not sure.
The 5 year program is really good because it allows you to save a year of tuition. The faculty Ive encountered so far have been great.</p>

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<p>The joke has and always will be that fruit surges in quality during march and april when parents visit. In reality it is because of the strawberries in Louisiana coming to ripen and the Ponch Strawberry festival. </p>

<p>Then again, EVERY school primps for parents.</p>

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<p>Great post! Thanks very much. One question for students tho. Why is the food better at Loyola? I have heard this several times and I don’t get it because it’s the same contractor. Nicer setting? Nicer staff? We ate at Bruff and thought it was OK but that was Honors weekend. In my day I remember the cafeteria as being repetitive and overall pretty mediocre. I guess some things don’t change! ;)</p>

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<p>The only thing in Bruff that my s has said is pretty uniformly gross is the pizza. Put unburned cheese on top of the burned cheese. You’d think they could learn to cook the pizza by now…</p>

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<p>So if a student has the Tulane meal plan, they can eat at Loyola instead?</p>

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<p>They had an arrangement this yuear, but TU students kinda inundated Loyola’s cafeteria, so the specifics of the arrangement will probably change next year.</p>

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<p>The Tulane presence at Loyola’s cafeteria is nothing new. Husband ate there instead of Bruff when he attended Tulane 30 years ago. On the other hand, my son attended Loyola last summer, and every day, he and his classmates walked over to Tulane’s student union to eat. Of course, they weren’t on a meal plan, just cash out of pocket.</p>