I was wondering if the campus is dead on the weekends, because of all the wonderful distractions in the local area that pull the students away. Also, how far are th greek houses from the campus? Walking distance? Thanks
Greek houses are small at Tulane, so if you are picturing the huge houses like a lot of state schools have, erase that picture. They are just regular houses (probably 3 bedroom or so when they were first built) very close to campus that Greek organizations bought as they became available. I think they are all within 1-2 blocks. The frats have some live-in people, the sororities do not as far as I know, except maybe for an officer or two or three.
The campus is definitely not dead on the weekends at all. A lot of the kids sleep in until lunch or a late breakfast, as you might imagine, but the campus has club sports on the quads, rehearsals for concerts/plays, people using the recreation center or just getting a tan, etc. Tulane sponsors a number of things as well, such as movies, comedians, music, etc. Of course quite a few do things off campus as well, and that varies all over the place. Yes, there is a lot to do, but students aren’t going to head off campus every weekend, and so it kind of naturally spreads itself out. 15-25% or so head off one weekend, the next a different set, etc. Some go all the time, but mostly it is a lot like you or me, probably. We get out some weekends and others we don’t.
When they do, the activities are quite varied. Picnics and general fun at The Fly on the other side of Audubon Park along the river, shopping along Magazine Street or using the shuttle to get to the mall, festivals of all sorts pretty much every weekend somewhere in the area, and many just explore the richness of NOLA. Not really surprisingly, the number of students that go to the French Quarter, or more specifically I should say Bourbon Street, is pretty small. Once you have gone a time or two, there is little reason to go again unless you have visitors in town that want to see it.
just to add to this, students don’t see campus and new orleans as separate things, we see them as the same thing. so the idea of “heading into new orleans on the weekends” doesn’t really fit. 
the campus very much feels a part of the city with all of the great things to do within walking distance.
Well said, @ExceptionalSea. That was true to some extent when I was there in the 70’s, but I think it is definitely more so today. Many areas are better developed, such as Magazine Street and now the Freret corridor has sprouted. Oak and Maple are pretty much the same in character, even if some of the stores/restaurants have changed.