<p>Well, it has been awhile but I have said several times that most of the mid-older dorms at Tulane are just ugly, IMO. I don’t care at all for Monroe, Sharp, Phelps, Irby or Paterson as far as architectural style goes. Butler isn’t a gem either. They were built at a time when that was the direction of architecture, rather utilitarian and minimalist. The new dorms are much nicer, I think.</p>
<p>@FC wrote:</p>
<p>Not that it is so very important, but most people find Tulane to be architecturally very pleasing. Of course this is all a matter of taste, so there really isn’t a debate to be had. Someone only into modern architecture wouldn’t care for Tulane much, I suppose. But Hollywood must think there is something pleasing there, since they have used Tulane several times to represent the prototypical college campus. Along with the huge oak and magnolia trees as well as other types, I personally think it is one of the nicest campuses around.</p>
<p>–I haven’t much context to put this in, not having seen Tulane’s campus. D’s quite a fan of architecture, especially craftsman and gothic. Loved most of Colgate’s craftsman architecture (but not the ugly freshman dorm) and Boulder’s Tuscan craftsman. Loved Princeton’s gothic, altho there was no craftsman I can recall. Hasn’t really liked much else. Penn’s maybe. Oh, and definitely University of Dublin. Chalk it up to her particularity, maybe.</p>
<p>As far as the dorms, hard to know what to say. They are dorms. I know there has been an “amenity war” among schools, where much money has been spent upgrading various non-academic areas, dorms and food services most especially but also workout facilities and other aspects. I have mixed feelings about what is sometimes an over-focus by students and parents on this, but the reality is that these things along with many other non-academic factors do contribute to quality of life, and they will be spending 4 years living in this place. And paying for it. Tulane has spent a lot on dorms over the last decade or so. Freshman dorms are pretty old, with one exception (Wall). But after that there are many nice choices that I think match up well with almost any school Tulane’s size or larger. Maybe some of the really small LAC’s have posher dorms, I don’t know, but I don’t think so from what I have heard. I have seen some, like Middlebury’s, and they are not as nice as Tulane’s.</p>
<p>–D’s never been impressed by dorms, and neither have we. Okay, Princeton’s were nice. That’s about it. Again, I think she was speaking about their exteriors. She had nothing to say about the interior except that the double that she overnighted in was 60% bigger than her nursery BR at home. No editorial involved in that observation.</p>
<p>But, and I have said this many times, whatever she saw on Canal and Bourbon Streets shouldn’t even be in the thinking. They have nothing to do with life at Tulane and in New Orleans for these students, 99.5% of the time. I would feel safe in saying that after the first few weeks of being at Tulane most students don’t get back down there the rest of their time at Tulane except for maybe Mardi Gras or when friends come to visit and want to see it. It is a non-factor in the daily life of a Tulane student.</p>
<p>–I think, FC, that she was more perplexed about why adults, some of them older than her mother, were interested in that level of inebriation. If it keeps her away from Bourbon and in the library I’m all for it. Had she been in NYC instead of NOLA for St. Patrick’s Day she would have seen the same tourist overindulgence.</p>
<p>If your D is going to see Pitt, I will be interested in her reaction to the architecture there and especially to their Cathedral of Learning. It is very different from Tulane, other end of the spectrum, so perhaps it will be more to her taste. Also, being in the heart of Oakland, a very busy area of greater Pittsburgh, there might be more veggie options. I think unless you cook for yourself, it takes time to find good veggie options in NOLA. For a student that might be difficult. I have heard other vegetarian students say that the options near campus are limited, but when they got a dorm room with a kitchen or rented off campus and made their own meals, the local food choices are fantastic. There are lots of fresh veggie foods in Louisiana, it is just that the natives love to add meat and seafood to them, lol.</p>
<p>–those are really good points about vegetarian eating and important to keep in mind. She does a lot of her own cooking at home because I’ll be darned if I’m making two meals each night or foregoing meat, eggs, fish, seafood in my dinners. As for the school architecture, who knows whether she’ll like the Cathedral of Learning’s exterior when she sees it, but she’s already intrigued by its interior and the way certain floors are laid out to represent certain historical periods. Anything has to be better than next-door Carnegie Mellon’s diaper yellow brick. To be fair, she’s been pretty critical of most campuses’ architecture, and hates UMD’s Georgian sensibility–which many many people find lovely.</p>
<p>Thanks for the report. An interesting take on things.</p>
<p>–frankly, I thought most important of all the images was the report on the rapport she had with the quirky, septuagenarian Italian professor. The professor ended her riff on psycholinguistics (and what could be done for language education if neuroscience could teach us more precisely how languages are learned) by observing that D should have applied to Johns Hopkins and someplace else. I had to laugh. There’s a professor interested in undergraduates and what’s best for the individual student and her interests. That’s a professor you want to get close to, and D felt the same way. She’d “put up with” all the Tulane “hardships” 
for 2-3 professors like that one. </p>
<p>I don’t know about the Tulane campus itself, but ethnic restaurants in New Orleans have great veg options. Thai restaurants like SukhoThai and Banana Blossom have tasty selections with zucchini, mushroom, eggplant, tofu, squash, etc. Indian restaurants like Taj of India and Saffron have flavorful cauliflower and potato sides. Barcelona Tapas has delicious potato small plates. Vietnamese restaurants will also have plenty of veg options. Good luck! </p>
<p>With regard to the last comment about the professor, I think that is an outstanding example of what every professor should be like (well, maybe I don’t mean that quite so literally, but you know what I mean) and I think fairly representative of Tulane profs, who are very u/g oriented. I couldn’t swear they would all be quite as engaging, but quite a few are. FWIW.</p>
<p>@FC: that was my wife’s impression, too.</p>
<p>@Justmehere: thank you for that info about places to eat vegetarian that are not vegetarian restaurants.</p>
<p>@jkeil911 - How is this for timely? Just posted on the Tulane news page:</p>
<p><a href=“http://tulane.edu/news/newwave/032014_ssa.cfm”>http://tulane.edu/news/newwave/032014_ssa.cfm</a></p>
<p>And just for future reference in case she does decide on Tulane <a href=“http://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc=vegetarian&find_loc=New+Orleans%2C+LA&ns=1”>http://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc=vegetarian&find_loc=New+Orleans%2C+LA&ns=1</a></p>
<p>@dolphnlvr and FC: Youseguys are Tulane treasures! Thank you. I’ll show them to D when she gets home from the climbing gym.</p>
<p>To be more specific as requested-the top honors weekend was well organized. Everyone is nice and down to earth. We met plenty of bio medical engineering types which makes me think the student body is very bright. My D and I are both NOLA lovers and that factors in in a positive way to the Tulane experience. Everyone was nice and caring. The campus size medium-perfect for us. Everyone was happy and engaged. It is across from a beautiful park.The professors we met were passionate and approachable. The campus is nice -dorms could use a facelift but who wants a tuition hike? Not me! The combination of obvious academic excellence, approachable professors and NOLA culture makes Tulane perfect for us.</p>
<p>My husband will be taking my daughter to TWS next weekend. Her choices are down to UGA (hopefully in the Honors Program) and Tulane. The weekend sounds terrific, and I am hoping it will give her some clarity. We are cutting short a family Spring Break trip to Vail so she can get this trip in. I hope it will be worth it!</p>
<p>Question: Is this weekend for students who were invited to be in the Honor’s Program? Was everyone invited offered some type of merit scholarship? If these students are truly TU’s Top Scholars, then I am expecting the answer to both of these questions is yes. Can someone clarify? </p>
<p>Yes to both. All the people that get the top scholarship, the Presidential, are invited, and some percentage of the next level award, the Distinguished Scholar Award, are also invited into the Honors Program and thus to the TSW.</p>
<p>My daughter was invited to the Honors Program and received the Distinguished Scholar Award. Her initial letter of acceptance included an invite to the Top Scholars Weekend.</p>