Hi, so I’ve been admitted with a pretty large scholarship for “scholars” but since I was not admitted into a higher up level, I wasn’t invited to this top scholars weekend i keep hearing all about. Could someone explain to me the difference and the qualifications for this because it is confusing reading about it on the school’s website, which talk about applying for something freshman year, another thing you get invited into, different divisions’ scholars programs, etc. If someone is a top scholar (thus invited to the weekend), how is this beneficial to them and less so to someone else, such as myself, who wasn’t admitted into this program that i wasn’t even aware of. It’s very confusing! Thank you!
@TP2525 I think top scholars weekend is just Tulane’s admitted students day for students in their honors program. My guess is it is very similar to Destination Tulane, no special programs were offered during the weekend except the option of enrolling in fall classes which include honors courses. There is a scholars program that you can apply for once you get to Tulane but that was not part of the Top Scholars weekend and students invited to Top Scholars weekend are not automatically in the scholars program. The website for that program is here http://honors.tulane.edu/web/default.asp?id=Scholars.
That’s right, @jeb2015. The other big difference between TSW and Destination Tulane besides being able to register for classes is the overnight stay. Destination Tulane is a one day program. So there is also no lunch with the professors kind of event, or various talks. DT is an enhanced info session, a tour, and the chance to sit in on a couple of classes.
When we went to DT 2 years ago, there was a lunch with professors. They don’t do that anymore or did we get lucky? We went on a Saturday during spring break, so there were no classes to sit in for us.
Maybe it is inconsistent on that aspect. A couple of other DT attendees from the past told me they just had lunch in Bruff without mentioning any profs, so I assumed that wasn’t part of the agenda for DT. But apparently sometimes it is, or maybe it got added. The people I am talking about went to DT more than 2 years ago.
oh thanks for clarifying the difference between the two weekends/tours!
how many people are admitted into the honors program? it must be very competitive? and what is the difference between the honors program that people are in already and the one that you must apply to once at Tulane (the scholars program linked above)?
@TP2525
Somewhere between 10-15% of the incoming class is initially in the Honors Program. There is a significant difference in the Honors Program and Tulane Scholars (or Newcomb Scholars for that matter, which has differences from Tulane Scholars beyond being all female). At this point, I would say the Honors Program is an acknowledgment of outstanding high school performance and has the perks of earlier registration, honors dorm if you want it, and I think there are some lectures and activities geared towards these students. But frankly on a day to day basis there isn’t a great deal of difference between Tulane students that are in the program and those that aren’t. The Honors Program used to require a thesis but that was phased out in favor of the Tulane Scholars Program.
Tulane Scholars, on the other hand, is currently about 75 students per class who have excelled academically and are especially interested in what I would call a more classically academic experience. By that I mean they are interested in scholarly research, being mentored by a prof in their area of interest, attending professional meetings in their area of interest, and possibly applying for prestigious post-graduate awards like the Rhodes, etc.
These changes to the Honors Program and the creation of Tulane Scholars is very recent, and it is quite possible these things will continue to evolve.