US News docked Tulane from 44 to 73. That is a big drop but we are still tops in Louisiana.
Way to take the glass half full approach 
It’s the same school it was a week ago - so that part is good.
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My friends daughter just started there. I better not tell her… Lol
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I’m sure she knows. They have high student satisfaction, odd given it’s sort of dumpy. She’ll be fine. Yes, sorry alums - but it is. But people love the school. It was never that highly ranked anyway.
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Whatever it’s subjective ranking, Tulane has incredible institutional momentum right now. Research funding and production, fundraising and resources are at their highest-ever levels. The physical transformation of campus is well underway and impressive. Diversity on campus has increased significantly. Unfortunately, not enough of of its students have received a Pell grant which now, apparently, is a major determinant in the quality of education a college is providing.
I find it sad that so many on this site are taking satisfaction in gleefully bashing the institutions that were going about their business and, through no fault of their own, now have to respond to a fall in ranking caused by a new system. Truth be told, these colleges don’t believe in the rankings because they understand the flaws behind them. But they have to respond because there are people who just read the headlines and look at the rankings without understanding what goes, or does not go, into them.
So here is a recent summary of the good things going on at Tulane, not in response to rankings, but simply to celebrate them.
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Actually it’s pretty quantitatively based - but the criteria they use to calculate it are definitely subjective.
It’s the same school, as are all the other schools that moved up or down, it was last week (and last year) the only thing that’s changed is the MO of USNWR. Yes, the schools do care about the rankings because uninformed consumers care about them and that drives applications and eventually enrollment. But yes, also agree that the schools don’t always believe in the criteria used to calculate.
The new formula used seems to center heavily on “social mobility”. Pell Grant recipients, First Gen students, etc. Schools that accept a lot of full (or mostly full) pay and/or legacy got dinged pretty good. I’m not suggesting social mobility is a bad thing, however it’s defined!, but an an individual applicant level its pretty meaningless.
Ignoring the ranking comment but curious about the “sort of dumpy” statement. S23 is at Tulane now and we visited 12 different campuses spanning the gamut of rural/urban and public/private. Some of the buildings, particularly a couple of the dorms, are aged and run-down but they’re in the middle of a multi-year renewal that’s tearing down or updating many of these buildings. That was pretty consistent with what we found at 75% of the other campuses. Your “dumpy” comment was likely pretty accurate 5 years ago. Today much less so and in another 3-4 years completely inaccurate.
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We’re on the same page here. I have done deep dives into the criteria used for USNWR and other rankings and understand what “metrics” are included. I said subjective because they are based on the criteria the publication chooses to include or exclude in its ranking. And that choice, year over year, resulted in Tulane’s vastly different rankings.
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recipients, First Gen students, etc. Schools that accept a lot of full (or mostly full) pay and/or legacy got dinged pretty good. I’m not suggesting social mobility is a bad thing, however it’s defined!, but an an individual applicant level its pretty meaningless.
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And the Pell grant data they used for this year’s rankings was from 2013-2016. How that is considered acceptable is beyond me. I’m sure they know most people don’t look that closely at their methodology.
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In the past Tulane was gaming the rankings a bit by not charging for applications. This gave the appearance of being more selective than they were. Looking at the College Scorecard (put out by the Department of Education) two things surprise me for a selective private school. The median earnings ten years out is under 60K and the graduation rate is only 68%. I’m surprised they haven’t fallen further in the rankings.
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That’ fair - we were there in 2019. Football day. We visited LSU the previous day and my daughter and I loved it. Didn’t apply (Hillel director doubted the # of Jewish students Hillel said they have) but she loved LSU. Tulane -she loved the French Quarter - all the activity - but the dorms - one I remember thinking was like a Super 8. Had outdoor entrances to the room and she was taken aback, I believe in part because it’s such a wealthy school so she expected pristine. While she loved the city itself which in the French quarter isn’t the nicest but has so much character and other not so nice things - she wasn’t a fan of the campus. Interestingly, she loves her campus (Charleston) which I think is dumpy - I mean, her dorm should have been condemned and it’s being renovated now - but I suppose the cities have some similarity.
But you are right - I’m speaking four year ago. But again, the school has such high satisfaction from those who go and I have a friend’s daughter there who stayed for grad school she loved it so much. And from those few I know who have sent kids - nothing but fantastic experiences.
So I’m sure they do college right!!
I know the dorm you mean and that’s one of the ones that got leveled for replacement. In no way defending Tulane and there’s still a bit of work to be done of some of the facilities (the performing arts space could definitely use some work!) but lots of investment/work happening. If anything that in itself is a knock since everywhere you walk around campus there’s construction happening. Again though - not dissimilar to what we found at quite a few places.
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The selectivity calculation is what it is… if your position is that they get a lot more applicants because there is no application fee, it might be fair but we could debate for a while what a “lot” is. They also manipulate the calculated selectivity through accepting a good % of their student body through ED & EDII. Lots of schools do that though.
10 year earnings, the statistic is “The median annual earnings of individuals that received federal student aid and began college at this institution 10 years ago, regardless of their completion status.”. It’s pretty well known that Tulane targets full-pay (or close to full-pay) students so the sample size to get to the 10 year earnings number is necessarily small. This is one of the same issues that they have with the current USNWR ranking (Pell/Aid recipients).
This is partly why rankings are meaningless. The consumer (parent/student) need to look at outcomes within the specific program across the college’s they’ve been accepted to.
Not suggesting the 68% is wrong but Niche shows 86% graduation rate. A quick google and I see both numbers referred to on various sites - so who knows. 
Acceptance rate has not been a considered factor in any of the major rankings for some time now. And Tulane would argue that not charging to apply is about accessibility.
I haven’t had an opportunity to dig into the detail behind the College Scorecard data so cannot comment on it.
I submit that US News intentionally changed its formula to appease the large public universities and sell more subscriptions. This change had nothing due with social mobility or any other related jargon. I appreciate that US News is a business and has the right to change its strategy, but what the publication did to Tulane and Wake (among others) is an absolute travesty.
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Colleges are the ultimate business. There have been a plethora of articles describing the amenities arm race to attract wealthy students. If you spend 200k more to send your kid to a private school vs. a flagship public you expect some return on your investment. You get this return at the Ivies and a few privates (Duke, Stanford). If you have plenty of money and want your kid to be with other wealthy kids than Tulane, Wake, Pepperdine or Colorado College is your prerogative. Given the choice would you take UNC, Illinois, Michigan, Texas or UVA plus a 200k seed fund or a 40-100 private school?
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Unless you are in state for one of these public schools, you likely aren’t getting in anyway.
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That is, if USN manages, or cares, to input the correct information: Does Anomalous Standardized Scoring Information Indicate a Significant Lack of Diligence by U.S. News? - #39 by soncollege2024.
Ancient alumna here with kids now in the hunt…here’s my take:
I went there when Tulane was far less selective and competitive. I always remember it having a so-so ranking.
Did I get an excellent education there? Yes.
Did I have an unforgettable college experience? Yes.
Has everything about it served me well? Yes.
Could I have had the same experience anywhere else? No.
Could I have had a different college experience elsewhere that was impactful in its own way? Of course.
Was Tulane worth the cost? Yes, though my family didn’t pay full freight - at a time when there were far fewer of folks like me there. It was still a stretch for my family to send me there.
All of that said, the gender imbalance is stark on campus now - as written about in that NY Times article. This problem seems to be everywhere, though maybe more egregious at Tulane. I’m really happy I’m Generation X. We had a blast.
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Well, I think that statement goes for just about anything - but agree that it just layers in another reason to be skeptical that the rankings have any usable meaning.
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