Tulane Campus Size- Big Enough?

<p>I am wondering what current students and alumni have to say about the size of the Tulane campus. I have yet to physically visit the campus but looking on google maps it looks to be fairly small, maybe three times bigger (or longer) than my 2000 student high school. Does anyone ever feel limited by the campus size or is still big enough for you and just a matter of personal opinion? I will be visiting during spring break the first week of April and will be able to give my own opinion.</p>

<p>I am sure it is a matter of personal opinion, naturally, but I would be a bit shocked if it was only 3 times bigger than your high school. Do you know how many acres your high school and facilities rest on?</p>

<p>In any case, I liked that the campus was not overly huge. I have been on many campuses where you have to take buses to get to your next class on time, if you are lucky. Also, I would point out that Audubon Park is right across the street, so while there are nice quads and other green space on campus (4 pretty major ones if I am counting right: Newcomb, LBC, Gibson and Zimple) having the park there is an amazing extra resource. And there is the Fly, an area at the other end of the park that is right on the Mississippi (on a levee) where a lot of people hang out.</p>

<p>It’s a beautiful campus and I think in all the years I have been involved in this kind of thing, I have only heard one person think that the campus was smaller than they liked. Having said that, there is no question that without the ability to buy land that surrounds the campus (which is virtually impossible in any sizable and logical manner) the campus is “landlocked”.</p>

<p>@schoolmaster…visit and walk the school…and I think you will agree that it feels just right… Not claustophobic.</p>

<p>The academic core of the campus is a pretty typical size. Just about any college campus is going to be limited by the distance a person can walk in 10 minutes going from class A to class B. I think the main quads are very pretty with lots of green. The difference shows up in a few other ways. </p>

<p>Dorms are located close to the academic core; at other schools you will find some dorms much further away or maybe on a satelite location. There’s not much real estate for big parking lots or swaths of athletic facilities as is the case with many urban campuses. The new football stadium is being shoehorned into a very limited space for example. You don’t see dozens and dozens of tennis courts on campus. My kid really likes the rec facilities at TU, though, and the adjacent park provides a lot of green space. </p>

<p>Without the big athletic complex and parking lots and satelite dorms, the upside of TU’s footprint is that the campus is very integrated with the surrounding neighborhood. The campus is not set back from the neighborhood behind a fence and acres of lawn. It is an urban campus, although the neighborhood is mostly low rise single family houses not apartment or office towers. My kid can navigate her life easily by foot, bike, bus and cab. Not much need for a car.</p>

<p>Last, there’s another college campus located about 20 feet from the border of TU’s campus. My kid often goes over to Loyola to eat or study or hang out.</p>

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I can’t believe you forgot the streetcar!!!</p>

<p>I love the streetcar, which is a very cool Tulane thing. But my kid doesn’t ride it much because of the constant track work during this school year. At first, it wasn’t running out to Carrollton. Now it doesn’t run all the way downtown. Streetcar + bus is not great unless your are a sightsee-er/tourist. Maybe next year it will be fully back in action.</p>

<p>Yeah, the maintenance work has been a pain. Last time I was in NOLA it was not running from about Louisiana or one of those major cross-streets in that area through downtown. Had to do the bus transfer, as you say. I likewise hope they finish it up as quickly as they can.</p>

<p>To add: There is quite a lot of space in the area that the student use/access. </p>

<p>Audubon Park across the street is a very big park with a Golf Course and Zoo.</p>

<p>In the afternoon lots of students were down shopping on Magazine street, easy walk/bike from campus through a great neighborhood.</p>

<p>Also,many students live and hang out in the neighborhoods surrending the school, so these neighborhoods feel like part of the school. These neighborhoods naturally flow into all parts of the campus.</p>

<p>In general, on campus is seems like they could hold twice the student body size than what they have, Walkways etcs… do not seem that crowded, but may be a lot of staggered class times that give it this feel.</p>