<p>During last evening’s “chat with the admissions”, we were told over 40% of students at Tulane are involved in greek life. We are not happy to hear this high percentage. we were also told some general requirement classes can have over 100 students per class. This is a concern.</p>
<p>My d, a junior, rushed, pledged, dropped out and lived happily ever after–as did almost all of her friends. I wouldn’t let the Greek statistic dissuade you. I know she had some big classes ( I seem to recall Chem) but I also know she went to office hours, the tutoring center, etc.</p>
<p>There are few schools the size of Tulane that don’t have a few of the most popular/needed classes that are on the larger size. These are intro courses in subjects like Calculus, Biology, Chemistry, Psychology, and I am sure a few others. These are by far the exception compared to the vast majority of Tulane classes, which usually range from 5-30. Also, even these intro classes have breakout sections in many cases where a smaller group has time with the TA’s or professor to review material, go over problem sets, etc.</p>
<p>Honestly, except for the LAC schools, it would be rare to find a university that doesn’t have medium to large lectures for these core courses. 100-200 is actually medium sized compared to some of the state schools where lectures can be 500-800 students, and they use TV screens like at sporting events so the people in the back can see what is being written on the board, if they are not using a projector of some kind.</p>
<p>As far as the Greek life, that is the highest numbers I have heard, although it does seem Greek participation has been going up some lately. But I always heard it was 30-33%. In either case, as Vitrac says it definitely does not define social life at Tulane, especially since none of the sororities have live-in housing and the fraternities have limited space for this. But it sounds like you are wanting a more LAC type of setting for your son. What does he think about it? Have you been to visit?</p>
<p>A year ago I had a discussion with my Son regarding class sizes. He told me that the freshman intro or gen. req. classes will have around 50s while the state univ. where his friends go will have about 300 Plus. By the sophomore, most of his classes will have about 10 to 30 kids. So, no worries with large classes if you are into Engineering. </p>
<p>Regarding the Greek Life, my Son is not interested. The only group that he has joined is Christian Group on Campus.Overall, Tulane is fantastic school and you have to make the most out of it.</p>
<p>My DS went to some frat/sorority parties but did not rush nor did most of his friends. That percentage sounds high to me.</p>
<p>How many students in Freshmen level classes?
TulaneAndrewL: Hey! That definitely depends on the class. The intro level classes such as cell biology and chemistry can have up to around 180 students, but other classes such as a freshman english or foreign language can have 10-20. </p>
<p>what percent of the student body involved in greek life? what do students get involved in who don’t participate in greek life?
TulaneMatt: Hi Mary, roughly 40% of our students are involved in greek life. Students who don’t get involve within Greek life have an array of choices to do. Students are invited to go to many different programs that we offer on a weekly basis that TUCP puts on</p>
<p>Right, pretty much as we said. Tulane is not perfect (no school is) but neither large class sizes nor the inability to get into any class has been a complaint. A couple of large(ish) classes will hardly define his experience at Tulane, should he choose to attend there. Also, if I remember correctly, your son was invited into the Honors Program? If so, any honors class sections are definitely limited in size. I think no more than 20, and often they are about a dozen or so. But just to repeat, there are a lot of regular sections of classes that are about that size as well.</p>
<p>I can believe 35-40% Greek is accurate these days, although I think more likely closer to the 35% figure. I know schools where Greek life really defines and dominates the campus culture. Tulane is definitely not one of them.</p>
<p>Just for fun I took a look at the class schedule and picked out the classes that generally fall into the larger category: Gen Chem II had three sections of 160 seats, but none of these was quite full. Cell Bio was the next largest I found with 125 seats. These are for the current semester. My son has never had a class anywhere close to that large in the Business School though.</p>
<p>Back in the day, when I went to SUNY Binghamton, the into level classes like Psych 101 had close to 500 kids in them. The good news was that you could skip class or take a little nap in class without anyone noticing! If you wanted to really pay attention, you just sat up front. But, in retrospect, I don’t think that you get the same kind of teaching and learning experience as in medium and smaller classes. (Having classes with 80-100 kids felt small after that). By the time I was a senior, I had classes with 20-30 students. I guess that you can get used to anything, but now, as a parent who is paying for college, I want to get my money’s worth. Smaller classes are obviously better, but not every class has to have 10 kids in it.</p>
<p>Exactly, jozuko. For more discussion oriented classes, 10 can even be a bit small, since one would like to have varied points of view. But for straight lecture style classes at the more intro level, the number of students in a class is somewhat less meaningful anyway, other than the competition for the professor’s time. Although then the responsibility for one-on-one with students usually falls to the grad students anyway.</p>
<p>In any case, except for an LAC I doubt there are hardly any schools like Tulane that don’t have similar situations as far as there being a few large classes.</p>
<p>Even LACs have some big classes. The intro to Art History at my LAC was a big class in a lecture hall.</p>
<p>Well, there you go. What are you calling big, jym? Just out of curiosity. My largest class when I was at Tulane was probably Calc I, at about 100. Maybe Developmental Bio was a bit bigger than that, I am not sure, but it was about the same. I was in Honors Chem, so that was small, about 11 or 12 by the end of the semester. Started with 15 I think. Everything else was 10-40, mostly at the lower end of that range. I think the intro Econ was about 40.</p>
<p>Congrats to kids who have been accepted! My D is just finishing up her freshman year at Tulane and honestly, she couldn’t be happier. The academics are phenomenal - most classes have less than 30 kids and every one of her professors knows her. She did very well her first semester and was invited into the honors program and is taking the freshman honors seminar now - and loves it. She was lucky to get a $17K scholarship after admission since although she was a “B” student at a very competitive HS, she was recruited to play violin in the orchestra and also is a member of the “800” club: she got a perfect score on the SAT writing section.
Anyway, I haven’t posted in almost a year but I wanted to let accepted students and parents know what an incredibly positive experience my daughter is having. She lives in Wall Residential College, where there is a very tight nit, close camaraderie and support among the students. It is TOUGH in terms of the studying required - I think that was her biggest surprise. But she absolutely loves her classes, her profs, living in NOLA and the Tulane experience as a whole. She was accepted to every college she applied to, and she has said repeatedly she wouldn’t want to be anywhere else! Hope this is helpful to those of you still deciding!
Oh and BTW, my D is NOT a partier. In fact, I think she is less tempted now than ever. She went to two Mardi Gras parades and said it wasn’t her thing. She loves Tulane academics and is clearly more intellectually inspired and academically motivated than ever.</p>
<p>Thanks wpbmom! So great to hear she is doing so well. Glad she is enjoying the seminar, my D loved it also. How many in that class? I think there were 8-10 in my D’s.</p>
<p>Thanks for checking in wpbmom. We’re narrowing down the decision on Tulane–it’s definitely in first place but I want her to return to another school to eliminate any doubt. I’m hoping that she’ll apply to live in Wall or Patterson. I made an attempt to convince her to consider the all girl dorm (“walk in closets!”) but no go. </p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>My application status has changed to “Undergraduate Admissions (2013 Fall)”. Does anyone know if this means anything or could hint at a decision? Thanks!</p>
<p>@trojan13
Yea mine has changed to that too! No idea what I means! Anyone??</p>
<p>Fallenchemist, glad to see you are still out here educating people about the wonders of Tulane! Finally got a chance to ask how many kids are in her colloquiem and she said 9. She loves it. Had to read Jane Austen’s Persuasion over break though! Nyermom - good luck and hope your D loves it as much as mine!</p>
<p>Our D got in…big decision as the merit aid isn’t huge and she has merit aid offers from 3 public and 2 private universities. Tulane would be the most expensive.</p>
<p>At least she has the choices to make, right Chicken4egg? My take on college is that you have to look at it as a value proposition somewhat similar to buying a car. Virtually all of them will get you from A to B just fine, but no question some better than others. For the extra money you presumably get extra features, which in this case might translate into actually different offerings and/or a different environment. And just like some people fall “in love” with a car and are willing to pay more for that factor, some students really gravitate to a particular school. The analogy isn’t perfect, of course, but the principle holds. You have to balance the financial aspect with the value of the features offered, whether those features are just emotional/cosmetic or more substantive, or often both. It’s a tough call because it is so personal and subjective. I wish her and your family good fortune in reaching the best decision for all.</p>