I’m currently faced with a dilemma. Tulane is my top choice as of now, but as a California resident, I’m still waiting on other schools such as the UC’s, USC, and a few other private universities. I was admitted to the Honors Program at Tulane and subsequently invited to the Honors Weekend, which takes place in mid-March during two different weekends.
Now for the issue… since the Honors Weekend takes place during mid-March, I won’t know of my status for the rest of the schools that I’m waiting on before I have to RSVP for Tulane by February 15th. Tulane is definitely a top choice of mine, but my parents are skeptical that the Honors Weekend is worth spending a lot of money to fly out to NOLA for a school that could be a temporary first choice when I could easily just visit in April after I know of all of my decisions.
I’m worried that if I don’t go to the Tulane Honors Weekend, I’ll be missing out on a prime opportunity to see the campus, meet other Honors students, register for fall classes (included on the agenda) and explore New Orleans under the best conditions possible. Has anyone attended (or missed out) on the Tulane Honors Weekend and/or attended a Destination Tulane event, and if so, do you recommend or regret your decision to do so? Any insight would be truly appreciated.
We took our D to Tulane for Honors Weekend last March and it was a well organized, 100% worthwhile weekend. Our D met with professors, attended classes, toured the Honors dorm, and talked to both prospective and current Honors students. It made such a good impression that when my D got into other schools at the end of March (including the reach school that had been her initial favorite), she decided to commit to Tulane instead (of course Tulane’s merit helped). I will also mention that my D’s roommate is from SF and chose Tulane over the UC’s. Hope that helps!
@collegiate65 We are in the exact same boat as you in that we are having to travel all the way from CA for that honors weekend without knowing the results of the remaining decisions. You say that Tulane is your top choice, so in my mind that merits a trip no matter what and the honors weekends are the time to do it in my opinion. If you are comparing Tulane to the UC’s then I think that you need to do some soul searching as to what you really want. That’s like comparing apples to oranges. We didn’t even apply to the UC’s because they are overcrowded and underfunded. We did apply to other OOS publics and are considering those, but if you do the research you will find the CA publics are a mess, with the only upsides being price and that some are located on beaches. We do have some other privates that we are waiting on that are more selective than Tulane, but in my mind the odds of them coming back with an offer that is comparable in cost to Tulane is slim(like in your case I can tell you that USC is unlikely to give you the same price as Tulane if you do get in). I would just say that if you can afford Tulane then book that trip because it’s very likely one of the top overall values that you are going to have to choose from.
Same exact situation. I ultimately decided to take the trip with my daughter because I spoke to a friend who does regret not bringing her daughter for an honors weekend. She said they felt a lot of kids made friends and found roommates. That’s all I had to hear!
Honor’s weekend is nice. They usually let the kids pick their courses, so they feel very much a part of the school. The only drawback is that not all the kids that attend are committed to Tulane, so you will hear talk about comparisons or meet people who ultimately decide to go elsewhere. That’s the advantage of Orientation weekends that take place after the May 1 deadline. At least you know that these will be your classmates!
We went to honors weekend last year also - it was our first visit and my son couldn’t wipe the smile off of his face. He got to sit in on some classes and spent a lot of time with advisors picking out his classes for the fall. I don’t regret spending the time or money on the trip since he went there. He had other good options at the time, but something about the vibe at Tulane resonated with him in person.
Current sophomore here at Tulane in the Honors Program. I am from New Orleans, so attending Top Scholars weekend was a decision that carried no costs. Disregarding the cost aspect, it was certainly a worthwhile and informative event. It certainly influenced by decision to come here a lot. Before I attended, I was dead set on Boston College or Georgetown. The experience I had at TSW made me seriously consider Tulane and well in the end I wound up here. Two takeaways I got from TSW was that it really made me feel like Tulane wanted me to come and it was super cool to schedule classes (really fleshed out the college experience and made Tulane seem like a real fit). I don’t think you’d be at such a disadvantage not coming to TSW but if you can afford the trip I’d say its worth it. You’ll have a bunch of opportunities to get to know other Honors students (if you live in Wall) so don’t worry about that. Only thing I would add is that attending Orientation and TSW both was pretty useless.
Hope this helps you. Good luck with your decision!
@hydechris Were you accepted to both Tulane and Georgetown and if so, what made you choose Tulane over Georgetown? I’ve been interested in both schools so I’m very curious to hear.
I got waitlisted to Georgetown, probably could’ve pursued the waitlist but at that time Tulane had already offered a full-tuition scholarship. Really hard to turn down a free undergrad experience from a Top 50 school. That being said, Tulane was the school where I felt most comfortable. I think everyone has different reasons for coming here, but for me Tulane did the most to show that they were interested in me. In the end Georgetown is a great school though. Just curious what’s your major?
@hydechris I applied to Georgetown SFS with a Culture and Politics concentration (and was deferred), but for all my other schools I applied with an intended International Relations major.
DC is definitely the place to be for IR, but Tulane’s Poli Sci Department can hold its own. If you’re interested in something more interdisciplinary, check out Tulane’s Political Economy major. One of the few schools to offer it as a major and they consistently send students to the top graduate schools.
Just my two cents on Poli Sci / IR / Poli Econ here at Tulane.
When you go to TSW you can schedule classes before anyone else here at Tulane. So you will have first pick at classes without having to commit. If you don’t decide to come here, no harm. If you do, then you have a leg up on the rest of your incoming class.
