Hello,
I find myself with only a few days to decide whether to go to Tulane or Colby. I visited and like both. I loved NOLA and I’m a huge fan of warm weather and I am fairly certain I’ll prefer the lifestyle there to that of Colby’s. However, I’ve lived in NYC my whole life and have spent time in New England, so I’m very acquainted with cold weather. Maine was very beautiful and scenic. I like the idea of a big university with lots of internship opportunities, tons of new people and tons of stuff to do, and being in one of the most fascinating cities in the country is amazing. Colby had a beautiful campus, but I have reservations about the surrounding area (Waterville) and the student body only having 500 people per year. Granted, there are pros and cons to being a small liberal arts college, but I wouldn’t want to find myself in a position where I’m getting bored of the social life and goings on because I’m isolated and know everyone around me. Additionally, Cornell offered me a transfer option to join them as a sophomore, which, while I’m certainly far from definitely doing, I’m strongly considering. In order to achieve that, I must maintain a 3.3 gpa wherever I go, so if there is anything to be said about which is more prone to grade inflation or about academic rigor, that’d be very useful. Anyway, I know I’m running out of time and this is last minute, but any thoughts or information would be incredibly helpful to me. Thanks so much.
Not too sure about grade inflation at each school, but Tulane probably has more of that going on than Colby. No solid facts on that, just seems like that to me. But if you’re going to transfer to Cornell after a year, I’d just go to Colby. Seems like the easier option, plus that smaller student body might help you out in getting more time with professors to keep your grades up.
It sounds, to me, like you want to go to Tulane. Keep in mind that it will be a bit more difficult to transition from Tulane to Cornell versus Colby to Cornell, however.
Sounds to me like you prefer Tulane, so go there. My D’s friend who had that sophomore transfer to Cornell went to Tulane and ended up loving it there and decided not to switch (she had the GPA to transfer).
Even though I would pick Colby over Tulane (I much prefer the small classes and personal attention from faculty offered by LACs), everything in your post suggests that you prefer Tulane. So if Tulane simply feels like a better fit for you, that is a good reason to choose it.
I agree with the previous three posts. Colby is a fine school, but you really sound like you want to go to Tulane.
wow thanks for all the responses. it may be the case that i feel like i should go to tulane, but that’s mainly because I worry about the social atmosphere of colby and the lack of activity in waterville and a small student body. While you take the good with the bad with a LAC population, I just worry that it’ll be cliquey and maybe even repetitive at colby when there’s nothing new going on. however, i do like the small classes, and as someone who loves california, the semester at pomona is something i was very excited about. it also has a lot better on campus food and i feel like i’d be a lot more likely to stay on track and not get distracted at colby compared to tulane.
also, can anyone shed light on whether colby or tulane has a better reputation upon graduating? i understand this varies depending on where in the country we are talking about, so perhaps for california, new york and in general.
Colby is very regional, while Tulane is well know all around the U.S. This is more a matter of size rather than educational quality.
Colby is by no means “very regional.” It is in the top 20 most highly ranked, highly selective liberal arts colleges in the nation!
Well, sure it is, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a regional reputation - rightly or wrongly. It’s a top college but is mostly well-known by residents of the Northeast. Top employers everywhere will know of Colby, but your run-of-the-mill employer in the South or West Coast might have never heard of it. I don’t think that’s a good reason not to go, though - there are a lot of top colleges that people have never heard of (I’ve had to explain to people what and where Swarthmore is before; people get Penn and Penn State confused all the time; and a lot of people are not aware that Brown is in the Ivy League).
I think the reason you should go to Tulane is because everything you said in your initial post leaned towards Tulane. You love New Orleans and the weather; you know you’ll prefer the lifestyle; you like the idea of a bigger university with lots of opportunities. Conversely, most of what you said about Colby was reservations - about Waterville and about the small student body. Why would you go to a place you have reservations about if you have an equally good option that you seem to be excited about?
I know you love CA, but if you go to Colby because of the semester at Pomona, you’ll have to spend the other 7 semesters at Colby - a place that you do not seem enthusiastic about. Tulane is pretty medium-sized, so while your classes may not be as small as Colby’s you probably won’t be in 300-person lectures, either.
@profparent Recruiters on the West Coast and the South are not necessarily going to know about Colby. I would venture to say that usually they would not. Virtually everybody in the US has heard of Tulane.
I personally would pick Colby anyway, because I like a smaller school. However, it’s pretty obvious from his posts that he like Tulane better.
One question to think about is which environment (as between Colby and Tulane) best keeps first year students focussed on studies and constructive extracurriculars. Would be great to hear any thoughts folks had on that subject.