Tulane or IU Bloomington?

<p>Tulane is 10000$ more dearer than IUB but I just don't know where to go. Will the freshman experience be better in Tulane?</p>

<p>IUB is a heck of a lot of fun.</p>

<p>True statement^. What do you want to major in?</p>

<p>Whether the experience will be better at one or the other is as individual an equation as you are. Without information as to your personality, what you are looking for in a school, and a number of other factors, no one can answer that question. The schools are almost night and day.</p>

<p>Also, Tulane is obviously more, but how critical is that money to you are your family? For some it is a fortune, for others meaningless. Would you have to take out loans that you personally would have to pay off after graduating?</p>

<p>I would go with Indiana University Bloomington over Tulane.</p>

<p>There is no way Tulane is worth 40K more than Indiana. Go to Indiana.</p>

<p>

That is an overly broad statement. Your family might be wealthy and the money might be a relatively small amount to you. I rather doubt that is the case here because of how you phrased the difference as being $10,000 “more dearer”, but it is hard to tell. That is why we need to know that and other things about you to really give decent input. However, if the money is a big deal, I totally agree that $40,000 in loans or in money that is definitely needed by your family for other essentials is too much to put Tulane ahead of Indiana, no matter what factors you think are important.</p>

<p>I want to major in Psychology but not sure, maybe business, or others…I am pretty good at math and science but also interesting in writing, history and something like that…</p>

<p>And I don’t know how much my parents have(They never tell me about that…) but they said they just want me to have a good college life and learn as much as possible… And they work so hard…I’m sure they can pay for Tulane without loans</p>

<p>I like Indiana and the people there but I also want to experience the life in the south…</p>

<p>Sounds like you have made up your mind for Tulane. Of course I think that is great, but let’s just go over some factors to be sure.</p>

<p>Money - seems that it is not an issue.</p>

<p>Size - Tulane smaller than IU. That has its positives and negatives. Tulane is very undergrad focused, the profs get to know you well in many cases, and they are extremely accessable. IU is better than a lot of the state schools in this regard, but it is still a large state school with big lecture classes in many first and second year courses, occassionally even beyond. On the other hand IU has more programs and variety than Tulane, but not in the areas you mention. They are about equal there.</p>

<p>Location - Matter of taste of course. As you mention Tulane is in the south, and in particular in an extremely unique city that has a lot to offer. IU is in a college town. Tulane is located in a very upscale area with large gorgeous homes lining the streets as you ride the St. Charles Streetcar down to the French Quarter and downtown to the Jazz Fest, Mardi Gras, all sorts of events. Or stay uptown where there is a huge park right across from campus. The weather is obviously more pleasant in New Orleans most of the school year. On the other hand while Tulane is a safe location and the number of incidents in any given year are few, IU is not urban and no question is a quieter place in that regard. But the vast, vast majority of Tulane students spend their 4 years without incident.</p>

<p>Academics - You will get a fine education at either school. Tulane has a considerably higher academic profile than IU, about 100 point shift for the 25%-75% range on the SATs, and about a 150 point higher average SAT score. If you want to be more challenged, Tulane is the choice.</p>

<p>Sports - Although their teams have been in a slump the last few years, IU sports are better than Tulane’s except for baseball. If having an on campus sports culture is important to you, IU wins here.</p>

<p>Also, the students at IU are going to overwhelmingly be from Indiana. Tulane, on the other hand, has more geographic diversity than just about any school.</p>

<p>If you have more specific points you want compared, you will need to ask a specific question.</p>

<p>Thank you for your help!!!
But I want to ask what if money IS a big issue? To support my education my father now is working in a company thousands of miles from home and only can be back home for a week every month for his job. I think I like to go to New Orleans but Is it worthy to go to Tulane with over an additional 10000$ tuition a year?</p>

<p>Indiana is one of the top schools in the nation, in fact even if all things were equal, more of Indiana’s programs are ranked than Tulane’s and it is the stronger academic institution of the two. So NO Tulane is not worth 10K more per year.</p>

<p>Well, citing the rankings doesn’t make much sense for an undergrad, since those program rankings reflect grads school. Besides, if one wants to play that game, Tulane is ranked 50th in USNWR for overall undergrad, while IU is #71. Tulane’s average student is stronger academically than IU’s. Totally bogus to say IU is the stronger academic institution of the two when talking about undergrad experience. But that is a silly game anyway. Rankings are failrly meaningless at the undergrad level for a dozen reasons.</p>

<p>To answer the OP’s latest question though, I do agree that if money is an issue $40K is too much extra for almost any school. But have as much of an adult to adult talk with your parents as you can. Find out how they feel about the extra money, and just ask them to be honest. Some parents (I have no idea about yours) feel guilty or embarassed to tell their kids they cannot afford what they want for college. If you come away from that discussion convinced they really should hang onto the money, go to IU. I have known dozens of kids that went there and all seem to have done just fine. They say you really have to watch out for the partying, but that is true at Tulane too, as it is at all schools. Their only other major observation was the number of large lecture classes, as I mentioned before.</p>

<p>IU and Tulane are very different. Both are well regarded and will viewed equally good by employers and graduate school admissions committees. IU’s departments and faculty are more well regarded than Tulane’s, but as fallenchemist points out, Tulane has a slightly more talented student body and provides a more personalized experience.</p>

<p>I would recommend fit here. Some prefer the IU/Bloomington environment, others prefer the Tulane/New Orleans environment. You really cannot go wrong here. Either way, you are going to have a first rate education in a great atmosphere.</p>

<p>Alexandre has a thing about Tulane for some reason. Slightly more talented? Tulane’s SAT scores are over 100 points higher in the spread than IU’s. Princeton Review puts Tulane’s selectivity at 94 and IU at 60. Also, to say IU’s departments and faculty are more well regarded than Tulane’s is overly broad, if it is even correct. There are some that are and some that are not, but it is a moot point anyway. Again, you are not going there for grad school, but undergrad. I would like to know how many intro courses are taught by TA’s at IU. None are at Tulane. You can have the highest rated faculty in the world, but if they are not teaching your courses, so what? Now I don’t know what the situation is at IU in this regard, but most large state schools have this situation.</p>

<p>Still, I agree that it is about fit, and that you can of course get a good education at each. However, as I learned from personal experience and I think most would agree is inuitively obvious, a huge part of the academic quality as an undergrad is the quality of your peers. How much they challenge you, make you work for a good grade, just overall create an environment of academic excellence. I would say Tulane is more than slightly ahead on this point.</p>

<p>Fallenchemist, I have nothing against Tulane, but I respect IU a good deal. I firmly believe it is one of the nation’s best universities. The fact that I recommend Tulane and IU equally depending on preference actually proves that I respect Tulane. You can look at past posts of mine concerning IU. I always praise the school.</p>

<p>Well, that’s great, but I think saying there is a slight difference in the academic quality of their undergraduate students is mischaracterizing the situation. All available public information says otherwise, unless you really want to stretch the meaning of “slightly”. I know when I took some courses at a big state U (not Indiana but a similar school, one actually more highly ranked) it was far less competitive academically in the classroom than my classes at Tulane. I took three courses there, one math, one philosophy, and one business course. Getting an A in all 3 was just far easier than at Tulane. That is purely anecdotal of course, but again the stats of the average student coming into IU would indicate the same thing.</p>

<p>^^^Which state U are you referring to?</p>

<p>Combine science and psychology and major in neuroscience at Tulane. Well worth the $10k.</p>

<p>Like I said there is no way on EARTH (not in the planet of Tulane homers obviously) that Tulane (this is not an Ivy my friends) is worth 10K more PER YEAR. That’s ridiculous.</p>

<p>I mean it’s really a question of how much $40,000.00 is worth to you. I would agree that Tulane offers some things that IU won’t (and vice versa) but that amount of money is moving into the realm of a deciding factor in my opinion. Tulane is in some ways a ‘better’ school and will be a much different environment due to its size, but it may not be ‘better’ for every student. It also might not be $40k better. I agree with vociferous in that Tulane isn’t an ivy-esque school. But frankly, there are only Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, along with a small hand full of other schools that are worth spending a good bit extra on due to the superior learning environment and prestige value for networking ect. Not even all of the ivy meet that criteria in my opinion.</p>

<p>That being said, if $10k a year is not a large amount of money to a particular family, well then that changes the situation and it may make sense to pay more than you really need to attend an incrementally better university (other than HYPSM.) Best of luck!</p>