Tulane or UCSB?

<p>I'm trying to decide between tulane and ucsb for undergrad...I'm scared that tulane may be too small of a school for me, and I'm not really into the whole greek life thing which I heard dominated tulane's social scene.. I live in california so I'm thinking ucsb might be good too. Also, I'm not sure which school is better academically...I've researched it but no luck. Please help me!</p>

<p>Well, Tulane is really not small. At about 7,200 undergrads it is similar in size to a number of private universities such as Duke, Vanderbilt, WUSTL, and many others. That number of students represents a critical mass that should have everything you want at a school, or almost everything anyway. There is no doubt that Greek life is bigger at Tulane with about 3x as many students involved, but it is still a significant minority of the total undergrad population.</p>

<p>Academically I have to say Tulane is significantly stronger. UCSB states their mean SAT at 1801, while Tulane’s is around 2000. That’s a pretty big difference. Also Tulane is private. With the crazy things in California and the budgets these days, who knows what kind of cutbacks there might be at UCSB?</p>

<p>Good luck with your decision, both are good schools of course. But I think your image of Tulane might be a bit off. Can you visit before you have to make up your mind?</p>

<p>oh ok thanks for the input, but I still think 7,200 undergrads is too small for me, but then again I wouldn’t know unless I experienced it I guess. I’ve visited both schools recently, and I really liked how tulane is in new orleans but I felt that the majority of the students were kind of snobby, especially the girls. My friend goes to UCSB and I visited for a couple of days and mostly everyone I met seemed really down to earth and extremely friendly and genuine. So, I’m torn between these schools, but I’m mostly worried about the social life.</p>

<p>7,200 undergrads is really not so small… Think about it. Choose Tulane. Even though I’m accepted by UC Berkeley (big brother of the UC system I guess), I still prefer Tulane.</p>

<p>allan_lhc, Berkeley was my first choice…didn’t get in though…why do you prefer tulane? to me that’s crazy, but I guess that’s because Berkeley was my dream school…</p>

<p>fallenchemist—</p>

<p>oh, also I got a 20k scholarship for tulane, but I didn’t get invited into the honors program. I would definitley go to tulane if I got into the program…I don’t know why I didn’t though…maybe because of my sat scores. I have a weighted 4.5 gpa, satII chem: 760, chem AP: 5, psychAP: 4, I have a lot of community service and extracurricular activities, I’m the president of a club, I’m in NHS, CSF, SNHS, I’ve gotten several awards including two community service awards, and I’ve been a yearbook editor for 3 years…but then my sat score was pretty low: math: 610 critical reading: 600 writing: 730. On top of all that, I have severe ADD and a speech dysfluency…so I really don’t know why they wouldn’t consider me for the honors program. Do you think I could call the admissions officer and ask him to reconsider me for it? or is there a way I can appeal their decision? Sorry for all the questions but thank you for all your help.</p>

<p>In fact, Ruth, UC Berkeley is dubbed “the dream of the Chinese scholar” in China. Generally speaking (perhaps a little biased), the Chinese public bears in mind three of the American universities: Harvard, Yale, and Berkeley. I also like Berkeley a lot. I’m an Chinese student, and Berkeley doesn’t offer international students scholarships. However, I didn’t forgo Berkely solely because of financial reasons. Tulane is the one school that pays the most personal attention to me. Also I’m admitted to the Honors Program, one thing I highly value. And, perhaps to your surprise, I think Berkeley is too big.</p>

<p>No surprise at all that some students find 7,000 the perfect size and 40,000 too big and others just the opposite. That is why we constantly talk about fit on here, and why you both are so fortunate to have these choices. I really don’t think most people at Tulane are “snobby”, and the number of posts on here about how helpful, friendly and energetic students were when just asked at random about life at Tulane speaks to that. Of course there are some that are less personable than others, no doubt. What you might have picked up on, Ruth, is a “vibe” that I wouldn’t be surprised at all if it were not the same as a SoCal school made up of mostly California students. I can only say that I feel certain that you would find people that you would become close friends with quickly and relatively easily at either school. Most students at Tulane are also far from home and as nervous and excited about it as you would be, and also afraid they won’t make friends. For almost all of them, that lasts about a day tops.</p>

<p>Congrats on the $20K scholarship. Invitations to the HP are always offered to Presidential Merit winners ($25K) and sometimes the $22K winners, but never to my knowledge $20K. You are likely right that when comparing your resume to other applicants, impressive as it is (and it really is!), the SAT scores pulled you down some. You could certainly appeal to the HP itself (I don’t think admissions would/could change it), but I think the odds are somewhat low despite the ADD/speech issues you have obviously worked very hard to overcome. You probably already know, though, that you can earn your way into the program. I always thought you had to wait until after freshman year, but some people tell me that if you have an outstanding first semester (perfect or maybe an A- or two) and with a resume like yours that was probably close anyway, they might invite you after a semester. I cannot vouch for the accuracy of that, but I can say with certainty that you can still takes Honors level courses, including the Freshman Colloquium.</p>

<p>It feels like you liked a lot about Tulane and New Orleans, but something is holding you back. I can only be consistent by saying go with your instincts. If UCSB feels right, do that. If something is telling you despite these little doubts that Tulane is the right place, then go there. If the little voice is so muddled that you cannot tell what it is saying, try talking to a teacher or someone else you think is objective and will listen to you talk it out. Then whatever you decide, go into it with a totally positive attitude to make it work, and it most likely will.</p>

<p>The very best of luck to you. I am happy to provide whatever input I can if it is even a little useful, so don’t worry at all that you are asking too many questions. This is an important time in your life and a very important decision. You are smart to be getting whatever information you can, but just remember that the subjective stuff is just that. Only you can figure out what is right for you.</p>

<p>S2 chose Tulane over UCSB and UC-Berkeley. He visited all of them and really liked the UCSB campus, but found Tulane offered more. He liked the class size, more social options than IV, the fact that Tulane was in a city, the access to professors, and did I mention …the food.</p>

<p>I also got into Tulane and ucsb. I loved Tulane when I visited and I know people from my school who go there And love it, but I want to major in film and the film program there is small. Ucsb has a better film program and the people seem down to earth and friendly. However I’m from the northeast and California is very far. Also I’m afraid of getting closed out of classes due to the large student body at ucsb.</p>