<p>jmmom, you have indeed been a champion of Tulane these past several months, and I feel deeply for you and your family. I have nothing to offer except kind thoughts and the hope that Tulane and other schools pay special attention to those students who NEED to transfer to pursue their goals, rather than the whiny few who might being trying to "back-door" their way into a more prestigious school. I would encourage you to ask Dr. Cowen on tommorrow's chat exactly HOW Tulane plans to help those affected students accomplish a transfer.</p>
<p>I'll be there, cd, and hope to get my question(s) taken. I haven't really scoped out what other fields, but it seems like these Engineering specialties may be the only undergrad ones?</p>
<p>That's what it looks like to me, too, jm. Have you been able to talk to j yet about the possibility of physics being truly attractive? Honestly, at least one of the other changes--the two-year on-campus residency requirement--is a relief to us since it means that they'll have to provide a place for them to live. I was concerned about that, given the DSA and lack of adequate housing off-campus now. If j IS interested in physics, maybe this can still be okay for your family, too. Let me know whne you talk to him, if you don't mind. I'm worried about you.</p>
<p>Help me out re Physics, you guys. I see it on the PhD and Masters charts, but not on the undergrad major. I think that would seal the deal of him (just a guess). That is one of my first questions for the call center/live chat.
cty~ I'm choosing not to talk to him about this until his exams are over on Tuesday. For once, I'm grateful that he does not haunt the Tulane website to keep up on the latest.</p>
<p>ah, I'm seeing it now. Either I was blind before (but believe me, I looked a bazillion times) or they made a correction. This is a major relief to me. Now.... we'll see if DS is relieved (after I give him the shock next week). Off to my holiday party. You two have made my evening. :)</p>
<p>From Tulane's website:
"The Faculty of the Liberal Arts and Sciences and the School of Engineering will be reorganized into two schools: the School of Liberal Arts and the School of Science and Engineering. A total of five programsCivil and Environmental Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Computer Engineering and Exercise and Sports Sciencewill be eliminated. Students in these programs will have the opportunity to continue their studies at Tulane if they can finish degree requirements by May 2007. Otherwise, they will be offered assistance in selecting another major at Tulane or transferring to another institution." </p>
<p>Thanks for posting the info, jmmom, and I share your concern. Physics is among the listed majors in the posted grid, though, so that may help with your son. He and the other incoming freshmen have been through such a difficult first year and I truly hope things work out. </p>
<p>This is a bombshell for our family. I have not looked at the Tulane site for a while, thinking all was well, my son had registered for spring and was looking forward to returning. Now this. He is a Junior with a major in Computer Science and English, and a minor in Math. Computer Science is his primary goal, though. Not easy to fit all in but was working it out OK and doing very well. He chose not to attend another university this past semester and worked full time instead, planning to graduate one semester later. Now he will have to scramble and try to take the necessary courses over the summer to be able to finish by May 2007 and get a CS degree.</p>
<p>He is devastated and feels betrayed. He attended an information session at BU last week with Scott Cowan who said not a word. He has communicated with his major advisor before registration and again, not a word. I know they had difficult decisions to make, but why let students register for spring and then reveal this?? And if he transfers, he will lose his good scholarship on top of all it has already cost us. </p>
<p>We have been very supportive of Tulane and Scott Cowan and feel he has done a great job, but right now I feel angry. I will take a deep breath and go out for a while. Maybe later I can think of something positive.</p>
<p>I know it doesn't help much, but I just want to say how truly sorry I am to all of you who are so affected by the Engineering decisions.</p>
<p>My S is a liberal arts type so these adjustments don't affect his plans in terms of majors. However, I know when I read it, I felt kicked in the stomach for all those students who are in the middle or had barely begun down their engineering path. It seems so unfair for these kids who have stood by Tulane, looked forward to returning, only to see this happen. </p>
<p>I know everything will ultimately work out for all, but it doesn't make it any easier in the meantime. I'm thinking of you.</p>
<p>Blizzard - I know the feeling about being so blindsided. I'm wondering if the Engineering faculty even knew beforehand. DS, too, had helpful communication re registration from Dean of Engineering. I can imagine how wrong it feels for Dr. Cowen not to have mentioned this to your S in Boston.</p>
<p>On the other hand, I know that an institution has to make such announcements at a certain time and can't leak out the info beforehand. I'm not feeling angry (DH is, though, at least somewhat); I am sure they anguished over this, but I am reeling (although a little less than a few hours ago). </p>
<p>I am hopeful, very hopeful, that there will be some "agreements" with other institutions re taking these Engineering students without them having to go through a full-fledged transfer application process. Whether freshman, sophomore, junior - I do feel this is the least Tulane can do to shield these kids from another shock to their systems. My S may choose to stay at Tulane for Physics, don't know. But he may not; and that will not be an option for many others. We need some support through this and I hope we will not be disappointed.</p>
<p>Curiouser, your thoughts and support do help and I greatly appreciate it.</p>
<p>Jmmom, Thanks for the words of encouragement. I, too, hope we will not be disappointed. Tulane, with the help of other colleges, has so far come up with good solutions to a difficult situation so I hope this will carry forward.</p>
<p>My worries are for those who, like my son, have a scholarship at Tulane but who, unlike my son, are in or planned to be in one of the eliminated majors. I hope Tulane has a plan for them that will offer some relief and support.</p>
<p>But what could that plan be, ctymom~? That describes my S, but I'm figuring that if he doesn't choose to stay at Tulane and change majors (which he certainly might), then the scholarship $ is up in smoke. If he transfers elsewhere, there will or will not be merit $ in accord with that school's offerings. Right?</p>
<p>If they had just kept any one of the EECS programs, i'd have been fine, but now everything I had looked forward to for a long time is not going to happen, apparently. I don't want to leave Tulane. I love New Orleans. It's very close to home and I don't want to go any further away. It's been bad enough living an extra hour away from my family and friends this semester. I was really looking forward to helping out down there. I've never wanted to do any other major and I'm just devastated. I can understand Tulane cutting back on things, but I agree with you guys that the engineering department is definitely NOT the program that needs to be cut. I just don't know what to do now and don't think I can handle this again. </p>
<p>I don't believe that the faculty that are getting the boot knew about this either. How can they expect us to talk to our advisors about this when they're going through the same thing as well? I would do anything to make things work out, but I just feel hopeless.</p>
<p>I'm reeling as well. I have been one of the die hard supporters of Tulane - but NO MORE. My son is a sophomore Computer Engineering major who came to Tulane on scholarship. Now his scholarship is gone, his major is gone. What's left? My husband and I were having a lovely time at his long service awards banquet for work when I called home to see how my son's studying for his Diff EQ final tomorrow was going. Like he needed this bombshell tonight. Like we did. </p>
<p>I feel betrayed - as well as FIlo and Clark should after their $30m gift to the engineering school. Of course, they waited until the 11th hour to announce this. I wonder how all of the engineering schools who offered free tuition to these kids last semester now feel.</p>
<p>My son held up his end of the bargain. It's too bad Tulane couldn't. I wouldn't advise anyone to apply to a university that could so blatently lie to so many students. According to my son, over 400 students are affected. About 2/3 of the engineering school. So glad I hadn't made my contributions to the school yet. What major is next? Potential students beware!</p>
<p>Perhaps a class action suit by displaced DSA and DHS students to collect the balance of their scholarships...............................</p>
<p>I'm really torn by all of this. I would look into a lawsuit if I thought it feasible. I wish bad publicity on Tulane for this. Maybe then they would change their minds. I wish I could contact Filo. Maybe he could do something about this.</p>
<p>The sad thing is it leaves the students with very little time if any to make alternative plans. I know mine would be freaking out and not wanting to go back for spring and then leave again for the 3rd school in such a short period of time.
I understand that Tulane is trying to save itself but I do find huge fault with the timing.
Jmmom I feel so bad for you and your son. You have been Tulane's biggest cheerleader and my thoughts are with you.
My D and husband are in NO now and will pack up D's dorm tomorrow. I had bittersweet thoughts earlier in the day. I remember now scared yet excited she was. Now I am glad that we made the decision to have her not go back.</p>
<p>Mom60, you are so right about the timing. Of course they didn't let these students go before the Nov. 1 deadline for transfer applications because they want a last semester of tuition from them and because they have to honor the arrangement with those schools that took them in after Katrina. </p>
<p>My son spent the evening on the phone last night with his engineering classmates from Tulane, and with what he said was being blogged, the general feeling is that this is something Cowan has wanted to do for sometime to accomplish his vision for the university. Katrina gave him his big opportunity. He is not a big fan of the coordinated colleges as they exist. He is a former business prof, so I guess I'm not surprised that the business school didn't suffer the same fate.</p>
<p>Kraemer, my son is torn as well. He has lost his school twice in one year. I've watched him mourn for the lost semester with his friends and profs. Now he's expected to return for just one semester and then leave them again. So much for the "Tulane experience." This is not the lagniappe we were expecting.</p>