Hi, I’m trying decide between Tulane and Lehigh and I’m having a very difficult time. I have found pros and cons in both schools.
Weather: Tulane has much better weather
City: Tulane has a much MUCH better surrounding city (nola?! )
Greek life: Lehigh has larger and apparently more fun greek life. I really want to be in a sorority.
Name recognition: This is hard. I think to people unaware of the college process, Tulane does, but I think to employers Lehigh does.
Now heres where my issue is, socially I think I will be happy at either campus, but I’m worried about academically. I want to major in political sciences and hopefully go to a highly ranked law school.
Lehigh is clearly ranked higher on most lists, and viewed a little more academically challenging. However, is this because of their impressive business and engineering programs? Is it possible for me to go to Lehigh and major in poli-sci and get into a good law school? I know it depends how hard I work, and I plan on working hard, but I don’t want the school I go to to be a handi-cap in the eyes of admissions.
Tulane seems to be considered less academically strong generally speaking, but seem to be more holistic. They also have a Law school, so I figure they must be stronger in terms of pre-law.
The last issue is, money is not an issue for me. I will be able to pay, however Tulane offered me a huge amount of money, which I feel like shouldn’t go ignored.
I am pretty sure that even among employers Lehigh’s name recognition is more regional, while Tulane’s holds up pretty well nationally. If you are planning on living in the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic after graduating, then Lehigh might have the edge, although Tulane is very well known there as well since about 1/3 of every incoming class is from those areas.
I really can’t speak to Lehigh Greek Life, and I suppose that would make sense to some degree since as you say, Tulane is already in a more fun and interesting city. But participation in sororities has increased pretty dramatically at Tulane in the last 3 years or so, and I think is around 45%. Frats are lower, for sure, but perhaps that is irrelevant. Not having gone Greek myself, nor did either of my kids, I don’t know how much the frat side impacts such a decision. But as I say, there seems to be strong interest in sorority life at Tulane these days. Tulane does delayed rush, btw. Second semester. I think a lot of schools have gone this direction.
I think your concerns about academic rigor and reputation are not correct. The schools are extremely similar in academic strength. These lists are often garbage and can be very misleading. They are often just thrown together without regard to any sense of real rigor just so they can sell magazines. I just looked at the Lehigh data set as compared to Tulane. The stats almost overlap, the differences being negligible. Tulane is slightly higher in a couple areas, Lehigh in others. But all of them are close. And profs tend to base the speed at which they cover material, the difficulty of tests, etc. on the capabilities of the students. Both schools have excellent reputations with grad schools and law schools, so if you do well at either you will be fine.
The only advantage I can see to Tulane having its own law school as it relates to you is that you might be able to sit in on some classes and see if law school is really for you (and I am not sure if you can or not, although I suspect it would be OK), and they do run some legal clinics where you could probably volunteer, which would not only build up your resume but also give you another look into that world so you could make a more informed decision about your future. I suppose the pre-law society might also have the advantage of being able to have law profs talk to you on a more regular basis. Again, just a guess on that last one. I don’t know what that group really does, but you could contact them and ask them some questions.
Finally…
Perhaps money won’t even be an issue if you pay the extra for Lehigh and go to law school, and if so you are quite fortunate. But law school is expensive of course, and any savings during undergrad should be considered. In fact, you might consider starting to prove your negotiation skills and tell your parents that if you save them the difference between Tulane and Lehigh, they could bank half of those savings in your name and it could be waiting for you when you finish law school, or whatever final degree you decide on. Just a thought.
Good luck with your decision. Needless to say, they are both very fine schools and you would likely be very happy at either. In the end, you might just have to go with your gut. It is usually right.
Thank you so much fallenchemist, very helpful response! I agree with all that you said about law schools, as I was thinking the same thing. One thing I did notice though on startclass (a website that compares schools stats etc) that the average Tulane student earns 45,000 median salary post grad while Lehigh makes 58,000. I didn’t seen any specifics on social science for either school, and I didn’t see Tulane’s history major but Lehigh reported on average 72,000 for history majors. Do you know how political science majors do coming out of Tulane? Once again, thank you so much for your helpful and informative response.
I don’t know anything about poli sci majors with regard to salaries, etc. But I would be wary of those numbers for two reasons:
They are self-reported by people that bother to answer the surveys. So there are likely flaws in both the accuracy of the data and the completeness. People still looking for work or in underemployment situations tend not to answer surveys like that, skewing the results. Plus it could be affected by the percentage from each school that decide to go on to grad school or professional school.
Regionality could play a very large role. It is cheaper to live in the South, and so salaries reflect that to some degree. Tulane students are more likely to have a greater presence throughout the Southeast and Southwest, while Lehigh grads will be heavily focused in the most expensive area, the Northeast. A Tulane grad settling in the Northeast will no doubt have a comparable salary to a Lehigh grad in a similar job.
Remember median is not starting salaries and as someone who works in Career Services and complies post graduate information, let me tell you, it’s highly skewed and pretty much means nothing. Placement rates and salaries are self reported and only include students who took the time to fill out the survey. I’m betting those Leigh History majors are now lawyers or college professors if they are reporting $72,000 salary.
My son is a political science major at Tulane, planning on law school. Tulane also has two special pre-law programs for those interested in going to Tulane Law School. http://tulane.edu/advising/prelaw/special-programs.cfm
From what I hear Greek Life is very popular on campus.
Matriculation decisions are so difficult. There’s always pros and cons for every college, but sometimes the factor that helps tip the scales for a successful college career and future is your gut feeling. Without giving out personal information on an anonymous board, let me just say that I have personal experience with the Tulane experience and the Lehigh experience. Hands down, the Lehigh students and graduates that I know personally (and it’s a lot) are experiencing much more success and happiness at Lehigh while in college and in their professional lives.
It’s your decision to make, but from everything I’ve seen and experienced firsthand, I know I’d choose Lehigh in a heartbeat.
Dolphnlvr6, as beauitful as NOLA seems (I actually haven’t visited yet) I’m not sure I would want to stay at the same law school where I did under grad (I’m the type who loves new experiences.) Are you aware of any of the law schools that polisci majors have been able to go to? It is so nice hearing of someone who has similar goals as me especially at a school I may end up- any info you can give is a huuuuge help
Marky95, are these people mostly engineers/ business people? I am a little worried about Lehigh in regards to my interests. Also, do you know much about campus life?
I have to call marky95 on that comment. He has not posted anywhere but the Lehigh board and is obviously a zealous advocate for the school. But to say that Lehigh students and graduates are experiencing “much more success and happiness” than Tulane people he has known means he either knows only one or two Tulane people or is just promoting Lehigh. It is just an absurd statement. Tulane regularly makes the survey lists of happiest students. http://www.princetonreview.com/college-rankings?rankings=happiest-students I think lists like that are a little silly and I am sure Lehigh students are very happy as well. But I doubt Tulane students would be so pleased with their choice if they knew doom and gloom were awaiting them. I am not sure why people feel the need to put down other schools to try and make theirs looks better, but it doesn’t reflect well on their school at all.
In fact, I’ll just let his own post from last September in response to someone that had questions about negative things they had heard about Lehigh demonstrate. He should take his own advice. (Emphasis in the post is mine)
I am not 100% sure where you get information on which law schools Tulane students, and poli sci majors in particular, got into, but you could try alumni relations for the general population and it is possible that the poli sci department keeps track of where recent graduates are, especially those going to grad school or professional school. Might be worth a couple of phone calls. I seem to hear from more med school and grad school students than law school, maybe because law school is a bit depressed for admissions in general right now. But I can tell you that for the med schools, I have known students to routinely get into top 50 schools, and quite a few that got into top 20. For grad school it is even more impressive, with students very often getting into schools ranked in the top 10 in their field. I have seen any number of Yale, Berkeley, Columbia and UCLA type placements, and as you know from reading these threads my daughter, a 2013 Tulane grad, is in grad school at Stanford after also being accepted by Harvard, Columbia, Princeton and Berkeley, among others.
The bottom line is that doing well at Tulane and scoring high on the LSAT will get you into the exact same schools as a similar performance at Lehigh. Tulane is very highly respected by other schools, as is Lehigh.
Fallenchemist, I graduated from Tulane. I know firsthand. My kids turned down Tulane. So if you think there’s a problem with being a zealous supporter, then check yourself with your zealous support of Tulane. Of course I’m going to talk smack about someone that is posting inaccurate statements. Look at my comments all you want, I couldn’t care less. I know firsthand, got it?
My son at Lehigh is much happier and already experiencing more success than his friends that chose Tulane. He turned down Tulane, and it was an excellent decision.
stressedandblessed, I’ll ask my son if he has friends/fraternity brothers majoring in your interests. He’s studying engineering, but he has lots of friends, so there’s no doubt he’ll know some people at Lehigh pursuing your intended major.
He had one of the best private college counselors in the country (lots of Ivy League students), and was pretty much pushed him to choose Lehigh because of his counselor’s vast experience with college admissions. He turned down some prestigious acceptances and scholarships to go to Lehigh.
A strong point I’m trying to make is that rankings and experiences of others don’t mean much if you don’t get that gut feeling that it’s the right college. It’s also huge that you research the college’s reputation with your intended major.
Does your college counselor have an opinion? If not, maybe he/she can talk with some peers to see if any of their students were choosing between these colleges for your intended major.
Best of luck, and hoping that whatever you decide, you’ll always look back feeling like you made the right decision.
Thank you both, and the fact that you both feel so passionate about the schools you support is obviously a good sign I had my heart set on a school and I was wait listed, and I was scared to death I wouldn’t get into any other schools. Turned out I got into a good amount, but it just turned out that Tulane and Lehigh are my best options. My college counselor doesn’t have much advice for me so I am on my own.
What I am concerned about Lehigh is this, my best friend is there now (he loves it, so this isn’t suppose to be negative) he is in the school of arts and sciences (where I will go) but he is more into sciences than I am. He has told me the engineers call it the school of arts and crafts. I do not want to go to a school where the humanities and social sciences are treated as a joke. I guess I’m just worried that if I go to a school that in renowned for its engineering that what I do within my major won’t be as good.
Stressedandblessed, I’ll try to find out something about your major at Lehigh, but it’s near the end of the semester and it’s crunch time. My interest is you having a wonderful and successful college experience like my son’s, wherever you matriculate. I encourage you to talk with your college counselor. If he/she doesn’t have former students that majored in your intended field, then ask them to contact their peers. It’s getting close to decision day, so try to talk with him/her soon. I think you can trust his/her opinion and information more than mine or anyone else posting anonymously on a forum.
Well, that is advice coming from someone with a definitive Lehigh bias, who has only ever posted in the Lehigh forum- Without giving more specific information it’s hard to take your advice seriously. Anyone can say they graduated from Tulane.
Considering the OP received a substantial scholarship from Tulane, it’s important for her to give it serious consideration. Law school can be very expensive, graduating from undergrad without a lot of debt is important when considering graduate/professional school.
My son loves the Poli Sci and Philosophy departments at Tulane. He has decided to double major and may pick up the new minor in Business Management for Liberal Arts. The professors are genuinely interested in their students and he meets with many of them often. One of his professors is having the class to dinner at his home later this month. The Philosophy chair invited my son to take an upper level class he is teaching next semester. James Carville teaches a class each semester at Tulane and brings in so many guest speakers (conservative and liberal) and last semester his class got to attend a fundraiser and met Bill Clinton. He also has his class to his house during the semester. I hear this a lot about Tulane professors. Check out the Murphy Institute for Political Economy, it’s very highly regarded. Last semester my sons class all went to the New Orleans School of Cooking together with the Professor! He finds the work challenging and interesting. He finds most of his classes are discussion based rather than lecture, so he loves being able to participate and be actively involved rather than watching power-points and taking notes.He transferred in quite a bit of AP and college credits and bypassed most of the Intro Level classes and quite possibly will be able to graduate in 3 years.
The Center for Public Service provides volunteer and internship opportunities in all levels of New Orleans government, political activism, community agencies, and there are opportunities with the Tulane Law school. In addition to your academic adviser you can meet with a pre-law adviser who will help guide you through your education. There is a pre-law society as well.
He also wants to go to Law School somewhere else, and has found that many Tulane students are accepted to the Ivies for Law School. Law Schools don’t care about your major, what they look at is your GPA and your LSAT score.
And you can’t even compare Bethlehem to New Orleans. New Orleans has so much more to offer! I live near Bethlehem, I know this. If there is any way you can visit Tulane I urge you to do it. I don’t know where you are located, we are from the Northeast and my son loves the campus and the climate. This weekend he is looking forward to going to French Quarter Fest and next weekend is Crawfest, on the Tulane Campus. There are restaurants, shops, music clubs all within walking distance of Tulane. He’s been to concerts, festivals, sporting events, parades (hello- Mardi Gras anyone?) and so much more than his friends back here at home can ever imagine experiencing. His biggest problem right now is trying to figure out how he can make it to Jazz Fest for a day or two during finals!
Oh dear, I’ve never once heard it called that. I get the impression that most students in the larger fields get minors and take courses in other colleges to meet requirements. Meaning, engineering and business students will be taking arts and sciences courses, too. I’ve heard my son talking about projects that allowed him to work closely with fellow students from all majors. He has always sounded enthusiastic about his participation in philanthropic projects and clubs that have a broad range of members of the school.
Definitely talk more with your best friend, and see if you can spend the weekend there soon. If you can visit with her, see if there are some parties that will give you a feel for the sororities since you’re interested in joining one. Who knows, you could fall in love with it or anxious to get out of there and never go back. Wish this was an easier decision for you, and more so, wish your counselor could be more helpful.
Stressednblessed, have you visited both schools? We did. Our daughter chose Tulane and has never looked back. It was absolutely the right decision for her. Visit the schools, speak with current students in your intended major. You will know which one feels right for you. Ask the students what they do on the weekend, where do they go. My daughter is loving every minute in NOLA: the restaurants, the music, the concerts, and, yes, the education at Tulane. In her first year at Tulane, we believe, she has learned more about life then her friends at other schools. She has volunteered in a local charter school, built a garden, joined a sorority and enjoyed Mardi Gras and all that is NOLA! She has a good friend at Lehigh who is very happy there. Visit the schools… pick the one that feels right. I don’t think you can go wrong. Good luck!
Stressedandblessed, with all due respect, you are overthinking this. Of course both schools are very fine schools and are very comparable to one another academically. Visit both. Try to get a feel for where you would be more comfortable. Pick one. Enjoy it to the max, and then work your butt off. At that point you will have your pick of a lot of good law schools. Best of luck to you!
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