<p>I don’t really get the “big name” thing. Tulane (even post-Katrina) is, in my experience, generally thought of as better than NYU (except for Business and Theater). I know a lot of people who have no respect for NYU because of the horrible financial situations they put people in.</p>
<p>The “name” factor of NYU is just the presence of “New York” in the title. Hence, a lot of people in other countries will react well, even if they don’t know anything about NYU; it’s “New York” University that draws the reaction. “Dream school” just means that a lot of high school kids like it. I’d talk to the students who get $200,000 in debt and ask if they can give their degree back.</p>
<p>If you’re looking at flawed rankings, remember that Tulane dropped dramatically after Hurricane Katrina.</p>
<p>I don’t attend either school, but I would chose Tulane. And from your situation, Tulane seems the clear choice.</p>
<p>Looks like a landslide! LOL. Frankly, from the way you describe yourself, I would say there is no doubt it is Tulane. NYU has zero school spirit from what I hear. Tulane has a lot. Not so much sports spirit, but a lot of school spirit. Most kids LOVE being there.</p>
<p>Ans BillyMc is right as far as the flawed rankings, especially in Tulane’s case. A huge part of the rankings are peer assessment and graduation rates. Peer assessment is flawed for a lot of reasons, but in Tulane’s case people saw all those pictures after Katrina and heard that Tulane had to cancel for a semester and figured the school must have gone downhill. Completely wrong, it actually is better in so many ways now than pre-Katrina. And obviously graduation rates (4 year and 6 year, which is what they use) are almost meaningless for Tulane because we are just coming up on 6 years after Katrina. Tulane cannot even report a number this year, and USNWR refuses to make an adjustment. Anyway, if you go by average SAT scores, Tulane (and NYU) would be about 28th in the country for non-LAC schools.</p>
<p>In this case I would pick Tulane, hands down. Maybe I’ll be joining you next year! I got a 25k/year scholarship there :)</p>
<p>My friends from NY who are at Tulane absolutely love it. Some ended up going originally for financial reasons but they are now having a blast and don’t regret the decision to go to Tulane at all. I think Tulane is a better place for undergrad because you don’t need to pay so much every time you want to do something off campus.</p>
<p>onecircuit - I am very sorry you have trouble reading my post. You really think it is fair to use the USNWR rankings when there is an entire factor that Tulane cannot report? And do you really think that these formulas, and graduation rates in particular, have anything to do with how good a school is? If so, have fun living your life paying attention to nothing but ratings and rankings.</p>
<p>Mr. Prince - The OP has pretty clearly stated that money is an issue, but even if he hadn’t, NYU is most certainly not “easily more prestigious”. Also being in NYC is a negative for some people, and also NYU has no campus, no sense of community. That also is not for everyone. NYC is great, but it is also quite expensive to take advantage of what it has to offer.</p>
<p>Some people are biased in general when answering threads so keep that in mind when listening to advice… your own decision is the most important.</p>
<p>Tulane seems to be the clear winner in this debate. I haven’t had the opportunity to visit Tulane though I’ve researched and looked around a lot.</p>
<p>I suppose the “dream school” isn’t such a dream when you’re there, especially if you’re paying $50k/year with an income that would get you a near-full-ride at many other schools.</p>
<p>37 not so bad, actually. But there is no question that the cost and poor financial aid probably is the main reason students leave. My guess based on anecdotal evidence (and that is all it is!) is that the other main reason is that students misjudged what not having a campus would be like on a day in and day out basis. That’s the only problem with visits, they are such short windows and can’t possibly reflect what it is really like day after day. Unfortunately there is little alternative.</p>
<p>BTW, NYU’s freshman retention last year was 92.4%, and Tulane was 91.5%. Not much difference. Again the reason for the difference in ranking we see here (and actually I am shocked Tulane is as high as 76) is that Tulane lost a lot of people after Katrina, which is no reflection on the quality of the school itself. The biggest reasons I hear about for people leaving Tulane are 1) Didn’t have the discipline to avoid the parties and 2) too far from home. Tulane has more people from 500+ miles away than any other school. The average is 900 miles or something like that.</p>
<p>If I were in your shoes, I would visit Tulane, and do a good deal of research, to make sure there isn’t anything about it, or it’s setting , that would quite evidently lead me to dislike it there. If I did not find any “smoking gun” issues then I would pick Tulane.</p>
<p>You’re talking about a great deal of money here, and whatever reputational issues there may be, if any, are negligible. It’s not like there is a huge line of employers begging to hire NYU grads either; I’ve heard NYU jokingly referred to as “Now You’re Unemployed”. My daughter actually transferred OUT of NYC, she found it to be a horrible place to be a college student with little money.Many of the great things associated with NYC tend to be expensive. Personally I find the lack of a campus life and campus focus at NYU to be highly undesirable.</p>
<p>The one slight counterbalance is you are probably more likely to wind up around NYC out of NYU, and probably more likely to stay in the south out of Tulane. There is a regional correlation of next steps from most schools. But this will not necessarily be the case.</p>
<p>My advice is to take Tulane. NYU and Tulane have about the same prestige. The only reason NYU is known by more people is because it’s in New York and they spend their money on satellite campuses all over the worldwhich is why NYU has poor Financial Aid. The job recruiters view NYU and Tulane in the same tier. Besides Tulane has shown their interest in YOU with their generous FA and Tulane is in a nice area. Besides you get to experience Southern hospitality which is far different from what you are used to in the north.</p>
<p>Actually, based on this and his other thread, it sounds like the real issue is that the OP’s parents, who are Fillipino, believe that NYU is far more prestigious than Tulane, or at least that all their family and friends think that, and so want the OP to attend NYU for “bragging rights”. I would even venture to say the OP really wants Tulane but this is a divisive issue. I sympathize, this happens all too often.</p>
<p>I think all you can do is try to tell them that “bragging rights” are a terrible reason to choose a school, and that $80,000 is expensive bragging. Even if they don’t care about the money (hard as that is to believe), try to get them to understand that you are the one that has to spend every day 9 months out of the year at this school and that it is far more important that it is what you want.</p>
<p>As far as the “party school” reputation and other issues they have, they don’t think there are a lot of distractions in NYC??? All schools are party schools if you make them that way, and none are if you don’t. That is not a characteristic of the school, it is a characteristic of the student attending the school, unless you are an incredibly weak and suggestible person. If so, then again every school will be a party school. 18-22 year old people on their own for the first time with no responsibilities except for school will party, and that’s fine. Everything in moderation. You have to ask them if they raised you right so that you know how to judge what’s enough and what’s too much. If they don’t think you can do that, then you better go to community college and live at home. I am not being sarcastic, you will fail at NYU as much as you will fail at Tulane if you cannot know when to study and when to party.</p>
<p>fallenchemist, maybe the OP’s parents should be left in the middle of Greenwich Village in front of one of NYU’s buildings, which is next to a liquor store and a hardware store and a clothing store and accross the street from an Irish bar - with no other NYU building in sight and say: </p>
<p>“OK mom and dad - this is the NYU campus, how do you like it”?</p>