<p>We did a busy week of three college visits and my S is busy doing the make-up school work now, but it was definitely worthwhile. I am from Atlanta, and I had never been to New Orleans, and my first impression, having spent tons of time in Savannah and Charleston was that this is a town that the historical preservationists need to wrangle from the hands of the hard-line party-going crowd LOL! Beautiful old city, lots of charm and color. Loved the trolley running straight through town. I wish travel in Atlanta were that simple.</p>
<p>We both loved Tulane. It is a beautiful campus. I wasn't used to dorm rooms that open to the outside, and wasn't thrilled that there is not currently a real student union, but those issues weren't really important as we were on the campus and got a feel for the place. My S could be very happy going there...beautiful, tremendous old oaks still have their leaves in February, kids seeming to enjoy themselves at baseball Sunday afternoon, going to class Monday in t shirts and shorts (we are on Emory's campus weekly, and I have read comments on CC about the preppy style at Emory and never really knew where those were coming from until we were at Tulane where the style is definitely more casual than Emory, more what I remember from college; there is also a thread re: Vanderbilt on CC about preppy dress for guys- Tulane didn't seem to be a place preoccupied with fashion for guys, thankfully! ) </p>
<p>My S met with several faculty members to discuss programs and loved the time and attention they gave him.</p>
<p>However, my S wants a degree in both CS (which is perfect for him at Tulane) and music, and although the composition program is also perfect for him, there are SO few performance majors that he just wouldn't have enough opportunities. Too bad, since he really likes the Director of Bands. We'll be thinking hard on this.</p>
<p>We stayed at the Hampton on St. Charles and it was great. Nice place, and very convenient to Tulane.</p>
<p>I enjoyed your visit report. My husband and D are on their way to NO as I type this. It gives me a picture of what they will be seeing tomorrow.</p>
<p>Euphonium and trombone-low brass. He is really wanting a degree in composition, but he wants performance opportunities also. He did suggest to the Director of Bands that they get some sort of consortium going with Loyola next door (Ga Tech and GA State and Emory do that)...there are realy very few performance majors to field an ensemble; in the fall he would only have marching band (ugh to serious musicians if there is not also an ensemble playing higher level music concurrently) and the symphonic band has 1 concert a year in the spring...</p>
<p>jax, thanks for info. I have a euph playing S also who would like to combine music somehow with electrical engineering....he will be on campus Friday also meeting with the EE people and band director.....thanks for the heads up on this info so he can address it with him......I will tell him to also suggest a consortium....</p>
<p>jax and tabby, my son put away his trombone after high school, and I thought he had really given up music too. Seems there are classes offered out of the music dept. for EE's. One class he is particularly interested in is one in which the students design their own electronic musical instrument.</p>
<p>Thanks along~! You are always a great source of info.
Son is still torn as to which college to attend- Tulane or UF - I am saying very little b/c son must make up his own mind on this one. BTW got a Univ of Texas acceptance last week, but I don't think he will be going there. Thought of you! Really!
He is going to be at Tulane Friday. Might see your son. Ships passing in the night! ha</p>
<p>alongfor and others - S is accepted DSA to Tulane. Plans EE/CE major. He has returned his deposit and we visited last June. We have an invite now for Engineering Scholar Days, either 3/18 or 4/8. </p>
<p>How important/valuable do you think it is to attend? S is on the somewhat shy side, a reason I think it would be great to go and meet some people, but a factor that will make him reluctant. We have a regional Accepted Student evening coming up, but that serves a different purpose of course. FYI, I would say our June visit would qualify as "cursory" by cc standards - tour, info session and a very little poking around on our own.</p>
<p>P.S. S is also a musician (percussion) and will be looking for jazz ensembles/classic rock bands to join. I think he's through with his classical symphony days, who knows? Was glad to hear of the EE/music offering.</p>
<p>P.P.S. The Engineering Scholar Days is through TECHS (Tulane Engineering /CS Honor Society) which the letter says he is automatically in. Does that mean he will be part of Honors College. I'm still confused :confused: about that. Thanks.</p>
<p>jmmom, my son did not attend engineering days. It would have been fun, but it was during UIL Academic Competitions and my son was on the Computer Science Team. We just couldn't work out the dates, so we went during our spring break for a second visit.</p>
<p>Next fall at orientation, there will be a TECHS breakfast for the incoming freshman TECHS members (which are the DHS and DSA recipients). It's a great opportunity to meet and greet with the profs in the engineering school. My son introduced himself to his EE/CE academic advisor and immediately heard, "You're one of my new students" - and he knew the courses my son was enrolled in. Won't happen at a lot of other schools. The EE/CE group is actually quite small right now. Used to be one of the biggest engineering groups, but the downturn in telecom and talk of outsourcing has cut into their numbers. Good news is that a friend of ours is a corporate recruiter and it seems there aren't enough EE's and CE's coming out of school these days. The profs predicted a shortage and a stronger job market for graduates. Hope it stays true. At any rate, my son has really enjoyed his CE courses this year.</p>
<p>You son's membership in TECHS, while definitely an honor, does not mean that the Honors Program is a sure thing. Out of around 215 engineering freshman, about 1/4 were in TECHS. My son knows DSA's in the TECHS society that are not in Honors. However, I will say again that I think the engineering school does a great job in offering honors societies outside of the Honors Program. After all, it only takes a 3.0 gpa to graduate with departmental honors in engineering while other colleges require a 3.5 or 3.6 - and for good reason. The courseload is demanding. The Honors Program does offer some good things for freshman, and it is necessary to be in it for graduate scholarship recommendations, like the Rhodes or Marshall, but I'm finding out that for engineering students, it perhaps doesn't have as much relevance as for Arts and Sciences students looking towards grad school. I don't have all of the details, but it appears that the Engineering School makes it recommendations for it's students for the graduate programs and scholarships that apply. I could be off the mark on that one. Perhaps an engineering upper classman can clarify.</p>
<p>I think your son will have a great experience at Tulane, regardless of whether or not he is selected for Honors. The engineering students seem to be a pretty cohesive group, and since they have such similar interests, I don't think your son will have a hard time making friends. My husband is a EE, so I am partial to engineers and my kids are third generation band kids. We have lots of jokes in our house about being band nerds and engineering nerds (both good things to be!). I think that math, physics and music go hand in hand. Could be why the classes that study the science of music are appealing to my son.</p>
<p>Thanks, along~. DH is also EE, I always say he is the non-nerd engineer. We are also practically geezers, so I don't know if he will allow himself to believe that there could be the possibility of a change in the hiring climate for EE. I had wondered if it was more CS-related (in terms of the off-shore thing).</p>
<p>I think the only reason I keep wondering about Honors College is for the Honors dorm (I mean the eng. kids hardly seem to take enuf coursework outside to have the rest matter). Don't know if S will want Honors dorm, but also don't know how he would take to post-party-vomit-ridden bathrooms and halls. Will probably love the idea of the new dorm, but don't know what kind of luck it takes to get that one. What dorm does your S live in and what is his experience?</p>
<p>My son is in Butler. There are still some late night stragglers, but he says that has dropped off some after the first semester. There are students in Butler that are not honors because they room with honors students. Some of the honors girls opted for Josephine Louise and some of the others wanted Sharp and Monroe, leaving openings. I think even the honors dorm was an adjustment for my son because he is used to his own room and a household that gets quiet for homework and music practice. I think he has been able to study in his room for the most part. He does meet other students for study groups in other locations. He has a non-partier as a roomie, which matches his lifestyle. They get together in groups, have fun staying out late, etc., they just skip driving the porcelain bus. I think the roommate is the biggest factor, and I strongly urge using the roommate finder.</p>
<p>Mom60 and Tabbyzmom- Tell us about your visits please! And jmmom and tabbyzmom, good to see more musicians!! Alongfortheride- Tulane needs that trombone; get your kid over to the music department! Ga Tech, here where we live, is so strong in engineering, and they do not even have a music major, but there are so many musicians there that the music minor program and the ensembles are EXCELLENT- highly acclaimed, invited to perform at such prestigious events...we were surprised that the symphonic band at Tulane was only 27 strong- that does not make sense.</p>
<p>Jax, Tulane's band program languished for many years. Through the efforts of alumni, the university ordered band uniforms and hired a band director. I think this is supposed to be the first year they will have a marching band. I either heard or read that they are hoping to have a marching and ceremonial band of 100. If the university offers partial athletic scholarships that can be combined with academic merit scholarships, perhaps they'll see fit to include partial scholarships for band participation that can be combined with merit since, like athletes, band students spend a lot of time practicing and performing that they would otherwise use to work for money. Or, as in the case of a dear friend's daughter who is a flute performance major at a large state university, they would get paid for playing in ensembles at official university functions. She gets paid to play at receptions at the president's home.</p>
<p>That is so interesting to me that in a city like New Orleans, music languished at Tulane. Like your kids, my son was in his H.S. jazz band (Alto Sax). Although he did not try out for the Tulane Jazz Band, he has been playing with friends at local open mic nights. Maybe we should get a letter written and sent to President Cowen along the lines of Along~ suggestion?</p>
<p>I wonder if it is marching/symphonic band that languished, but others stayed alive? No idea myself, just asking. Concerned, you mentioned a Jazz Band. Does anyone know if there is just one? Are there other ensembles/student-organized bands? The "local" open mic nights are campus? Garden District? the Quarter?</p>
<p>I understood that there are two jazz bands at Tulane; my son met the director and really liked him as well as the Diector of Bands. My son had been to Jazz Fest in New Orleans one year, and he had the impression that New Orleans was jazz all the time but in reality there is not a lot of jazz there now except for Jazz Fest which is tremendous. Loyola is very strong in music, and LSU's music school is well regarded nationally, so that might explain why music isn't as strong at Tulane. The new band director I think (too many college visits too close together!) said he had come from NYU where he had evidently done an excellent job of "growing" their band program. Really nice guy. My son would really enjoy working with him.</p>
<p>Jax, you're correct. The new director is from NYU. Sounds like Tulane knew what they were doing when they hired him. It's not easy to "grow" a band program, and finding someone with success at it is hard. It's difficult to manage the recovery of a music program at the middle or high school level that only suffers a blip of a year or two. However, there are success stories of dynamic directors like him all over our state, and it's amazing how fast band enrollment can mushroom under their direction. I hope the same is true at Tulane. So many students do not want a degree in music, but it is such an important part of their lives that they find room in their schedule to continue on in college and at the community level. I am a former band booster president and my h is the webmaster of the booster web site. I have just completed a several month project of researching how many of the 1115 school districts in our state have comprehensive band websites. I found two bands in our state that are rebuilding or starting up. One started up in a small town two years ago and now has 57 students in the band, and one started up again after decades of not having one and just attended their first marching contest this year where they were quite proud to recieve a division 2 rating. In the wake of budget cuts, it made me feel so good to see boosters and alumni work so hard for them and to read their success story because music education is important.</p>
<p>I will give the best impression I can of the trip. D came home and has not said much. I think she is overwhelmed. Dad is trying not to say to much so as to not influence her decision.
I have to preface that they had gone to Tulane directly from another school in a colder climate. Tulane was to my husband what he imagined a college campus in the east to look like.
When this visit was first planned D had not been admitted yet. They found out the day before they were leaving that she was in. That was great since they both felt that it made them see the campus in a different light. The orginal plan was to wander the campus and do a tour. They had set up no appointments. They arrived late and in the morning called the admissions office who were helpful. They set up a meeting with a counselor that morning. The counselor was nice and gave them a history of the school. She called over to the business school and arranged for them to meet someone there. They met with the Director of BSM admissions. He was helpful and talked to my D about options for achieving her long term goals. He explained that you do not enter the business school till your Jr year after 2 years in the liberal arts and sciences college and then enter the Freeman school for the last 2 yrs. There are some prerequisite courses that must be taken.
This will be the last class that is admitted under this system. The class of 2006 will apply and enter the business school as freshman.
They went back and attended the information session. It was a bit weak, part of the time spent watching a video. The young woman running the info session was a recent graduate. They were the only 2 at the info session and also on the tour. The tour guide was a freshman from LA. He was really helpful and honest with them. He loved the school. He also felt that even though he was close enough to bring a car next year he felt he didn't need one.<br>
A question for all of you- Did you visit on a weekend and was the campus alive?</p>
<p>They were also given passes to eat in the freshman dining hall. D liked the food. Husband felt the campus was alive with people. For any of those with D's you might understand D's statement that the people seemed "normal". Both my husband and my D could see her there. So I think she came home thinking that Tulane was definitely an option.
I think one thing confusing her was that they had been the previous day at a program for admitted students at another school that was an extremely well run program. D also liked the other school. It was a bit smaller and definitely colder. She could also picture herself there. Husband thought the first school was okay but that the students were not of the same caliber as D. Her stats at the first school put her in the top percent of their applicants. So along with that came merit money. Also the program is more specific to D's interest. And she felt she could major in the program and easily minor in a foreign language. The campus was not nearly as nice but then it was still all brown from winter. The campus on the weekend was deserted. Freshman are allowed cars and I think that the school empties out on the weekend.<br>
So I would say that she liked the campus and definitely the weather in Tulane. But the individual program at the other school better. She also realizes that Tulane is a higher ranked school then the other.<br>
Tulane did tell her she should know in the next few weeks if she is getting any merit aid. The counselor told her to call in 2 weeks if she hadn't heard yet and she would look into it.
She has 2 others that she is in at that but hasn't seen. And is still awaiting 4 more. I am hoping that we don't have to visit them all.<br>
I think that Tulane would be a good match for her. I know it will end up being a hard decision for her.<br>
They stayed at the Best western St Christopher where they had a great rate. Thanks to a tip from ConcernedDad. The location and the service were great.
And sorry to say she is not a musician. So no band for her.</p>
<p>Sounds like a productive trip. Lots to think about...</p>
<p>We flew in on a Sunday morning just to make sure we saw the campus on the weekend. We spent the morning in the French Quarter then spent the afternoon on Tulane's campus doing a self-styled tour. Lots of the buildings were open so that we could wander the halls, look at posters and displays, getting a feel for several different departments. Yes, the campus was very alive on Sunday afternoon. We were very pleased to see all the activity. Lots of kids were playing softball on several different fields, lots of kids outside milling around, lots of kids coming in and out of the bubble and dining. We didn't see the rec facility until a school day, but it is very nice, lots to do there.</p>