Tulane vs. Alabama vs. UofSC

College Search & Selection
1

Hi,
My son is deciding between Tulane, Alabama, and UofSC (Honors at all of them). He is a public health major on a pre-med track. With merit scholarships, they are all within about $5,000 of each other. Alabama is the least expensive with the Presidential Scholarship, but as tuition goes up, the cost will go up, while his scholarship will not. He has a full-tuition scholarship at Tulane, but it doesn’t cover “fees” and the fees there are very high ($5000+). UofSC will be about the same price as Tulane - he will pay in-state tuition plus receive a small scholarship. He loves things about each school:

Alabama - Pros: loves the campus and school spirit/sports (he applied to and is waiting to hear if he is accepted to University Fellows Experience and/or McCullough Institute for Pre-Medical Scholars). Cons - not in or near a city, far from home and not easy to get to, and if he doesn’t get into one of the programs, the Honors College is VERY large.

Tulane - Pros: loves the location in New Orleans, they have a great school of Public Health, and a big focus on community service. Cons: Not as large as he would like, far from home although easier to get to than Alabama, and lacks the school spirit around sports (I understand they have school spirit, but I am talking about sports teams).

UofSC - Pros: one of the best public Honors Colleges in the country, in a small city, and closer to home (driveable in one day if need be). Cons: he liked, but didn’t love the campus, it has the sport culture, but the football stadium is not integrated with the campus.

I know he will get a great education at all of these schools - and any school is what you make of it. I told him to focus on finding the right fit. But, if anyone has any additional insight into culture, academics, social experience, student support, pre-med advising, ease of getting research, shadowing, internships, volunteering opportunities, etc. at any of these schools, I would appreciate you sharing your insight, as it might help him in making his decision.

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From a socio-economic standpoint Tulane will have more wealthy students with a large group from OOS areas like NE and CA. 40% of the students are Jewish which which could be a pro/con to your family?

The overall student body will have higher test scores / GPA than Alabama and USC but if in the Honors colleges might not be a significant difference. Tulane is big on community service during college but does not have big-time sports.

Of the 3 colleges, Tulane will be the most liberal/moderate with Alabama and SC more conservative and a higher proportion of in-state students.

You have three very good options for the money.

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Only about 39% in-state students at Alabama. 21% at Tulane. 62% at South Carolina.

What does your son want to study ? Any career goals ?

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@Publisher - thank you! His career goals are in my original post. He is a public health major on a pre-med track. He wants to be a doctor.

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If admitted to either University Fellows or Pre-Medical Scholars at UA, then Alabama may be a wise choice. Also, the fact that UA-Honors is very large is a positive as he will be surrounded by academically motivated students.

For many, Tulane is almost synonymous with “pre-med”.

South Carolina Honors College & proximity to ocean & Charleston offers the potential of a great lifestyle.

Personnal preference in my opinion.

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@Publisher thank you! He was notified today that he got into Alabama Pre-Medical Scholars, but he is still waiting on UFE. He’s having a difficult time deciding for all the reasons you stated above:-).

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What great options! Just some anecdotes from a mom whose D graduated from U of SC in 2019. Tulane was her other main contender. We visited Alabama but she saw some of the same cons there that your S noted.

D has three friends from Honors College in med school now: two are in state and one is at JHU. The two in state were accepted after junior year; I don’t know if that program is available to non-SC residents. The JHU student was one of D’s roommates and she had extensive volunteer, research, and health care experience (during the school year in Columbia and in Charleston for at least one summer). The Honors College should be able to set your mind at ease on pre-med preparation and opportunities.

Even though the football stadium isn’t on campus, it’s easily accessible by shuttle (free for students). Game days are huge with tens of thousands of students and visitors heading down well before game time. Huge student section with great seats
to which students can get “points” by seeing other sporting events on campus (my D liked soccer) to assure them of getting free tickets (she had them for every game, all four years). Basketball is a close walk from campus and the arena is a great place to see a game. Lots of bars and restaurants close to campus and reasonably priced (can’t compare with the quality of food and drink in New Orleans, of course, but might be more manageable on a student budget) as well as things like CVS, Walgreen’s, and fast food/takeout options to fill in meal plan gaps.

One thing you mentioned that I didn’t think would matter, but did: Having the option to drive, even if makes for a long day, is nice. We are in PA so SC was a 10-11 hour drive. She flew a couple of times her first year; but then she made friends. One lived in MD and had a car, so D would ride most of the way back with her (and 2 other students) and then I’d pick her up, so a less than 2 hour drive each way for me. Another friend lived in CT, so they would drive to our house, friend and other New England students would stay overnight with us, and then they’d finish the drive the next day. D took a car her last two years (internships) so we never drove down again until graduation. She did fly home at Thanksgiving those years.

We all really, really liked Tulane; but even with generous merit, the cost differential was substantially more than you’re facing, which made D’s final choice easier. Congratulations to your S on such great awards; seems like he can’t go wrong with any of the three options.

There’s a frequent poster whose S graduated from U of A and whose D is currently at U of SC. @Mom2aphysicsgeek can you help? Also reaching out to @mom2collegekids who knows more about U of A than nearly anyone and had at least one med school S.

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@LuckyCharms913 thank you so much for your thoughtful and thorough response - I really appreciate it. You make great points! I am happy to hear that your daughter had a wonderful experience at SCHC and I am happy to know that the location of the stadium does not negatively impact game days at all:-). And, yes it is REALLY nice to be able to drive to or from school in one day, if need be.

How did your daughter find the academic support, opportunities for research, internship opportunities, job search support, etc. at SCHC?

Thank you!

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@LuckyCharms913 @mom2collegekids has been very helpful - I find her posts very informative and reached out to her via dm. Thank you!

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Academic support from SCHC was good. They provide a second advisor, in addition to the one in your major. Don’t think my D had any issues getting into classes, meeting requirements, etc.

Since my D was in the Business School, she didn’t need (and wasn’t especially interested in) research. Among her science but non-pre-med friends, I know of one who did a summer REU at Penn State, another at UMD, and another who lived in Columbia at least one summer to work in the engineering lab. Those first two are now in PhD programs at Vanderbilt (Biomedical Engineering) and JHU (BioChem); the third is doing a 5th year Engineering Master’s at U of SC (all fully funded). Obviously they are all very bright people, but it seems like they also got the preparation and contacts they needed to land great opportunities after graduation.

D had an internship junior year that she got through the B school career office (pretty straightforward process). That, in turn, led her to a summer internship back home (Philadelphia) with a company she heard of at that job. For post-graduation, Career Services wasn’t as helpful because D wanted to work in the mid-Atlantic region if possible, whereas U of SC’s recruiting (and this was strictly B school, not SCHC) is understandably more focused on Charlotte and southward. Also, D realized that she didn’t really like the field that her internships were in (fortunately, she found that out before taking a F/T job), which meant looking in other fields. She hustled and applied broadly and did end up with a really good job, but it was stressful for a while there.

The SCHC is strongly academically focused, as about 2/3 of the students reportedly go on to medical, law, or other grad programs. My kid, although very bright, is not a “life of the mind” kind of person. She enjoyed her classes, but she also wanted to have fun and make friends and travel (semester in Spain and Maymester Holocaust classes were high points), which she was able to do; so overall, she had a great experience.

Again, these are just anecdotes. I think a driven student would find equal (maybe even better) opportunities at UA or Tulane, especially as a pre-med. This is a situation where your S has no bad choices.

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@LuckyCharms913 thank you so much! I find the anecdotes very helpful, and know that each individual student has a different experience:-). So, thank you for sharing them! I agree that a driven student will be successful wherever they go - but, I have now told him to focus on finding the place that will make him the happiest.

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Choose Tulane. Best School and Program for what he wants to do

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@Tuitionsaver thank you. And thank you to everyone who has responded. I hope you are all staying safe during these trying times in the world. So, we have some updated information - My son got accepted to McCollough Institute for Pre-Medical Scholars and University Fellows Experience at University of Alabama. He also received additional scholarship money from Bama. The scholarships total $31,250 year 1 (which will cover full tuition and fees for the first year) and will stay at a fixed $30,250 for the last 3 years (even if tuition increases). He has a full-tuition scholarship at Tulane, but it doesn’t cover fees, which are $4,000-$5,000! So, his total cost at Bama is about 13k/year and at Tulane will be about 20k/year. Neither is a deal-breaker.

He has eliminated UofSC b/c it is more expensive than Tulane and Alabama.

He is REALLY struggling to decide between Tulane and Alabama -

Tulane pros - he LOVES NOLA (he is a musician), excellent school of public health and very good track record of students getting into medical school.
Cons - no program/small cohort like University Fellows Experience or McCollough Institute for Pre-Medical Scholars, not a strong football culture (compared to Bama), smaller than he originally wanted.

Bama pros - McCollough Institute for Pre-Medical Scholars, University Fellows Experience, loves the school spirit and football culture, beautiful campus with great facilities, likes the large size.
Cons - Not in or near a vibrant city, School of Public Health is not as strong as Tulane’s, Tuscaloosa is difficult to get to.

Any additional insight is appreciated. Thank you @LuckyCharms913 @Publisher @socaldad2002

Stay safe everyone!

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I’m actually a student that got accepted into Tulane, USC Honors, Alabama and then UFE program there. These are my top three as well. Tulane is my favorite but wanting to go to law school especially, it is by far the most expensive for me. Alabama is the cheapest but after rushing and things it’s relatively close to USC in cost and I think I liked USC a little more than Alabama as I worry Alabama might be too big for me.

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Does the University of Alabama law school still waive the LSAT requirement for UA Honors College students ?

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Yes, but because UA Law is top 25 in the country it isn’t a safe bet that even an Alabama student will get in so they end up taking it anyway for other schools.

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@animallover345 congrats! Don’t you think being part of UFE will make Bama feel smaller than UofSC? My son is really torn between Bama and Tulane. He wishes he could take Bama/UFE/McCollough and drop it in New Orleans:)

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Maybe in a community sense yes it will make Bama smaller. But, the campus is still huge and I will still be walking 20 minutes to class (and yes I did ask current students that question and it is a reality for them all even though “all the classes will be close to each other” which clearly isn’t true.) The honors college at South Carolina also, in my opinion, is more prestigious than UFE at bama. UFE gives great opportunity to be involved in the community but I genuinely don’t think it provides anything to my classroom education at all. It’s just an opportunity to do community service which isn’t going to be a decision maker for me personally. But Bama and USC although having Honors colleges with smart kids, USC especially since it’s the best public honors college, does give a better chance of graduating high in the class with a big fish in a small pond idea (less extremely gifted students and no offense to Bama and USC that’s just the reality of a school like Tulane). Tulane is the better school by far but with that, it’s a lot more difficult to be the top of the class when we are all most likely now just average students at a school like Tulane whereas we are most likely still top of the class at Bama and USC.

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@animallover345 interesting perspective. I guess it depends on what is most important to you. It sounds like you have some excellent choices. Best of luck with your decision!

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What’s most important to me is going to a school where I can succeed and be supported. Although I love giving back, the most important thing in my education is me.