Tulane VS IU and Michigan

Hello,
I am high school senior who is looking to study business- specifically marketing or management. I was accepted to Kelley at Indiana direct admit, UMich LSA, and Tulane recently along with others but those are my top options. I was wondering what people thought of higher, IU Kelley or Tulane Business school. I know Tulane is more prestigious, but does it change when it comes to business. (Im not completely ruling out Michigan, but I know it is hard to transfer internally and I am scared to risk not getting in). Please give me your insight! Thanks

I have a one kid at IU/Kelley and one at Tulane (but not business, so I can only comment in IU business). Internal transfers are very difficult at Kelley and even harder at Michigan, so I would absolutely take a direct admit if you know you want to be in the business school. The good thing about Tulane is you can change schools from Liberal Arts to Business to Science pretty easily without having to worry about transferring into a school.

IU on it’s own is not super prestigious, but they are very well known for two things: Jacobs School of Music and they Kelley Business school. My son’s experience at Kelley has been outstanding. They have strong relationships with many big companies in the Midwest and East Coast, and have a reputation of graduating a class of kids that is ready for the business world on Day 1. I’ve been impressed with how they teach a blend of theoretical and real-life scenarios. I’m in the business world myself, so I can relate to what my son is telling me from his classes. The classes are competitive, and there are a lot of ambitious kids there; you do have to study and work hard.

The only thing I know about Tulane’s business school is they have a trading room, and their business buildings looked pretty nice, but to your point Tulane has an overall good reputation across all their majors. I also believe they are focused more on a well-rounded education and encourage you to take classes in all areas before deciding, whereas at Kelley you are there for business.

That being said, Tulane and IU are very different schools, and I could go on and on about the differences. I think it’s better if you went where felt it was the best fit overall and not just look at the reputation of b-school rankings since they are both good schools. Other factors that come into play are school size, location, money, etc. Have you visited these schools?

My daughter is facing the same dilemma. Even with merit, Tulane is $20k more on average per year. She is looking at IU Kelley, OSU Fisher, Miami Farmer, and waiting on decisions from UIUC Gies, U of F, and University of Miami. She is pre-business at UW. Her #1 choice is Tulane. We are leaning Tulane as she is interested in Business Marketing but not 100% certain and likes exposure to a Liberal Arts education and well as flexibility for multiple majors and minors. She also likes the prestige, smaller class sizes, location/mild weather, exposure to kids from all over the country (not mostly Midwest), less cutthroat/more collaborative culture, and commitment to community service.

The president seems very involved and competent (I believe his contract was renewed last year). He attended Harvard and Yale (Law) and is good friends with Justice Sotomayor. She gave a speech at Tulane.
Tulane has been busy building the last few years including improvements in the business school, dining hall/student center, planning to improve engineering, and dorms. We are visiting the shortlisted schools within the next few months and hopefully one school will be a clear choice.
Based on cost (will perform more research), I am looking at U of F which has a great Marketing program and is reasonable OOS $. It is also a highly ranked national state school with mild weather. Their decision doesn’t come out until March. It is a very big school.

By the way, I noticed from your other posts that you play lacrosse. My daughter played throughout HS and is looking at club options. Maybe she will run into you at either Kelley or Tulane.

I am looking at friends for her who are good influence - focused first on academics but also will balance the social aspects and life experiences that college life offers.

We also hope that she stays humble, hardworking, focused, caring, and “grounded.”

Good luck to you and congratulations on your Tulane acceptance. From everything I hear, Tulane is improving each year and is increasingly more selective.

There are really good business undergraduate school reviews here: https://poetsandquantsforundergrads.com/category/rankings/

I’m a senior who is also in the same deliberation as you. So far, my top options are between Tulane, IU Kelley, and Miami Farmer. I’m leaning more towards Tulane because just in case I decide business is not for me, I can easily change majors and still be in a great program. The problem with IU is despite Kelley being a great business school if I decide to switch majors, I don’t see any of my options being better than anything at Tulane. I also prefer smaller, more tight-knit academic environments and ample access to large cities, which Tulane delivers on – Bloomington is more of a college town with IU being a very large state school. Miami has a good business school as well and is an in-state option for me, but I really really want to leave Ohio.

Tulane’s business school from what I’ve heard is respectable. Probably not as highly ranked as Kelley, but still a very good program with strong opportunities. I’m waiting on a couple of other decisions (including my ED2 to NYU), but Tulane is the most likely choice for me. Congratulations on your acceptances and let us know which one you end up choosing! Honestly, you can’t go wrong with any of them.

My wife and I are alums of Tulane, both graduating in the mid-1990s (not business, however). Tulane overall has an excellent reputation, but in my opinion, its undergraduate business school isn’t quite on the same level as IU Kelley. Having said that, I get your point that if you decide to change majors, Tulane’s national brand might carry more weight than say a comparable non-business degree from IU. As another poster has said, once you get outside of Kelley and Jacob, a degree from IU maybe doesn’t have that “oomph” that a Tulane degree has. At that point, it might depend on where you want to work/live after college. I lived in the upper mid west after college, and I never got the sense that the Tulane name carried the same weight than if I had lived in the south. Not sure how it’s perceived in the northeast or west.

Thank you for your input! I am visiting Indiana and Michigan in a few weeks, and I have a sibling at Tulane.

What a coincidence! Let me know where your daughter decides to go!

Thank you! Let me know where you decide

Thanks to everyone who responded.

I will provide updates as my daughter completes her visits and possibly updates her preferences. At this point, she keeps saying, “Roll Wave!”

I also showed her these posts.

A few points:

  1. If you want to go into marketing as a career, it is not one bit necessary to go to an undergraduate business school. One of my children went to the Ross business school at U-Mich and works in the same job alongside Michigan grads who were in LSA and non-business grads from many other top schools.
  2. Think about what you will be studying, how you will be educated -- not just what you think you want your career to be.
  3. Make a spreadsheet of the EXACT course requirements at each school. Once you have that laid out, you'll know where you want to go.

Thank you!

My D is trying to figure out the same: accepted direct to Kelley business and Tulane. She loves loves Tulane for all the reasons mentioned and is particularly interested in the Altman program. Still waiting on a few more decisions and need to then compare financial packages to see what makes sense. No doubt Tulane would be her best fit but scholarship/FA packages are unfortunately an important component for us.

Well we are down to the following schools in rank order for Business Marketing (daughter is not 100% certain regarding the major; there is some chance that she may change like other young students): Tulane (Freeman), University of Florida (Warrington) and Indiana (Kelley). Beyond those top three, we have others (University of Miami, Ohio State, UMD, Miami OH, UIUC, UW Madison, etc…)

Among the three, Tulane is about $20k more for us (even though they have been very generous) than the other two and we (parents only, daughter is all in on Tulane) are still researching and deciding whether the following benefits of Tulane (not comprehensive) justify the extra costs (current and future) in light of the current situation/uncertainty: Smaller, personalized school; high caliber student body; service-oriented culture; admittance to all schools and easier to change/enroll in multiple majors/minors; small class sizes; accessible faculty; great NOLA city experience; collaborative/non-cutthroat culture; regional diversity/efforts at ethnic diversity; new capital investments (buildings, dorms); weather; etc…

We feel very fortunate that my daughter received the acceptance (approx. 13 %) among a highly qualified applicant pool.

As it relates to the current situation from my perspective, Tulane has been very good with communication and providing options to help admitted students with their decision. Their admission staff is very helpful and responsive. Cost is really the last big variable.

Please provide your updates/recommendations if you are still debating or made a decision.

It would be nice to have until June 1st to decide. Hopefully, all schools join in on the new deadline if possible.

Also think more broadly whether a big public vs a private research university is the right fit for your student. I teach at a major public and have a sophomore at Tulane. I think we can offer a great education but the experience is MUCH different. Our daughter has thrived in this environment and I think the Tulane scale has been very positive for her - lots of opportunities, very flexible in exploring and shifting etc. I think the flexibility at Tulane is one of its key academic attractions. Tulane is in a great city - our daughter knew she wanted to be in a cool city and she loves NO. It offers so much (not just partying!) and Tulane is very well integrated with the community in terms of required service learning courses, volunteering etc. If that matters to your student, that’s a significant factor.

^^^ Regarding what works at Tulane…this. 1000 times this.^^^

I’m going to play devil’s advocate because I have a kid at Tulane and another one at IU. I do not envy in incoming freshman right now or their parents as they grapple with some really difficult financial decisions. Some will have to give up their first choice school, and some might have to give up college for now if they don’t have the money.

@dednimnepo , I’ll break down your factors since IU (and other public schools) DO have a lot to offer, but may not market some of these things as well as Tulane does.

Smaller, personalized school: Yes, no denying that. You can easily walk to one end of the campus to the other. No need for buses, Lime scooters or bikes to get anywhere you need to go.

High caliber student body: Tie. I would say depending on the major, you will find that high caliber at both schools. I would not rank Tulane business students any better than an IU business student.

Service-Oriented culture: Here’s where I think there is marketing vs. reality. If you are committed to serve and volunteer, there are tons of opportunities at both schools. Tulane has a mandatory service requirement, but so did my son’s high school. Service is as much or as little as you put into it. Both have an abundance of opportunities, or you can do the bare minimum.

Admittance to all schools and easier to change/enroll: This is definitely a strong point of Tulane. I haven’t seen the ability to move from one school to another so easily in most of the colleges we visited.

Small class sizes: This is true, although for freshman core classes the class size is still rather large.

Accessible faculty: I’m not sure on this one. You have good / bad, accessible / not accessible professors at both schools.

Great NOLA city experience: YES! Nowhere else comes close to the NOLA.

Collaborative/non-cutthroat culture: Tie. IU is competitive, but not cutthroat at all. Same with Tulane. Both schools do grade on a curve in many of the classes, but I’ve never seen anyone refuse to help another in an effort to make sure they are on the high end of the curve.

Regional diversity/efforts at ethnic diversity: Tie. Both schools are still very ‘white’, but trying to make an effort to recruit minorities and international.

New capital investments (buildings, dorms): I would actually give the nod to IU over Tulane. Their facilities and their age seem to be nicer / newer than Tulane. Keep in mind that IU gets state funding, whereas Tulane is all private.

Weather: Having lived in the Midwest all my life, I hate Midwest winters! NOLA for sure, but I’ve never spent time there during summers or rainy season.

Thank you @texbritmom and @AH1310 for your responses. I agree with your assessments. My wife and I like IU/Kelley the best for business. We were extremely impressed with the UI Admitted Day overview. It was very well-run and organized. Kelley is a great value and closer to Chicago. If my daughter was 100% set on Marketing, my ranking would be Kelley, Florida, then Tulane. However, given that a small personalized school is a better fit for my daughter and I would like her to have another view of life outside the Midwest (and not be among 90% Floridians), Tulane may offer more options. The big issue is $, especially if the fall semester is online. We have not visited UF physically (we have virtually) and have a month to complete research and finalize a decision. Right now, my daughter and I see Tulane as an overall best fit; my wife is on the fence (due to distance, cost, and “perceived” party school reputation).

Party school reputation - mom of sophomore and faculty member elsewhere. There’s no more “partying” at Tulane than a lot of schools. And definitely less than some. This may have been different before Katrina, but that’s starting to be quite a while ago:-) Plenty of social options. I don’t think it’s more of a party school than IU (possibly less) and less than UF based on what I know. I work at a major public too and we definitely have a ton of partying … So I would say don’t let that be a factor. Cost and distance for sure are real variables.

Tulane is BIG PARTY school and NOLA is a great big party city If money is an issue, always go with the more affordable option especially with so many unknowns including the Fall semester. The situation that we are all in is very real and IMHO the economy will be greatly affected in the foreseeable future.

@collegeisago When offering your thoughts on a topic, it would be helpful to know the experience(s) you are basing them on. As an example, see the post by @texbritmom immediately above yours where she cites her standing as a current faculty member at a different university for comparison as well as the parent of a current Tulane student. Providing the background qualification lends credibility for those trying to obtain sound information based in real experience as opposed to a general perception or opinion. If people reading your post knew you had first or even second-hand knowledge on the topic it would go a long way in helping them decide whether it is worthy of consideration.