So time is running out and my daughter is having a difficult time deciding between these two schools. She is planning to study biology on a pre-med or pre-physical therapy track. We have visited both.
IU Pros: In-state with scholarship, so basically will pay only room/board. Accepted into Hutton Honors. Great school spirit. Big Ten sports. Quintessential college town. Closer to home.
IU Cons: Lower overall rankings vs. Tulane. Not as prestigious. Bit of a bubble for suburban Indy crowd. Feels like she worked so much harder than others accepted. Sorority rush is brutal.
Tulane Pros: $27k scholarship (1/2 tuition). More prestige. Higher rank. Smaller class sizes. New Orleans. Kids with higher stars similar to her. More chill sorority rush.
Tulane Cons: $27k more annually, $104k over 4 years (although we can afford it). Less school spirit. No big time sporting events. She was concerned during our visit that she wouldn’t fit in – 1/2 nerdy a capella/quidditch crowd and 1/2 rich snobby crowd.
Appreciate any/all comments. Thanks in advance.
Regarding the part about feeling like she worked so much harder than others accepted to IU:
That’s definitely true, but she was rewarded for working hard with a much better scholarship than others going to IU. You definitely see some bad students/people who put forth very little effort freshman year, but almost all of those people get weeded out after that. I personally wouldn’t worry about that too much. Also, getting into med school requires excellent grades, and that might be easier to accomplish if she’s competing against kids with lower stats.
Obviously I’m going to be a little biased because I will be attending IU in the fall, but here are my two cents. As someone who’s also looking to continue my education after my undergraduate studies (looking to attend law school), I also had to weigh in on prestige vs. competition. In my opinion, a degree from IU is very respectable and would not be looked down upon by other educational institutions, whether it be med or law school. That, coupled with a relatively lower competition level (in comparison to Tulane) that would set her up for a higher GPA, would probably be a winning combination in med school admissions. I’m a firm believer in that WHAT and HOW you do at college will be a way more accurate determinant for success in your future endeavors than WHERE you go to college.
However, that being said, I’m definitely no expert in the matter whatsoever. Honestly, at the end of the day, she should choose the school that makes her happiest 
Save your $104K for medical school and have your daughter go to IU. My D is graduating from IU Kelley this May. She has loved her 4 years there. My son is in medical school now ( he did not do undergrad at Tulane or IU) . Medical schools won’t care if your D goes to IU or Tulane ( with possibly a little more prestige). Go where the best fit is and which school she thinks she can get a higher GPA. There are plenty of IU premed students that go to medical school.
To me, IU Honors is just as prestigious as Tulane–maybe more so.
Because your daughter worked harder than the others, she was admitted to Hutton Honors.
To be blunt, commonsense goes a long way in the real world.
Another good reason to choose IU.
I’d go IU. I will say that Sorority rush is brutal but it has gotten better over the past couple of years. My D just went through the process and it is a couple weeks of pure agony. If you go through with an open mind then it goes better but if you only target a few houses then expect to be disappointed. Most of the people tend to fall in love with one or two houses and get their hearts broken when they get dropped in later rounds. Who you know doesn’t necessarily apply at IU either, my D had several houses that she knew members and they all cut her in round 1. Legacy status also doesn’t really matter, it might get you a 2nd round invite but after that it is up to the girls to keep getting invited back.
My D and all her friends found homes in chapters and she’s looking forward to living in the house next year and has joined the bike team and is training for the Little 500. But she also is active in her other groups and joined Dance Marathon so you don’t have to be in a Sorority to stay active. Even though she is in a sorority, she still hangs out with the friends she made in the fall so its not like you can only hang out with the members of your sorority. My D’s best friend is biology pre-med and Hutton Honors and is loving IU. My D was not Hutton initially but was invited to join after first semester.
The one thing with Sorority life, the social calendar is very active. Seems like they have something almost every night. That can seem overwhelming but you are not forced to participate. My D has skipped several parties if she has an exam the next day and I know her friends have done the same thing. She has never felt pressured to do anything she wasn’t comfortable with. Her sorority has one of the highest GPA’s on campus and they seem to want to keep it that way so that helps to keep it in perspective of why you are in school.
South Louisiana GPA Calculator: GPA is inversely proportional to distance from Bourbon Street
Tulane is a great school but for pre-med, biology, or other such, IU is excellent. Tulane is a great experience, don’t get me wrong, I went to school in the area and love it. But Premed being Premed, you really need to have the resources available to get thru the program.
Premed everywhere is hard. You need to get decent grades, and learn enough to pass the MCAT. And need research experience to have on your application. Here’s why I think IU is the better option:
- Mother Bear's (not a crawfish fan)
- IU Grade Distribution Database (you'll thank me for it)
- Lots of classes like Chem or Phys or Calc offered in summer (wonder why...)
- Good advising for premed, esp if you want to go to a local medical school (there's only one so...)
- Large classes means lots of good and not so good students, big fish theory
- IU tuition is all you can eat, not per credit (will become obvious later)
- IU being vast, esp biological sciences, it's relatively easy to get a research spot
Things unknown about other schools would be how good their hard subjects prepare you for the MCAT. You may get good grades, but at the end of the day an A in Orgo 2 is not as useful as a B+ and having solid knowledge of the material. That is, grade inflation / deflation.
The suburban bubble is understandable, and my student has created a mini-clique of friends that are all pretty much pre-med, incredible achievers, etc. Yea, there should be a BIO 101 section or two with kids from our school and a Kelley building just for us, but that’s life. Save your money for med school as everyone else says, or for CHEM 117 textbooks (you don’t want to know what that costs).
You can take the girl out of Indiana, but can you take the Indiana out of the girl?