<p>I have room on my list to apply to one more school, and the decision has come down to Tulane and Miami. I realize this thread as been done before, but the other threads I saw all were for different majors, and they focused a lot on that, so that's why I'm making a new thread.</p>
<p>I've been told that I would likely receive a scholarship at whichever I apply to, and my family would be able to pay, so cost isn't a factor.</p>
<p>The important things to me are academics in Biology and Math, how good they are at Grad school placement and Med school acceptance (not sure which I want yet), LGBT life, and also, the last thing that's important to me is the type of students there are there. I think both schools have a reputation of being "Party schools" filled with jocks, and while I like to go out partying/drinking every once in a while I really don't like the whole superficial bro mentality, and was wondering if they're both about equal for that, or if one is more friendly and intellectual than the other.</p>
<p>Runallday4: If you like Research then Tulane is the one to choose. Since Tulane is a member of AAU and if you dont know what AAU is, please click this <a href=“http://www.aau.edu/[/url]”>http://www.aau.edu/</a> . In addition, the other school is not even a member of AAU. So, Tulane is highly regarded as school with High Research for Grad and Phd level or even undergraduate you will be exposed to Research.</p>
<p>More importantly, the job market in Bio-Tech in NOLA is booming and that means you can be a part of the excitement with the right school and the right connection. That is just my two cents.</p>
<p>This is a really hard question to answer. First of all, and easiest, Tulane is not “filled with jocks”. I kind of doubt Miami is either, since even though they have a much better track record in major sports, they also have twice as many students. I would find it hard to believe the jocks dominate campus life, or that “jock-types” dominate campus life. But I really cannot speak to life at Miami.</p>
<p>I have always considered Miami and Tulane as very similar schools in many ways, with a few key differences. Besides the sports success I already mentioned, as well as the larger student population, Miami has a much higher percentage of Hispanic students and fewer students from the Northeastern USA. I think they are rather similar academically, and without looking I would think that they have a similar track record for med school and grad school admissions. I remember looking at the latter some time ago, and Tulane had an edge in these categories, but that is far more dependent on the student rather than the school.</p>
<p>Tulane is extremely accepting for LGBT. This is New Orleans, after all. I think if you look at the blog of TulaneJeff (Google it), he did a piece once on this topic. Finally, although Tulane does have a party school reputation (but then, almost every college does), you will find a LOT of students that do not get involved in that scene to any great extent.</p>
<p>Probably it makes the most sense for you to visit both and while you cannot make any deep conclusions based on a one or two day visit, you might at least get a gut reaction. Sometimes that is the best you can do.</p>
<p>If you say your family can pay (therefore assuming $$ isn’t too much of a constraint), why not apply to both? I don’t understand how there’s only one more place on your application. </p>
<p>I don’t know if you can fairly stereotype one school as more “bro” than the other. Honestly both schools will have the bros, and they’ll have the more intellectual-steer-clear-of-the-party types as well as a healthy mix between the two. It’s all about who you click with and who you surround yourself with. I will say that Miami has a much better football team, so you might see more of the football crazy college kids. But even with that, I’d hesitate to call one school more bro than the other. </p>
<p>On the LGBT note, both cities are well known as LGBT friendly, and both schools are liberal leaning.</p>
Don’t know if this applies to this student, but some high schools put a limit on the number of college apps they will process for each student. Presumably this is because they feel that otherwise some teachers that are often asked for recommendations and the guidance counselors would be overwhelmed.</p>
<p>At my school they average # of schools is 7, but you can apply to one or two more if you really want to. I’m got special permission to apply to 10, and even if I wanted to apply to both then I would need some reason why both would be so perfect for me. Overall, I just don’t see a reason to apply to both if I can do research now and make a decision.</p>
<p>Another thing I didn’t mention earlier that would be a factor in my decision is that amount of activism on campus. I know some colleges are very apathetic, but I’m looking to get involved with that once I’m on campus, so would one be better for that?</p>
<p>“I would need some reason why both would be so perfect for me”</p>
<p>Because they are both very favorable with merit money for top students…tell them that…</p>
<p>If you can’t visit, I see no reason why you have to pick between the two of them right now…agree with FC…differences are miniscule at this point with the information you are providing for criteria…</p>
<p>IF merit $$ is important to you and your family, apply to both and then decide…</p>
<p>runallday4: you said this: Another thing I didn’t mention earlier that would be a factor in my decision is that amount of activism on campus.</p>
<p>I would say that involvement in the community in Tulane is HUGE. In fact, all students are required to take a class in community involvement and/or be involved in a community project in order to graduate. </p>
<p>That is activism in my book but if you want political or very liberal activisme then you should apply to Berkeley. If I am not mistaken, they even do demostration in the school because the school is so…liberal in nature. </p>
<p>So, the choice is yours: community activisme in serving others or Berkeley with they political agenda on campus?..</p>
<p>Thanks for all the help guys! Right now I’m thinking of applying to Tulane EA around the middle of September, and that way I’ll have heard back hopefully before the close of EA at Miami. I’m pretty sure that I’ll be accepted at Tulane, but I’ve heard that anything can happen, so if I get deferred/denied I’ll still be able to apply to Miami. Hopefully it’ll take off a lot of the stress.</p>