<p>I got a $20,000 scholarship to Tulane and my mom is applying for a 90% discount on Northwestern tuition because she has been an employee for 27 years. </p>
<p>I absolutely fell in love with the Tulane campus and the city of New Orleans and I have lived in Chicago my entire life. The northwestern campus is 15 minutes away from my house. </p>
<p>What puts Northwestern above Tulane?
How is the overall social life?
WHAT SHOULD I DO?</p>
<p>The fact that it’s pretty much in an entirely superior league to NU, you can go home easily for holidays at no cost, and NU will actually cost LESS than Tulane.</p>
<p>This one’s a no brainer, unless you don’t like NU.</p>
<p>I think NU pretty much has Tulane beat on its reputation and ‘academic prestige.’ Should that be the most important factor is your decision? No. I also don’t believe Tulane has a bad reputation at all. The Middle 50% ACT for NU is 30-34 while TU’s is 28-32. This shows that in the class rooms, there’s certainly some overlap in terms of your peers. However, I don’t think you can ignore what arbiter has mentioned above. If NU will cost $30k less than TU, why go to TU? TU is certainly in a unique city, and has unique programs for some of its majors. It is also something new to someone from Ill and a tremendous amount warmer. I just can’t see spending that much more per year to go to any school regardless of ‘prestige’ or appeal. If you love Tulane that much, and got into NU fine, perhaps Tulane’s Financial aid department should be made aware that TU is your first choice by far. TU wants people that love TU and will champion its cause . TU is so far removed, being in South Louisiana for the last 175 years that it appreciates geographic diversity a lot. 75% of the university comes from more than 500 miles away. I think your only problem with regards to this would be that there are so many Chicago people that go to Tulane, they may not budge on your package as you’re not that unique an applicant. I would definitely ask though. Good luck. There are also much worse things than having to go to Northwestern too. :)</p>
<p>If you can go to NU for less $$ than Tulane, it is no contest. NU is the vastly superior school: academics are fantastic, reputation to match. You will love the social life.</p>
<p>Go to NU and visit New Orleans as much as you want, but for Heaven’s sake, don’t make the mistake of paying more to go to Tulane over NU.</p>
<p>Social life at Tulane is amazing. It’s completely got Northwestern beat! If you want a good education with an amazing social life, Tulane is the place to be. No funner place to be than New Orleans.</p>
<p>Definitely no funner place, since “funner” isn’t a word.</p>
<p>:P</p>
<p>Definitely NU! Tulane is…well…not even on the same level academically as NU…(not to bash Tulane)</p>
<p>I think, and hope, beyond_stressed was joking. Regardless, I don’t think anyone here or anywhere believes TU is superior or even on the same level as Northwestern academically. TU is very good, but not NU-level. As I mentioned earlier, the Middle 50% ACT for NU is 30-34 while TU’s is 28-32. This shows that in the classrooms, there’s certainly some overlap in terms of your peers. NU clearly has the edge though. I think the question is whether or not it’s worth it to go to a school that you love but that costs more and is not as well regarded. I think it’s complicated. I think you can easily make an argument for TU over NU if cost is not a factor. Here cost absolutely is a factor. I don’t see how anyone could argue for picking TU over NU with a $30,000 difference in NU’s favor. By the same token, I also don’t believe NU would be worth $45k a year more than a full ride at a state school.</p>
<p>Academically, Northwestern is a vastly superior school. The opportunities and education that you will have at Northwestern will far exceed what you can expect to get at Tulane</p>
<p>“Vastly superior” is a bit of a stretch. I think its more in line with a comparison between Columbia and NYU. NU is clearly better academically speaking but Tulane is not that much less regarded. NU is ivy caliber and is very competitive at a national level. TU is a “southern ivy,” which is a cute little moniker with no real meaning other than to suggest that the school is very competitive with its peer schools in the South (GA Tech, Emory, Vandy, UVA.) Tulane was ranked in the top 10 in the world for Finance in 2008. It has several other programs that are in the top 10. NU is simply going to have more programs at that level. I have two degrees from TU, mainly because I was able to go to TU for free and I’m from the South. It has massive appeal south of the Mason-Dixon Line. I’m therefore biased. Notice though the that majority of posts here about NU’s academic superiority (which I don’t dispute) come from the NU community and/or the state of Illinois. I think you should go to NU, based solely on cost. The reputation is better, but depending on where you want to live and work, it will probably not matter too much as they both have good rep’s. No matter where you end up working, debt is debt. Don’t pick it up if you don’t have to.</p>
<p>For an arts & sciences education, Columbia IS regarded as being “vastly superior” to NYU (performing arts and undergrad business being among a limited number of exceptions); it is also MUCH HARDER to get into.
Also, I cannot speak for reputations in the south, but in the north Emory, Vandy and especially UVa have academic reputations which are “VASTLY superior” to Tulane.
This is not to say that both NYU and Tulane are not fine schools; I believe they are, but their reputations for academic excellence are not in the same league with the others to which they are compared^^.</p>
<p>For reference:</p>
<p>UVA ENROLLMENT (FALL 2008) from UVA’s website
13,762 undergraduate students
18,048 applications
6,274 offers of admission (35% admitted)
3,260 students enrolling
1280-1490 middle half of class SAT I (1385)
ACT not reported</p>
<p>Tulane ENROLLMENT (FALL 2008) from TU’s website
Applied 34,117
Admitted 27%
Enrolled 1550
SAT, Middle 50%
Composite 1880-2150 (equivalent to 1365 average)
ACT, Middle 50% Composite 28-32</p>
<p>Perhaps I have a different definition of “vastly superior” 
I call that peer group. Clearly we are debating semantics here. Actually down here we think of Vandy > Emory > Tulane & UVA. Most southerners also don’t think NYU is vastly inferior to Columbia. Perhaps though, it’s possible we just don’t like the word “vastly.”</p>
<p>Tulane is not even in the same academic zip code as NU. They may have bamboozled some good students into coming to New Orleans but they sure don’t have any other claims to being a top academic school. The faculty is second-rate as is the research productivity. NU faculty win around 35 major awards per year, Tulane–fewer than 10. NU has 40 NAS members, Tulane 3. You get the trend.</p>
<p>I have given UVa some grief around CC but it too is far superior to Tulane when you consider faculty and other resources. Tulane is really second-rate compared to all the other schools mentioned (Emory, Vandy, UVa, etc.)</p>
<p>Because UVa is a state university, you can’t compare its overall admissions stats to Tulane’s which is private. Comparing the UVa admissions stats for out-of-staters (although I have no idea where/how to find them) to Tulane’s would show how much harder UVa is to get into. It is probably one of the top two or three state universities in the country, comparable to many top tier private universities, and respected more than Tulane on a purely academic level.</p>
<p>maybe i’m just a little biased :)</p>
<p>At what point did I say NU and TU are on the same level? However, I will say that in terms of faculty awards and such, one reason for TU’s smaller numbers is that NU is TWICE AS BIG as Tulane. I still agree, as I’ve said in every post, that NU is the better school. I just think people are way out of hand on how bad TU is. I also love when people state “well, if you just remove this group of students or that group of students then compare…” I’m sorry, but that’s BS. I like UVA, but don’t pretend, regardless of ‘perceived prestige’ that UVA is that much better (if at all) at the undergraduate level. </p>
<p>It’s the same rhetoric that says TU sends out too many applications and advertisements around the country, and that’s why they get so many applications. Actually, that IS why. It’s called marketing. Frankly, the fact that so many people have an opinion of a school that, including grad students, has 11,000 students and is located in South Louisiana says that the school must be doing something right. Oh yeah, they also charge $200k for 4 years. Yet people still go. That being said, I still love UVA. I also think NU is great. I just don’t get the TU bashing from people that have never even visited the school and know nothing of its programs. </p>
<p>These are the same people that talk about crime in New Orleans and the fact that flooding is still around from Katrina. It’s one thing to compliment a school without the facts and experience derived from visiting and interaction with faculty ect. It’s a completely different thing to bash a school that you have never had any contact with. If some jerk or some moronic classmate of yours from your old high school went to TU, well, that is at least some point of reference. Of course then you’re assuming that they are the only type of person that goes to TU.</p>
<p>How many faculty members at TU have you spoken with? </p>
<p>It’s one thing to compliment a school without the facts and experience derived from visiting and interaction with faculty ect. It’s a completely different thing to bash a school that you have never had any contact with. If some jerk or some moronic classmate of yours from your old high school went to TU, well, that is at least some point of reference. Of course then you’re assuming that they are the only type of person that goes to TU.</p>
<p>My problem has never been with the characterization of UVA as a great school, and certainly not that NU is a great school. My problem is when people think everything that touches New Orleans (and frankly the South in general) is somehow less-than. Luckily UVA is close enough to DC that they’ve avoided this stigma. When I was at Tulane, I even had to hear comments about the South from my Northern friends WHILE in New Orleans. I never understood why they came down here when they agreed with the pervasive opinion of the South as bad. </p>
<p>This all being said, and I apologize for getting waaaay off topic, Bmurphy should go to NU. Down here, debt is bad. Debt=no A/C = dead</p>
<p>First-CONGRATULATIONS on getting accepted to both Tulane and NU. No easy feat this year! My guess is that you have maybe a different perspective/criteria as to which school is the best choice for you. The fact that you can attend NU at a RELATIVELY afforadable rate is attractive, and may be a factor in your decision.
There is also the merit of going to school out of state-out of your comfort zone. From that perspective, Tulane would have an advantage over NU. That factor may support the additional monies to attend Tulane.
Your call-G’Luck! APOL</p>
<p>Benetode-
That diatribe was a bit of an overreaction. And I was not “bashing” Tulane, which is a fine school. I just don’t think it’s as fine as NU or UVa. And it was you who raised the admissions stats of TU vs. UVa, which I merely pointed out were inapposite for the reasons I stated (i.e., state universities are much easier for in-staters than out-of-staters, and the UVa stats for OOS applicants are daunting).</p>
<p>As my first post above indicates, I think the debt issue is key here. If the financial burdens as between NU and TU had been reversed, I would have advised going to Tulane, but I don’t see how one could possible justify spending a lot more money to go to Tulane over NU.</p>
<p>Relax. You seem to have a bit of a chip on your shoulder.</p>
<p>WCAS, point taken…chip gone I agree with you that NU is the clear winner and that it’s a better academic school. We’ll have to agree to disagree about ways to discern caliber between UVA and TU for undergrad but regardless, sorry for the tirade. I’m a big fan of UVA. I have just never seen any stats that say its above TU’s caliber for undergrad while I have seen stats that show they educate the same “quality” students. Also, I wasn’t responding to only your post. I will however keep tirades to a minimum from now on. :)</p>