Tulane vs Richmond vs Colby

Colleges and Universities A-Z Tulane University
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<p>Hey everyone,</p>

<p>I am currently making my final college list and had a question for you all. My school limits students to 12 colleges, so we really have to make a well balanced list. I recently got into Tulane, a school I consider a safety, early action. So that crossed off a lot of other safety schools, except for Richmond and Colby. What's everyone's thoughts on the three schools? Is it worth applying to the other two since I already got into Tulane? The other schools on my list are mostly Ivies and top liberal arts colleges. I am looking to study econ/government/history/math. I am also looking to get a strong foundation in the liberal arts. How do the three schools differ in terms of the kind and quality of education I would receive? Also, how do the three schools differ in terms of reputation in the job market? Where would I receive the best education for my fields of study and the humanities? Also please feel free to add anything else that would help me in making a decision. Thank you so much!</p>

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<p>I think every school on a list you will have will give you an excellent quality education. That is one of the amazing aspects of American universities is that quality goes very deep. Between those three, with regards to academics Tulane has the strongest research programs overall. The stats of the incoming freshmen appear to be very similar at all three. I think it is very safe to say Tulane is the most well known nationally. If you were planning on living in Maine or parts of Virginia, then going to the more local school might help, but otherwise I am sure far more people in NYC, Chicago, SF, etc. know about Tulane than the other two.</p>

<p>I think it is more important that you decide where you want to go to school in terms of geography (weather), urban vs. rural location, sports presence, Greek life (although I suspect this one is similar at all three as well), and other aspects that affect your overall happiness. After all, this is a place you will be living at more time than not for 4 years.</p>

<p>I also suspect this will become moot as you get accepted to one of the various schools higher on your choice list. If you don’t, then come back at us and let us know what your choices are. Unless you are 100% sure you would be happy at Tulane, I would suggest applying to at least one of those other schools you mention so that you at least have a choice come April, if you did happen to get shut out at the most competitive schools.</p>

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<p>also, by safety school, I meant that I am over the average GPA and test score for accepted students from my school the past few years. I did not in any way mean to demean the three schools.</p>

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<p>thank you so much @fallenchemist‌ for the thoughtful response! btw, i also received the founders scholarship, $23k annually for $92k total! although money is not a concern, very happy to have been selected!</p>

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<p>It is always a good thing! Maybe if you do go to Tulane, you can convince your parents to take that amount you are saving them and put it into an investment account for you. Nice nest egg to have beyond what you likely already have to start out with after graduating college.</p>

<p>I think we all understood that you were not demeaning any schools. It is just a truism that most students are below the average for some schools, right at it for some others, and above it for the rest. Statistically of course. That’s just a fact of application life.</p>

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<p>Fallenchemist, I am laughing at your comments that Colby and Richmond are “local schools”. Colby during regular admission is extremely hard to get into and referring to it as a safety school shows you don’t know what you are talking about. Both Colby and Richmond are rated much higher than Tulane and of the three Colby is by far the most respected academically.</p>

<p>Tulane’s is known nationally as a party school in New Orleans.</p>

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<p>@FamilyWoods‌ </p>

<p>You are welcome to your opinion, of course. Colby is not well known outside of New England, and since it and Richmond are LAC’s as opposed to a research university like Tulane, which has numerous grad programs and a law school and medical school, they aren’t even ranked in the same group as Tulane. Apples and oranges. As I said, if you look at the middle 50% scores for all 3 schools you will see they are nearly identical. It is more an issue of what type of environment does he want. But I can say with great confidence that Tulane is a far more recognized name nationally than those two schools. Most research universities are more well known than LAC’s. I am not saying better, I am saying well known.</p>

<p>Also, if you read more carefully, you will see it was not I that decided to call any of these schools safeties, it was the OP. I was just using his categorization since he is in a position to know if these schools are safeties for him. I have no idea what his stats are. So telling me I have no idea what I am talking about makes no sense at all.</p>

<p>All schools are party schools. Anyone in the college business knows this. Very good for you that you know where Tulane is.</p>

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<p>Like I said you don’t know what you are talking about. A kid coming out of Colby will get a job at an elite company no matter what industry. As far as grad schools go, they walk into the best Ivy and top grad programs. Tulane is known for sending out free applications to make it look more selective and has one of the lowest yield rates of all well known schools. It is about 15% perhaps a bit higher. That is terrible.</p>

<p>I can pretty much guaranty you that a private equity firm in San Fran will see a Colby graduate over a Tulane graduate any day of the week. The OP should have accurate information. Colby is an elite school, Tulane is not. Going to one NESCAC school is like going to all of them due to the mutual respect, as an added benefit.</p>

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<p>It is a shame you feel the need to bash another school to make you feel better about yours. I have been dealing with schools from all over the country and helping kids get into them for years. I know exactly what I am talking about. Love to see your proof about the PE firm. In fact, Tulane just won a prize awarded by Wharton for their innovative finance program for undergraduates, the Burkenroad reports. <a href=“http://tulane.edu/news/releases/burkenroad-reports-wins-top-teaching-award-for-innovation.cfm”>http://tulane.edu/news/releases/burkenroad-reports-wins-top-teaching-award-for-innovation.cfm&lt;/a&gt; And Tulane has regularly been recognized as one of the top schools for its entrepreneurship program, not to mention that New Orleans has become known in the last 3 years as one of the top 2 cities for start-ups. Not that any of this matters to the OP who wants to major in econ/govt./history/math.</p>

<p>Hard to see how Colby is more elite than Tulane when the students are virtually identical academically coming in. Colby is a great school. Tulane is a great school. Sorry you have a problem with that.</p>

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<p>In any event, it’s probably not a good idea for the original poster to keep any of the three schools on his or her list. I, personally, would not want to start out, from day 1, disappointed at matriculating at a place I considered “safety.” Trust me – I am doing you a favor even though you may not realize it now – come up with a list of schools you’d feel honored and proud to attend. You’ll want to start off your higher education with a positive attitude and hold your head high for the rest of your life. It doesn’t matter a lick that all three of the schools you mention will enable you to be whatever you want to be in life and maximize your potential and self-actualization – just look at the undergraduate institutions of Nobel prize winners, CEOs of big companies, high government officials or, more locally, whatever, doctor practice you use, and you’ll see a great variety of institutions. What is more important is how you perceive them – no need to feel insecure the rest of your life.</p>

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<p>While I understand the spirit of what NJDad68 is saying, I have to somewhat disagree. Every student needs a set of schools that they are almost certain to get into, otherwise known as safeties. I hate the terminology, but that is another discussion. The trick is to make sure you find a few of these schools that you will indeed be happy attending, because it has certainly happened where that student gets shut out of all other schools on their list.</p>

<p>I am assuming, right or wrong, that the OP thought Tulane would indeed be a school he could be happy attending if nothing else worked out. Now he is exploring other possibilities, which I think is smart. That is how the process works (although granted most students start earlier), and a big part of what CC is for.</p>

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<p>I agree with your point, FC, as a matter of strategy. I also understand that the competitive schools are harder than ever to get into. That being said, as you point out, the terminology is indeed unfortunate and, in my view, says a lot about the mindset of the applicant. With all of the wonderful offerings of higher education in the country, it is hard for me to fathom that there are not 12 out there that the OP would be proud to be a part of and to which s/he could also likely gain admission. When my sons were applying I encouraged them to apply only where they would be enthusiastic about attending. That way, they would avoid disappointment and enter with a great attitude. In addition, I think that, with many schools rejecting even uber-qualified applicants who fall short on “fit” or “demonstrated interest,” the old paradigm of “reach, likely and safety” is just not as applicable – many students are shocked to be rejected by their “safety.” In the end, I just think that it is possible for any student to come up with 6, 8, 10 or 12 colleges that they respect and desire enough to not conceive of as “safety.” Caring parents should encourage a similar strategy.</p>

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<p>Wise words, @NJDad68‌. I completely agree that a change in mindset would be very healthy.</p>

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<p>UR’s Jepson School of Leadership Studies and the city of Richmond’s being the state capitol are factors to consider given your interests. </p>

<p>I always wince when I hear a student say that money is not a concern, especially at this point in the year. This may truly be the case for you, but I have seen parents encourage their students to apply broadly in the fall before revealing financial constraints in the spring. And that $92,000 savings Tulane is offering gives you a tremendous opportunity to travel, buy a house, do unfunded graduate work, invest, be a philanthropist, or whatever you want. </p>

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<p>fallenchemist,</p>

<p>I don’t disagree entirely with what you said. But we should always be clear when talking what “well known” means. There are people in Alabama who have not heard of Williams College, a school on par academically with the best of the best in US higher ed. Those people probably would guess that Auburn University is a better school than, say, the University of California at Berkeley. My view is, who cares what people in that crowd do or don’t know.</p>

<p>The crowd of people whose opinions matter is the group on which we should focus. I’m from Seattle, and at the risk of sounding provincial, it is widely considered one of the most educated cities in the U.S. And, frankly, that rep. is well deserved. So I use the “Seattle test” when asking myself these questions.</p>

<p>Based on that test, I can say with confidence that Colby College is as well known among the informed crowd (i.e., the educated about education crowd) as is Tulane, and I would think most of them would ASSUME Colby to be a bit harder to get into even if that is not true.</p>

<p>Yes, Tulane is a name that people around the U.S. have heard of … but not because it’s some academic or research power house. They’ve heard of it in the same way that people have heard of BYU: sports. Sports, division 1a sports to be precise, is a huge marketer. That’s how a person’s Uncle Bob who doesn’t give a damn about the US News rankings will have heard of University X or Y State U.</p>

<p>And, at the risk of offending you, I have to say that Tulane’s name is well known because of a pretty bad point shaving scandal in the BB program 20 or 30 years ago.</p>

<p>I’m willing to bet that the average person doesn’t know whether Tulane is big or small, public or private or even know where it is.</p>

<p>So I’d say that while you’re probably right in that the Uncle Bob crowd has heard of Tulane more often than Colby, those familiar with selective academic institutions know Colby College (and the rest of the NESCAC schools) very well. I base that on the “Seattle Test”. :)</p>

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<p>Oh, I don’t disagree with that at all. And I think I made it very clear that name recognition can be highly regional. But I wasn’t using the “Seattle Test”, but the general public test. The “informed crowd” isn’t always doing the hiring. And yes, sports name recognition makes a difference in that regard. Although I HIGHLY doubt many people remember that point scandal that was, indeed, 30 years ago. In fact, a lot of the publicity that came from that was favorable to Tulane for having the guts to shut down the program for a few years, and putting academics and honor ahead of sports. But I think it is really reaching to think that a 40 something or even early 50 year old person would know about that, and a lot of people older than that would have long forgotten about it. You just have a better memory than most, perhaps.</p>

<p>The average person thinks U Chicago is a state school, so of course they know little of the details about Tulane as well. That wasn’t the point. The point is that overall, its name is going to be more recognized by more people than Colby College. That’s all. Nothing more, nothing less.</p>

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<p>I would like to correct this statement: “Yes, Tulane is a name that people around the U.S. have heard of … but not because it’s some academic or research power house”</p>

<p>The corrections are as follows:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>You probably not aware that Tulane is member in good standing of AAU, leading universities in the US click this: <a href=“http://www.aau.edu/about/article.aspx?id=5476”>http://www.aau.edu/about/article.aspx?id=5476&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
<li><p>I am sorry but Colby is not listed in AAU and frankly speaking, I have never heard of Colby at all. When I went to that U Chicago (lots of people got mixed up with UICC), I only knew a couple of schools like Case Western Reserve Univ (CWRU), average people think is an army college, Johns Hopkins Univ and Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Brown, etc but not Colby.</p></li>
<li><p>AAU is very prestige and I don’t think Colby will be able to join that AAU. Membership is not easy to obtain.</p></li>
<li><p>Past president of Tulane also was head of AAU.</p></li>
<li><p>I know Tulane is a research univ and in fact I told my son to apply for Tulane when he was in high school. My son agreed that he has heard of Tulane in his HS too.</p></li>
<li><p>My son now is in Vandy and lots of Vandy kids and professors know about Tulane too. In fact, the Dean of Medical School at Vandy, DR. Jeffrey R. Balser) is a graduate of Tulane and my son’s engineering advisor told him that his daughter is in Tulane now instead of Vandy. So, Tulane has some good reputation at Vandy.</p></li>
<li><p>Dean of Engineering DR. Altiero is now president of ASEE (<a href=“http://www.asee.org/”>ASEE.org) and if Tulane is not active in research, you will never hear the news that Tulane Dean of Engineering will be elected as such…<a href=“http://www.nola.com/business/index.ssf/2014/06/tulane_dean_nicholas_j_altiero.html”>http://www.nola.com/business/index.ssf/2014/06/tulane_dean_nicholas_j_altiero.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
<li><p>Probably, you are not aware that lots of kids at Tulane come from NE area (New York, Jersey, etc). If Tulane is not known or have bad reputation then nobody from NE area will send their kids to Tulane.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>I am sure Colby is a good school too but to say that Tulane is not research university, I believe that you are mis-informed at all. Take care and be blessed.</p>

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<p>Well, to be fair I don’t think Husky was saying Tulane is not a research university, but that it isn’t as well known for that as, say, Harvard or Johns Hopkins or Stanford, etc. in some areas. Although there are certain research fields for which Tulane is extremely well known, even if it doesn’t make it out to the general public. Hence the word “powerhouse”, which is subjective. But I think that is how he meant it. And I think that is an accurate assessment, because Tulane doesn’t have graduate programs that are as extensive as those schools in many areas.</p>

<p>Which, when talking about students choosing a school to go to as an undergrad, is one of the things that I think makes Tulane very attractive. They do high level research, but they do it with a balance of great profs, the grad students they do have, and strong contributions from the undergrads. It is one of the things that makes Tulane potentially special for undergrads. In fact, their undergrad research is so strong they just started a peer reviewed journal to publish papers in all areas of research by undergrads. To be clear, I don’t want my wording misunderstood. Just because in some areas Tulane doesn’t have as extensive a grad program as some other schools doesn’t mean they are weak in those areas either. It is all relative. But it is also a fact that undergrads get more of a chance to work directly with a prof than they would at schools like Berkeley, Michigan, Duke, etc.</p>

<p>Which really brings me to the main point. Comparing Tulane and Colby when it comes to research and membership in the AAU is completely apples and oranges and thus not really fair at all. Colby is a college, not a university. That means they do not have PhD programs, they do not do research at that level, and therefore it is impossible for them to ever even apply to be in the AAU or to compare the two universities in this way. Of course students do research at Colby, and I am sure a lot of it is really excellent. But I am also sure if you compare the number of publications in top journals in nearly any field, Tulane would have many more than Colby. Same with total research funding and just about any other parameter you could care to name in this regard.</p>

<p>Remember what the OP was seeking information regarding, and that is where to attend as an undergrad. And as I think I said, because I usually do, one of the major factors to take into consideration is exactly this issue. Colby is a true LAC, while Tulane is a research university that is fortunate to have a lot of the characteristics of an LAC when it comes to faculty-undergrad interaction. Again, it is one of the things that makes me so high on Tulane for the right students. But certainly for many others, Colby will be a better choice. One just needs to be as honest as possible as to the characteristics of each school, and to be fair when comparing them.</p>

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<p>Yes, that is very true. When thinking about where one will go to school, unless you hit one of the clearly big names like Harvard, Stanford, Princeton or Yale, there will be someone out there who doesn’t get it (where you went to school). And if you’re interviewing with a graduate of UofAlabama, that might be the very best place for you to hail from in terms of getting the nod. For sure if you’re in front of a USC Trojan … those folks really take care of their own, at least by reputation. So I do get what you’re saying. All I’m really saying is, that’s true of a number of schools that are nowhere near Colby in academic standing. More people have heard of Florida State University than they have Colby for the reasons you state. I’m just saying that for the most part it doesn’t matter.</p>

<p>To your point about who’s hiring, you are spot on. But again, one has to assess the odds and, I think, proceed to the best school all else being equal (which is seldom the case). I actually practiced law with a guy who’d gone to UCLA undergrad and Tulane law school. He said that in the LA, and New Orleans in particular, you simply cannot do better than Tulane unless it’s Harvard Law School, and even then, at best, you’re on equal footing with the Tulane. NO is a very regional and, for good and bad, provincial place. I knew a guy who was in the export business who moved to NO when his wife, a scientist, got some research opp. for a company down there. They were there for four or five years, and he could never even come close to landing a job in that business because he was an outsider (his view anyway). My law partner said that the law firms were the very same way. Unless you had a HL degree, competing with the Tulane kids for NO employment was nearly impossible.</p>

<p>I think anyone my age remembers the point shaving. Anyone much younger probably wouldn’t. Tulane has done so little in sports since then, it’s almost like SMU … when they come up for whatever reason, the scandal tends to as well. At least my experience with anyone in their late 40s or older. Certainly not the 18 year old crowd.</p>

<p>And I’ll make one other point: even in Seattle, when you get out to the burbs, that “other” crowd starts to increase in population %. For example, my daughter, who was just admitted to Wesleyan, receives a lot of hearty-felt congrats from people in her IB program, teachers, students, counselors a like. And she has classmates that will matriculate to all of the Ivies, Stanford, Cal Tech, MIT … you name it. It’s a powerful program. And yet, around our larger community, many haven’t heard of it (nor Bowdoin or some of the other schools to which she’s applied), and I hear people ask, “I know you’re full IB and a really good student … why didn’t you apply to Gonzaga?”</p>

<p>That’s just the way it is. Somewhere out there is a Chinese National whose family is ready to sacrifice someone so their kid can get into a place like Wesleyan, and my neighbors think she’s heading off to Nebraska. :smile: What can you do?</p>

<p>Re Chicago - spot on. Can you imagine how annoying it’s been for me to have to explain that my LS alma mater, Penn, is not a large flagship state school with a big football program formerly coached by Joe Paterno? Yeah, I get that a lot. </p>

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<p>I hear ya. Couple of points.</p>

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<p>Whoa there!! 1998, undefeated football season?? Tulane baseball was also very strong for a few years, ranked #1 going into the World Series rounds (didn’t win though). A few highlights, my good sir. But big revenue sports is certainly not their strong point at this stage at least. Some of the women’s teams (basketball, volleyball, golf) have had some excellent years.</p>

<p>I was just talking to my son (lawyer also) about Penn and Penn State. In fact, as you no doubt know but he didn’t, some years ago there was a survey asking people to rate law schools and “Penn State Law” ranked in the top 5 or top 10, I forget which. The problem is this was before the year 2000 and there was no Penn State Law School, just Penn Law. Since then Penn State does have a law school (in fact 2 law schools starting Fall 2015), but that certainly highlights the confusion.</p>

<p>I wonder how much of the Tulane Law/New Orleans connection is due to Louisiana’s unique status with regard to Napoleonic law and civil disputes. I am sure that effect has diminished over the years, but still I wonder. Although I suspect it remains mostly a regional/territorial protectiveness. Although Tulane is also one of the best law schools for Maritime Law, which must have some sway down there, and also environmental law which clearly is important there as well, although that is important pretty much everywhere.</p>