<p>What does anyone think of Tulane vs UMiami?
How do the cities compare?
Academics? Social Life? Greek Life?
School spirit?
Community feel?</p>
<p>They feel pretty similar to me.... I'd love all opinions!</p>
<p>Thank you!</p>
<p>You are right that they are similar. This comparison comes up all the time and I think there might be more cross applications with Miami than any other school for Tulane.</p>
<p>Miami is bigger, I forget exactly but the total undergraduate class is about 50% bigger or something like that. Not a big deal but there it is. New Orleans is a completely unique city and Tulane is actually in the city, although in a very nice neighborhood about 3-4 miles from downtown that makes it almost feel suburban. Miami is actually in a suburb, but only about 8 miles out of downtown Miami.</p>
<p>Academics are very similar, and I have to think social life is as well. Sports are a bigger deal at Miami, but getting better at Tulane where an on campus stadium is opening this fall. But Tulane has a strong pride of school thing going on that is outside of sports. Almost every visitor comments on how much more obvious that is at Tulane than other schools they visit. As far as I can tell, about 25-30% of Miami is Greek, at Tulane it is about 35% I believe. It is a fairly strong presence at both schools, but definitely does not dominate social life. Social life at both schools is quite good, but then I don’t know a college where it isn’t. Let’s put it this way. Both schools require you to stay fairly disciplined in balancing academics with non-academic activities, but as long as you do that there is an excellent balance between them.</p>
<p>I think your last one might be the biggest difference. Tulane is much more entwined into the fabric of New Orleans than UMiami is to its host city, by which I mean the city of Miami, not Coral Gables. There are few schools where the synergy is as strong, and even the identity of the school is so defined by its location. If that is what you meant by community feel. Even if not, it is an important point of difference. If you meant what is the feel within the Tulane community, I am not sure how to describe that other than to say it is a place where students are very happy, and it is very accepting of everyone.</p>
<p>I hope that helped. Obviously these are broad statements because the questions were extremely broad in nature. But I think it gives you some idea. They are both fine schools with tons to offer.</p>
<p>Thanks FallenChemist! I meant school community feel. For example, do the kids at Tulane feel a bond to each other, know each other? Do they live on campus, hang on campus? Dorm rivals, Intramurals, etc? Do they wear their school letters? Greek letters? I’m probably thinking back to when I was in college… RAH RAH!! :)</p>
<p>I’ll chime in here as a father of a son who’s a junior at Miami and a recent visitor to Tulane. I agree that they’re similar in many ways. Size wise they’re very close. Miami’s campus seems bigger to me, as there’s a lake in the middle of campus and much more open grassy areas within the campus. Tulane’s campus is more condensed. </p>
<p>The campuses also have a different feel to them. Miami’s campus feels more like a resort, with palm trees lining all of the walkways, and a pool in the center of campus. Tulane’s campus is very beautiful with lots of trees and a great charm to it. The streetcar running right outside the front gate along with the Southern style homes sets the tone for the campus. </p>
<p>Social & Greek Life - I’d say they’re the same. Different names of areas, same result. French Quarter vs. South Beach - probably places that neither group spends a lot of time at. Won’t be lacking at either school.</p>
<p>I agree with FC that Tulane is more entwined with NO than Miami is with the city of Miami. Students at UM just use the city of Miami, whereas students at Tulane seem to become the city of NO.</p>
<p>Both schools seem great to me! just my .02</p>
<p>Thanks VHFather! If they don’t go to South Beach, where do the kids at UMiami hang out? House parties? Dorm parties? Coconut Grove’s bars? </p>
<p>Same question for Tulane? Where do the kids hang at besides The Palm and The Boot? I would be shocked to hear that the students don’t party in the French Quarter…???</p>
<p>Prepare to be shocked, then. Actually the FQ, by which I mean Bourbon Street for the purpose of this discussion, is more for tourists. Tulane kids tend to go there when they very first start at Tulane and then it tapers off a lot. The crowds and the tourists get really old really fast, plus most kids don’t have cars and it takes about 40 minutes by streetcar. That isn’t much if you are going for dinner and a performance, but if you are just going drinking and to hang out the local places are much more convenient. Now that isn’t to say that there are not other parts of the FQ and nearby that are not popular. There are lots of great spots on Frenchman Street and other nearby locations that have live music. There are some spots much closer to campus, Maple Street and Oak Street in particular, that also have live music and are popular places to hang. So yes, there is a lot more than the Boot and The Palms, although they are clearly the most convenient. Of course the frats host parties a lot, and they are adjacent to campus.</p>
<p>To answer your other questions, there are about 6,000 undergrads at Tulane. There is a lot of camaraderie among the students, they definitely feel a bond just being Tulane students together. But of course they don’t all know each other. I recently saw one poster say that you can walk to class and know 15 people, and walk back from class and not know anyone. I think that is perfectly normal in a community that size, and of course you have to add to that the grad students, the faculty and the staff. Altogether you have about 15,000 people or more associated with Tulane on the Uptown campus.</p>
<p>You are required to live on campus the first 2 years, and many live on campus for all 4. There is a good supply of off campus houses for rent very close, so even a lot of the off campus people are not much further than the ones on campus. For example my D lived in a house her last 1.5 years where she was closer to Newcomb dorm (and the brand new dorm opening this fall) than those dorms are to Monroe, Sharp, etc. So there is a tight campus feel. The dorms don’t really compete I don’t think, maybe they still do in intramurals some. Not sure about that, but there are club sports and intramurals for sure. But I don’t think there is much dorm rivalry or a sense of identifying oneself with one’s dorm as there might be at other schools, or as there was in the “old days”.</p>
<p>Your last question is interesting. People constantly comment that Tulane students wear Tulane clothing more than any other school they visit wears their home apparel. Of course the Greeks wear their letters sometimes too, but they wear Tulane emblazoned shirts, hoodies, sweatpants, etc. all the time also. That is what I meant earlier about school spirit at Tulane. It is quite real, but not centered around sports.</p>
<p>Great to hear FC! Can you tell me about safety? When I visited, I saw that Tulane was positioned immediately next door to Loyola, across the street from a gorgeous park (and I think golf course) and in a BEAUTIFL upper class neighborhood? Why all the buzz about it not being safe? </p>
<p>Yeah, if you do some searching in this forum you will see tons of discussion about this topic. I will just give you the highlights, and if you want more detail I am happy to provide it.</p>
<p>1) New Orleans itself has several areas that have lots of violent crime, including homicides. These areas are miles from campus and not places students would go. There is no more crime around the Tulane campus than most other college campuses, and less than many that really are in bad areas. You are right, Tulane is in a great part of New Orleans.</p>
<p>2) TUPD, NOPD, Loyola, the school and the city have implemented many measures to keep this area safe. Making sure the street lights are working, lots of patrols, designated safety corridors to the most popular off campus areas that are even more heavily patrolled, phone apps that are designed to enhance communication to the police, a SafeRide van (also with its own app to relate location so the student can wait inside instead of out in the open), escorts upon request to locations within a mile or two of campus, and of course from buildings to dorms if they want, etc.</p>
<p>3) Almost 60% of Tulane undergrads are female. I had a daughter there until this last December when she finished up. We wouldn’t be sending our kids to Tulane if we didn’t think it was safe. Most of us had lots of other choices.</p>
<p>4) No place is absolutely safe, of course. Things have happened from time to time. Not to blame the victims, but most of these incidents occur when the students forget to use common sense, usually because they have had too much to drink. Being out alone at 3 AM is never a good idea anywhere. As long as common sense is used, almost every Tulane student goes through 4 years at the school never coming close to experiencing anything worse than petty theft. There were some armed robberies a couple of years ago, but they caught those guys and they stopped. I think there were one or two more recently (in all those cases, including the ones a couple years ago, no one was actually hurt) but they also seem to have stopped. Not sure if they caught the guy or what. These were not on campus, but off campus anywhere from a couple of blocks to about a mile.</p>
<p>So the “buzz” is because of NOLA’s reputation, but it is not relevant to Tulane. That would be like worrying about UCLA’s safety because it is in LA. But it is in the Westwood section, which is very nice, not South Central or Watts. USC, on the other hand, is in a bad area. You get the idea. As long as your child uses common sense and is aware of their surroundings, they will almost assuredly be OK. That is good advice anywhere, naturally.</p>
<p>I want to emphasize that the campus itself is incredibly safe. I have not heard of any violent crime there at all. Like I said, theft happens, things like that. But I cannot recall hearing of a violent incident. But while it is impossible to maintain that level of safety off campus, it really is safe.</p>
<p>A friend of mine recently shared this crime map of New Orleans. As you can see there is very very little crime in the Tulane/Loyola area. I haven’t explored this in depth but overall it’s pretty telling. <a href=“http://crime-heatmap.herokuapp.com/”>http://crime-heatmap.herokuapp.com/</a></p>
<p>That’s cool, I hadn’t seen that one before. Very impactful visual. It lines up really well with the crime report and map I see every day in my email. I haven’t bothered to cancel it even though my D graduated.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone!</p>
<p>My S was between UMiami and Tulane…both were good matches for him. Ultimately, we learned that academically, Tulane was a member of the AAU (Association of American Universities) which recognizes a total of about 60 universities (Internationally) based on a very strict criteria (<a href=“https://www.aau.edu/”>https://www.aau.edu/</a>). Even though Miami is “ranked” higher on US News and World Report, Tulane is much stronger academically. </p>
<p>Thanks Bloomy! </p>
<p>The comparison also depends to some extent on what you want to do. My S was admitted to the Marine Science program at Miami. It is a fantastic program w tremendous resources and opportunities. For a kid who wants to do MS, Miami is a no-brainer. The problem is of course that, in my opinion, none of these kids really know what they want to do, so it’s important to look at the quality of the other options. </p>
<p>Yes, certainly there will be individual programs that are super strong at each university. I luv ya, @Bloomy, but I have to quibble with “Tulane is much stronger academically”. I would leave out the “much”. Both schools have strong academics. As I noted somewhere (maybe it was on the Miami forum) the Tulane incoming classes have higher stats, on average, but it isn’t anywhere close to a chasm.</p>
<p>A lot of people have argued that the USNWR rankings are only useful in that one can create “tiers” of schools within which one school is similar to the others within that tier. While still kind of useless, from that point of view I think there is no question that Miami and Tulane are in the same slice (and a high quality slice it is) and share many similar characteristics. It is the differences, big or small depending on how important each facet is to that student, that might determine if one is a better fit than the other.</p>