Tulane's Downward Spiral: Can it be reversed?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Tulane University
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<p>Wow, I stumbled upon this listing of old college rankings from the last two decades and Tulane ranked in the 30s and then the 40s nationwide back then.* Now it's falling below 50 and when you consider that there are also 50 liberal-arts colleges in the mix that puts us out of the top 100 now.</p>

<p><a href="http://chronicle.com/stats/usnews/index.php?category=Universities%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://chronicle.com/stats/usnews/index.php?category=Universities&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>I think that sending free apps to every high school student in the country was a clever gambit, but apparently it wasn't clever enough for US News.* The exploding app stat didn't fool them?!* Tulanes ranking fell even further. So... what can be done?* Any ideas?</p>

<p>(I mean constructive ideas about more things that Tulane could try, not negative attacks because you don't like the topic. Thanks.)</p>

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<p>As has been said on other threads, part of the current lower ranking is still due to Katrina. Once we are 6-8 years out from Katrina, the 6 year graduation rates won’t be affecting Tulane’s ranking.</p>

<p>So, one thing to do is to wait and be patient and some of the ranking issues will take care of themselves.</p>

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<p>You’re looking too much at the long-term in finding your “downward spiral.” Katrina really knocked Tulane down a lot in the rankings, and it even continues to, but I think very few people, if any, would say the university isn’t rebounding at a rapid rate. I’m sure someone else will be along to provide statistics, but I think the faculty and students are all united in their mission to assert Tulane’s place as one of the top universities in the country, and they’re doing a splendid job.</p>

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<p>First, your link doesn’t work.
Second USNEWS ranking counts in way too many useless factor for undergrad when they rank undergrad schools.
I was saying that if I go to Tulane, which is very likely, I’ll try to start something to get the Tulane ranking up. Probably studying the ranking system and then promote peer assessment, high school councilor rating, and eventually administration’s attention.</p>

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<p>If you could just lump LAC’s into the same category as National Universities, then there would be no need for two separate categories. </p>

<p>Also, while you are busy comparing the ranking trends, perhaps you should look at the upward trend in the student body in terms of scores, gpa, class rank, etc. Tulane has redefined itself in many ways, particularly in the area of community service. They have also created new academic programs that address current issues in the world today. The facilities have improved since Katrina, and they are continuing to build and improve. Were these changes a long time coming? Perhaps. And did Katrina force the issue? Definitely. But Tulane is not in a downward spiral - it is moving in the right direction and working together with the city of New Orleans in a mutually beneficial relationship that I really don’t think existed before - certainly not to the degree it does now. </p>

<p>The one thing I would like to see Tulane do to improve it’s long term position is to increase it’s recruitment of students in the Midsouth and Midwest regions because ultimately, alumni support makes a difference, and Tulane has a fairly low alumni giving rate. I think proximity has the potential to create a more vested interest in the long term success of the university. I was surprised and disappointed at the low turnout of students at the Accepted Student reception in my southern city and I know applicants who have been waitlisted that are extremely qualified students in every way. I realize there are similarly sized schools that Tulane has to compete with in the South that are more highly ranked, but I think it is a target market worth pursuing. Tulane offers a very unique college experience because of it’s location and I don’t think they capitalize on that enough in their own “backyard.” Tulane clearly has established relationships with certain high schools in the Northeast. They should work on developing similar relationships closer to home so that there is a regional interest in the long term success of the university. Maybe the commitment to develop the football program at Tulane is a step in the right direction in that respect, because everyone knows we love our football in the SEC! One can only hope.</p>

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<p>Thanks very much for the thoughtful responses!* I apologize for the catchphrase, I was quoting NiN :wink: Now I’ve dated myself ;)* Anyway looking at the record it was around 1999-2000 that Tulane really fell most dramatically in the rankings, along with the past three years.* So Katrina (2005) clearly wasn’t the cause.* In fact, I think Katrina has been a net positive for Tulane and New Orleans, in that it caused us to rethink a lot of things and has brought a lot of good people here who want to help rebuild.* I do think the downward “trend” may be over now or soon. I hope so anyway.</p>

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<p>

Katrina was directly the cause of Tulane dropping from 44 to 51 (or 50, I forget). The year the storm hit, US News froze Tulane’s ranking at 44 because, well, they didn’t even know if Tulane would exist anymore. Instead of requiring Tulane to fill out some silly survey, they decided it was best to just freeze their spot. This is why you didn’t see Tulane fall directly after the storm.</p>

<p>So then the following year–when Tulane had to report back statistics (such as retention rates etc), and more importantly, when TU received a new peer assessment rating–is when Tulane fell a few spots. The biggest issue is the peer assessment, since for some reason, people think Tulane is on some downward spiral… When in reality, this year’s incoming class is literally the most selective in school history, the average SAT score is literally the highest in school history, 70% of all incoming students will rank in the top 10% of their class, and their endowment is inching back closer to that historic 1.0 billion mark (which it got to in 2007 btw)… </p>

<p>Not to be overly malicious, but you really don’t know what you’re talking about, especially if you think Katrina was a “net positive” for my city or my university. I’m probably being sensitive. Anyway, Katrina is STILL impacting Tulane’s reputation, because people don’t know the truth… Tulane is being hurt more so by the ill-thought out opinions of others rather than by its own merits. For example, what happens when people come on this forum? The first thread they see will be about “Tulane’s downward spiral” when in reality, things are only looking up… </p>

<p>As far as the rankings go, Tulane will soar back up when those Katrina-influenced graduation rates are no longer being counted, and if their peer review rating, which did rise last year, continues to rise… It’s ranked #16 in US New’s list of “Up and Coming Schools” this year, anyway. Obviously, people know that Tulane is recovering quite well.</p>

<p>In all honesty, with the new selectivity and smarter students, I expect Tulane to be higher than that mid-40 range it was in before the most devastating storm on US Soil. It might take a few years to get there, but it will happen…</p>

<p>But before that happens, the only thing we can do is spout out the facts. And the fact is this: Tulane is truly doing wonderfully, regardless of ultimately unimportant rankings.</p>

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<p>I don’t understand how Tulane’s peer assessment could be low, since so many Tulane graduates I’ve talked to absolutely love the school, and I would expect most people having the same opinion.
Where is the Tulane admission stats for this year? All I can find right now is the one from 2010. Has the stats grown for the students they accepted for the class of 2015?</p>

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<p>Tulane’s peer assessment rating suffered a bit for a couple of reasons… Primarily, Tulane had to close down shop for an entire semester after the hurricane, and when they came back, they eliminated some engineering programs (and consequently let some faculty members go). </p>

<p>From the viewpoint of other respected schools, this looked “bad” on Tulane. They just did whatever they had to in order to survive. Plus, people still think Tulane has “lost its spark,” as I saw someone on CC put it the other day. </p>

<p>Idk. It’s peer assessment rating did go up last year/will continue to go up though.</p>

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<p>So, I just studies the USNEWS ranking system for the whole afternoon, and figured out their whole ranking strategy. I wrote a 5000 word Chinese post and published on many forums, and I really don’t feel like translating back into English. But it’s based on the US News official methodology. [How</a> U.S. News Calculates the College Rankings - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/education/articles/2010/08/17/how-us-news-calculates-the-college-rankings]How”>http://www.usnews.com/education/articles/2010/08/17/how-us-news-calculates-the-college-rankings)
It states all criterial considered for ranking. After reading it, I really feel that it doesn’t rank anything that’s even worth while fight for…</p>

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<p>This is what I have been trying to get people to realize, guheng. As you saw when you looked at the breakdown, about 25% of the ranking is based on 6 year graduation rates.</p>

<p>Southlandguy - This last fact I mention is why your statement that Katrina is not the cause could not be more wrong. This August will be 6 years after Katrina, and Tulane will not even be able to report a meaningful number for a 6 year graduation rate. But even after this year, because USNWR takes an average over a few years, Katrina will still be dragging down the numbers. Couple that with what smchls correctly said about “peer” assessors not knowing the facts about what is going on at Tulane, but only going by the extremely misleading bad news they heard on TV, then having no new information to correct their mistaken impression, Tulane gets hit hard. The USNWR system is anything but objective in a case like Tulane’s. I also find your “headline” about a downward spiral to be needlessly hyperbolic.</p>

<p>I do think you are right in a very narrow sense about positive things coming out of Katrina, but one has to be very careful how that is phrased. To the extent it gave New Orleans and Tulane a chance to implement new things that would have been undoable before the disaster, that is true. Tulane is much stronger now than pre-Katrina in many ways. New Orleans is more of a mixed picture, but certainly there are some things that should be much better over the long term. Just also be aware that there are many who lost everything.</p>

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<p>So I just saw the admission stats for class of 2015 at [Class</a> of 2015 Admission Results | InLikeMe](<a href=“http://www.inlikeme.com/class-2015-admission-results.html]Class”>http://www.inlikeme.com/class-2015-admission-results.html)
Tulane applications received: 37,751 admitted: 9,376 acceptance rate: 24.8%
The acceptance rate got lower from last year’s “application 43,816 accepted 11,384 acceptance rate 26.0%”
Tulane’s class size is only going to be 1450-1475, but how are they going to manage the percentage of people that’s going to come? What if 3000 out of the 9376 they accepted decide to go? Then what would they do?
Tulane received one of the highest numbers of applications this year, just like last year. And their acceptance rate is still low compared to many prestige schools. But I think the percentage of accepted student committed is way lower than other similar schools. They are accepting more people than many huge state schools!
I guess my point is that when more people get accepted decide to go to Tulane, then they would accept less people, and the acceptance rate would drop to single digit number like most of the ivies this year. By that point, we can definitely call Tulane prestige. But we’ll have to work with the school to achieve that goal!</p>

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<p>…like button</p>

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<p>just curious… is this forum meant only for Undergraduate applicants, or for Graduate applicants too?</p>

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<p>It 99.9% revolves around undergrads, but if your questions are about Tulane life in general or New Orleans, the information is certainly pertinent. As far a specifics about a grad program or things like that, probably not too much help here, I don’t think. But you never know. For example, if there was a particular prof you were thinking about as an advisor, current students might have an impression of them as a teacher and person, but again probably not so much in terms of technical scholarship at a grad level.</p>

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<p>Thanks FC. A post as informative as always!
I was hoping that I could connect with some of my MBA class mates here cuz none but other Indians has joined the Facebook group yet. I guess it’s only a matter of time :)</p>

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<p>I would think people would be jumping on as the time gets closer. Good luck at Freeman!</p>

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<p>Maybe they could start by not waitlisting people like me, w/ a 33 ACT and 4.0 GPA when I applied before the early action deadline and actually wanted to go there…</p>

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<p>

A result like that is very surprising, especially if you expressed interest, which I believe you said on another thread that you did. Hopefully you’ll be happy elsewhere.</p>

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<p>How about W4.14 GPA, 1320 SAT gets a Duke Likely letter… Does that make sense at all? No. Nothing about admissions make sense… just lay it off…</p>