<p>Currently, are UM and Tulane often overlap schools for applicants? As posted on the Tulane forum, our daughter is interested in a school of 5-10 K students that will challenge her academically. Smaller classes would be helpful. She is ambivalent about the Greek scene, though this may change. Social, entertainment and other activities on and off campus are critical, though she is likely to be a moderate partier. The relative reputations of the two schools, particularly the business programs, may be of more importance to her when applying for jobs or grad school. What does the forum see as the major differences between UM and Tulane?</p>
<p>I have a cousin who went to Tulane and I’ve visited New Orleans a couple of times and to me, the only difference is the athletics. I don’t know much about Tulane’s B-School, so that’s something to look into, but both have comparable academics, are about the same size, and both are located in fun/party cities without actually being IN the city (a la NYU/GWU/etc). Greek life at both schools has a rather large presence without taking over the entire school, as it does at most large southern state schools. I’d suggest your daughter look into the business programs at each school and basically decide whether she’d rather be in New Orleans or Miami.</p>
<p>I’ll add some info on Tulane Business as I’m an alum. It’s a copy and paste from an earlier thread post of mine and it’s geared towards Finance, as that is my field and was my major. I think MiamiCane is correct in that the main difference will be the major athletic (mostly football) environment that Miami has and Tulane has lost since leaving the SEC. :</p>
<p>CNBC video about Energy Trading at Tulane:
<a href=“http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=615836031&play=1[/url]”>http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=615836031&play=1</a></p>
<p>Tulane’s Finance Dept. ranked in the world’s Top 10
[Tulane</a> University - Financial Times Names Tulane University Among World’s Top 10 Schools for Finance](<a href=“http://tulane.edu/news/releases/012808.cfm]Tulane”>http://tulane.edu/news/releases/012808.cfm)</p>
<p>[FT.com</a> / UK - A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN: THE TOP TEN SCHOOLS IN SELECTED CATEGORIES](<a href=“A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN: THE TOP TEN SCHOOLS IN SELECTED CATEGORIES | Financial Times”>A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN: THE TOP TEN SCHOOLS IN SELECTED CATEGORIES | Financial Times)</p>
<p>US News Article about Burkenroad program at Tulane:
[Tulane</a> Students Pick Stocks for Real - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/articles/2008/04/16/tulane-students-pick-stocks-for-real.html]Tulane”>http://www.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/articles/2008/04/16/tulane-students-pick-stocks-for-real.html)</p>
<p>Tulane ranked 4th best in entrepreneur studies
[Top</a> 25 Graduate Entrepreneurial Colleges for 2009 - Entrepreneur.com](<a href=“Top colleges and business schools for entrepreneurs.”>Top colleges and business schools for entrepreneurs.)</p>
<p>Tulane MBA ranked 34th in the US and 61st in the World.
[Freeman</a> News](<a href=“http://freemanblog.freeman.tulane.edu/freemannews/index.php/freeman-ranked-34th-in-us-in-latest-financial-times-survey/]Freeman”>http://freemanblog.freeman.tulane.edu/freemannews/index.php/freeman-ranked-34th-in-us-in-latest-financial-times-survey/)</p>
<p>Tulane’s Equity Research Program
[Freeman</a> School @ Tulane](<a href=“http://www.freeman.tulane.edu/burkenroad/whatis.php]Freeman”>About Burkenroad Reports - Freeman School | Tulane)</p>
<p>Tulane’s Darwin Fenner Program
[Freeman</a> School @ Tulane](<a href=“http://www.freeman.tulane.edu/fenner/]Freeman”>http://www.freeman.tulane.edu/fenner/)</p>
<p>*I also agree that deciding on New Orleans vs Miami might/should be given major consideration. Both are great towns to spend your college years but they are different for sure.</p>
<p>Folks, it would be worth looking at the thread on the Tulane board. You might have more recent stats than I can provide.</p>
<p>^^ No kidding. There are more recent stats than from 2007. Thanks for acknowledging that.</p>
<p>I loved going to school in Miami, but seriously, nothing beats Bourbon Street. New Orleans is probably my favorite city in the U.S. Best food, great bars, great live music, it’s just really the best city I’ve ever visited. If I could do it all over again, I certainly would give Tulane a closer look. Unfortunately, the year I was applying was right after Katrina hit so I didn’t even consider it.</p>
<p>Try Duval Street in Key West for a weekend. It may not be as close to Miami as Bourbon Street is to Tulane, but it’s a close second. Fantasy Fest during the last week of October rivals Mardi Gras!</p>
<p>Both offer great merit aid.
Both seek out top students to apply. </p>
<p>Tulane gets many to apply as it sends out acess to easy app. No fee. No essay, no rec. Just fill out form and send transcripts, SAT/ACT. Pretty easy. Becomes an easy to apoply to safely school (Financial safety too).</p>
<p>I think both schools do their best to lure the best and brightest to their U’s. Both have great reps. Like MiamiCane, my son applied, but we were not sending him to New Orleans after Katrina. High crime and poverty close to campus, etc…</p>
<p>Those currently applying should seriously consider both.
For us Miami was a great choice. Has worked out well. Easy and relatively inexpensive lights for us to visit and son to come home. Ease of flying is something to consider.</p>
<p>If you search some earlier posts, from 2007-8 or so, there was a poster (JeremyBeach??) who transferred from Tulane to Miami. You may be able to obtain some useful information from reading his posts.</p>
<p>Dear Crazed,</p>
<p>Don’t put much stock in the J. Beach posts…he abhorred both Tulane and Miami and transferred out of both of them.</p>
<p><a href=“Tulane”>quote=crazed</a>…becomes an easy to apply to safety school (Financial safety too).</p>
<p>I think both schools do their best to lure the best and brightest to their U’s. Both have great reps. Like MiamiCane, my son applied, but we were not sending him to New Orleans after Katrina. High crime and poverty close to campus, etc…
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I am afraid this is wrong on a couple of points at least. As has been pointed out on other threads, Tulane this year has a 24% acceptance rate. Yes, that is lowered by the fact that they get a lot of apps because it is free and easy, but at the same time the stats of the incoming classes are the highest in the school’s history. But it isn’t a “safety” for most people, and certainly is not a financial safety by most people’s definition.</p>
<p>The area of New Orleans where Tulane is located is the wealthiest area, with block after block of mansions on St. Charles. Are there lesser homes in the area too? Yes, but they are neat and well kept. The crime rate around Tulane is comparable to or less than most other urban universities. There is no noticeable remaining damage from Katrina in this part of New Orleans.</p>
<p>I thought jeremybeach ended up at USC or something. Sounded like a generally unhappy fellow. sad.</p>
<p>I am going to UM and was waitlisted by Tulane (personal issues I’ve had with the Office of Undergrad admission, but thats a story for another day).</p>
<p>From people that I know that visited both Tulane and UM, they have described Tulane as a “Public School version of UM”. </p>
<p>Academically they are both solid, although I think UM has a more prestigious Business School.</p>
<p>In the end though, they are very similar schools and in great locations.</p>
<p>^ What is theat “public school” reference mean, primetimekin? Too bad it doesn’t refer to the sports teams! </p>
<p>All in al, both schools, and both business schools, are pretty similar.</p>
<p>
Uh, OK. I have no idea what that is even supposed to mean. Public school, public school…what are the usual features of a public school. Lower cost? No, that certainly is not true. Less selective? Nope, that doesn’t fit. Bigger student body? No, Miami is bigger than Tulane. Lower academics? No, Tulane is ranked the same by USNWR (which has only something to do with academics) and has a higher average SAT score for the last 3 entering classes at least, probably much more. I am just having a very tough time coming up with even one point where that makes any sense at all, but hey no one said that people’s opinions had to make sense.</p>
<p>In the end, they are in fact quite similar academically. I rather suspect the 4 year experience is fairly different, given the different locations and make up of the student bodies, and the sports scenes. But that’s a great thing. Similar academics with a real choice of cultural experience. Nothing wrong with that at all.</p>
<p>Fallenchemist-
Tulane gets lots of apps from top students (who would not otherwise even think about attending) because of those postcards with the stats needed for various scholarships, along with the easy app. No reason not to apply. That is not a bad thing. UM used to post the stats on their website. </p>
<p>Financial safety?? It is when you consider the large merit offered to these top students.</p>
<p>If Tulane or UM offered no merit aid, I think many of the top students would have ended up at their match/reach schools. If we were paying the full $50K a year, then those schools in the top 20 or so ranking would have been much more appealing than UM or Tulane. </p>
<p>Both UM and Tulane are great schools with great reps.</p>
<p>I’ve always thought that for a school of its size, with no powerhouse sports programs, and located hundreds of miles from any other top 50 school, Tulane does well. I like the new marketing campaign for the most part. I do tend to agree with FC in that it wouldn’t meet the traditional definition of a financial safety. While great with financial aid, that sticker price at TU can still leave (some) students with more debt than what I’d consider a financial safety. Even with a $30k scholarship, that leaves near $20k for a kid to have to pay or take out loans. I’m not sure how many % wise or number of students end up with full rides now days at Tulane. </p>
<p>For the same reason, I wouldn’t consider Miami a financial safety for the majority of applicants.</p>
<p>crazed - I agree that both are great schools with great reps. But nowhere did S4Eyes say that their kid was a top student. In fact in the Tulane thread of this same topic S4Eyes stated that both Miami and Tulane would be a reach. So significant merit would be unlikely.</p>
<p>Since the full COA at Tulane is nearly $54,000, even the top “routine” scholarship of $25,000 leaves a big chunk to pay. By routine I mean that what Tulane does is automatically consider all accepted students for merit scholarships of $7,500; $15,000; $20,000; $22,000 and $25,000. At least those were the amounts this past year. There is a competitive full tuition scholarship that only 75 students are offered, and this requires a separate application and extra materials. Even that still leaves about $15,000 to be paid. Other than athletes, the only full ride scholarships are the Hainkel, of which there are 2 and only Louisiana residents are eligible.</p>
<p>So while the term “financial safety” is always relative to an individual family’s monetary circumstances, it would only be true for schools like Tulane in a relatively small number of cases. Obviously there are families out there that can easily pay full fare at Tulane and so every school is a financial safety. As the term is usually used, it doesn’t generally apply to Tulane. However, you are absolutely correct that Tulane is very generous with merit scholarships and so becomes more affordable for a lot of students and their families than otherwise. The thrust of your arguments are correct, I just want to make sure anyone reading this realizes exactly what the circumstances are regarding Tulane and affordability.</p>
<p>For us, UM and Tulane were safeties that we wouldn’t have even been considered or thought of had it not been for their marketing. Financial “safties” as the merit both offer are great, especially compared with the top privates and publics.</p>
<p>My son has put Tulane and Miami on his grad school list. Hope they save some of their merit $$$ to offer grad students!!</p>
<p>For the poster… Unless someone has attended both, it is hard to give you a comparison. Student bodies seem similar as do academics and social activities. Both have a reputation for “wealthy” students, though, obviously not all.</p>
<p>Most students at Tulane receive some amount of financial aid, so while there are wealthy kids, certainly, the reputation is exaggerated. I bet Miami is the same way.</p>
<p>Grad school is very different. A lot depends on the field you are in. For the hard sciences, like chemistry and physics, most schools wave tuition and pay a fairly healthy stipend in return for the student being a TA. That can sometimes be supplemented by a grant from the research professor themselves, but that is more unusual. For the humanities it is usually more grant driven, although I would think policies vary quite a bit from school to school. But as far as I know there are no equivalents to the merit aid offers given to undergrads. For one thing grad school can be longer, it is much more open ended.</p>