<p>Thank you for response; I understand why you would want to rebuke my statements, although I think your rebuttal was a little crass and uninformed. Clearly, my bad experience is the exception and not the rule, as the retention rate indicates. Nevertheless, I said many students seriously contemplate, not seriously go through, with transferring. And while I am sure this is the case for many universities, I will say that the complaints I have heard from fellow students (who fall in that cohort of dissatisfied freshmen) are fairly consistent with my own thoughts. I believe that the biggest contingent of students who attempt to transfer, like myself, do so because the lacking academic rigor, and ultimately decide not to transfer because of a) the undeniably better spring semester and b) the merit packages for qualified students which are unmatched by other institutions.
And perhaps I think our definition of a “good school” differs greatly. Surely I’ve met a fair share of students who have great professional & academic aspirations, but maybe I am overly critical, and I want a school dominated by overachieving, academic types who know how to have fun as a sort of peripheral aim to Tulane’s academic offerings. For example, granted I didn’t take this into consideration when I first applied, I think a weak undergraduate engineering program with few majors and a business school ranked 46th in the country is, at face-value, mediocre. And in terms of finding challenging courses, because anyone can coast by choosing easy curricula, I have, and I am utterly unimpressed and unchallenged.
Also, I’m not really sure where that snark comment pertaining to my transfer application falls into your argument. I was accepted to both the aforementioned Ivy League school and USC, so I’m not really sure what you’re getting at. Nevertheless, I mean to say that my Tulane experience has been good-ish socially, culturally amazing (New Orleans is awesome), and academically “meh,” for lack of a better word. I cannot speak to anyone’s opinions but my own.</p>
<p>shermani, I think smchls was asking how do you believe an Ivy League or USC would take you, if you are coming from a school that has such unimpressive academics (as you have accused of Tulane).</p>
<p>Well, they did accept me, which makes sense considering transfer applicants are fielded from all schools (ranging from community colleges to Ivies). Again, the snark comment just came off as uninformed and ignorant more than anything else.</p>
<p>This is a lot of disagreeing over anecdotal examples rather than the general whole. Shermani found Tulane academically unsatisfying. That happens at all schools, believe or not even Harvard. How can that be? Well, some students get to Harvard and are completely put off by the fact that they may not see a professor their entire freshman year, but instead just see grad students teaching their courses.</p>
<p>Despite some of the rhetoric here and on the Facebook pages, Tulane has a pretty good retention rate the last few years. Not as good as HYP type schools, but better than most. And they are working hard to get it even higher. Tulane has a built in disadvantage in that they do have more students from 750+ miles than any other school. Between that, expenses, some students succumbing to the New Orleans night life, some that are in over their heads academically, and some that like shermani are just not happy with the overall fit, Tulane will always lose a few more than the schools in the USNWR top 25 or so. Remember, we are dealing with relatively small numbers. 10 students one way or the other makes a fairly big difference in percentages.</p>
<p>While I disagree with some of the characterizations and generalizations that shermani made, there are always a handful of students that have that perception. And that’s OK. Nothing is 100%.</p>
<p>shermani-
Smchls’ tone was no more snarky than yours have been. If Tulane wasn’t a good fit for you, so be it. Happens at every school, as FC pointed out. But you could have taken the high road and simply said that it wasn’t the place for you, instead of being condescending and hurling derogatory comments and insults on your way out. Smchl’s post was sarcastic, yes. Maybe even flippant. But yours were insulting. There is a difference.</p>
<p>I have been lurking on this thread for a while and decided to give my two cents worth. I have a daughter who will be a freshman at Tulane next year. I never attended Tulane and have only visited once. It seems like a great place for her and I think she is a good fit. I think it would have been a horrible fit for me. The problems encountered by the initial poster can be found at any school in the country. If you go anywhere and do not buy into it for any reason (the rankings are not as high as my first choice, the politics of the place are all wrong, etc.) you will not like it. To this day, I am absolutely astonished when I meet someone who went to my alma mater and did not like it. I urge the initial poster to use his bad experience at Tulane to try to figure out what he can do at his next stop to not repeat the same experience.</p>
<p>Thank you catman, that is so true. I wish your D the very best at Tulane.</p>
<p>I especially relate to what you said about being astonished. I used to be the same way not only about Tulane, but also when people would say they visited New Orleans and were not too impressed. Then I would ask them what they did and they would say “We went to the French Quarter”, which usually meant they went to Bourbon Street. I would ask what else they did, and the answer was usually “That’s all”. No wonder they were not too impressed, they didn’t take advantage of almost all of what New Orleans has to offer. I think the same is sometimes true when people say they are not happy at Tulane, or for that matter many other schools.</p>
<p>Jym626,
I hope you had a great graduation weekend. We certainly did. Funny we also went to Dantes on Sunday for breakfast. Outstanding meal. Can’t believe that we went 15 min before it opened and the line was already long.
It’s sad that we probably won’t be back to NOLA any time soon. However, we really indulged this past weekend and had several great meals that are going to stay in our memory for a while. :)</p>
<p>It was a fun weekend. DS is stayin gin NOLA for his job so we will be able to visit and eat some more!! We had dinner Sat night at Patois. Wonderful meal!! I am still a 1/2 lb up from where I was a week ago, but it was worth it!</p>
<p>So as the OP I know I left this thread for a while but I’m astonished as to where it ended up. I think that for me feeling unhappy at Tulane came kind of suddenly as a result of some bad situations with friends and well, just feeling trapped. However, I think that for me the decision to transfer feels pretty right. I could sit around and stereotype Tulane too, but there will always be people telling me that I’m wrong for what I feel and honestly, that’s just unfair. If I feel bad about something no one has the right to tell me I’m wrong and no one has the right to make me feel bad about feeling that way. The posts on this thread just amaze me in that way.</p>
<p>Anyway, for me transferring is definitely coming down to academics. BME and business have been discussed here, but liberal arts has not. Tulane is great due to its academic flexibility but in total I don’t feel all the liberal arts programs are that strong. Tulane helped me discover my love for Communications and now I can go on to pursue that elsewhere with a stronger program.</p>
<p>Whether I transfer or not, I don’t regret going to Tulane. I didn’t know what I wanted 2 years ago and now I do. The culture of New Orleans really welcomes in anyone who wants it and if I leave I’ll always feel like it’s apart of me.</p>
<p>Apologies, but while you say transferring is all about academics, your other recent posts seem to be largely about the sorority life at other schools. Thats fine. Its just a different issue.</p>
Sorry, but I am having trouble finding one post on here directed at you that told you that you couldn’t feel any way you wanted. Some people may disagree about your characterizations of Tulane, but then why put out a post if not to generate discussion? If you only want people to agree with you, that is unrealistic. It seems to be the posts directed at your situation all tried to suggest ways to help you feel more like part of the Tulane community.</p>
<p>No one was attacked, in any case. Disagreement does not equal attack. Besides, there were many suggestions for the OP that were potentially useful and certainly well meaning. Sure, sometimes people say things that are highly exaggerated or just plain incorrect, and those comments deserve correction. It appears to me that the most aggressive tone was initially taken by shermani in post 16. Until then, everyone was trying to address the OP’s question.</p>
<p>Marsden: I just want to say that you couldnt be further from the truth. I don’t have a child who attends Tulane, but when my S was going through the college process I found these threads and in particular the information from Fallenchemist extremely valuable. Tulane is a great school and although its not perfect, nothing is. Its not for everyone but for many it works very well. My S loved Tulane. We thought very highly of it. I have another child who will begin the college process in two years. We have already visited because Tulane will certainly be on our list of schools.</p>
<p>Thank you, Dungareedoll. Most posters try to present balanced, accurate information, and to challenge exaggeration and hyperbole when it is posted. </p>
<p>I had the opportunity to meet with and chat with several of the faculty from my DS’s program. They were an impressive group. I also had a chance to chat with a friend of my s’s who is off to grad school at Cal Tech. That doesn’t usually happen if a program, and a student, is not deserving.</p>
<p>The bottomline is that Tulane doesn’t need to be defended. It reputation does speak for itself. Its a great school. I found the faculty and everyone we dealt with at that school to be fantastic. </p>
<p>Does it work for everyone? NO. But that can be said for Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Stanford, Brown…and the list goes on.</p>
<p>Marsden: how do you justify Tulane being a second-rate school? I’m actually confused by that. I know rankings are bogus and all that but still, it’s a top 50 nationwide, and known throughout the entire country. You come in here making wildly bold statements with absolutely nothing to back them up.</p>
<p>Sorry, I just don’t understand your logic (or maybe lack thereof)</p>