<p>flashmoutain - Apology gladly accepted, I understand what your intent was. Just to be clear for anyone else reading this post, though, the Tulane program is just that, a program, not a separate honors college. There are of course schools that have separate honors colleges, and that is a very different thing. In fact I am constantly correcting people about that difference, because it is important. So quickly, among other things the Tulane program is almost the opposite of separating. Even the honors dorm has a lot of non-honors people in it, and a lot of people in the honors program live in the “regular” dorms. The intent of the honors dorm (Butler) is to provide a somewhat quieter space for students more inclined that way. The bottom line for the Tulane honors program is actually just to keep students on track that are interested in graduating with highest honors (Tulane basically only does magna and summa, although there is some twist on cum laude that I cannot recall off hand, but not relavent here). That is why to stay in the program one has to have at least a 3.6 after sophomore year. Also, given that it is for the most academically talented and/or serious, the program provides special advising for people interested in scholarships and fellowships like Rhodes, Goldwater, Truman, Fulbright, etc. Sure, one can do all that without creating a special program, Tulane just chooses to do it that way.</p>
<p>There are actually only a handful of Honors courses, and in fact a lot of Tulane students wish there were more! They are designed to be smaller and more discussion oriented. These are also not restricted to Honors Program students only, unless space runs out. Naturally the HP students would have priority. There were some thoughts of creating courses that would be Oxbridge style, that is only 2-3 students and a prof, and papers would be presented and debated/critiqued on a weekly basis. Not sure where that stands, but it gives you the idea of why there is such a program at Tulane. This would be impossible on a global basis. Also, anyone can earn their way into the program by attaining a 3.6 GPA.</p>
<p>All by way of clarifying that this is not nearly so separate as you might have thought, whereas most Honors Colleges are indeed. My D considered a couple of those, and maybe at Big State U that arrangement makes more sense. I agree that at WUSTL or Tulane it would make little sense. I hope that provides some perspective for readers of this thread.</p>
<p>@Gatsby - Thanks for the kind words. Much appreciated.</p>
<p>@ both of you and others - I am in fact a huge fan of WUSTL and would have been quite OK with my D going there, thrilled in fact. More thrilled if she had gotten the full tuition, lol. I absolutely don’t disagree that WUSTL has a more uniformly academically accomplished student body, at least going in. One need only look at the stats to see that. (I really cannot comment on results coming out, but clearly both sets of students do quite well on the whole). However, it isn’t exactly like Tulane students’ stats are not awfully high also (directed at NINJAINVENTOR). I think it is telling that there is story after story that came out of the Katrina semester, when Tulane students were scattered all around the country attending schools like Chicago, Tufts, Stanford, and of course WUSTL. Virtually without fail people from those schools came out and said, when they had no real motivation to other than adding to discussions that were happening at the time, and said how the Tulane students were every bit as talented and intelligent as the students already there. Quite a few schools made offers to the Tulane students, but 92% came back to Tulane.</p>
<p>Tulane and WUSTL are so similar in many ways, but there are a couple of areas where they are so different that it really does come down to which is right for which student. Interestingly, neither is directly related to pure academics. One of course is New Orleans, and no more need be said about that! The other is the way Tulane has also become so much about tying together service and academics. It makes Tulane a very different place than it used to be, and it is continuing to be transformed. It is exciting to see, but it isn’t for everyone.</p>
<p>OK, I’m done, lol. However I am really glad that you both have found a great match in WUSTL. Best of luck in your time there. Work hard, and have fun!</p>
).</p>