<p>i renamed the thread because i am more interested in the National perception of Tulane. There was a response to the previous thread and a very good one. I am sure many people have never been to a vast # of universities discussed on CC. There are many preconceived ideas about universities (how good, bad, expensive, cheap, safe, dangerous, prestigious, not prestigious)</p>
<p>bump bump bump</p>
<p>I am still not quite sure what you are looking for here. For example, if someone has a preconceived notion that the area around Tulane is crime-ridden and dangerous, when the truth is quite the opposite, do you care they think that? AC Cecil’s post in your other thread was quite a bit off base on several counts.</p>
<p>If what you are really asking is do people in New York, Boston, LA, San Fran, Chicago, etc. think highly of Tulane, the answer is that those that know about universities tend to think of Tulane as a very fine school in that tier below the top 20 schools. Tulane draws heavily from the New England/mid-Atlantic areas as well as from the west coast, Chicago, St. Louis, and of course the South and Texas. It is considered the most geographically diverse student body in the country, having about 75% of students from 500+ miles away from New Orleans. It is generally considered very good, hard but not impossible to get into, and the graduates tend to come out well prepared. Grad schools and professional schools certainly regard Tulane very highly. In certain areas it is especially known, such as finance and energy trading in business (as well as some other areas), Latin American Studies, biomedical engineering, and about a dozen or more other departments I could name. I am not sure if that is what you are asking, though. I am sure it is part of it, but perhaps not all of it?</p>
<p>These are always tough questions to answer because except for Harvard, Princeton, Stanford and a few other schools like them, it is really variable as to what people think and, more to the point, think they know. It is amazing to me still how many people think U Chicago is a local/regional school along the lines of a University of Detroit or University of Houston. And how many don’t have a clue about Washington University in St. Louis and are not sure if you are talking about any one of a number of other schools with Washington in the name. In other words unless you can get into one of the tippy top schools that transcend this phenomenon, or you are willing to go to a school that is well known only because of sports, using this as a criteria to pick a school, or even as a factor, is potentially leading you down the wrong path insofar as making a good decision on where it would be best for you to go to school.</p>
<p>I think Tulane has social cachet among a certain crowd, to some extent a social Jewish crowd.</p>
<p>I think fallenchemist is right, but I would also add that the opinions of CC participants is not at all representative of the population at large. Just as the students on CC are a distinctive bunch, I think the parents are too. And what CC members think of a particular school’s reputation may be quite different from what your neighbors think, what employers in X industry or Y region think, or what academics selecting graduate students in field J think.</p>
<p>starbright - Totally agree. That’s pretty much what I was trying to say. I was also pointing out that Tulane is not a particularly regional school, since it draws from all parts of the country in a moderately balanced way, as opposed to being just a “southern” school as some might think or expect.</p>
<p>I would add that I think 25 - 30 years ago, Duke, Vanderbilt and Tulane were roughly equal “good Southern universities” with a lot of similarities (notably fratty social scenes). I think, however, that Duke and Vandy took that ball and ran with it, and Tulane not as much so. As I said, I think among an upper middle class, often-Jewish crowd, Tulane has some social cachet – great school, and you still get to party in NOLA. I wouldn’t send an “intellectually oriented” type of kid there. I might send a smart one. If that makes sense.</p>
<p>You are, of course, entitled to your take on things Pizzagirl. I think, however, I am on safe ground saying my D is “intellectually oriented” (3.85 UW GPA in high school, 21 credit hours going in from AP’s, Dept. of Education Presidential Scholar finalist, 2330 SAT score one sitting, etc., plus she is the kind of person that likes to know everything there is to know) and she feels completely challenged at Tulane. There are plenty of similarly intelligent peers to keep her sharp, and she will be doing some first rate research her last two years. I am not saying that Duke and Vandy are not even more selective, clearly the stats show that they are. However, that was also true 30 years ago. Reputations may have had them as roughly equal, but the statistical gaps were about the same as today, maybe actually wider. The question, I think, is if one can easily and routinely find others that are similarly intellectual or not.</p>
<p>I am curious as to why you keep injecting the adjective of Jewish to your description of the students at Tulane. It is about 25% Jewish, so certainly it is more than a lot of schools. I am just not sure why you find that so relevant to this discussion.</p>
<p>Fallenchemist - a) I’m Jewish, b) I have several family members who have gone to Tulane (both my side of the family and my H’s side of the family), plus a decent number of acquaintances, c) have been to social events that were Tulane-alumni-heavy, and that’s just my impression. My take is that it is a popular school among an upper middle class (often Jewish) crowd that wants a good school, but also values the social atmosphere associated with being in NOLA. Nothing wrong with that at all. </p>
<p>Indeed, I had my kids look at Tulane – it was their first college tour ever, as freshmen in hs – neither of them turned out to be interested, but I would have pursued it if they had been so inclined. I have no doubt the kids are smart. The Tulane people I know are smart and successful – but they aren’t “intellectuals” of the ivory-tower variety. Again, nothing wrong with that at all. Different strokes for different folks.</p>
<p>I guess I just wish you would qualify that a bit by saying something like “In general, my impression is that…” It just comes across (to me anyway) as a sweeping generalization. After all, this year’s freshman class had 2 winners of the Presidential Award. That’s as many or more than almost all higher ranked schools. I have no idea if they are Ivory Tower academic types or not, but they must be plenty smart. For that matter, I don’t know how many kids at Harvard are really Ivory Tower intellectuals either, but no doubt most of them are pretty smart.</p>
<p>As far as the Jewish description, well OK. I still don’t see the point, since apparently 75% of the parents are not Jewish and found Tulane to be acceptable by whatever criteria they used. I just am not seeing the relevance here, or why you brought it up. Did the OP say they were Jewish? I don’t think your statement is incorrect, almost obviously it isn’t. Just not sure why it plays a role here. But whatever.</p>
<p>It plays a role insofar as that my <em>perception</em> is that it has a “name” / reputation among a Jewish crowd. It’s no secret that Tulane was hospitable to Jewish students, esp from the Northeast, a long time before other schools decided to become hospitable to them, so it’s no wonder. Put another way – many of the Jewish people I know would likely think of Vanderbilt and Tulane as “equal” southern schools and ascribe them equal levels, even though Vanderbilt is a full 30 or so slots above Tulane from a USN basis. Because Vanderbilt wasn’t historically as welcoming, and Tulane has been for a long time.</p>
<p>Growing up in NO and having worked for Tulane, I agree that Tulane has a long history of attracting Jewish students, particularly from the Northeast. There is an associated nickname, but I won’t mention it. I would go out on a limb and say that it is one of the few southern schools that has Yom Kippur as a school holiday.</p>
<p>My perception is that kids who visit Tulane are generally very enthusiastic about the school, and they give a lot of partial merit scholarships. But, their financial aid ultimately ends up coming up much too short for many upper-middle-class families, and so a lot of kids who would have loved to go to Tulane end up going elsewhere for financial reasons. (Neither Duke nor Vandy seem to come up as short on the F.A. issue, at least for kids from our area.)</p>
<p>The reason why I mentioned Jewish, fc, is really no different from if someone said “what are your impressions of Notre Dame” - a certain cachet among a Catholic crowd that may not be equally felt among other crowds. That’s all.</p>
<p>Sure, I get what you mean. On the other hand, ND is a Catholic School where 80% of the students self-identify as Catholic. Yeshiva would be more analogous than Tulane, lol. But you are right, Tulane (and New Orleans for that matter) has been accepting of Jews long before most other parts of the South. I can definitely agree that is part of the perception of Tulane. I guess I just didn’t think that was what the OP was asking, but maybe he in fact was including things like that.</p>
<p>I am from the southeast and Tulane has always had a reputation rivaling Vanderbilt…as for the university having a 25% Jewish student body, it is not widely known in the south…probably because it makes very little, if any, difference. …that is an interesting fact though</p>
<p>FC: I don’t see anything wrong with Pizzagirl mentioning the jewish image. I am not Jewish but there are certainly many jewish students at Tulane. It is supposedly 25% and, as a result, is often associated with jewish students. I am sure you have seen posts here asking if Tulane was really all jewish students and other nonsense like that. If the OP is talking only of PERCEPTION, I think it is fair to say that Tulane is viewed as a predominantley jewish school for wealthy kids from the northeast. That is not the truth but it is sometimes the perception. It is also often viewed as a party school. That also is not entirely true.</p>
<p>Being 25% jewish, Tulane has about 25 times more people of jewish background than the general public. Also, 1/4 of the student body is a large component and may be the largest single religion of Tulane students. But the truth is that Tulane has no official connection to the jewish religion and is open to all cultures. </p>
<p>It is also not necessarily a school for wealthy kids from NYC and the northeast. I believe every state is represented and need based aid is available and commonly used. </p>
<p>As far as the party scene, being in NO allows for a lot of social activities. The comment that it is not a school for an academically focused student by Pizzagirl, to me means that it is not a school for nerds. People at Tulane are less often one-dimensional academic types. It is a good social scene and the students balance social life with academics.</p>
<p>As mentioned by previous posters, perception is not necessarily reality. So please don’t flame me over this, I am sure Tulane is a wonderful school with many, many intelligent and hard-working students. When my oldest daughter was a senior in HS, however, she received material from Tulane. When we opened the envelope, out fell a pile of confetti. The brochure was filled with pictures of partying students at Mardi Gras and loudly proclaimed Tulane as being a “fun” place to be. Wheras prior to that mailing, I truly had not considered Tulane to be a party school, after that mailing, we did not investigate further into the school. Perhaps a marketing misstep, but when I think of Tulane now, I remember sparkly confetti all over my kitchen floor :)</p>
<p>^^I remember that! I still occasionally play the NO jazz CD that Tulane sent when they were courting our son pre-Katrina. Subsequent to Katrina, Tulane dropped engineering, which is son’s major, so we were relieved that he had not decided to attend. But the CD is good (I think it is the fight song that I skip.)</p>
<p>LOL - If nothing else, it certainly was a memorable mailing.</p>