<p>Hey, just wondering if a current Tulane student could tell me what life is like at Tulane? What is the social scene like? What are the people like? are there lots of ways to get involved?</p>
<p>the center of life is on campus, since over half the students live in university housing (probably higher for this year since students must live in dorms until their sophomore year) and the remainder probably live within a few blocks off of campus around the broadway area. due to the fact that only 19% of students have cars, and freshmen aren't even allowed to have them, the resources of new orleans, aside from the drunk buses to bourbon st., are most definitely underutilized by the average tulane student. it used to be tough to get from isolated uptown to the CBD or other areas of new orleans. but, since i hear that the trolley is now up and running that could all be different now. regardless, don't expect to see too much of new orleans your freshmen year. i know i didn't.</p>
<p>I must say my freshman daughter has had a different experience -- she has explored New Orleans and enjoyed getting to know the city and its culture. It's not always pleasant, but it's real -- and I think that's why many students have chosen to be in NOLA and at Tulane at this point in time.</p>
<p>My S also saw alot of the city as a freshman...he started the year of Katrina and so ultimately had his "Katrina" semester elsewhere. I also recall him telling me that he didn't understand why some students weren't more interested in exploring the city at that time.</p>
<p>I think maybe when all this particular group of students finally actually got to BE in New Orleans, there was a pent-up interest in being engaged in what the city had to offer.</p>
<p>I also found my friends and I got lots of experiences to explore New Orleans as a freshman. We used to take the streetcar down St. Charles to eat brunch at the Columns Hotel, we walked across the Audubon Park to the zoo and the levee nearly every weekend, checked out tons of live music on Frenchman Street, took the Natchez Riverboat downtown on the Mississippi... I would really say that if you want to, they typical freshman really does have unlimited opportunities to take advantage of New Orleans.</p>
<p>I would second TulaneJeff, my freshman son tells me that they are out and about in NOLA on a regular basis. I was there in November and took my son to the Columns and there were many, many students that he knew there, and that was before the streetcar was back.</p>