Those rankings got conflated too when Tulane had many students transfer after Katrina so the cohort numbers were really
Wonky.
Certainly, our thoughts go out to everyone affected by Hurricane Ida. We had a close friend who was a freshman at Tulane during Katrina and transferred out. We also have friends who have a son who is a Junior at Tulane currently. The school is closed for two weeks because of Ida and doesn’t go back to in-person learning until the middle of October. With the frequency and severity of storms increasing, this has to be a major factor for future students considering Tulane.
3 Likes
I am a parent of a Tulane Freshman, who rode out Ida on campus in his dorm.
I hope prospective students take into account the absolutely phenomenal job Tulane administration did in handling this crisis. Their communication throughout was clear, crisp, and helpful. The President and other administrators visited with students personally during the impending storm and aftermath. And they made prudent decisions to evacuate post-storm, given the infrastructure damage to the city.
The campus itself escaped significant harm. My son was without power for less than 24 hours (all dorms have backup generators). All on campus students were provided with 72 hours of food and water in advance of storm - and off campus students were similarly permitted opportunity to pick up their allotment. Off campus students were also invited to shelter during the storm in the student center.
As a parent, it was incredibly reassuring to see the evidence of careful emergency planning by the university. The parents’ page on FB has been filled with acknowledgments of how well this has been handled, along with efforts to coordinate support to students and staff in need and the broader community.
This was quite an experience for everyone, but what a lesson in resilience. For our family, it really underscored why this university was the right choice for our son.
19 Likes
Katrina was a huge challenge for Tulane from which it never really recovered. I’m afraid Ida set the school back again and this time it may be never recover.
Vanderbilt and Tulane were once comparable. Now, Vanderbilt has an endowment of ~$10 billion vs Tulane’s ~$1 billion. These storms keep eating into Tulane’s endowment. Meanwhile, Vanderbilt is battling Duke for the distinction of the #1 school in the South.
Tulane used to have a top notch Business School (founded 1914) … but after the scandal involving falsified GMAT scores submitted to US News, it plunged in the rankings and has never recovered. Wake Forest got rid of its on-campus MBA program. I hope this doesn’t happen to Tulane.
What Tulane needs now is huge amounts of money. It has got to get its endowment in the $5 billion plus range if it wants to become on a par with Rice, Emory, Vanderbilt, Duke. That said, it has a realistic chance to catch Wake Forest endowment wise.
1 Like
“Vanderbilt is battling Duke for the distinction of the #1 school in the South.”
Are you kidding??? About the only thing that Vanderbilt has in common with Duke is that it’s in a roughly similar part of the country… LOL
4 Likes
All Tulane needed was one more yard & one more touchdown in order to boost both endowment & rankings.
5 Likes
From the Vanderbilt Hustler (the college newspaper).
“Although Vanderbilt is ranked lower than schools like Duke, Dartmouth and the University of Pennsylvania on the National Universities list based on academic quality, it is higher on the Best Value list. This means Vanderbilt has a lower net cost of attendance after financial aid than these universities, and thus better financial aid.”
Kind of like McDonalds saying our food doesn’t taste as good as TGIF but our happy meals are cheaper😀
Sarcasm aside I have known students at both schools and certainly view them as peers of one another and prefer McD to TGIF.
Some net price stats are below. Duke and Vanderbilt seem to be fairly similar cost for >$75k income. Duke may be slightly lower cost for <$75k income. I don’t see any evidence of Vanderbilt generally being lower cost after FA or having better FA.
Net Price Calc without Merit Scholarship
$75k income, no home, no savings – Duke = $3k, Vanderbilt = $9k, Tulane = $66k
$100k income, $200k home, $100k savings – Duke = $24k, Vanderbilt = $25k, Tulane = $72k
$150k income, $500k home, $300k savings – Duke = $48k, Vanderbilt = $48k
$200k income, $1m home, $100k savings – Duke = $55k, Vanderbilt = $55k
College Scorecard Cost (for federal FA group)
$0 to $30k Income – Duke = (-8k), Vanderbilt = $3k, Tulane = $24k
$30 to $48k Income – Duke = (-1k), Vanderbilt = $6k, Tulane = $25k
$48k to $75k Income – Duke = $4k, Vanderbilt = $8k, Tulane = $26k
$75k to $110k Income – Vanderbilt = $15k, Duke = $18k, Tulane = $34k
The far larger net price difference occurs for Tulane. Tulane appears to use a completely different net cost system than Duke and Vanderbilt. For example, in my $75k income case, Duke was $3k, Vanderbilt was $9k, and Tulane was $66k. Obviously a $66k cost would not be possible for typical $75k income families without savings, unless they took on huge loans. The calc suggests that this family take on a $61k Parent Plus Loan, and $5.5k in other loans.
However, the average cost students actually paid was far lower than $66k in this income group. I expect this lower average actual cost largely relates to merit scholarships. If I increase stats to near perfect, then the cost to parents drops from $66k to $11k in this $75k income example. For high income kids with great stats, Tulane would generally be lower cost than Duke and Vanderbilt, as summarized below. I expect high income with great stats describes a good portion of the student body at all 3 schools, so a good portion of the student body would probably have the lowest cost at Tulane, in spite of having worse FA.
Top stats + $1m income, $1m home, $1m savings – Tulane = $51k, Vanderbilt <= $77k* ,Duke = $79k
*A good number of merit scholarships are also available at Vanderbilt, however, they generally require more than just great stats, so net price is variable among this group, depending on whether they get a merit scholarship…
This touches on the complications of a simple “best value” ranking. There is a huge variation in value dependent on the particular student including depending on things like net cost after FA and merit, planned field of study, planned career, how well the school will assist with achieving goals, and what non-financial criteria are “valuable” to the student. Tulane may be the best value for one student, while Duke or Vanderbilt may be the best value for another.
I would like to echo your sentiments. The decisions Tulane made to prepare, and keep the student body safe were beyond impressive. The Herculean effort to seamlessly evacuate 1800 students to a beautiful hotel in Houston, on comfortable buses, also was beyond impressive. My son never felt unsafe, and now we know Tulane can sustain a Category 4 storm with minimal damage. I hope Alumni step up to support the amazing Emergency Preparedness that is in place at Tulane. We come from New York. New York was not prepared for IDA; the city and suburbs are flooded, and neighbors are scrambling for answers. Disasters can happen anywhere, with little warning. Now that Tulane has rolled out its academic plan to compensate for this two week interim period, the students can breathe easy that the semester will resume with no additional academic burden on their shoulders. My son went to Tulane to become a medical professional and help others in need. Being in a Hurricane prone environment was actually part of what drew him to the school. I think he just got his first real world lesson on how to help others in need in a crisis situation. He cannot wait to get back and help out New Orleans. #RollWave
11 Likes
https://news.tulane.edu/news/tulane-assesses-damage-begins-repairs-after-hurricane-ida This is a good explanation of what they are offering to on and off campus students. My s went through one evacuation when there and Tulane is very organized and in top of all this.
3 Likes
Perhaps that has more to do with its advocates on CC than on opinions about the school itself.
1 Like
To which MWolf post or point are you referring ?
Does anyone know why Tulane got rid of ED2?
Speculation: Last year, Tulane got a massive number of EA applications because there was no fee to apply and because it was such a wonky application cycle, so why not? They deferred almost everyone, while strongly encouraging those deferred to switch to ED2. It almost seemed like a scam to manipulate their numbers and the school received a lot of flack about their “tactics.” Perhaps dropping ED2 is due to the negative feedback and criticism they received. As I said, this purely speculation, but reflects comments I heard a lot as the parent of a '21 student.
7 Likes
a lot of my friends are put off by the acceptance rates for RD vs ED, they don’t want to have to do ED to get in
2 Likes
Tulane also has EA, which just means that they are applying early (not binding and not limiting of other applications. It’s good for students who want to get things over with early, and whose application already looks good. It is not that good an idea for applicants who think that their fall Senior semester will improve their application (waiting for awards, improving GPA, etc.).
1 Like
We were very put off my the Tulane application process last year with deferring so manY an pushing for ED II. Unless you can willing to apply ED I would not recommend it. The low acceptance rates are just not reflective of the school. There are many other options out there to focus efforts on.
7 Likes
Yes, we are in this position this year now.
1 Like
I agree. Everyone’s opinion is different and influenced by a myriad of factors but I certainly would never put the words “Tulane” and “elite” in a sentence, unless that sentence was:
The college with the most shady admission tactics is “Tulane”, their gaming of the admissions system is “elite”.
But having said that, the stories described above about Tulane’s strong response to the hurricane are commendable.
11 Likes
The entire definition of “elite” is really just a description of the money that the colleges has, and the SES of the students attending that school.
Chetty’s NYT article describes Tulane as an “elite” college, based on the 2009 index created by Barron’s. So I would guess that Tulane has as much right to be called “elite” as other colleges which are considered its “peers” in the NYT article, like Bowdoin, CMC, NWU, USC, and other colleges which I am sure that everybody here would consider “elite”.
(Economic diversity and student outcomes at Tulane - The New York Times)
I mean, the who concept of “elite” reeks of wealth-based elitism, and I think that the title is problematic. But for those who find the title meaningful, and get all sorts of bothered when they believe that a college is “unrightfully” claiming the title of “elite”, well, Barron’s definitions are as legitimate (or as meaningless) as any other.
3 Likes