I’m just curious if anyone has any thoughts if it’s possible for Tulane to blaze the trails in the US News & World Report national rankings. It seems as if Tulane is primed for a top 10 ranking but I’m not sure if it will every happen with so many other great universities vying for that coveted top 10 spot as well.
It will be a huge win for New Orleans and the state of Louisiana if it does happen b/c Tulane will garner even more attention and opportunities
Doubtful. It would have a long way to go to get from #40 in USNWR national rankings to make it into the top 20 – let alone the top 10.
The good news, for Tulane, is that it’s in an extremely impressive place right now! Average SATs around 1450, a 17% acceptance rate, more applications than ever, and a class that is better qualified in terms of GPA and class rank and more diverse than ever! What has been happening In recent years is that, with the increase in population and in foreign applications, there has been a compression in admissions standards across the top 50. That is, schools such as Tulane, Case Western Reserve, University of Michigan, Brandeis, Emory and Wake Forest, for example, are all at different rankings but with essentially equally qualified students com8ng in. I agree with LoveTheBard that it is not likely for Tulane to wind up in the top 20, much less the top 10, in the coming years. Aside from the fact that the competition is fierce, those rankings are driven in large part by a ratio of endowment to student population and, on that front, Tulane has a lot of catching up to do. That might change following the huge capital campaign that is currently underway. For the moment, the school will continue to play to its strengths as a mecca of the interdisciplinary approach to undergraduate education, copious research opportunities for undergraduates, community engagement, and sky high rankings In terms of happiness of students, quality of life, best college city, etc.
For it to be there, which colleges/universities do you think it would displace? It’s not really all that important, though; if you’re having a great undergrad experience, that’s all that matters.
No, but not because Tulane isn’t a great school on the rise, but because it’s a zero sum game and for Tulane to rise that high, some pretty darn phenomenal institutions would have to fall quite a bit, and that seems highly unlikely.
A better question is whether Tulane shares a lot of the best qualities of a Top 10 school, and I think the answer to that is yes, and more and more of them each year.
“it’s a zero sum game and for Tulane to rise that high, some pretty darn phenomenal institutions would have to fall quite a bit.”
Bingo. The schools ranked above TU aren’t standing still. They are all working hard to improve/maintain their rankings too.
Tulane has done a great job rebounding from the near death experience of Katrina, and has improved its USNWR ranking from about #55 to #40. [Although we all know that rankings are meaningless/stupid/evil whatever, etc.; even though everyone pays attention to them.]
There’s not huge differences between TU at #40 and, say, BU at #37 or Wake at #27. So there’s no particular reason to think that it is impossible for Tulane to move up to that level. But also no particular reason to think it is likely for TU to make such a jump either.
Forget about the top 10. Nobody (including several lower tier Ivies) is likely to be breaking into that club any time soon.
Even getting into the top 11-25 would likely require huge amounts of dough. The endowments at most private schools ranked at that level (USC, Emory, WUSTL, ND, Vandy, Rice, JHU, NW, Duke) are many billions bigger than Tulane’s. Although it isn’t just about the dough – Tulane’s endowment is about the same size as #21 Gtown and #27 Wake.
To provide some perspective, Tulane was ranked 33 and 34 in the 90s, prior to Katrina. There is no reason why it cannot get at least that high in relatively short order. I agree that breaking into the top 20 will require a huge influx of cash from some source, and Northwesty is correct that the competition is not stagnating either. For the moment, Tulane should continue to do what it does bes, and the rankings and other indicia of quality will take care of themselves.
No.
I don’t think Duke has ever been ranked outside the top 10.
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
The OP did not ask about Duke, so let’s move past that. One can always start a new thread about Duke.
“The good news, for Tulane, is that it’s in an extremely impressive place right now!”
I think that this gets to the more important point. There are a lot of very good universities. Rather than Tulane making it to the top 10, I think what is more likely to happen (and hopefully will happen some day) is that people will start to realize how many really good schools there are, and recognize that “top 50” is really, really good.
Agree that the better measure of a school’s quality is its academics, quality of faculty, placement services, research opportunities, financial stability, extracurricular programs, the intellectual curiosity of the students, etc. It’s unfortunate that the USnews rankings seem to matter (even though they really don’t). No, Tulane will never be in the top 10, and it absolutely does not matter one bit.
OP, Tulane is unlikely to make such a drastic improvement but stranger things have happened.