The University of Tulsa Visit Report by Youdon'tsay

Visit Activities:

Admissions Interview: Yes - Kind of. We didn't meet with regional rep but with another adcom who was very enthusiastic. Gave ds a free shirt, the only college shirt he's actually worn in public.

Information Session: No - It's been a few months now, but I don't think we had a formal info session. At the end of day, we (ds and parents) met with a woman from the office, who asked/answered lots of questions.

Campus Tour: Yes - Great tour. A guy and a girl with very different interests worked well together. This was the best tour of all the ones we've taken. Had a great balance of fun and information.

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Campus:

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Spoke to many kids in labs and such. All were nice. Obviously sharp but not too tightly wound.

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People went out of their way for us. I joked to my son "Do they have you confused with someone else?" because he really got the royal treatment. Can't say enough positive things.

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We really liked the place. View of skyline from the library was beautiful, and we liked the quad in front. Something about the place just felt right.

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Ds thought freshman dorm looked like a prison inside. The rooms, however, were sunny and nice, plus there's free cable, I think. Lots of on-campus apts for upperclassmen that look great.

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Saw nothing that made me worry.

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We left there really impressed. I'll explain more in write-up on the right.

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Off-Campus:

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Didn't really spend much time in the area as we stayed with relatives about 10 minutes away.

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People we spoke with really liked it. For us, the town is a plus because it's OOS but not too far from home.

Campus Visit Notes for The University of Tulsa

Visit Description:

I'm writing this now because ds just got the call that he was accepted and I noticed that there were no visit reports for this campus. This cc feature must be relatively new for UTulsa because I would have written one in the summer upon our return if it would have been available then.

We were so impressed after our visit. This is the little campus that tries harder, or at least it did for us. We initially put it on the list based on a recommendation from another poster on cc. We liked the size of the student body (about 4,000 grad and undergrad), the locale (OOS but still not too far from home and family) and word-of-mouth by relatives who attended. But we left blown away by how much attention ds received. We wondered if it was because he is a National Hispanic Scholar and the school is trying to attract minorities/raise its profile/rank, because we were OOS and so they knew we likely wouldn't be back on campus or whether everyone gets such a deluxe tour in the summer. Regardless, it worked.

We didn't ask for any specific meetings when ds booked the tour, but when we arrived we had been scheduled for a very full day. First, we went on a wonderful group tour and then had solo meetings with two profs separately in areas of what they thought were ds's interest (they weren't but more on that later). The two profs with whom we met were quite different, but the dedication to their fields was evident. They gave us a tour of their labs and introduced us to some kids doing research over the summer. After that, we met the group for lunch, paid for by UTulsa. The tour guides ate with us and were just so engaging. We then met with a wonderful woman in the study abroad program, then the woman in charge of a program called the Tulsa Undergrad Research Challenge, which combines research with community service, something that appeals to my Eagle Scout son (FYI, the view from her office was amazing). Somewhere along the way, the admissions office learned that the profs with whom we spoke were not in ds's area of interest and so after our meeting with the person in the admissions office, she called and arranged yet another meeting, this time with a prof in ds's area. She literally chased us down in the parking lot to let us know what she arranged. That was just above and beyond. Plus, she gave us directions to the next college we were visiting the following day (which, by the way, paled in comparison thanks to all the personal treatment at Tulsa)! The meeting with the prof in ds's area of interest was great.

Something I learned on cc but not advertised on the school website is how much money they give NHispScholars (more than $20k). No guarantee that that money will be there this year, but it's an example of how it pays to research the lesser-known schools.

I haven't mentioned a single drawback, but I do wonder about the Greek scene and how much of the social scene is controlled by that. Ds was quite sad to learn there is no baseball team, though Tulsa does have a minor league team/field less than 10 minutes from campus. I'll also be curious to see what the total financial aid package is. I think Tulsa is one of those colleges that can be very different for different people. Plenty of sharp people and opportunities for research, but it doesn't have the sense of community that other campuses we've seen have (need to refresh my memory on percentage of kids living on campus). We need to get ds back there during the school year to determine if it's really the place he wants to be.