DHS awards sent late March?

fallenchemist
Wed, 25 Feb 2015 15:39:48 +0000

@Dreamer21‌

Later on in the letter, they also mentioned how they think I’d be right at home in one of their laboratories-- since in my EA app I emphasized my cancer research experiences and how I want to continue doing research as an undergrad.

I know it’s another way to make students feel special and get them to enroll, but hey- it’s totally working.

You are right, of course, that they are making very effort to market to you in a very personal way. But this is something I feel very strongly about with regard to how Tulane stands out from so many other schools in that it is small enough to allow for very personalized instruction and relationships with great faculty, yet it is a top flight research university, one of only 60 that has been accepted to and continues to be a strong member of the American Association of Universities. If you are not familiar with this organization, look it up and you will see that the universities most famous for world class research make up the membership. As recently as 2 or 3 years ago Tulane’s recently retired president, Scott Cowen, was president of this group as well.

But even more compelling, perhaps, than that is the experience I had as a chem major several decades ago and the one my D had as a humanities double major just in the last couple of years. I was able to work with a fantastic professor in the chem department who made the experience very enlightening, surprisingly empowering, and fun. When the project he assigned to me fizzled out in the early stages, as the data did not support the hypothesis he had, he challenged me to come up with a new project for my honors thesis. I came up with an idea that was a bit odd, but he encouraged me to try it, with some insightful suggestions he made that improved the chances of seeing something interesting. Well, lo make a long story a little shorter, it worked spectacularly and we ended up with a series of published papers in the two top journals in chemistry, and one of our results has been cited several times in textbooks. I honestly cannot imagine that happening at very many places, because without the relationship and the time the professor gave me, there is no way things could have developed in a way to allow that. And even though I didn’t stay in the laboratory end of chemistry for my career, it remains one of my proudest achievements. And believe me when I say that while I was a good student, I definitely did not have anything resembling the achievements you people have shown already. So if I was able to do this at Tulane, the sky should be the limit for people with your smarts and ambition.

As far as my D (who was a DHS winner and had many choices for attending other, more selective universities), she also had a couple of close relationships with professors at Tulane that encouraged her work in combining her interests in creative writing, fantasy in literature, and Chinese culture. Those same relationships also helped a great deal in her obtaining a full grant from the Chinese government to study in Beijing for a year, and also in getting a coveted position with the Department of State for summer internships, which put her in DC last year and this year will take her to Taipei. She is also going to build on her honors thesis research for her masters thesis at Stanford. I will also add that her observation is that Stanford is a wonderful place to be an undergrad, but that when it comes to research it is so grad student oriented that the undergrads don’t get much attention for that. A limited observation so far to be sure, but she is quite sure she was better off picking Tulane for undergrad rather than Stanford or a couple of other schools that are similarly graduate research oriented.

Now these are only personal experiences, and the ones I can obviously illustrate best. But dozens of students have written to me about similar experiences over the years, and dozens more get written up every year in the Tulane newsletters. In fact, they even started a peer reviewed journal to highlight undergraduate research being performed at Tulane, and I assume they are also accepting papers for work researched by undergraduates at any university. At least that is how I understand it. It just started so I don’t know a lot of details. But it shows the emphasis at Tulane on undergraduates doing research.

All of which is to say that what Tulane is telling you in that letter is not just PR puffery. Over many decades and in widely varying areas of academics, Tulane undergraduates have performed high level research and received high level recognition for it. Also, it is worth looking into the Tulane Scholars program, an extension of the Honors Program. Those of you attending Top Scholars Weekend will no doubt hear more about that. And for you young women, also look at the Newcomb Scholars Program. Both represent focused opportunities to do great academic work in a collaborative atmosphere.

Sorry for the long post, but I think it is important, as the students who have won these scholarships, and who represent the best in academic achievement, weigh their choices in where to spend the next 4 years, that they are aware of this aspect of Tulane. As I said, I think it is truly one of several aspects of the school that separates it from most other undergraduate experiences.