Honors weekend in March

avenlea
Mon, 21 Mar 2011 23:56:51 +0000

Alright, so I’m going to start from the beginning.
Me and my mom flew into New Orleans and got here about 10:30 on Saturday night. The warmth was definitely new and comforting, haha. Our hotel was in Kenner because pretty much everything in the French Quarter was booked. We woke up Sunday morning and headed out to Tulane, saw the garden district in the process, which was really nice! Not really my style, me and my mom are definitely into the ‘modern-chic’ side of things but it was definitely beautiful in its own way. Getting to Tulane wasn’t really hard and parking was a breeze. We got to the LBC and dropped my luggage off, and went upstairs and had some food. Following that, President Cowen gave a wonderful speech that pretty much I think sold MY parents on Tulane personally, he was very frank and the speech was very well done. There was a speal from the honors director after which was okay, definitely not anything too special but it was good information on the honors program.

After that was broke out into our campus tours. The campus is beautiful, especially everything on the part of upper campus near Gibson. The dorms aren’t really that great in my opinion, and I think coming to Tulane’s tour after Ohio State was definitely different, haha. It’s a completely different style, but nice. Definitely has some ‘Southern Charm,’ per say. I didn’t really think it was anything particularly special, but I know a lot of kids on my tour were totally enchanted by the campus. Afterwards we broke out into groups for lunch with professors in the majors we were interested, which was really interesting. I got to talk to a neuroscience prof while eating, and I definitely got some great information there. Following that, we went to the informational session on the TAP-TP and Creative Scholars program. Afterwards, the student and parent panel on student life, which was pretty standard in my opinion, nothing I didn’t already know. The pre-professional advising session provided some cool new information, and it’s definitely obvious that Tulane puts a lot of care into its student rather than large state schools which I thought was really cool.

After I got lost trying to meet my host (haha) I met her and the other three girls I was staying with that night. I didn’t really have the best experience with my host, specifically because one of the girls I was with (who was also a prospective student) wasn’t really too friendly and it was a major turn off, and the other two were pretty nice but we all pretty much kept our distance, we weren’t too close. We didn’t hang out with our host a lot really, because some good friends of hers were also hosting and a group of twenty of us took the streetcar (WHICH WAS SO COOL!!!) and went downtown. Couple of us split up and got pizza, the rest went to get seafood. I really enjoyed talking to some of the guys my host was friends with who I ended up hanging out with when we got pizza, it was really informative and they seemed really cool. We got beignets after and hung out around the Mississippi near Cafe DuMonde (if any of you know that area) and it was really fun and gorgeous. We took a walk down Bourbon Street which was really cool and definitely a new experience, and headed home. We just hung out in my host’s room and then all went to sleep, and the next morning everyone just kind of went their separate ways and my host pretty much slept the whole time so we left her a note. Overall the hosting experience was okay, but I think the girls I was with really made me question whether the student body at Tulane was for me. I really felt like it was an extreme where people were really sheltered and anti-partying, others were the extreme opposite, and there are some that are in the middle, but I don’t know, it might have just been my experience. That’s pretty much the only qualm I came away with about Tulane.

I went to an advising session at 9 AM on Sunday with one of the girls who was staying with me, and it was definitely really helpful. I thought it was awesome that we were registering before everyone else, and I LOVE TULANE’S CURRICULUM! If I go there next fall, I’m taking some science classes but also history and anthro to look at my interests in them and see if I like them. I really thought that was helpful. I went to Bruff with my mom after, which I really enjoyed (the food isn’t that bad there…plus they had an Icee machine so I was sold :P). Toured Butler and Wall after, and I didn’t really like Butler (and therefore would hate Monroe and Sharp) so if I go next year it’s definitely going to be Wall that I stay in, it’s so nice! I guess my only turn off to Tulane’s campus is in the antiquity of it, I felt like it was kind of old and I’m really into new, modernized style architecture. Plus the heat and sun, while a plus to most, are not really a factor to me. It’s nice for a while, but I definitely get sick of heat and stuff after a while, but I can live with it. Me and my mom went downtown afterwards and then came back to Bruff for dinner because I just wanted to see a little more of the student body. I also had the chance to meet my admissions counselor about some financial aid stuff, and she was SO NICE and HELPFUL! Everyone I met at Tulane in terms of faculty seemed really nice. I sat in on a Psych 1000 class but was pretty exhausted so I left a little early, but it seemed cool. Me and my mom were so exhausted by the end, and a really nice guy on a golf cart gave us a ride back to where Reilly is so we could get our car.

Overall, like I mentioned, I really liked Tulane. My parents especially were sold after, and really want me to be able to go there, especially financially. My mom felt a lot better about the safety and partying situation after President Cowen’s speech, and my dad did as well. They both mentioned multiple times how great Honors Weekend is, and I definitely see why a lot of people are sold after it. I could see myself at Tulane, but I didn’t get the “amazing” I belong here feeling, but I only got a slight hint of that at my other school, Ohio State. I am basically down to a full ride at Ohio State vs a similar situation at Tulane if I get the community service scholarship. If I don’t get the CSS, I have no choice but to go to Ohio State. If I get the CSS I have no idea what I’m going to do, because I really love the student body and huge campus at OSU, along with the amazing games and pride, but I absolutely ADORE the academic programs at Tulane (which I don’t think Ohio State can compete with, considering Tulane is a private school and therefore more personalized attention). I am just really concerned that I’m not going to be able to fit in with the students there, considering my overnight hosting experience. I don’t know. We’ll see. If anyone else went to honors weekend and wants to talk, just shoot me a message and we can connect on Facebook I hope everyone had a great experience!!