<p>@dsterino: Everyone is biased. Not everyone is a jackass. </p>
<p>A bit more on topic, I strongly considered both Northeastern and Tulane, and was accepted to both. My decision was largely financial. </p>
<p>I have to say, I did enjoy my visits to both campuses. Tulane is probably the nicer looking of the two campuses, but I wouldn’t call Northeastern ugly. The newer buildings are all very nice, and though a few of the older buildings aren’t stunning, there aren’t any particular eye-sores (the image provided in the 20 Ugliest Colleges is the Dedham MA campus, which I know little about. I will agree that it looks unspectacular, but there isn’t anything on the main campus that looks anything like that. I actually didn’t know it existed until I tried to figure out where the image came from). Based on my memories of Tulane, Northeastern’s dorms are indisputably better. Academically, all I can say with certainty about Tulane was that when I applied (about two and a half years ago), Tulane was still having issues with staff retention following Katrina (which was way back in 06). </p>
<p>One thing to consider is that neither Boston or New Orleans have the best weather - so pick your poison there. That said, New Orleans has the advantage of being farther south, which means more daylight overall, which can be a plus. </p>
<p>In terms of geography, I’m not a fan of the southeast US. I spent fifteen years in that part of the country (Age 3-18), and though my choice of schools was largely financial, I was relieved to be leaving that part of the country. That said, New Orleans is an entirely different animal than much of the rest of the region, one I am far less familiar with. On top of that, a significant portion of Tulane students (based on how the school presented it, far more than would be anticipated), come from outside the region (I believe the statistic they used was ‘over 500 miles away’), so you won’t exactly be plopping yourself in the middle of cajun country. </p>
<p>Southern hospitality doesn’t really exist (perhaps excepting the food associated with it) much of anywhere in the southeast. There are some really friendly, nice people, and there are some really rude, awful people. That’s how it is anywhere in the US, they just gave it a name in the south.</p>