Tulane Honors or UCLA? Please give advice!

fallenchemist
Sun, 08 Apr 2012 22:20:55 +0000

kreativekat - thanks for the info, I tried to search the Vandy site but since I didn’t know the specific program name, I didn’t find it. I think you are right, it sounds very similar.

OptimalDV - thanks for your perspective. As far as the teachers that are hard to understand, this has been a problem at all universities for years, and it will only get worse since so many of the Ph.D.'s coming out these days are not native English speakers. I was lucky enough to never have this problem when I was at Tulane, but my wife had several professors she could not understand at her well known state school. This was all about 30 years ago, so it is nothing new. It certainly won’t be any better at UCLA, that much I feel sure about.

Also, reading other school’s forums and talking to parents of kids and the kids themselves that go to other schools, science classes are famous for low averages everywhere. Same thing with scheduling, many students complain about this at many different schools. That’s not to say Tulane couldn’t do it better, my D is similarly frustrated sometimes, but in point of fact she has found she only has to communicate with the prof and she can always get a space. Granted, these are always upper level classes and she is a top student, so many it works better for her than it would for some others, but she gets what she needs. I think she has only taken one 100 level class, symbolic logic, which she actually really liked. Again, I am not saying she has thought that every class was spectacular, but she has been more than pleased with all but a couple of them. I do wonder if you and shermani should have taken higher level classes from the start, if possible. Yes, I know with chemistry that is impossible if you are pre-med. I know she would probably have had exactly the same complaints as you two have had if she had not used her AP results to place out of those courses.

carlman - Thanks very much for the inside info on UCLA. Didn’t know the dorms were so overcrowded, and I bet with the budget issues that isn’t changing anytime soon. As far as the research, I know that is true, but I think you would also agree that the relationship with the prof wouldn’t be nearly as close at a school like UCLA as at Tulane. Also, I thought #6 was interesting. From what I have heard, that is not the case at Tulane. While they are not nannies, it is much more likely that is something were really wrong, it would be noticed and there would be communication.

Everything is a mixed bag, with pluses and minuses everywhere. Generally speaking, I have heard very positive things about UCLA, if you can deal with the hugeness of it.