Tulane Info Session, Boston Area

<p>We attended the Tulane info session for the Boston area, and here is my report:</p>

<p>When checking in, those who had pre-registered received a preprinted name tag listing the student’s school. A nice touch, I thought. </p>

<p>I would say about 150 people were in attendance. This was the best dressed crowd we’ve seen so far. One high school student looked fabulous in a lovely skirt, sweater and pumps.</p>

<p>The session was lead by a Tulane grad, class of '05. She did a great job, and this is the only session we’ve seen that was handled by one person and that a person aged less than 45.</p>

<p>The speaker, a marketing and communications major, was articulate, funny, and knew how to relate to a high school crowd. She spoke without notes or use of Powerpoint.</p>

<p>If this is typical of the kind of graduates produced by Tulane, I am very impressed.</p>

<p>A recent grad, the mother of a recent grad, and the mother of a current freshman introduced themselves. Mother of current freshman: “I don’t know how much studying my son is doing, but he is having a wonderful time!”</p>

<p>Session content:
[ul]What Tulane considers in the application and scholarship opportunities - the usual[/ul]
[ul]Tulane DVD - made post-Katrina. Students profiled covered a broad spectrum, including a student double majoring in sociology and public health[/ul]
[ul]Description of career planning services. “Tulane 1000,” one thousand companies committed to hiring Tulane grads. Career center guarantees freshman who use the center two job offers and an internship by graduation.[/ul]
[ul]Emphasized opportunity to help rebuild New Orleans. Speaker had personally worked on a marketing plan for a business struggling after the catastrophe. Architecture majors are required to build a house prior to graduating.[/ul]
[ul]Special opportunities for those interested in pre-med, including entry into med school in junior year and preference for Tulane Med School acceptance[/ul]
[ul]Listed visitors and groups visiting campus, including Ellen DeGeneres, Dave Matthews Band, some currently popular groups with names I was too old to recognize…[/ul]
[ul]Added a number of small stories that gave personality to the session – for example, description of Tulane Ornithological Society, a social group, alluding to the ice hockey team, “which is actually pretty good because of all the students from the Northeast”[/ul]
[ul]Local tidbit - highest percentage of accepted students who attend come from Massachusetts[/ul]
Coffee, soda, water and cookies were served.</p>

<p>Like most (all?) parents of the entering class of 2006, I was frightened by Karina-related news. My d had many wonderful offers to choose from – why would we take a chance on a wounded city, a wounded institution? Then, we attended a NYC accepted-students event. They managed to pull together the most interesting group of alums to speak to the crowd – all different ages — many different majors. They had one thing in common – they beamed when they talked about their experience at Tulane. Sitting in the crowd, I found myself wishing that I felt the same way about my alma mater (and I didn’t have a bad experience, it was great … but left no lasting loyalty to anything other than the wonderful friends I made). I was sold – enough to arrange a last minute visit to see conditions for myself. My d is now an extremely happy sophomore – she can’t imagine herself anywhere else, nor can I.</p>