UChicago vs Tulane (Full Tuition)

[fallenchemist]

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@@jddale

I actually reran the numbers and Tulane would would actually be closer to twice as much.

You mean Chicago would be closer to twice as much, right? I am assuming it is between 2x and 3x as much, closer to the 2x number.</p>

<p>OK, $12,500 in loans in total over 4 years doesn’t push the needle either way, in my book. Just to be sure, you do mean that, and not $12,500 per year for a total of $50,000. Because that is an entirely different story. Just making sure, so there are no misunderstandings.</p>

<p>We visited Chicago when my D and I were looking and I do know a number of students that have gone there. There is definitely a difference in the atmosphere at the two schools. Part of it is the type of student that just seems to gravitate to u Chicago, and part of it is the quarter system they use instead of the semester system. Not much downtime at Chicago. But many people love that system because they can take a greater variety of classes.</p>

<p>You really do have about an equal list of pros and cons for each school. Tulane wins in money and the alignment of the department with your interests, Chicago wins on overall atmosphere and location. None of them are knockout punches, though. I get that. I will say, though, on the diversity issue. Well, I will quote myself with something I said on another forum.

I am not dismissing or trying to rationalize away the importance of this issue (diversity), but I would suggest that another way of looking at it is that because of Tulane’s high level of student involvement in the New Orleans community, the students do get exposed to and quite involved in minority issues and exposed to other viewpoints. Additionally, this involvement deals on the ground, in most cases, with the day-to-day lives of people in need as opposed to classroom and dorm room discussions. Again, I am not saying those discussions are not quite valuable. I think having those points of view based on experiences (in many cases, not all just because they are a minority) among the students is important. I am just saying that Tulane does provide a lot of diversity to the students, it just comes in a different form to some extent. Naturally, it would be nice if Tulane started attracting more Hispanic, Asian and other races and ethnic heritage and provided the service experience. But for now, I would argue that at Tulane these students are exposed to diversity, sometimes a very raw diversity (my D worked on a homelessness project, for example) that often goes beyond what can be learned in a campus setting.

It doesn’t show up in that quote, but Tulane actually has twice the African American population that Chicago has, 10% vs. 5%. It is really the Asian percentage that is most of the difference, 20% at Chicago and 4% at Tulane. Hispanic is 9% at Chicago and 6% at Tulane. But going back to my quote, in your field of study a lot of work is done in the bayous of Southern Louisiana. You won’t get that at Chicago!</p>

<p>So I don’t think there is much else I can say towards your dilemma. It is a tough choice. Money usually trumps other things when the $$ are significant, but you have to make that call. But if you want to talk it out some more, we are all listening and will try to help.</p>