Work at UT and have a sophomore daughter at Tulane (Honors and big merit award). Agree your daughter will thrive wherever she goes - these are both great options. But she can only choose one! Here are some important issues to consider.
- The cities. Austin does NOT have a southwest feel. (We have lived here for over 25 years so we know.) Austin has the youthful booming economy fast growing city feel of Denver/Portland/Seattle. New Orleans doesn’t:-) Our daughter loves loves having so much she loves on their doorstep - great food, great (different kind of) music scene, tons of great music festivals in NO too - more than Austin; great food scene (she’s a foodie). NO is just a different kind of place with a strong sense of its own, distinctive identity and culture.
- Curriculum. Plan II is a MAJOR, it’s not just an Honors program. If you daughter goes to Plan II, her major will be Plan II (plus a double if she wants to double). That means their academic track is highly structured - and Plan II is an extremely structured major in terms of what they must take. Tulane is very very flexible in terms of curriculum. You can easily double across colleges, you can major in whatever you want without any application process, you don’t have to apply to a particular major/college. That was very important for our daughter.
- Weather - Austin is hot, really really hot. Hotter than people can imagine who aren’t from a super hot region! NO is more humid of course but overall our TX girl says definitely not as hot.
- Extracurricular - lots going on at both places. Both very social. UT of course has a big big time sports program and lots of sociability around going to games, etc etc etc. You don’t have to partake of that but it’s an enormous part of undergrad culture at UT. If your kid wants that kind of undergrad experience, we are the big public for her. Tulane has sports of course (football team is much better apparently the last couple of years) but its role in campus life is in no way comparable. That suits our daughter better.
- Fit - such an intangible and so much of what shapes their experience you really can’t know yet when they have to choose.
Please feel free to DM me if you want to chat more.