When I tell people I go to Tulane University, the first question all of them ask is, "How is New Orleans since Katrina?" Well, it's not perfect, but the city and the school are trying very hard to return from the destruction of the storm. Uptown, around the campus, and downtown, around the French Quarter and more tourist populated areas, are doing well. The return of the streetcar really helped students be able to branch out and explore the city because most students don't have cars. East New Orleans and the Ninth Ward are basically still ghost towns, but the people that live around those areas are still trying to rebuild their homes, if they returned to New Orleans at all. It is one of the draws to the Tulane, as well as the other universities in New Orleans, that students have many opportunities to help with the volunteer and rebuilding efforts that take place in New Orleans quite often through organizations like Habitat for Humanity, and the campus volunteer organization, CACTUS.
The administration is not very efficient, no matter what they tell prospective students, and incoming freshmen and their parents. There is little to no interdepartmental communication, making it often difficult for students with more than one major to get in touch with all of their advisors. The administration gives students the run-around, making getting things done in an easy, timely manner really difficult. I often hear students complain about the administration's lack of interest in their opinions; they don't pay attention to what students want, and it sometimes seems that once they have a student's tuition money, they don't care at all about what happens to them.
There's a decent amount of school pride, but the student body doesn't exude it where sports are concerned, except baseball, because our team is good. It is also time-consuming to get to football games because they are held a bus ride away at the Super Dome, making students less motivated to go than if they were held in an on-campus arena. However, students and alumni are proud to say they attended Tulane University.
Some frequent student complaints that I've heard have to do with housing. All students are supposed to be guaranteed housing, but they are required to live on campus their freshman an sophomore years. I heard a lot of complaining from Junior and Senior students whose scholarships paid for their housing only if they lived on campus because there was no room for them in either of the junior and senior dorms because rising sophomores had taken their rooms because there were so many of them. In addition, renting a place off of campus is expensive and often above a student's budget. The incoming 2008 freshman class is one of the biggest classes in the school's history, so it would appear that housing is just going to become a continual problem.