Tulane is a private university located in New Orleans. The Big Easy is a huge part of the campus culture, which is vibrant, community-oriented, and electric with creativity and entrepreneurial energy. Nestled in beautiful Uptown, Tulane students have the opportunity to be on a true college campus while getting the best of one of America’s most dynamic (and fun) cities.
All this, paired with outstanding academics, has led to Tulane becoming a hyper-competitive school to get into. In short, it isn’t your parents’ Tulane. The college has an undergraduate population of about 8,500, and an acceptance rate of only about 13%.
If you are eyeing Tulane, you need a strategy. We always require the students we work with to target a specific program or major when they are applying. “Undecided,” in our world, isn’t a thing. Yes, you may change your mind — which is totally ok for the vast majority of programs — once you get there, but showing Tulane that you have focus will massively increase your chances of acceptance. To help you pick the best major for you to focus in on for your application, we’ve shared our top 5 at Tulane below. Each of these programs is impressive. It has exceptional resources, deep expertise, a faculty with a diversity of experiences and interests, and room for you to explore. We also considered the role that New Orleans plays in the major. One of the coolest things about the Tulane curriculum is that the city is an integral piece of it, and we like majors that embrace that.
Looking for help getting into your top choice school? Call us. We love to help students match with programs that are a great fit.
Public Health, B.S.
Tulane’s School of Public Health is top-notch, and it offers students a Bachelor of Science in Public Health. The academics focus on health of populations and communities, and lean heavily on community-based field and lab research. All students pursue a broad course load that covers the foundations of public health, which sets students up for professional work or graduate studies. Some students also choose to take advantage of study abroad opportunities specifically geared towards a public health degree. In 2023-2024, for example, public health students were able to earn credit in South Africa, Ghana, India, Australia, the Netherlands, London, Spain, Chile, Jordan, and many, many more. And while on campus you can take courses like “Health Challenges and Climate Change” and “Nutrition and Chronic Disease.”
Music, B.A.
It’s possible that there’s no better city in the world to study music than New Orleans. The uniqueness of the program at Tulane, though, isn’t just about the place (though we’ll expand on that more in a sec). It’s also that the program embraces both a specific and a generalist approach to music, encouraging exploration and discovery — very on-brand for one of the best jazz cities in the world. Students take courses in composition, performance, ethnomusicology, musical creativity, and more. All of this is to both create a rock-solid foundation, and to “set the stage for musical experimentation and innovation.” Courses you probably can’t find anywhere else (at least not with such an authentic lens include Big Jazz Band, Jazz Combo, Jazz Piano, Music in New Orleans, Musical Cultures-New Orleans, and Black American Music Lab. Music majors at Tulane can also seek out coursework with community service-learning components, and internships with major local musical institutions. You can spend weekends going to shows, jamming out with friends, or even busking yourself on Frenchmen St.
Architecture, B. Arch
Tulane offers a five-year Bachelor of Architecture, and it’s an astonishing program for anyone interest in the European-influenced classic, but also fascinating modern, architecture in New Orleans. Like all of the best programs at Tulane, the major in Architecture leans into the local environment. Students take part in studio courses where they design and present for critique by their professors and peers alongside high-level math and physics courses that teach the numbers knowledge you need to know to design safe buildings. You can also choose to pursue a minor in Historic Preservation, which is similarly rooted in the history and architecture of New Orleans, including required fieldwork to regional sites.
Business, B.S.
Tulane’s undergraduate business program within the Freeman School of Business is highly-renowned, very respected, and known for turning out exciting start-ups and young business leaders. The business school offers focused majors in Finance, Legal Studies in Business, Management, Marketing, and a five-year joint business major and accounting masters. We love how the programs are so focused, and you can even pair two things up through a major/minor match. The Entrepreneurial Business minor is also super compelling, and there are two specializations available: Energy Specialization and Entrepreneurship Specialization. Students go on to found companies, become industry leaders, build careers in investment and venture capital, and take over family businesses. While you’re still at Tulane, though, take advantage of study abroad and exchange opportunities with over 50 peer institutions in more than 25 countries.
Anthropology
The Department of Anthropology offers coursework in anthropological archaeology, biological anthropology, sociocultural anthropology, and linguistic anthropology. The program is extremely deep, and the faculty within the department pursue research that spans the globe. What’s most exciting to us, though, is the work being done in and around New Orleans. This offers immersive and dynamic field research (or ethnographic) opportunities, which immerse anthropology students in the granular details of their area of focus building upon courses like “Creoles & Creolization” and “Languages of Louisiana.” Courses aren’t limited to New Orleans, though, with options that span the globe and particular depth in Mexican, Central American, and South American cultures.
Identifying a major before applying to a top school like Tulane is important. We work with our students to ensure that they have a strategy when applying to the nation’s most competitive schools. We hope that this list of our top majors for Tulane sparks your imagination and helps you find your focus!
Need help with a college application? Call us. We love to help students match with their top-choice schools.