Coming to New Orleans for the first time!

Having just graduated from Tulane last spring, I highly recommend going there. I had a great balance of being challenged but not being worked to the point of being miserable. And you can't beat being in New Orleans for college. My roommate sophomore year was from Jersey and he loves it here, he actually got a job at a law firm in Metairie and is planning on staying long term.

As far as what to do during your visit this week, like the poster above, I recommend you check out the WWII/D Day museum in the warehouse district.
Go to the french quarter during the day and check out the architecture, some restaurants, art galleries.... Just going and watching the people is entertaining enough for me. Don't forget to do the standard trip to cafe du monde for some beignets.
If you are an animal enthusiast, the aquarium as reopened and is right near the quarter on the river. Closer to Tulane is the Audubon Zoo which is top notch. In between Tulane and the zoo is Audubon park, which is really really nice. Apparently you can occasionally find Drew Brees with is wife walking their dog around the trail (why couldn't he have been there why I was in school?!?)
Another cool spot is Magazine street (the road the zoo is on), there are all sorts of antique shops, bars, restaurants, clothing stores along it.

As far as restaurants to go to, if you have nothing to do on Sunday morning you could do the Sunday brunch thing at Commander's Palace. I've never had the chance but I hear its fantastic and much more reasonable than a nighttime meal there. My 2 favorite places around campus are not open these days though one (camelia grill) is supposed to be reopening soon. Kokopelli's was a killer burrito place nearby but I've heard it is still closed.
-Liuzza's in mid city is an excellent mid range place with poboys and fried just about anything. The crawfish telemachus is delicious as well.
-Jacque Imo's is a really cool place in uptown fairly close to Tulane. They are in the $20 range but its not really fancy, you just get insane amounts of food. They have creole and some cajun seafood and some regular stuff for the not so adventurous.
-Domileses is a cool little mom and pop poboy shop in uptown.
-For the more fancy kinda places, any of the brennan's restaurant are great: Bacco's, Ralph's on the Park, Redfish Grill, Palace Cafe...
Here's a website that has a list of the currently open restaurants and their locations.
http://www.nomenu.com/RestaurantsOpen.html
Some places are closed sunday and/or monday so you might want to call ahead to be sure.

You shoulda come next week though so you coulda seen us whoop up on the Bengals. Enjoy your stay.