jym626

That's an excellent point, happy1. The earlier, the better. And strong candidates (which the OP appears to be) are usually recipients of nice merit awards with their acceptance.

cc123sb

Yes, but if the users top choice is Yale then he/she cannot apply to tulane ea.

However, if I were OP, I'd pick notre dame or washu for ED, and both tulan and uva for ea. I WOULDNT apply to university of illinois ea because given your other choices its probably a safety, and there's no reason to apply to your safety if you are accepted to tulane, uva, or notredame/washu.

jym626

Tulane has a sort of rolling admissions. The earlier the student applies the earlier they will likely hear, so the OP can apply early without selecting EA. The issue with EA would arise only if the OP was going to apply to Yale SCEA. HOWEVER, Tulane changed their policy last year with respect to applying for the coveted DHS (full tuition) scholarship. Unless they change back, as of last year the student had to apply to Tulane EA or SCEA in order to be able to apply for the DHS. The only reason this would be important is if cost is an important variable to the OP. Cost might also be a reason to apply to UIUC.

As for "pretty campus", I personally somewhat prefer Rice over Tulane, but there is always construction at Rice. Tulane will be having some construction as well, but Rice seemed to have a lot in the past several years.

tbo1123

Thanks so much everyone, so many good suggestions. I am quite sure I will be applying to Notre Dame Early Action (restrictive). Do y'all think that is a good idea? Also, Wash U is my other favorite, realistic match (I'm visiting right now!) and their Early admissions process is binding upon acceptance, something that I am not ready to commit to.

PAGRok

ND for EA is good, I love it when schools offer EA. it is helpful to the applicant to not be bound by ED. Also, what do you mean by "realistic match" for WashU? Your list is also reach heavy, just in case you didn't know.

Though these are reaches too, have you considered Vanderbilt or UChicago?

tbo1123

Most of the schools on my list, save Yale, are good match schools that (I hope) I have a solid chance of getting accepted to with my stats and things. Thanks for those suggestions, I quite like those schools!

PAGRok

WashU's acceptance rate was 15.4% this year... So it's a reach for everyone, even you if you have perfect stats. Tulane and ND are both at 26-28%, so those are likely matches only if you have near perfect stats. I don't know about UVA or UI. Just hope you're being realistic.

tbo1123

Haha me too... I know admissions at those places is by no means easy, but tell me what you think on my chances thread?
Chance me?

cc123sb

I just glanced over your chances thread. Unfortunately, I don't think you can consider washu a match. Unless you are well within the top 1-5% of your class (even if your school doesn't rank, most people can accurately guess their rank), RD as washu will be tough.

Tulane is a safety, UVA is a match since OOS.

Umich comes to mind as a great public school that is a safety/low reach. They don't have a b. arch program (not sure if you were even looking for that), but a b.s. in arch so you'd have to go to grad school.

tbo1123

shut down. I feel silly for calling Wash U a "realistic match" now. Well, I can hope for the best.

I like Michigan! I am in state for U of I, and it has a lovely B.Arch program, so I thought I would choose that between the two.

tbo1123

On Wash U: Just a change in categorization, I guess. I will still apply! Thank you all for pulling me back to Earth

cc123sb

I mean, its not an incredible reach, but just glancing over my naviance around half of the 34+'s were waitlisted or rejected.

As long as you show genuine interest, you should be fine. WUSTL has received tons of complaints this year on CC for yield protection (waitlisting applicants who they felt didn't have washu as a first choice)

fallenchemist

It isn't exactly clear to me why you would take Tulane out of the equation. They have a great M.Arch program, with the students getting very involved in rebuilding New Orleans. Many have actually gotten to see their work built, and worked with students from the business school and other disciplines on helping local businesses and others.

As far as academic quality, the students at Tulane have virtually the same stats as those at UVa. Compare the common data sets (Section C) of the two schools. As far as % admitted go, it is impossible to compare a private school with a state one, regardless of application cost. The inherent pool of applicants is too skewed in the case of a state school, not to mention the state requirements limiting the % of OOS, to make these comparisons meaningful. Add to that the different marketing approaches of schools, public or private, and the statistic gets less meaningful yet. It only really helps if you could see the % admitted with a resume similar to yours, and that is not possible.

Anyway, Tulane has a great program and a very nice campus in a unique city. Go visit. Give it some more thought.

fallenchemist

Not sure if you are still looking at this, but FYI here is an article that may be of interest to you: A Confederacy of Do-ers: Part 1 – A New Orleans Practitioner-Academic Collaborations | Metropolis POV | Metropolis Magazine