I wasn’t going to say anything about some of the comments after being denied or wait listed, because I know it can sting or worse. But I just have to say that some of this is completely unfair. Every school that is even remotely like Tulane defers some EA and/or ED students into the RD round. They then also sometimes wait list those same students. Also, some other schools similarly turn down very high stat students that, in their estimation, are far more likely to attend elsewhere. It’s a judgement call, sometimes they turn down students that genuinely wanted Tulane and seem qualified (however, see third paragraph). But the fact that a lot of the same people moaning about Tulane’s decision also are listing great (!!) other schools they have gotten into and in some cases clearly stating that those schools were higher on their list anyway really seems to prove the point. I would note that this is not like a pro sport draft, where when a school “picks” (accepts) a student, they either have to sign with that school or not attend college at all. Virtually all students, especially at these upper levels, hold multiple acceptances and thus are more like free agents, at least to some degree.
The schools thus have to take measures to make sure they don’t have a shortfall of students that meet their academic and other criteria, but also don’t have too many and thus space issues. Trust me, this process is hard on everyone, but it is hard to come up with another way of doing it that simultaneously gives the student free choice of where to apply, where to go among the schools to which they are accepted, and at the same time meets the college’s need to attract the kind of student it needs in the right numbers. Frankly I am amazed they come so close to the “magic number” every year, and with great students. Only a very small number of schools are like Harvard and Stanford that have such high yields that it is easy to predict the class size just from the number they admit, and then they have the additional luxury of knowing that few people will turn down a wait list offer from them, and that student from the wait list only didn’t get in initially by the most hair thin difference from the ones that did, if even that. Tulane, Miami, WUSTL, Vandy, etc, don’t have that kind of situation because so many of the students applying to those schools are really trying for Ivies, and in the case of Tulane and Miami and USC and some others, Ivies plus Duke, Chicago, NU, etc. Not all students of course, but enough that it makes the job a lot tougher than at those other schools.
Of course, we cannot see those applications either. The student will swear up and down that they didn’t so this, but you would be amazed at how many applications Tulane gets from students with stats at the top of Tulane’s range with essays or emails that refer to Duke or Vanderbilt where Tulane should be. Or their essays just have gross errors in them. Of course they get those same mistaken submissions from students with lesser stats as well. The point being people get denied or pushed back for all sorts of reasons that are legitimate but we cannot know.
As far as the gender thing, I think that the situation at citybus’ school might be just a partial coincidence, but it is perfectly plausible that Tulane is trying to increase the male population at the school. Every incoming class for at least the last 7 years has been predominantly female, to the tune of about 57-43%. Which is very close to what is happening nationally (56-44% I have read). I think one class about 3 years ago was really skewed at about 62-38% IIRC. That isn’t healthy for any coed institution, both for the students and the school. It is obvious why it is especially bad for the women, although it isn’t great in many aspects for the guys either. For Tulane, it also risks more transfers from female students who are unhappy with such an imbalance. That hurts retention, a key factor Tulane is working hard to improve and has improved considerably. Anyway, given that fact, it isn’t surprising Tulane seems to be favoring the men in acceptances. I guess we will see if it is true when the CDS for this year comes out. That data is very clearly broken down by gender.
The rest I won’t comment on, but those two things were just really being unfairly characterized as something Tulane is doing wrong. Especially the deferrals and wait listing. I really do understand the deep disappointment many feel at this time of year regarding all highly selective schools. Far more people get disappointed than pleased, and the number of the former rises quickly the higher you go up the selectivity ladder. Virtually all the students end up having wonderful college experiences.