the only good thing is that pretty soon they will start increasing the release of decisions… hopefully it’s VERY soon!!!
My D just learned she was accepted today! Her app went in on 11/11.
I’m not filling out the whole form, but she had 1970 SAT (730 CR, 580 M, 660 W), and gpa is 3.65 (uw) and 4.4 (w). She is planning to major in English.
@me29034 Congratulations! Do you know if her admissions decision was just posted today? The notifications here in NY seem to have slowed down since Thanksgiving.
@slg333 To be honest, I don’t think she has been checking everyday so I’m not sure when it was posted. We are in MA.
Unless either or both of the following are true
- []Your daughter thinks of Tulane as more of a safety and has a number of schools she actually prefers; and/or
[]Money is no object
I strongly suggest she finish the PTA and submit it. Same for the DHS if she started that as well. It is a Catch-22 no doubt, but one that otherwise works against her. Here is what I mean.
As you and others already know, it is hard to figure out why Tulane takes some high stat students and defers others, often eventually wait listing them. WUSTL has long done the same thing but to a somewhat lesser degree since their average stats are higher than Tulane’s. Tulane is in a funny place in the scheme of admissions for high achieving students. They are a highly respected, first rate research institution with a lot of great departments, smart kids, really nice campus in a great city, and an excellent reputation with a track record of undergrads getting into top graduate and professional schools. But they are just a notch below the Ivies, Stanford, Duke, WUSTL and a handful of others in terms of selectivity and average stats for the incoming classes. Now I would argue that the education they get at Tulane is better than at some of these schools in the sense of faculty interaction and really meaningful research opportunities, but that is a whole 'nuther discussion.
The point is that Tulane may or may not have pegged your D’s application as fitting into their profile of someone that is using Tulane as a safety and has little real interest. Probably not, from what you describe, but who knows. But by being a high stat applicant and NOT applying for the PTA and/or DHS, it might be taken as a sign that the interest is indeed lukewarm, which is kind of what you are saying. Or even if not lukewarm and just frustration, they may perceive the former. So to get out of that cycle, she really should submit the application. which not only shows interest but keeps her in the running for full tuition, which I assume would be a welcome thing. Unless of course the odds of her attending Tulane are small even if she gets full tuition, in which case Tulane was right. See the dilemma?
I don’t completely understand how Tulane goes about this aspect of the process, but it seems to work well for them. I understand why they do it, just not how. When my D applied (2330 SAT one sitting, 3.93 UW, about 12 APs, lots of outside honors to list) there was no Why Tulane question. The only things they had to go on besides whatever instincts they seem to have about these things is that she said she was going to apply for the DHS (only full scholarship at that time), and that I am an alum. But the DHS application wasn’t due until Dec 15 back then, and she got her acceptance quite early, like late October. Maybe that was another factor, she got everything to them by the first few days of October. She did visit campus and attend a local session as well. But as far as the alum thing, I have seen applicants with two parents as alums get deferred/wait listed, although not with her level stats. I have seen others with no Tulane family history get in early. From the outside it is incomprehensible, but having watched this go on for years now, I can only tell you they seem to get it right a lot more than they don’t.
The bottom line is she helps herself far more by getting the application done than not. Unless, just to repeat, Tulane isn’t that serious a school for her. That would be a shame, I think, but of course that is for her to decide. I just wanted to spell out the situation and consequences, as it appears to me. I wish her the very best of luck, whatever she decides.
@fallenchemist On my Common App I said I would apply for the Paul Tulane Award, but I don’t think I’ll have time to finish the essays, so I won’t be applying. Should I email my counselor and let them know, or just leave it alone? (I’ve already been accepted)
Definitely just leave it alone. It doesn’t affect anything at this point, there is nothing they can do with that information. Congrats on the acceptance!
@fallenchemist have you ever seen people with lower stats get accepted? i have low stats (1820 SAT, 3.64 GPA) but have lots of extracurriculars and wrote a really great why tulane, along with emailing my counselor and showing demonstrated interest. i still havent heard back so obviously i was deferred but do you know of anyone like me thats gotten in before? just wondering because everyone has such high stats since tulane is such a great school
@fallenchemist Thank you for your very helpful post. I have read a lot of your posts on this thread and they all have been very supportive of the students. I am sure all the parents appreciate it.
Tulane was one of the top schools on D’s list last year. A family friend recommended Tulane and she felt that Tulane would be a good fit for her. However, as I mentioned earlier, other colleges have been very informative and helpful throughout the whole process, including WashU and Vanderbilt. They contacted her immediately for interviews, sending her information about scholarships, financial aids, and medical scholar program. D received a ton of emails from Tulane asking her to apply, but everything stopped within the day she sent her application, including not receiving an email letting her know that they have received her application. She had to contact an intern to find out about her application.
I found out about the PTA and DHS from posts on CC. She never received anything encouraging her to apply. Anyway, I will encourage her to finish those scholarship apps in the next 2 days, but the whole thing has definitely dampened her desire to attend a school that was once on her top 3.
Thanks again for your help.
Well at least we all hope they will start releasing more. I think if I knew something…any thing I would feel a bit of relief!. I think it is just more of a head thing, you know? People post that they hear back in a week or five days or something and the rest of us are 2 or 3 or more weeks into the waiting game and automatically think that there is something wrong with our applications. Oh well, another day with “your application is under review”
@mickey1120, my older daughter (2014) applied early action to Tulane and while she was deferred initially, she was eventually accepted in the regular round. Her scores and GPA were slightly lower than yours but like you, she had a lot of extracurriculars, including considerable community engagement experience. She ended up going to a different school where she got merit aid, as she didn’t qualify for anything at Tulane, but while you may very well get accepted EA, if you do get deferred don’t despair - there is a good chance that you too will get accepted.
@myjanda ahhh thank you so much for giving me some hope! yeah i definitely wont qualify for merit aid but just want to get in. thanks so much
also @fallenchemist, you touched upon this a bit, but, how do you think Tulane actually is able to discern between those applicants who really want to go, (me) and those rocket scientists who have it as their safety?
I am willing to speculate at times, but on this I have to admit I am in the dark. I only know that so often when a top 1% student got deferred and/or wait listed, they admitted not being serious about Tulane, and more than not either not doing the Why Tulane or doing it in 10 minutes. Yes, certainly students in the top 1% get accepted and say Tulane was a safety, but it seems like the former to the latter runs about 5:1! I guess over the years they have identified some combination of objective factors (boarding school student, didn’t/barely filled out essay, no contact outside of application, etc.) and subjective ones (tone in essays, history from that high school, timing of application) which they use to keep a handle on this, for better or worse. Now see what you did, you got me to speculate after all! But those are completely based on nothing other than what I think might pertain, I have no idea what they think or use. It is one of those things where, I think, only real experience would reveal what is likely to correlate to true interest.
You already got an answer, but let me second it. Definitely you have a shot. The GPA actually isn’t THAT low. And really neither is the SAT. If it were evenly distributed that is about 600 per section, just below the 25% mark for Tulane. That leaves about 1/4 of the class in your range. They may not be great odds, but they certainly are not terrible. And as you say, you have shown very strong desire and you have good non-stat assets. Let’s hope!!
First, I have to ask about that screen name. I am just intrigued.
To the main topic, on the more trivial side Tulane doesn’t do interviews so there is that. But of course that is not your point. I am not sure what to say about how Tulane stacks up against these other schools in terms of those kinds of helpful informational communications. The simplest explanation is it sounds like they have room for improvement here. But just to think out loud, and I will admit that you will probably think I am rationalizing or just plain nuts, I do think back to something I learned while getting my MBA (not at Tulane) called negative marketing. It doesn’t mean you say negative things about your company, it just means you take steps to actually create less demand for your product. It is fairly rare, but has happened in cases where manufacturing cannot keep up with demand, but you don’t want to risk just telling people not to buy, or raise your price too much for strategic reasons. In other words, it is usually a capacity issue, and Tulane has had bigger and bigger classes every year, last year being well over their target of 1550 or so (they got 1709). While the 1700+ was the most extreme, it was about the 5th year in a row of being over target, maybe longer. Now I would think they would just accept fewer people, but perhaps for some reason it isn’t that simple. I feel crazy for even writing all that down and sharing it, but it has occurred to me, because I just don’t know why Tulane wouldn’t send out information similar to what you describe. I will say that the full tuition awards are mentioned on the application itself, but I wouldn’t argue that this is sufficient as an awareness mechanism.
As Occam’s Razor says, the simplest explanation is usually the right one, and so most likely Tulane just needs to look at improving in this area. If I am in a position to make that suggestion to Admissions, I will do so. From your and your daughter’s point of view, you really don’t care about why it is what it is, just that it makes a lesser impression of the school. I never like hearing that, and I cannot imagine Tulane really does either. Those are great schools she is also trying for. Hopefully in the end she will get her acceptance and be considered for the full tuition awards, and Tulane will be a strong candidate for her again.
Just got accepted today. Application complete October 23rd. From CT.
GPA: 3.5
SAT: 1330 (CR+M)
Decision: ACCEPTED
Merit Scholarship: I don’t know, haven’t received the letter yet
Major: Political Science
Objective:
- []SAT I (breakdown): 1900 (620 CR, 720 M, 560 W)
[]ACT: 29 (24 E, 33 M, 26 S, 32 R)
[]SAT II: N/A
[]Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.38
[]Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Literal 50%, 264/528
[]AP (place score in parenthesis): N/A
[]IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
[]Senior Year Course Load: Fall Quarter: “ENGL 201: The Research Paper”, “CHEM 110: Chemistry w/Lab”, “HIST 148: US History III”, “POLS 203: International Relations”. Winter Quarter: “HLTH 250: Wellness”, “PE 110: Life Fitness”, “OCEA 110: Environmental Oceanography”, “ECON 201: Microeconomics”. Spring Quarter: “ECON 202: Macroeconomics”, “POLS 227: Islamic Fundamentalism in Middle East Politics”, “PHIL 115: Symbolic Logic”, “POLS 201: Political Philosophy”.
[]Major Awards : Phi Theta Kappa Junior College Honor Society, Scholar Athlete for 8 Seasons of Sports: Golf * 4 Seasons, Swim * 2 Seasons, Track and Field * 2 Seasons, SACNAS Scholar of the Year
Subjective:
-
[]Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Varsity Golf Team 4 years (Captain Senior Year), Varsity Swim Team 2 Years, Varsity Track Team 2 years, SACNAS (Former President, I now am the student advisor to the chapter on campus), Muslim Student Association (Officer), Arabic Culture Student Association (Vice-President), Boy Scouts of America Eagle Scout (Senior Patrol Leader, Assistant Senior Patrol Leader, Troop Guide, Troop Chaplain), King County Explorer Search and Rescue, Naval Sea Cadet Corps (X-Division Leading Petty Officer, Staff Leading Petty Officer), Black Student Union (Officer), DECA 4 year member, African Student Association, Persian Student Association, El Centro, Latino BC, Society of Physics Students, Microbiology Research Club, Chemistry Students Association, Toastmasters, Engineering Club, BC Speech and Debate Team, Docs and Dents. I only go to class for 1.5 hours a day, then do extracurriculars for the rest of the day. All of these are spread throughout the year. I spend the most time on SACNAS, MSA, Boy Scouts, and ACSA.
[]Job/Work Experience/Internships: My mom is unemployed, so I have to work 20 hours per week part time at a bakery in my hometown. I do this with all the other extracurriculars, as well as sports and school.
Completed a 4-week internship with NCIS at the Camp Pendleton Field Office
Completed a 7-week medical internship with Coastal Riverine Squadron 2 Alpha Ground Team, Seal Team 4, and Surface Warfare Officer Atlantic Training Command, United States Navy
Completed a 3-week hands-on search and rescue internship with Coast Guard Station Seattle during their training cycle, Coast Guard Base Seattle, United States Coast Guard
[]Volunteer/Community service: Mountains to Sound Greenway, Boy Scouts, USNSCC, Friends of Youth, King County Search and Rescue, Issaquah Rotary
[]Essays: My essays were freaking amazing, I tried really hard on them. My essays were the reason I got in!
[]Teacher Recommendation: Didn’t have one
[]Counselor Rec: She told me I was one of the best she has seen in her professional career. I went through major hardship and it shows in my academic career, as well as my emotion and the way I portray myself.
[]Additional Rec: Didn’t have one
[]Interview: Didn’t have one
Other:
-
[]State (if domestic applicant): Washington State
[]Country (if international applicant): US
[]School Type: Public high school, Public Junior College
[]Academic Certificates: “Associates in Arts and Sciences, Distinction in Political Science – 12/10/2015”, “Certificate of Excellence, Business Law and Legal Studies”, “Certificate of Completion, Entrepreneurship and Business Management” “Certificate of Completion, Health Field Management”
[]Race: Indian, but I was born and raised in Oakland, California. Race has nothing to do with it.
[]Hispanic (Y/N): N
[]Gender: M
[]Income Bracket: N/A
[]Hooks: Essays, I already have an Associate’s Degree, Dedication to Public Service, Search and Rescue
Reflection:
- []Strengths: Definitely my essays and extracurriculars.
[]Weaknesses: SAT score/GPA/ACT/No Teacher Recommendation
[]Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/denied: my writing skills definitely showed in my essay and I have worked extremely hard in high school. I think they saw my motivation to do well with my hardship
[]Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/denied: Accepted: Baylor University ($56,000), ASU ($50,000), Kansas University ($24,000). Applied, but haven’t heard anything: University of Wisconsin (Father was a professor and got his PHD at UW Madison, grandfather still is a professor, uncles and godparents attended and taught at UW Madison, Hardcore Legacy Student), University of Washington, Purdue University, UCONN, Southern Methodist, Fordham, Georgia Tech, USC, University of Minnesota, Creighton University, University of Illinois.
[]Apparently my grandfather was a professor at Tulane, I did not note this on my application, and I did not even know about this fact about my grandfather.
General Comments:
[list]
[]I don’t know about anyone else, but I didn’t find out about my admission the regular way. I got a call from one of the Deans, don’t remember her name, and she told me that I was one of the most diverse and qualified applicants she has seen thus far, and she wishes me all the best. She said that I can come to her anytime if I choose to attend Tulane and she could be a mentor to me if I needed one. I don’t remember who she was or any of her information! The thing is I did not know that I was accepted yet, and frankly, I had given up on Tulane. I was very excited when I opened Gibson and found out that I was accepted!
I was very fortunate in life to be able to attain an Associated Degree before my high school graduation. There were many other unfortunate hardships that I went through that I do not want to write about because I still feel traumatic about most of them. I can’t believe I actually got it, Tulane was my super reach school! Good Luck to everyone who applied!
PS: If anybody has any questions, I will answer to the best of my abilities!
@fallenchemist Just liked the screen name. It sounded interesting. So, where did you get your screen name. Fallen chemist? Is that your first career? Chemistry was my first career 
Thanks again for your insight. I am sure my D will eventually find a great college to attend.
congratulations @WAGolfGod ! Reading your astonishing list of ECs is making me feel like a completely inadequate human being lol 
I’m not the least bit surprised that you got in.
Also - that’s crazy that one of the deans called you! Not that I didn’t already hold Tulane in high regard, but the fact that she actually took the time to reach out to you is incredible. The fact that the administration cares that much about students/applicants is extremely impressive.
haha i’m also interested in the etymology of fallenchemist