wait @micky1120 @rj1997 @REP26x2 highkey nfty too (regbo so @rj1997 I probably have met you)
@collegebobollege first meeting at mechina and then a reunion on college confidential 
@fallenchemist I’m sorry I know you get so many messages already, but I was wondering when the best time to contact my admissions counselor is. Should I wait until after the 15th since they are still busy with decisions?
Has any Vermont applicants heard back from Tulane?
[color=purple]Decision: Deferred[/color=purple]
Objective:
- []ACT: 31
[]GPA (out of 6): 5.4 (5.5 = 4.0)
[]Senior Year Course Load: AP Physics C, AP Statistics, AP Computer Science, AP Studio Art, Honors English 4
[]Other AP’s: BC Calculus, Physics B
Subjective
[ul]
[]Recs: really great
[]Awards: High Honors, Engineering Certificate
[]150+ service hours
[]Tri-Varsity, research board, finance competition finalist, app development, cancer funding, tour guide
[li]Not sure why I wasn’t accepted. Others with lower stats at my school were accepted.[/li][/ul]
[color=purple]Decision: Deferred[/color=purple]
School/major: Finance
Objective:
- []SAT I (breakdown): 1850 (R: 570, M:650, W:630)
[]ACT (breakdown): 29 C (E:30, M: 27, R:31, S:27)
[]SAT II (place score in parentheses): N/A
[]Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0 UW (My school doesn’t do weighted GPA)
[]Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 11/137
[]AP (place score in parentheses): AP English Lang, AP Bio, AP Chem, AP Calc
[]IB (place score in parentheses): N/A
[]Also did Dual Enrollment junior year and currently take classes with current college students.
Subjective:
- []Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): NHS, Key Club, French Club, French Honor Society, Buddy Club Founder, Volunteer work, Varsity cheerleading, competitive dance 15 yrs
[]Job/Work Experience: Cashier at local food store, Babysitter
[]Essays: Personal statement: good ; Why Tulane: didn’t put too much effort into it, short and sweet
[]Teacher Recommendations: Only had one from counselor
[]Counselor Rec: Not sure, probably decent
Other:
-
[]State (if domestic applicant):PA
[]School Type: Small Public
[]Ethnicity: White
[]Gender: Female
Reflection:
-
[]Why you think you were deferred: Low standardized test scores, not enough interest in Why Tulane essay.
[]Where else you are applying or have already applied: Penn State, University of Pittsburgh, University of Florida
[]General Comments/Advice/Hindsight: I’m actually pleasantly surprised that I got deferred since Tulane is a big reach for me. Compared to many other applicants I was definitely on the low end regarding scores and extra curriculars. I was expecting to get denied, but I’m happy that I get another shot during the next round of review.
@juliacollege They don’t reject EA applicants. It’s only accept or defer.
Definitely after the 15th I would say, and if it isn’t too urgent perhaps after the Winter Break. I imagine work resumes on the Monday after New Year’s Day.
when do regular decision applicants typically start hearing decisions? 
As best I can recall, RD people have started hearing as early as February. Cannot remember if early Feb or more towards the middle.
@fallenchemist Will do! Thank you so much!
does anyone know what time of day they usually release decisions? I’m from MD
Would I receive a decision notification over the weekend from Tulane, @fallenchemist?
Yes, Tulane has been releasing decisions on weekends for the past month or so.
I have to say, I think it is ridiculous to not accept stronger students simply because they think they MIGHT use Tulane as a safety school. If they do, so what? Then other good students they accept will come. But what if they don’t? What if they are just brushing off great students who really want to go to Tulane, or who would choose to go to Tulane when balancing their decisions? I think it is very unfair to those high achievers who worked hard so that they could have options now. Not everyone wants to go to an Ivy League school! I know my daughter has no interest in going to a small school and has visited some of those schools only to confirm what she already told us, that she wasn’t going there. Now she is being penalized. I don’t get it. They sent her all these nice letters asking her to please apply… a free application…endless emails even after she applied… so their marketing worked and she was interested and applied. Now deferred despite ranking 1st in her class, good scores without superscoring, National Merit, amazing recs, 200+ service hours and leadership. I can’t help but feel like a blanket policy to reject high scoring applicants is short sighted. They are missing out on some great kids.
@fbhsmom Rejecting high scoring applicants isn’t a blanket policy, and it has some good reasoning behind it. Many college rankings factor both acceptance rate and yield into their calculations, and despite how meaningless these rankings are, people pay attention to them. If a student at the high end of the applicant pool continues to show interest, Tulane will probably accept them with a generous merit offer, but if they don’t seem very interested - or even withdraw their application after an ED acceptance - then Tulane is probably making a good choice in deferring them.
I understand it’s frustrating that your daughter was not accepted, but I doubt she’ll be penalized RD if she contacts her admissions counselor and shows that Tulane is high on her list.
[color=green]Decision: Accepted[/color=green]
Merit Scholarship: Presidential ($32,000/year)
School/major: Undeclared
Objective:
- []SAT I (breakdown): 2280 (R: 750, M: 730, W: 800)
[]ACT: 34 C
[]SAT II (place score in parentheses): Math 2 (750), Chem (750), World History (730)
[]Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.86 UW (My school doesn’t do weighted GPA)
[]Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): N/A (school doesn’t rank)
[]AP (place score in parentheses): World History (5), US History (5) English Lang (5), Chem (4), Calc AB (5), Physics C (4), Bio, French, European History
[]IB (place score in parentheses): N/A
Subjective:
-
[]Essays: Personal statement: good ; Why Tulane: Wrote about New Orleans, got some good comments on its creativity
[]Teacher Recommendations: Great (US History, Physics C, and French)
[]Counselor Rec: Great
Other:
[list]
[]State (if domestic applicant): IN
[]School Type: Private
[]Ethnicity: South Asian
[]Gender: Male
[]Where else you are applying or have already applied: Georgetown, Fordham
[]General Comments/Advice/Hindsight: Really excited that i got in, especially after seeing some students at my school with higher scores/AP’s get rejected. I think the Why Tulane? essay is VERY IMPORTANT so if you haven’t submitted yet, make sure it’s good.
@fbhsmom the application is free for everyone and the top stats students usually don’t want to go to Tulane. If they’re applying here as a safety then they have “better” options. If they wanted to go to Tulane they would show more interest or have applied to their scholarships.
Let me add one other aspect to the analysis by @usualhopeful. And it has two parts, but it is the same point.
Part one is that having observed this for a number of years now, for the students that get deferred and eventually wait listed or denied if they don’t show any interest after the deferral, far more of them admit they were using Tulane as a safety than those that still claim it wasn’t and that Tulane made a mistake. Like at maybe a 9:1 ratio. But let’s go with what you say, so what? Even if these students were using it as a safety, isn’t there a point to that? Aren’t they supposed to have safety schools?
Yes, but Tulane in general isn’t interested in being that school, and that is not only their right but I would say it is their responsibility. Tulane is pretty well known for having among the overall happiest student bodies in the country. Parents and applicants that go out on their 2 week tours of campuses nationwide cite Tulane an amazing amount of the time as the one school on their tour where the students were the most helpful, seemed clearly happy to be there, kept telling the prospect to “come to Tulane, it is amazing”, and wore Tulane clothing far more than most other students wore the attire of their school. It makes an impression.
So Part 2 is that if Tulane accepts all these students that, in their judgement and however they arrive at these conclusions, are not really committed to Tulane as a place they want to be, they run a big risk. Some number of those students are not going to get into HYPS, et. al. and would “settle” for Tulane (in their minds) as the next strongest option academically. Especially since Tulane would have given them very large partial merit awards if they were going to remain consistent. I can tell you from first hand experience and observation that these students are poison to a happy student body, infecting it and dragging it down, if there are enough if them. A few come every year as it is; as I have said Tulane cannot be perfect in identifying these applicants on either side. So they let some in they shouldn’t have, and no doubt defer some they shouldn’t have.
So if I had to have said this in two sentences: all schools like to only have students that really want to be there. Tulane has a few reasons for wanting that even more than most.
I hope that helps you see a different perspective. I strongly encourage your D to read Jeff’s blog http://tuadmissionjeff.blogspot.com/2011/12/ive-been-deferred-now-what.html and keep the faith. Some of the most successful, happiest Tulane students I know are those that got deferred at first. There is a reason Tulane does only deferrals and this stage and no denials. They love it when a student convinces them they were wrong about them, especially the ones with top academic credentials.
Oh, and it definitely is not a blanket policy. Tons of applicants with Ivy level stats get accepted, and around 15-20% of Tulane’s incoming class have stats that are at those levels. And it isn’t like the next 80% just drop off a cliff. Tulane has very high average stats, around top 30 in the country for national research universities.