Unfortunately, quite a lot of people. That’s the whole problem. Especially given that we are talking about shifting the responsibility of who is going to be responsible for what is often well into 6 figure amounts of money. People have been known to kill over such amounts, so lying to colleges hardly seems a stretch to imagine.
Obviously I am not saying you would, but just pointing out that asking for supporting evidence is really not unreasonable.
Would it be weird if I hand-wrote my update and then scanned it and sent it in an email? I want it to be personal and genuine, because I want them to know that this truly is the school of my dreams. However, I don’t want it to take forever to be delivered through snail-mail - what if they make the decision before they even see my letter?
JMHO, @caliapplicant but that just doesn’t sound right. I would just go ahead and send it as a regular email if timing is your concern.
@fallenchemist I think if colleges really feel so strongly that non custodial non involved father’s should be responsible for helping they should help lobby for a change in the law that says after the age of 18 these fathers can’t be held legally responsible for their children financially or otherwise. A law to hold them responsible so long as their kids are in school full time would be more consistent. These guys just have to say too bad I don’t want to help and I am not going to and there is nothing these kids can do about that. Should they really be denied an affordable education as a result?? I have seen far more kids lie about their minority status which they never try and verify. One kid at my daughter’s school even proudly joked that he wrote hew as an American Indian and that the legal threshold was 1/8th to count. I think that is disgusting. Another girl’s father actually changed his name so it wouldn’t sound Hispanic and she is as white as any other student, her family actually trying to disassociate with her family’s culture. Yet, on her application she claimed minority status. It’s just not right. The minority status is intended for those who are a true member of those groups and who embrace it in their culture. But those kids don’t need any documentation. I’m sorry, but this really bothers me.
I apologize. I obviously hit a nerve without any intention to. I completely agree that it is a complicated issue and one that is all too often fraught with anger, bitterness and less than satisfying endings. I was merely trying to point out that with that much money at stake, even divorced spouses that had otherwise fully intended to pay their fair share for college would suddenly tell the schools “Who, me?” if they knew that doing so would result in the student appearing to be much poorer and therefore resulting in a much bigger FA package. After all, some schools even promise to pick up the tab if you fall below a certain income threshold. These schools are not-for-profits, but they are not charities. They do have to protect their own financial interests. You asked who would lie about it, yet you point out people going to far more extreme lengths of lying just to get admitted to schools, never mind saving over $100,000 for it. So clearly people would lie about their ability and willingness to support their non-custodial child’s college costs.
You may be right about legislation. After all, as it stands now while the college may insist that the parent(s) assets be used in determining how much aid the student gets, there is ZERO legal obligation for any parent to pay for their kids college, even in a continuing marriage/continuing custodial situation. What is a student supposed to do when both refuse to pay for college, correctly saying that their legal obligation ended at high school? It is a case where law and modern realities don’t really mesh.
I am sure this has been debated/discussed on either the Financial Aid forum or elsewhere. The Tulane forum is obviously not the place to renew this topic, especially since Tulane is no different in any way than almost every other school, even the public schools. I completely hope and pray that you can reach a fair and just result for your situation.
Are Tulane admissions rolling? I thought they usually come out in March but I randomly checked the portal and it says I’ve been accepted, could this be a mistake? I have not received any email. Oh and I applied RD.
@limitdoesntexist You applied RD? When did you submit your application? I doubt this is a mistake! Haha, congrats! They are not necessarily rolling but Tulane does release results earlier! Also you won’t receive any emails about being accepted unless it’s to confirm your enrollment fee some weeks later.
@Chopinspiano I submitted my application on the 15th of Jan (the deadline lol). Oh okay thanks! In the message on the portal it does say that I will soon receive a formal admission letter- does this come by postal mail? Haha then it may take a while for mine because I live in India!
@limitdoesntexist hey! I live in India too and I was deferred to the RD pool. When that happened, they emailed me a scanned copy of the decision letter about a week later. But I do recall seeing an instagram post about Tulane posting the acceptance letters of some accepted EA students, and there was an Indian in the mix.
Congrats on the acceptance, btw!
@direstraits25 Thanks! Alright I hope I get a scanned copy soon then. Good luck to you!
@fallenchemist I agree that Tulane is in no way different in that respect – it is just something that is part of the css profile you have to fill out. At least Tulane gives students a way to get an idea of their financial aid calculations and really as far as merit scholarships go, they are among the most generous.
I believe there are some private schools that do not consider the non custodial parent’s income when refusing to cooperate- Vanderbilt is one.
Not sure that you have to embrace the Hispanic culture or language to qualify for the URM bump (whatever that might be) on the college app. How would you quantify embracing the culture? Let’s not go down that road…
I was deferred ea and just accepted! I haven’t received a merit aid package yet, but just received an email that I’ve been invited to honors. There’s hope y’all!!
@dkshruteee -Congrats! My son is an Honors freshman at Tulane and he is extremely happy with his choice. This year, being in the Honors Program didn’t really have much (any?) impact on his day-to-day life because he chose not to live in the Honors dorm, Butler. Next year, however (YOUR freshman year), the Honors dorm for freshmen will move to Wall, which is a very nice option and definitely worth considering.
There is also “Tulane Scholars,” which is sort of an Honors program within the Honors program and which requires an application in the fall of freshman year (with notification around early November). My son is doing that as well, and this DOES have an impact on his day-to-day life because he is now in a seminar that meets twice a week in the second semester which is mandatory for all Tulane Scholars.
It can be a little confusing, I think, to sort out the Honors opportunities at Tulane, so feel to contact me directly if you have questions (the same for anyone else with Honors questions) although I will probably pass you along to my son, who has a far better sense of this than I do!
I have a question for @fallenchemist because he seems to know a lot about Tulane and their admissions process. I’m from North Carolina and applied early action through Tulane’s application. I was deferred, and now I’m absolutely terrified because Tulane is my top choice. Here are my stats.
ACT: 31
SAT Composite: 2030 M: 630 CR: 670 W: 730
W GPA: 4.30
UW GPA: 3.33
Class Rank: Approx 20%
AP Courseload: 7 AP’s, almost all other classes are honors.
I would consider my application essays moderately weak because I wasn’t very interested when I applied. Now I really want to attend. My counselor reccomendation was moderately good to great. I emailed my admissions counselor after my deferral and told her that Tulane is my #1 choice. Am I right on the “yes/no” line? Are my chances good or bad? My college applications didn’t go how I had planned so I’m very concerned about Tulane’s decision.
Well, it doesn’t take much reading between the lines to see what happened. I am sure it is just as obvious to Tulane that it is NOW your #1 choice after getting denied from other schools. Which is OK, that happens, but you need to be aware that your phrasing comes across as “Things didn’t go as I planned and now I have to settle for Tulane. Boy, am I scrambling and sorry I didn’t try harder in my application to them”. If they sniff that out in any way it isn’t good for you.
So probably the best thing you can do is rewrite your “Why Tulane” essay. Approach the whole thing fresh, and research the heck out of Tulane and figure out why you will be happy there, and not feeling like you settled. In other words, see if you can come up with that “Aha” moment where you palm-slap your forehead and realize it should have been your first choice all along. Then convey that to Tulane admissions.
The good news is your stats are a solid match, it would appear. The other good news is that I have known many students that were in a similar position as you and started at Tulane still a little (or more than a little) bitter that they didn’t get Duke or Chicago or wherever. Nearly every one finishes their freshman year very happy to be at Tulane and glad that fate took them where it did.
Thanks so much @fallenchemist how should I submit a new “Why Tulane?” essay? I’ve already emailed my admissions counselor and don’t want to pester her.
However, I think you misconstrued what I said when I stated that Tulane wasn’t my top choice. It’s true, it wasn’t, but I don’t feel like I’m settling at all. I didn’t get in to some schools that were closer to home so now I have that extra push to fly out to New Orleans. I couldn’t ever feel like I settled with Tulane because it is inarguably one of the best schools out there. Your opinion means a lot. Thank you
I am simply pointing out that in a situation like this one has to be very careful to focus only on the positive (how great Tulane is) and stay away from the stuff (“I didn’t get into my real top choices” would be an extreme example) that might lead others to infer something you didn’t mean. Hard as it is, you have to read everything you write as if you are the admissions person who knows little about you.
If you write a new Why Tulane, you would not be pestering her. Now maybe you don’t need one, but you said your essays to Tulane were “moderately weak”, hence my suggestion. Because outside of that, there really is little you can do, @willd23.
@fallenchemist You’re correct on both points. My first email to her explicitly informed her that Tulane was my top choice, but did not elaborate on why. I may have poorly characterized my essay as moderately weak. I believe that after seeing the email, a second look at my essay may make me appear eager to attend (which I always have been, but they need to see that). If she replies to my last email soon I think I may write the “Why Tulane?” again with more critical points specific to me. Thanks for your help again.