What I don’t understand is a) how Tulane thinks it can tell when a kid who shows tons of interest really isn’t interested and has Tulane as a backup (yes, my daughter was high stats, no Tulane wasn’t a backup, no she didn’t apply to Ivies or similar because she only wanted to go to schools where she’d be a good fit and Tulane was honestly a sweet spot), and b) why Tulane not only defers high stat kids but then waitlists them. Come on - fish or cut bait, please. If someone put in their application in September or October, then please don’t tell me that Tulane couldn’t figure out yes or no by March after looking at them twice and comparing them to two applicant pools. We all loved Tulane when we visited (one of the few campuses my daughter didn’t get snarky at), but honestly my daughter hated the whole process after she applied. To hear “you didn’t love them enough” from peers who got in has annoyed her to no end. She wasn’t playing a game, she was trying to find a match.
They go by all the experience they have from past admissions cycles and comparing the kids that didn’t end up choosing Tulane to those applying now, I would imagine. Like anything in life, people try to learn from what they have seen in the past. In this particular process it is extremely hard I am sure, because of course they cannot be really sure what any applicant is thinking. They play the odds, so to speak. As I said before, I am sure they would be the first to admit they get it wrong sometimes.
Unstated so far but true for all these cases, we cannot see the entire file nor know how that student as a whole, even beyond stats and honest desire to highly consider Tulane, fits in the plans of admissions that year. There could be other reasons a student was denied or wait listed. Something we will never know. It is frustrating; I completely agree with that. Which is why students have to cast a wide net these days.
I know schools feel students lie, or dissemble, but when a student does make the effort to travel, visit and stay in communication (including giving information on other schools and where Tulane fits), I don’t feel that Tulane fully appreciates how students feel when they are wait-listed after being deferred and they are not an ivy seeker - just a good smart kid interested in their school. Fish or cut bait. They don’t seem to be able to do this. Students deserve to have a fair and prompt consideration. Maybe Tulane did #1, but they failed on #2.
I’m sure they do realize that but they also have an overwhelming number of applications full of students with amazing stats and a genuine desire to attend Tulane- and would do so if admitted. But they can’t possibly offer admission to EVERY one of these students. There is no way to know all the specifics of every applicant and why they were or were not chosen. Stats and interest are only two parts of the equation.
I understand that Tulane has to protect its interests. Our students are advocating for themselves. We are all very familiar with the college admissions process by now. Tulane seems to do things a little differently. It is a great school with great students. If we didn’t think so we wouldn’t have applied and certainly wouldn’t spend time on this thread bemoaning the fact my kid was waitlisted.
College admissions is not statistically based. I remember a couple of years ago reading about admissions at Dartmouth. They said they could have an entire class made up solely of valedictorians from their respective high schools but they would prefer a diverse student body with unique backgrounds and interests. This can be applied to any school, including Tulane. There are always top students who would appear to fit or exceed the criterion needed for admission but who just don’t get in. Ask any guidance counselor and they will tell you stories of “sure-thing” kids who are not admitted with legacies, with perfect scores, and with x-y-and-z! Admissions counselors have the task of finding the right combination of students with diverse interests to fill the class.
I guess I would like to see a reduction down to almost nothing (or at least a reasonable number) with people on wait lists. Especially if a school already passed on making any decision by deferring someone EA or ED.
That’s my biggest problem with things like wait lists - right now they may help schools, but they don’t help students and they give the perception that a school can’t decide (but admissions people are being paid to decide - whether we like what they decide or not, I think we all feel better with definite answers).
Keep in mind what the wait list means-- The student qualifies for admission however they are just out of room. Look at the numbers, Tulane has not taken a single person off the wait list for the last two years, and before that it was a very small number. The wait list shows you that there are thousands of qualified students who applied and the campus is not large enough to take them all.
I am not familiar with how you set up that table, so here are the missing numbers and you can update the table.
'06-071313458
'07-08_58622
'08-092320__29
It would be interesting to know what happened in 2013-14, it is such an anomaly.
@jimboschwartz,
Is Tulane absolutely, positively your kiddo’s #1 choice no matter what the cost? If so, and if your kiddo will commit to Tulane if offered a spot, then it would be worth asking your school counselor to put in a call to your Tulane adcomm and have a little conversation. Your counselor can also hopefully emphasize your child’s unique strengths, qualities, etc, and what they can bring to the Tulane community. If you don’t have a counselor, you/your kiddo can make that call personally. I’ve seen that have a positive effect in getting off an otherwise potentially “closed” waiting list, but it works when your child is absolutely willing to commit no matter what. Good luck!
Just thought I would note from the CDS that the numbers accepting a spot on the waitlist are much lower than the number offered a spot.
2012 waitlisted 3745 accepting waitlist spot 1009 admitted 15
2013 waitlisted 3483 accepting waitlist spot 996 admitted 0
2014 waitlisted 2774 accepting waitlist spot 705 admitted 327
2015 waitlisted 3152 accepting waitlist spot 872 admitted 0
2016 waitlisted 3413 accepting waitlist spot 921 admitted 0
Even though the actual number remaining on the waitlist is lower it doesn’t seem to make much of a difference since historically Tulane takes very few from the list. We are not holding out a lot of hope; though if offered a spot my son would accept in a heartbeat.
@fallenchemist any way to find out what was up in 2014? It does stick out and is quite curious!
I recall a few years back some elite schools went very deep into their wait list, and the next year accepted no on e off the list. As other have said, the ability to predict yield is challenging.
It could be a typo, but doubtful.
Which further reinforces that the Admissions dept knows what it is doing. The number of accepted students committing to Tulane leaves no room to go to the wait list.
I am not surprised at all by the relatively small percentage that take wait list spots. Remember, Tulane by this time in the cycle is accepting and wait listing people that have already deposited at other schools. A ton of people don’t contact the other schools they have applied to when they get accepted and decide to attend elsewhere earlier in the cycle. Add to that the people that get accepted to schools by April 1 they like more or equally well as Tulane, and around 20-25% staying on the wait list makes sense, or is even a bit higher than I might have guessed.
@OnlyTheDogs. Thank you. I could write the same comment that you wrote exactly. My daughter has high stats, leadership, good ec’s, good writer, a sincere kid, did the extra applications for the PTA and the CSF. Like yours, she wanted “that feeling” and got it when visiting Tulane. Applied to no Ivies for many reasons.
And, @FC, I do get it. Tulane received a large increase in applicants. My child’s school doubled the number of applications this year over last. Tulane can’t take them all. Understood. But after being the school that most bombarded her with almost daily literature and emails saying “Please Come Visit” (we did, in September), “We Want You to Apply” (she did, as soon as she got home), and “Join Our Phone Open House” or “Tulane Comes to You” (she did, as often as a senior- wisely- casting a wide net and working to maintain those high stats had time for!), it was demoralizing in a way that no other school was to go to her school during October through December, only to continually hear that this kid or the other had been accepted, often within a few weeks of applying, many of whom are also good kids, but not the kind of student that she is. Then she was deferred, now wait listed.
She was deferred, then rejected RD by another selective school, but the fact that she learned at the same time as everyone else minimized the feeling of being in it alone, meant she didn’t have to check a portal everyday “just in case”, and didn’t have to wonder why the kid who she helps in class got in after a week, while she got no response.
She did her part, and our real “beef” is that once she applied, the decision process was as painful as it possibly could be. It felt, to all of us, like she was being “strung along” by a boy who couldn’t make up his mind. By the time it got close to the end, she knew she should probably write her admissions counselor one more time, but just felt she couldn’t grovel anymore, as he barely responded when she had written after visiting and again after deferral. My question is- Does Tulane really need to admit kids one at a time, with no rhyme or reason, and to come on so strong only to put three times the number of qualified kids onto the wait list as they actually enroll? We specifically avoided WashU, as we heard they do something similar. We all really loved Tulane, but definitely will share our experience with friends as their kids apply.
Well it was longer ago than I remembered, but for comparative purposes, it was in 2008 that Harvard, Princeton and Penn went deep into their WLs (the article said 150-175 for Harvard, but it isn’t listed on their CDS) and Penn and Princeton said they went about 90 deep, though I didn’t look on their CDS. Here’s the NYT article. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/09/education/09admissions.html?_r=0
Its likely, with the increased # of applicants and the improvements in big data/enrollment management tools, that the # getting in off waiting lists is dropping at the more competitive schools.
Hi @Yoohoo12 I can certainly understand where you’re coming from. And in my experience Tulane is unique among selective schools that does this semi-rolling admissions. The feeling of being ‘strung along’ is real and somewhat demoralizing.
I think the best way to look at it is that colleges are businesses and they are playing to win. And admissions is part of this business. Tulane has decided that this is the best way to operate to have the most applicants and to get the best class (which as someone mentioned is not necessarily the best students, but the best class … in THEIR eyes).
The schools hold ALL OF THE CARDS and can do whatever they want. They are never going to come up short, because they can put as many people as they want on the waitlist. And they do this every year, so they’re experts. This is why students are forced to apply to 10-20 schools - on the ONE occasion that they apply to college. Applicants are definitely at a disadvantage - it’s like playing the house at Vegas.
Does it hurt, yes. Hopefully your kid applied to other schools and has/will have good options. The same thing happened to one of my kids several years ago and it reinforced the importance of casting a wide net.
It’s not just your kid that’s in this boat!
@fallenchemist , the [ code] and [ /code] parameters can be added (remove the spaces after the bracket sign) to a table to make characters monospaced. I’ll let you go in and add your data points and repost if you like.
Rejected, 32 act, 18 ap/dual enrollment classes, rank 1/500, 4.00 unweighted gpa, bunch of leadership positions and started my own development company. oh well, congrats to those who got in.