<p>I don’t believe Tulane waived the essay, they allowed for a shorter one, which my D thought was actually harder than the longer one other schools allowed. And since when is having a free application a bad thing? Hundreds of schools do it, just Google free college applications, or check threads on CC about it. You can subscribe whatever “evil” motivations you want, but isn’t improving the quality of the student body a legitimate goal for a school? Because that is exactly what has happened at Tulane, the last three classes have been the strongest in the school’s history, and by a fair margin. Besides, don’t forget they were also coming back from Katrina. The year after Katrina the freshman class was only 800 or 900, something like that. The normal size is about 1500. this year was actually too large, at 1630. I think it is an incredibly positive story.</p>