Tulane has a great looking bioengineering program. I’ve been browsing last years admissions and merit aid stats and it looks like D could really get enough to make it affordable. We’ve talked about it before and she loved the look of the program…just unsure of living in New Orleans. She so far has not expressed any interest but a visit could be arranged.
The problem? There is another girl from her school who has her heart SET on Tulane. D/I have a tremendous amount of respect for this kid…she is just fantastic in every way possible. D does not want to apply if it will hurt the other girls chances.
How much would admissions decisions be affected when considering two applicants from the same school? I really don’t think there will be any others from Ds school applying there. This kid has better ECs than D but D has a higher ACT score. Thoughts?? Should I just leave it alone?
@carachel2 Your daughter should apply. In college admissions, everyone should apply wherever they are interested. Colleges don’t have quotas for each high school.
@carachel2 According to Naviance, each year our school has multiple kids accepted to Tulane but only 1 or less actually attend. So I don’t think they will force choose between 2 highly qualified students from the same high school.
My D was actually very interested in Tulane for a week till my co-worker who attended Tulane told us that it is hot and very humid. D can handle hot, but not humid… So there goes another good safety with merit money.
@carachel2 You probably will be unable to avoid this situation. D17 has the same thing at several schools. She too expressed kind of a disappointment when she heard 4 kids are planning to apply to her top school. With her it’s more that they all have lower stats, so I think she feels maybe she should skip it. I think she’s over that feeling now, thankfully.
First, your D17 is likely never to see the other girl. Second, the other girl may choose to go elsewhere. Third have D17 work hard on “Why Tulane?”. I think 2 from one school happens a lot, even at small schools. Naviance? How many went last year? I see no ethics issue.
@carachel2 Your daughter should apply to the school(s) she is interested in. Admissions decisions are not based on limiting the number of students from any particular school so don’t worry about it.
@carachel2 I think if it’s Tulane, you should because it looks like a good match. I would be much more hesitant about advising D17 to apply to an elite if she wasn’t super in love with it and she knew other people in the school had their heart set on it.
ie there’s a girl who has had her heart set on Stanford since she was little, and has worked and worked and worked towards that end-D is very unlikely to apply there because it is not her “dream” school, (she has no dream schools), and because if the gods sneezed on her and not the friend, I think it would bother her.
But Tulane-it’s anybody’s game, in my opinion. I just wouldn’t mention it to the girl who is in love with it. No good can come of that.
It is pretty darn hot and sticky in New Orleans. I’m assuming their a/c is top-notch, though.
@carachel2 , your D should apply if she wants to. Besides all the reasons others mentioned, we all know how the heart or mind can change many times between now and next May. Besides, “all is fair in love and admission” And let the competition begin
Looking at our Naviance graph, Tulane must place a lot of emphasis on interest. Almost all the students on our graph were waitlisted, even those with very good scores and GPA. The only accepted ones have the Early Action triangle, and the scores for those are quite scattered and not particularly good. (It shows no admits since 2013, and none of the admitted students enrolled since 2010. Probably they figured out our kids weren’t likely to attend.)
I agree with others, your D should apply to places she would be happy to attend.
@whataboutcollege ugh…it is crazy hot AND humid! Honestly that is why it hasn’t really been on the list. I keep looking at the stats and the program and think it should be BACK on the list.
It’s gonna be a long few months! Oh well…first things first: get her back from Germany this Friday!
@carachel2
DS14 and his GF both won full tuition merit scholarships to Tulane, and coincidentally both study biomedical engineering. Those particular (“Deans Honors”) scholarship recipients are not determined until late February, with an application deadline in December sometime if my memory serves me correct. So by then, perhaps when there might only be a single recipient per high school, your daughter will have already more fully clarified her Tulane interest.
By way of contrast, Tulane absolutely offers multiple kids from our high school significant merit money every year…not the full tuition, but many kids with offers in the 20-30K per year range. So I don’t think your daughter should worry about the fellow student. If it’s meant to be, it’ll all work out.
What I do advise, however, is to apply early. The application was relatively easy after the CommonAp essay is done. DS had not visited the school at the time of applying, bit did spend time on the “why Tulane” essay. He had his acceptance and initial (25K/year) merit scholarship in hand by mid-October (which was earlier than their website indicated admission decisions would be rendered, so sort of a rolling process) It was a really great way to start out Sr. Year for S14.
And yes, it’s hot and humid in September and April, but pretty lovely during winter. Yes, the air conditioners blast…sweater/sweatshirts sometimes to study inside even! Good Luck to your daughter…and her classmate.
@Ynotgo Our naviance graph shows a different story. Almost everyone above the average line (GPA and Test scores) are accepted except 2 waitlist. The stats page shows ED (56%) and RD (54%) with very similar acceptance ratio. Since 2009, there were 22 admits but only 3 attendance.
@VickiSoCal The scores are usually up earlier than listed. D will check around 5 as well. I hope all the kids are happy with their AP scores this week!
We don’t get to see AP scores till Thursday. DS says he wants to “follow the rules” and wait rather than get a fake IP, but maybe he’ll change his mind tomorrow (or ask a relative in HI or CA to check for him)…we’ll see! Good luck to everyone finding out tomorrow!
The issue is, even if the scores are supposed to be not available, people will still try to login and check. Displaying te score or not, they are going to have the traffic I think.
@whataboutcollege Your data is probably more relevant, since we only have 36 who applied to Tulane from 2010 on.
AP scores: Last year it was about 2.5 million students who took AP tests. I’d guess spreading it out cuts the server load some. We waited last year. I’ll get the scores tomorrow and text DS, who is in Colorado. He doesn’t think they will allow the kids there to IP spoof on the university computers, though I haven’t heard from him since Saturday.
And let the competition begin