@PurplePotatoes How were you “almost deferred”? How would you know that? You are either deferred or not. I would not characterize any College as thinking any applicant is “too good” for their school. Tulane, like many other private colleges, has a right to be selective in accepting students who they think are good fits for the University and who are serious about attending. And the adcoms are very good at being able to sniff out the applicants who are just applying as a safety without any regard to fit. It’s not only the stats that matter, but the holistic review of each applicant in order to determine who is a good fit and who has the academic capabilities to do well at the university. As others have said, they are not necessarily looking for “well rounded” applicants but rather applicants who have exceptional strengths and who excel at different academic areas of interest. For example, aspiring performing artist, historian, physicist, scientist, mathematician, etc., in order so that the university can have a well rounded class.
Did ED2 come out? What is being released?
I don’t really understand what happened with my decision, but I could only assume I was “almost deferred”. When I applied 2 years ago, Tulane was still under rolling admission. The admission committee reviewed applicants in batches, and my batch was to be released by 5pm (I forgot the date). Come 5pm, I check my Gibson portal and it said no decision has been made yet. So I called the admissions office and they said that the website was correct and no decision has been made. I was told to check back at 8pm. At 8pm, still “no decision has been made”. I called again to leave a message, but surprisingly someone picked up. The person said check back at midnight. I checked back at midnight and my portal went to your decision will be released today at 5pm. I didn’t, and still don’t understand what happened, but I assumed that Tulane wanted to defer me but made an error with their computer system. I was pretty bummed at that point because I was hoping for the DHS, but I thought if I was deferred, I would have little chance of getting the scholarship. Weirdly 2 days later, my portal said you have been admitted. I can’t say what happened, as the next batch was going to be released in a few weeks, but I assumed I was “almost deferred”.
I apologize if my wording confused or offended anyone. I realize now that it was phrased incorrectly. I agree with @trackmbe3 that Tulane along with many other private schools look for students with exceptional abilities. But, my point with posting is that Tulane wants good students that are very interested in Tulane. Tulane has had a low student retention rate for the past few years due to Katrina and some other reasons. They want to attract and keep those good students. In the past, admission interns have told me that they will defer (not reject) some top students because they believe these students will not choose Tulane in the long run. They want to first offer merit aid to students that have expressed a clear interest in Tulane, New Orleans, or both. I am not sure if that is the case now, but it was the case a couple years ago.
I wanted to make the suggestion to students that were deferred to call the admissions office, visit, email them, ask questions, and show interest in the school because along with fit to the university, exceptional abilities, and the other aspects the institution looks for, Tulane wants good students that will stay at Tulane. I have attended Tulane for two years now, and it’s a wonderful university.
Is this the only day that someone could possibly get accepted after a deferral? I was deferred EA but I did email my admissions counselor twice sending a letter of intent (no response). Also applied for Community Service Scholarship.
Accepted ED II! Got deferred EA and switch to ED II. That was defiantly the move.
White prepschool New Englander
I have heard about students getting in Tulane with ACTs under 30 and GPAs under 3.0 and students with high scores and GPAs getting deferred.
Accepted into the Honors Program with $25k Distinguished Scholars Award after being deferred!! Super surprised because I had not contacted Tulane admissions at all since I’d been deferred. I simply clicked the option on my portal saying that I was still interested in being considered. 4.3 GPA, 33 ACT and no “Why Tulane” but I submitted something else instead and have met with my region’s admissions counselor in-person! Good luck to all 
@unclefesfer According to the Common Data Set (official enrollment data) for the 2016-17 freshman class only 7.5% of enrolled students had gpa under 3.0 and the bottom 25% of enrolled students and ACT less than 29. I bet these students are either full pay or hooked (i.e., recruited athlete, underrepresented minority or legacy or development cases–i.e., wealthy donor parents). In contrast, 32% of enrolled students had gpa of 3.75 or higher and 23% had gpa of between 3.5 and 3.74. And 25% of enrolled students had ACT scores higher than 33. I’d say the top quarter of the class are filled with Olympians academic-wise!
Hey are you an EA applicant? what did you click on your portal? Could you describe it a bit since i cannot find one on my portal. Thank you!
@prepcjl23 could you share a bit about your aid and scholarship amount?
Posting this to give hope to people like me with lower stats, even though I probably shouldnt
Can’t believe I got in with 22,000 a year, lol. And invited into honors college. I am smart but never tried in high school.
Stats-
3.7 or maybe 3.8 GPA one AP class that I got a C in and one Dual Enrollment class
34 ACT
ECs Class President at a small boarding school
FBLA 2 years
Golf Team 3 years
DECA 2 years
120 Comm serv hours
Visited and wrote a pretty good why tulane essay
My common app essay was good. Also I went to rehab because of drug addiction and depression and wrote about that and the rekindling that I have experienced since
Ok but like they still haven’t told me anything yet about my offer and I am an EA applicant and everyone else has already heard back except me…
@Kyopyi Yeah, last night they sent me an email saying “An important update has been made to your Green Wave Portal.” So I clicked on the login link and once I was in my portal, under “Status Update” it said “An update to your application was last posted January 10, 2018.” and I was able to click a hyperlink under that saying “View Update”, which led me to my offer of admission.
I was deferred EA with a 1500 SAT, 33 Act, 4.95 W GPA, 3.75 UW GPA, 2 variety sports, jobs throughout high school, good essays, good recs. I think my interest level was deemed too low
Daughter was deferred EA, just accepted EDII. No merit, still sending everything for need-based aid.
3.7 unweighted (IB track)
SAT 1350
ACT 29
48 of 541
National Hispanic Scholar
ECs - Marching Band all 4 years (section leader last 2 years)
Tri-M
Community Service - Refugee resettlement, Teen Court (peer justice), Animal Shelter
Works 20 hours/week
Now we just have to figure out how to pay for it
Son was deferred in Dec then yesterday accepted with Honors and $22K/yr merit. We did visit over Christmas Break and he followed up with admissions director with letter of continued interest and info about his visit. HOWEVER, a classmate in similar situation with similar scores/stats - also was deferred in Dec then accepted w Honors yesterday and NO visit or followup. crazy… GPA W 4.3 and ACT 33 – Extracurriculars Good, Why Tulane essay Good…
That just goes to show there is no exact science to this process!
Just wondering if anyone has received financial aid yet because under my Gibson Portal it only shows my merit award. Is this all I received or has the aid not been reviewed yet?
I’ve attempted to contact my admissions counselor to show interest twice, once before I received my deferral and once afterwards to tell him I’m still interested, and in each I also asked questions to hopefully have him follow up. I received no response from either email, and I received no new update to my application; still deferred. I’m frustrated because I can’t visit and I’m doing my best to show interest, because I really would love to attend Tulane.
I do have a question though: they said that if you applied EA and for Paul Tulane you’ll still be considered even if you were deferred, but the website says winners of the scholarship are notified in late February, before we’ll receive notification of regular decisions… So am I actually still in the running for Paul Tulane? Doesn’t seem to add up