I think they have formulas - but they also have an idea from their analytics who will “stretch.”
I would expect what the calculator shows - but schools like Tulane choose students not for potential per se - but for potential of who they can convince to enroll. They are a business that needs client and they assume you a reasonable get. You likely meet a certain profile/dynamic and that’s a good thing.
Best of luck.
I would not anticipate they will help over/above whatever the NPC spits out. That number is an estimate and final FA will be determined by your FAFSA/CSS submission. Also expect that they will use the $5,500 federal loan as part of the package to get you there.
S23 is there now and without getting into the exact numbers the grant aid plus loan amount was within ~$400 of the EFC kicked out by their NPC calculator.
Any additional - outside of Tulane - scholarships your child gets that are reported to the school will reduce the aid (fist loan amount and then grant aid).
Congrats to your child as well on the acceptance!
The '23-'24 Common Data Set was recently published (kids that applied last year for the current school year). I updated the table posted further up this thread:
| '23-'24 | '22-'23 | '21-'22 | '20-'21 | '19-'20 | '18-'19 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Applicants | 27,936 | 31,615 | 45,525 | 43,892 | 42,185 | 38,816 |
| Admitted | 4,077 | 3,621 | 4,385 | 4,877 | 5,431 | 6,724 |
| Enrolled | 1,867 | 1,843 | 2,027 | 1,801 | 1,821 | 1,909 |
| ED Applied | 1,752 | 1,853 | 3,853 | 3,976 | 2,163 | 1,659 |
| ED Accepted | 1,193 | 1,258 | 1,209 | 922 | 720 | 535 |
| ED % Admitted | 68% | 68% | 31% | 23% | 33% | 32% |
| EA/RD Applications | 26,184 | 29,762 | 41,672 | 39,916 | 40,022 | 37,157 |
| EA/RD Admitted | 2,884 | 2,363 | 3,176 | 3,955 | 4,711 | 6,189 |
| EA/RD Acceptance | 11% | 8% | 8% | 10% | 12% | 17% |
| EA/RD Enrolled | 674 | 585 | 818 | 879 | 1,101 | 1,374 |
| Enroll % of Admitted | 23% | 25% | 26% | 22% | 23% | 22% |
The CDS for this year shows a more granular level of detail which includes EA/RD application counts and acceptance rates but I bundled them above since there’s isn’t prior year data to compare it to.
Overall applications are on the decline the last few years. Also fairly consistent that they accept ~1,200 of their ~1,850 admit’s through ED rounds - but slightly fewer last cycle. Though the EA/RD acceptances are an increase over the prior cycle, it’s still quite a bit below years prior to that.
Their overall acceptance rate will increase from 11% top 15%.
Thank you for this. Wow, their application numbers have really dropped.
Between the 21-22 and 22-23 cycles, Tulane stopped counting incomplete applications as part of the overall applicant numbers - it’s mentioned on the CDS. I haven’t seen anything directly acknowledging that this was the cause of the steep drop at that point, but I have to think that it played a major role.
I wonder if they also got rid of fee waivers?
Theres no fee to apply to Tulane.
It appears that their love for taking most of the class ED began when their numbers started dropping. Why would you ever count incomplete applications that doesn’t seem to make any sense.
But there is a fee to submit your CSS profile
But a fee waiver (or not) for that has nothing to do with the university.
DS was deferred EA. Has since withdrawn his application. I would think his application won’t count in the numbers?
We gave it a shot, but were advised that merit aid was not appealable. Would be curious if anyone has better luck. Our daughter really wants to attend but we have to make the numbers work!
Right! All you can do is give a shot. I know where it’s worked for some others at some other schools (those schools wanted to see the comparable offer from the peer school). Sorry it didn’t work out for you.
You tried. They will have more customers than seats so they are not worried.
There will be many schools where she can excel. So you have to go plan B. Many kids do abd say four years later - she couldn’t imagine anywhere else.
Loyola is next door. Likely cheaper all in. Not Tulane but they have cross reg. If the city is important.
Not same vibe or student level but college of Charleston is less and has many similar attributes. Not sure if too late for merit. My daughter is there and I see some similarities…not a ton but city wise and Charieston is a block off downtown vs a few miles away.
I really appreciated the suggestion and figured it was worth a shot, especially since it was her first choice and we had really good scholarship offers from comps. I know she will land where she’s meant to be … and hopefully still Tulane! Appreciate the support of this group and the excellent advice!
Someone else might know for certain but I believe he would be counted as an application (he submitted a complete application that was reviewed) that was not accepted.
I also wonder if they count applications that are withdrawn before any decision was announced (thinking of ED kids who withdrew before 12/20 decisions).
I think the application drop may be that their reputation for yield protection has caught up to them. My high stats kid with great extra-currics was interested in them as a target school but decided not even to apply EA/RD. Knew he wasn’t going to apply ED and didn’t want to play demonstrated interest game with them to not get yield protected. On the other hand number of less impressive kids applying to tulane from our school ED and getting in is going up… think tulane in long run is going to hurt itself with the games it plays to increase their “selectivity” numbers.
Plenty of schools yield protect. Plenty of schools weigh DI heavily into the admissions process. Tulane is hardly alone in those respects.
Applications are down '21 to '23 in part because of the aforementioned inclusion of incomplete applications in their numbers. I’m not well versed enough to know if this was a commonplace inclusion/exclusion for all schools or something just Tulane did.
I agree with you that based on the '21-'22 numbers it became clear that if a student wasn’t applying ED then their shot was pretty small. They have school specific essays so a kid needed to write more and show that DI to have any chance at all. At the same time if they’re now avoiding the receipt of applications that weren’t serious about attending they probably see that as a positive.
How does the EA acceptance rate compare to that of RD? Combined it’s 8-11%, but I’m curious what they are alone. Anyone done the math?