I got my acceptance to tulane on dec 13. Its been two weeks and I havent gotten a letter in the mail yet. When do you think it will arrive??
It should have by now. Contact admissions when they reopen on Jan 4. They will resend.
@fallenchemist are you a tulane admissions officer? You seem to know a great deal about tulane. What is your connection? Just curious. Thanks for all you help with this and other tulane discussions threads.
@fallenchemist also how will I know if i have been accepted into the honors college and do you know typical stats for that??
So many questions, @jlopez98! Just kidding, that’s fine.
I am a Tulane alum who has always followed how Tulane was doing and what they were doing. I am not employed by Tulane in any manner, although I do have a number of contacts there that are kind enough to enlighten me when I have questions from time to time. I like to think that perhaps they give me answers that are more in depth than they might give a typical applicant simply because they know I understand the larger picture of what is “Tulane”.
Even though I left NOLA after graduating, I really loved it the entire experience and just wanted to be a “good alum”. But after Katrina I really stepped up my involvement in seeing how I could help the school come back from what truly was the brink of disaster. My small role was helping to communicate the true situation once Tulane reopened, not the slanted and misleading reports that were being put out at the time and might scare people into not applying. I was also extremely pleased personally with many of the decisions Tulane made, and if not pleased in some cases such as eliminating a few majors, then at least understanding and supportive. So I spent a great deal of time explaining to people the true situation regarding Tulane on numerous issues, from the safety situation around campus and in NOLA in general, to the financial health of the school, to addressing their fears should another hurricane occur, etc. College Confidential turned out to be an excellent vehicle for such communication.
Shortly thereafter it was time for my daughter to apply to colleges, and as loyal Tulane forum readers know she was an HYPS level student in high school. We looked at many of those exceedingly selective schools as well as others that were interesting. She did decide to look at Tulane. It wasn’t an automatic thing as she, like many highly intelligent children, wanted to forge her own distinct path, which included skepticism about attending the school Dad did. But to her credit she didn’t rule it out either, and a visit fit in very well during one of our college tour weeks. She really liked it and it became one of her top 2. She won a full tuition scholarship and that was that. She had a great “career” at Tulane and of course that just took my involvement and ability to advise people on CC to a new level. She graduated May 2014 and is now finishing up grad school at Stanford.
Now for your second questions, there are no set criteria, but the stats tend to be, to use the same phrase, at or near that HYPS level. Top 5% in class, rigorous high school schedule, 2200+ (32+) test scores. Again, give or take. There is flexibility, and you can earn your way in once at Tulane. I should strongly point out it is not a separate honors college, but an honors program. In and of itself it doesn’t offer that much and on a day to day basis you cannot tell who is in it and who is not. After all, by stats alone nearly every Tulane student could be in the honors college at many other schools. Tulane is already very highly selective. You find out if you are in this program from the start when you get your acceptance letter. Gibson does not have that information.
The real highlight of the program is the opportunity to apply for the Tulane Scholars Program. You can find more about this on the Tulane Honors Program site, but this is where the students that are most interested in a focused academic experience would want to be. Certainly those wanting to do research from early on, those thinking of possibly applying for Rhodes or other prestigious scholarships and fellowships, and those just generally wanting close mentor ship from faculty in their major. I believe you apply for this program after you start the fall semester.
Let me know if I left anything out or you have more questions.
@fallenchemist Do you have to be in the honors program in order to be eligible for the scholars program?
I think you do not, although I am sure there is a high correlation. Here are the instructions on the application
http://honors.tulane.edu/web/data/documents/TSP%20Application%202015.pdf
The part regarding “eligible students” surely would have said something about already being in the Honors Program if it were a requirement. Plus, I think it is fair to say that in my discussions with the professor who is head of both programs that he is anxious to be as inclusive as possible while still being selective for students that are truly academically curious.
In looking over the application, I was a bit surprised that they want a note from a professor after such a short time. So clearly it is important that you go out of your way to get to know a prof at least a little so that this will not be awkward. I don’t think it is important that it is a prof that you want to do research with, or even one in the field you might want to do research in. That can be decided later. It is only important that the prof has had a chance to know who you are and what your goals are. After all, for many students the specifics about what they want to delve into are still unknown, and that is normal.
I certainly didn’t know 6 weeks or so into my time at Tulane the research avenue I would eventually get into. I didn’t have a clue that it even existed within the field of chemistry, as it was the kind of thing you don’t really even learn about until at least junior year, if left on your own. That is one of the nice things about this program, it helps organize and potentially accelerate the awareness of students as to what is available, even those things that, as I say, are at a level no freshman would understand without sitting down with the prof and letting them explain it in simpler terms.