Chances for Early Action and Merit Aid

Colleges and Universities A-Z Tulane University
1

Here are my stats:

Female
White
Swiss, grew up and went to school in Switzerland
Green card holder -> U.S. Permanent Resident (and eligible for Federal Aid)
Colorado resident
Mother tongue: Swiss German
Fluent in German, English and French

ACT: Composite: 30 (E: 31, M:31, R:25 S:34)
SAT 2’s: I’m taking Math 2 and French on October 3rd, I expect in each 700+
TOEFL iBT: 111/120

(I will retake the ACT on October 24th and I believe I can get my score up to 33/34. (I continuously scored 33,34,35 on my practice tests. I wasn’t in good shape when I took my first ACT. ) )

Intended Major: Economics

I will attend a Reception from Tulane on September 30th and I have their newsletter subscribed. I’ll also write the “Why Tulane” essay.

I personally believe that my background story stands out and I want to put the emphasis of my whole application on my work experience.

At the age of 15 I started a 3-year banking apprenticeship in a Swiss Private Bank. I worked 3 days a week and went 2 days a week to High School.
I didn’t just copy contracts and make coffee; I worked closely together with senior bankers and professionals in their fields. I also took on a lot of responsibility. I got a great employer reference letter, was offered several jobs at the end of the apprenticeship and got a great letter of recommendation from my most recent immediate supervisor.
(My essays will be about my apprenticeship and how it made me who I am today.)

On the 2 school days (22 lessons a week), I took the most rigorous classes and maintained over all years one of the most highest GPAs in my school’s history. I had subjects like Business, Law, Accounting and Economics. (Besides that: Math, German, French, English, Psychology, Ethnology)
Additionally, I took 30 courses which deepened my Banking knowledge and had a perfect score on my oral and written finals.

I barely had free-time, therefore my ECs aren’t the most outstanding. Moreover, I only had 5 weeks of vacations a year
( I once took 4 weeks of my annual vacations to make language stays (one in France, one in England))

ECs:

  • class representative 10,11,12 (acting as ambassador between students and teachers)
  • Tutoring classmates and kids in the neighborhood 9,10,11,12
  • investing in the stock market 10,11,12
  • once collected old clothes in the whole neighborhood to donate them (like a tiny fund-raiser. It was printed in our communal magazine.)
  • I took regular hikes in the Swiss mountains (is this something worth mentioning? Some people told me hiking shows that one loves taking challenges, which I absolutely do.)

One of my Letter of Recommendation mentions my lack of free time and that I had to give up Cheerleading and Karate.
Another one mentions my leadership role in my class and how I always went the extra mile.

Final exams are a huge thing in Switzerland and I graduated as valedictorian (My grade was 5.5 out of 6. The average grade for finals is 4.2)
(E.g. on UPenn’s website they state that they may give college credit to grades higher than 4, so I believe schools know the difficulty of the Swiss final exams.)

My application will also include my Final Report.

Special Circumstances:

  • At the age of 16, I lived alone for 1.5 years and had to do all household chores and grocery shopping by myself
    (maybe sounds stupid, but it took a lot of additional time and energy when working 9 hours a day and having exams and homework also waiting for you)
  • I'm currently taking a Gap Year. At the moment, I'm helping my parents to build their business in Colorado and I'm doing community service. I plan to volunteer as tutor in Asia sometime between January and August 2016 and I want to self-study for AP Statistics, AP Calc, AP Microeconomics, AP Macroeconomics to earn college credit.

I will apply for Financial Aid.
Income Bracket: Under 60’000 $
If it has to be, I’m willing to take out loans
(The schools treat me regarding financial aid like a US citizen, because I’m a permanent resident.)

Thanks for any inputs!

2

@nadinem123

Certainly one of the more unusual applications they will receive I have no doubt. That makes it a bit harder to predict, but my first thoughts are that I don’t think you will see any problems getting accepted. The financial part I have no idea. On the surface it seems you will be eligible for no-loan tuition assistance, but I know the reviews and requirements for those kinds of things are pretty extensive. So with your parents starting their own business, who knows.

If you really can get your ACT to 33+, you might have a shot at one of the full tuition scholarships. Make sure you apply at least EA, and keep your eye on the deadlines. But from what you have said that ACT score will be a key difference between a good offer and a great one based on merit. Just to repeat, on a totally different track you might gt a similar deal based on finances, but that is impossible to judge from here. Too many details. Hopefully you can get it on merit, because the other upside of that is it is guaranteed for 4 years. Need based aid is year to year. Not that they just arbitrarily cut it off, but more that if your family’s business starts to succeed that would affect the aid you get. Can be a difficult situation between what the numbers seem to show and what a new business requires. So best of luck on that ACT.

3

@fallenchemist thanks a lot!

4

My daughter believes Tulane is the school for her. Cost is a major concern for me. She has 2270 SAT (math800 Reading 720 and Writing 750). She is interested in biomedical or chemical engineering possibly followed by medical school. ECs are good but not amazing. She started working as a lifeguard as soon as turned 16. She is working on Paul Tulane essays but she is a math/science kid and not an outstanding writer. Is there any hope of full tuition? We won’t qualify for need-based aid. She has an in-state University of Texas budget. Her sister studies engineering at UT because her Tulane offer was only 20K/year but daughter number 2 has MUCH better grades along with a better SAT score.

5

You have smart kids! Second daughter seems to be a good candidate for merit aid. Those are rigorous majors, but ones with great rewards for success. Good luck to her!

6

@Dallas14

She should do the Deans Honors Scholarship also. It has a small writing portion, but only in support of a project that can be math/science based. I think she is likely to get closer to $30K per year as an initial offer, but it looks like she could qualify for full tuition. She increases her chances a lot by doing the DHS as well. There are 75 DHS awards and 50 PTA scholarships.

7

Thanks! She sent her Paul Tulane application today and has started work on DHS.