<p>Can anyone give me an idea of how I look for the honors program at Tulane?</p>
<p>31 ACT
3.8 unweighted GPA at one of the better public schools in Tennessee.
Only one AP class because of scheduling conflicts.
4 years of JROTC. Commanding Officer during Senior year.
School does not rank or have weighted GPA any longer.</p>
<p>I would think should be pretty good. The AP thing might be an issue, not sure. But don’t forget you can earn your way in even if you are not in from the start. Also, if they admit you to the school (which they will) but not the Honors Program, you can always talk to them. If they really want you and think you might go elsewhere otherwise, they will reconsider. Dr. Luongo is a nice guy, and can be persuaded if you have a good case.</p>
<p>The honors program invitation is based on GPA I believe. I had good SATs, but a mediocre GPA (3.4ish UW) and I was not initially invited to join. If you don’t get into the Honors program for your first semester, you have the opportunity to join after your first semester if you receive a GPA above a 3.45. The minimum GPA you will need to maintain to remain in the Honors program increases to a 3.6/3.65 after sophomore year. I think your high school GPA would put you in the Honors program, if not you can always join later.</p>
<p>I had a 30 ACT and 3.85 gpa and got the presidential scholarship but not in the honors college so i don’t think it’s based on gpa but I don’t know what it’s based on…it must be different than whatever they base scholarship decisions on though?</p>
<p>Yes, the Honors program has a smaller percentage of entering freshmen in it than the % that receive scholarships, even the Presidential Scholarship. I think essentially they try to limit it to the top 10-12% of freshmen based on an aggregate of GPA, test scores, quality of classes taken (How many AP’s etc.), AP scores and SAT II scores reported up to that point, etc. I am not saying they probably take a ton of time and study this in the amount of detail that say, the average NFL team does on the players for the first round of the draft, but I think they (or maybe he, meaning Dr. Luongo?) look at these things on a printout of some kind. After seeing so many over the years, I think a person would know what they are looking for pretty quickly.</p>
<p>This is what my admissions counselor said “Most students have at least a 2150 on the SAT and are in the top 10% of their high school class. Dont worry if youre not invited your first year, however as long as you get a 3.45 GPA your first semester at Tulane, you can ask to be let in.”</p>
<p>Would I be invited with a 33 ACT, 4.0 uw gpa, top 5%, and 7 total AP classes?</p>
<p>@ Helvetica - based on those stats alone, I would have to say it would be shocking if you were not.</p>
<p>oh yay!! I’m excited! haha If I attend Tulane, I think I would want to be a Molecular Biology major. Is that a very popular major @ TU?</p>
<p>I think, given the significant number of premeds at Tulane, that Molecular Biology has to be a fairly popular major. Not the most popular (big surprise, lol) but I bet it ranks up there. I haven’t readily found a list of graduates and their majors, or any kind of summary, but I know it is a fine department with lots of research opportunities, both uptown and at the Med School.</p>
<p>BTW Helvetica, it is a very tough competition, but make sure you apply for the Deans’ Honor Scholarship. Full tuition all four years if you win.</p>
<p>That sounds awesome!! Thank you so much fallenchemist. What would you suggest as some other stellar departments of Tulane to look into?</p>
<p>Hmmm. Like any top university, there are many. I know the Latin American Studies dept. is considered like #2 in the nation, although I have to say I don’t believe in those rankings. But obviously it is very good. The finance department at the business school is highly thought of, as is the English department. The Biomedical Engineering department was one of the early ones in this field and is very well regarded. While I don’t know much about the departments, I know that the Political Economy major is very popular and “highly acclaimed”, and Psychology is always high on the list of popular majors. I am sure I am doing a huge disservice to many excellent departments, such as architecture, sociology, Public Health and others I just am not as familiar with, either personally or by reputation. Well, I know the School of Public Health is one of the best in the country, actually.</p>
<p>At this point I think it is worth saying one other thing that makes Tulane a great place to be an undergrad. Tulane has a ton of professors that are either at the top end of their field or highly regarded and doing very interesting research. But unlike a lot of other schools that might be ranked higher than Tulane, the emphasis is on the undergraduate, not the grad students. At places like Harvard, Michigan, and many others the departments might be “ranked” more highly, but the profs are far more focused on the research, grad students, publishing, getting grants and winning awards, while the Tulane profs are into undergrads and teaching. At some of those schools you never used to even see a tenured prof until your junior year. While that has been addressed somewhat because of the outcry of paying huge tuitions and getting taught by grad students, it is still true a lot and, more importantly, the attitude of the profs is they hate teaching, and especially hate teaching undergrads. Obviously I am generalizing, but you get the idea. Tulane is just the opposite. Undergrads get totally involved to whatever degree they desire, and they can really get to know many of the profs quite well.</p>