What is a realistic expectation regarding merit scholarship at Tulane? Going into senior year she has a 3.82 GPA, 1400 SAT (although may choose not to submit this score since it’s optional), and a full load of AP classes. She is super involved with her extracurriculars, including several leadership positions. Thoughts?
I’ll be honest, it’s probably pretty low, although she might get a few thousand, which with a $75K total cost won’t be comparable to cheaper alternatives. First of all admittance is pretty low to begin with (~13%) and most of the kids admitted have high scores, plus leadership, plus extracurricular.
Before COVID, Tulane was already ramping down on merit aid and putting more of that money to needs-based aid. We already saw impact of the merit ramp down in the past 1-2 years.
Post COVID leaves a lot of unanswered questions. Tulane, like a lot of schools suffered negative financial impact. Also, the change to making test scores optional also will change the way students are admitted and if they receive any merit aid. They will need to fill a lot of spots will full pay students with decent scores.
On the other hand, many students in the total applicant pool may shy away from Tulane because of being in New Orleans and the expensive price tag when we know online is now an option at many universities. Maybe the # of applicants will go down, but this is also a big unknown.
If Tulane is #1 on your list it certainly couldn’t hurt to apply. Read the other threads on tips and tricks on admission, including Jeff Schiffman’s Blog.
There is no telling what any school is doing now in terms of merit money these days. My son did get a half ride scholarship 5 years ago with a 34 ACT and 4.0 UW gpa. He was in the running for a Full ride award, but withdrew his application because he was accepted to his ED school.
You can look at the Common Data Set information and see how much in Merit money Tulane gives out and what the average award is. Call and ask how many full rides they gave out last year and if they know how many they will be giving out this year. Likely won’t say, may not know.