<p>Out-of-State (Florida)
3.3 Unweighted GPA
3.8 Weighted GPA
29 ACT
1230/1890 SAT
13 Total APs, the rest being either honors courses or graduation requirements
-President (12) and Vice President (11) of Latin Club
-Captain of Cross Country
-Captain of Track and Field</p>
<p>Another thing I'd like to ask... How is the drinking scene at Tulane? I have tons of family from New Orleans, so I know drinking is practically part of the culture there, but will people look down on me for not drinking? I just really don't like to party, and I'm nervous I'll be the only one there like that. I'm not judgmental about it, I don't care if others drink, I just don't want to be stuck in my dorm on Friday nights because everyone's out partying, you know?</p>
<p>1) Your chances are reasonable I think, mostly because of 13(!!!) AP courses. Sports helps too, and depending on recs and your other ECs I think your chances are decent. Of course you need to show real interest by doing a good Why Tulane essay, visiting campus and/or attending the local Tulane event, and applying SCEA or EA.</p>
<p>2) You would be amazed how many people ask this because they don’t drink, and many end up at Tulane. There are TONS of students whose life does not revolve around drinking, you will be just fine. There are many clubs and organizations that provide plenty to do and provide a good way to meet like-minded friends. From there you can plan to go to a movie, attend a play, catch some music, play video games, whatever.</p>
<p>I would also point out that despite being in New Orleans, Tulane students and how much they drink are really no different than almost any other university. In fact, because there is a lot to do in New Orleans there may even be a bit less of the “really stupid” drinking than at many rural universities where there isn’t much else to do. At least that is the theory. The certain reality is that drinking is pervasive at all colleges, and there is always a substantial group (30%? 40%? Not sure about this) that either don’t drink at all or very moderately.</p>
<p>Thanks for the quick reply! Great answer, you helped a lot. You make a good point about there being less drinking because it’s in a big city, I hadn’t thought about that. </p>
<p>Would you say Tulane is worth the money? That tuition freaks me out… my family can swing it, just barely, but I’ll be okay with it as long as I know I’ll get my money’s worth.</p>
<p>And as for the APs…yeah… I probably shouldn’t have taken so many, my GPA would sure be a lot higher. Oh well, I learned a lot, and got a good amount of credits I can use. It just kinda sucks for the colleges that have unweighted GPA scholarship minimums that I don’t meet.</p>
<p>I haven’t visited Tulane yet (which was a stupid move on my part, seeing as I go to New Orleans at least three times a year… I just kept putting it off…), but I went to all of the local Tulane events, and I’m applying EA.</p>
That is the kind of question that would be yes for one person and maybe not for another, because everyone’s needs and experiences will be different. For me, Tulane was absolutely a unique, nearly priceless experience. For others, the impact of going to a cheaper but much larger school isn’t very much, and so the value equation is quite different. Also, getting your money’s worth depends a lot on your own initiative. There is no question you can forge some really great relationships with the profs at Tulane more easily than at UF or FSU. Then there is the uniqueness of New Orleans, which I also treasured personally.</p>
<p>I would only say that taking on debt beyond about $25,000 TOTAL would be a mistake. As much as I love Tulane, I don’t think any school, including the Ivies, is worth getting into big time debt. But if you can actually afford it, even if just barely, then I think it is absolutely worth strong consideration. You have obviously visited, since you have family there, so you must have a sense if the atmosphere is conducive to your intellectual and personal growth. I might be old-fashioned here, but I believe that universities like Tulane should not be trade schools. Sure you should be prepared to enter the work force after 4 years, but you should also be prepared to live the rest of your life exploring everything and anything you find interesting. That is where I think schools like Tulane can be worth the investment.</p>
<p>With regard to the AP’s, you were definitely right to take as many as possible, as far as I am concerned. Any school that doesn’t take that into account when assessing scholarship criteria is missing the boat, IMHO. You will LOVE having those credits if you end up at Tulane, or most likely most other schools.</p>
<p>I’m not going to sugarcoat the drinking scene here–a LOT of students go to the bars and Broadway (frat row) on the weekends and on certain nights during the week. Tulane is just a party school no matter how you look at it. However, it is perfectly possible and really rather easy to have TONS of sober fun here. The quarter and surrounding areas are really alive almost every night of the week and theres so much to do that doesn’t involve alcohol. And while it may seem like everyone gets drunk all the time, there’s a considerable amount of kids who don’t. A lot of it depends on what dorm you live in/what clubs you join. But all you need to know for now is that you can thrive here being a non-drinker. Don’t let the party scene worry you.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the info y’all, I really appreciate it. That’s really cool how Tulane makes an effort to entertain the students, I really like that. </p>
<p>And yeah, its a college so people are going to drink, I expect that, but it’s good to know that drinking isn’t the center of everyone’s world.</p>
<p>The main reason my GPA is so low is due to some 7th and 8th grade credits (Alg I, Geometry, various Latin and science courses…) that transferred over. I was going through a rough time at that point of my life (although not due to any external problems such as divorce or death of a close one, just typical early teen angst, nothing I’d feel comfortable mentioning on an application due to not wanting to make excuses out of nothing). Anyways, I started high school with a 2.3, ended up with a 3.3. </p>
<p>Do you think Tulane will factor 7th and 8th grade credits into my GPA? I’ve figured out what my unweighted GPA would be like had it not been for those initial low grades, and if I remember correctly it was around a 3.6 or so… </p>
<p>I know some schools don’t even count freshman year, so I figured no harm in asking.</p>
<p>I am almost certain that Tulane only counts 9-12 grades, but you should check with your admissions advisor to be completely sure. I have actually never heard of a GPA being reported that includes grades 7-8. So that really changes things a lot for you, both because your GPA is higher than what you initially said, at least as far as Tulane is concerned, and because you obviously trended up. Good news!</p>
<p>This just mystifies me, because everyone wants to know your high school GPA, and 8th grade is not high school. Is it because those courses are considered high school level? Even if that is so, I would think they would be discounted by almost any university because it was just too young an age to start counting. Pretty much the same reasoning as to why some schools even eliminate freshman year grades, as 21NFK94 says.</p>
<p>Hmm. I’m starting to think maybe I should have applied to more schools, I kinda automatically crossed a few out because of my low GPA… I’m thinking the large state schools will count my 7th/8th grade credits (I doubt they take the time to distinguish between grades…), but the smaller colleges would delete them, I think…</p>
<p>Oh well, I really like Tulane so hopefully that works out. If not, I’d be fine going to any of the other schools I applied to. </p>
<p>Think this affects my merit-based aid, fallenchemist?</p>
It’s not too late by any means. You still have time to get EA apps in, and certainly RD apps. Have you talked to your guidance counselor at your school to see what they actually report? Also, it is my impression that because many schools don’t use a 4.0 scale and many count honors and AP “bumps” differently (some raise it a full point, some half, a few not at all), most admissions departments recalculate your grades (9-11 or 10-11, depending on how they deal with freshman year) so they can see your UW GPA on a constant 4.0 scale, and then take into account how challenging your schedule was. But I don’t know that for certain.</p>
<p>
Certainly if it were not recalculated it would. Although frankly, even with the 3.6 UW, combined with the 29 ACT or the 1890 SAT I think merit aid is iffy. Just being factual, the ACT puts you at the 25th percentile for Tulane, and the 3.6 is probably about average. But again, that is an good place to start your conversation with the admissions person at Tulane. Now to be clear, it doesn’t affect your need-based aid.</p>
<p>Yes, they are considered high school credits even though they are taken in the eighth grade - in some schools they are just considered advanced classes, but in our school system they are considered high school credits. They don’t help my son’s GPA either - just like 21NFK94 - but he still has an UW of 3.91 so we aren’t too concerned. It is crazy though - I agree! But it’s hard for me to believe that Tulane will dissect the transcripts that thoroughly given the number of apps they receive. I could be wrong about that of course.</p>
That’s what I thought too, but then how do they handle the variety of grading systems? I can’t believe that the high schools adjust to a 4.0 UW system. I thought that maybe, just maybe they have student interns (like Owen) that take the records sent and type the grades into a program that automatically converts them to a standard format. But you may be right that it may be too Herculean a task.</p>
<p>Let’s say there are 15,000 EA apps, spread out over 60 days. That’s 250 per day. For an 8 hour day that is about 31 per hour, or 1 every 2 minutes for one person. If you have 2 or 3 interns doing this, I suppose it is possible. Then for the remaining 25,000 RD apps, you have more time to get the info loaded.</p>
<p>Lots of speculation there about numbers, but could be done I think. One of these days I will remember to ask an admissions person.</p>
<p>It was mentioned several times that some schools look at 9th, 10th and 11th but some colleges calculate 10th and 11th. Does anyone know which Tulane does?</p>