<p>My theory is just about proven. Sigh, this stinks, but at least the correct news is good news, unlike the Vassar situation jym mentions where 76 out of 122 ED kids were told they were accepted when in fact they were rejected. A lot easier to laugh off a mistake like this when in the end it is “no harm done”.</p>
<p>My son got one letter 2 weeks ago saying he got the Presidential $25,000 award. A second letter five days ago saying he did not get Dean’s award, but did get $28,000 award and a third letter today saying 'Congratulations on your $25,000 Presidential award!". What gives? I think we better call the school and clarify.</p>
<p>The Presidential this year is $27,000. So this makes no sense. Let us know what you find out.</p>
<p>ok, I checked my file and I was slightly wrong. First letter - $25,000 for Distinguished Scholar award/Honors program. Second letter - $27,000 for Honorable Mention Presidential Award. Third letter- (same date as letter #2)$25,000 for Distinguished Scholar award/Honors Program (same exact letter as letter#1). And he did apply for Dean’s Scholarship which he was turned down for in Letter #2.</p>
<p>This is now 8 people who got both letters. Glad I wasn’t the only one.</p>
<p>crockmom - Never heard of a case quite like yours. I mean I have heard of people getting bumped up to the next highest award in certain cases, although usually they have to show they did something to merit the increase like better test scores and/or great first semester grades. Hopefully they will clear this up for you when they get back to you.</p>
<p>Did I mention he was deferred in the first place, before all this?</p>
<p>Not sure if you did mention it, but that doesn’t mean as much or even surprise me. Sometimes really great students (as your son obviously is) get deferred when Tulane isn’t sure if they are using Tulane as a safety, i.e. they haven’t seen anything before that to show the student is strongly interested in Tulane. You can’t blame them, there is enough guesswork involved already as to how many will decide to attend from those they do accept, and there is only so much space. Experience has shown it is better to focus on those that have shown some reasonable amount of interest in the school and/or fit the academic profile, which might actually mean slightly lower stats than your son’s.</p>
<p>Tulane is in a funny position on that last point. It is a great school with a lot of really smart kids where one can get a first-rate education. But it doesn’t (at this point at least) have the cach</p>
<p>Rcvd call from Tulane this am. DHS names were not taken off master rejection list. D did indead rcv DHS. They were very apologetic</p>
<p>Elementary, my dear Watson. LOL. Thanks for the confirmation. A lot of relieved people right now.</p>
<p>“DHS names were not taken off master rejection list”</p>
<p>Good call Fallenchemist, or should we now call you “Sherlock Holmes”?</p>
<p>We also received clarification that the second letter was sent in error. It made me feel uneasy to be on the receiving end of one of these mix-ups. but in reading CC, it does not appear uncommon amongst schools dealing with such a large number of applicants. I do appreciate how quickly they responded to my inquiry.</p>
<p>Yes, human error is alive and well, and technology allows us to perform it on grand scales. One could have many long discussions on how we have to change our working methods (more double checks and reviews for a start) now that things happen so fast and so “invisibly” compared to the old days of everything happening manually.</p>
<p>I absolutely agree it had to be very unpleasant to get that letter, but still so much better that the error, in the end, essentially was harmless in the literal sense of that word. Unlike, as you say, so many other things you read about on here and elsewhere, such as the Vassar error. And there have been much worse.</p>
<p>OK, quit picking on Vassar 
There wwere a few other school screw ups this year.I don’t recall which off the top of my head-- will have to look into it.</p>
<p>LOL, wasn’t picking on Vassar, you brought it up, so I just kept it as an example. You are right, there have been far worse errors from time to time at other schools. IIRC, San Diego had an issue a couple years ago.</p>
<p>Thanks comeonups! Your daughter’s project sounds really creative, and with those stats I can’t believe she didn’t get the DHS.
I’m waiting on Northwestern to decide if I go to Tulane, but at this point it seems likely :)</p>
<p>Weird, as of today my kid has neither gotten the UPS package nor the denial letter for the DHS. I assume it’s a “no” but it would be nice to hear something either way…</p>
<p>There are always a few denial letters that don’t make it for one reason or another (for example, we have all gotten mail meant for another address at one time or another, and had our mail suffer the same fate), and very very rarely a UPS acceptance package. I would have your kid email admissions saying they have not heard anything yet.</p>
<p>didn’t get the DHS 
but it’s okay! i still got $25k per year!
i was definitely disappointed, but when looking over my essay, i found a typo (i typed “route” instead of “root”-- bummer since i actually DO know the difference), and i would hope that this would not instantly disqualify me! i presume that there was a much more legitimate cause for rejecting me.</p>
<p>Anyone get two DHS rejection letters? I got one in a small envelope and one in a big fancy envelope like the admission acceptances come in…</p>
<p>Oh, lulu! That’s terrible.</p>