<p>Hey, so I've never done one of these before. I applied Early Action and got deferred. What do you think my chances of getting accepted are? Please don't tear me a new one if you think my stats are bad.</p>
<p>Location: Rhode Island
Race: Middle Eastern
Gender: Male
GPA: 3.1 Unweighted, don't know what it is weighted
Rank: Unranked
SAT: 2080 (720 CR, 650 M, 710 W)</p>
<p>Extracurriculars:
Vice President of International Club
Publicity Coordinator of school's literary magazine
4 Years in Latin club and French club
Avid sailor (420s and Flying Juniors) for 5 years
Sailing instructor at a summer camp: volunteer for first summer, then fully paid the following summer</p>
<p>Academic Rigor:
Took Latin and French simultaneously 9th and 10th grade
1 AP Junior year
3 APs Senior year
Participated in exclusive Oceanography program with USC and Wood's Hole Oceanographic Institution on Catalina Island over the summer (3 college credits)
Spent 4 weeks taking a course at Harvard in Astrobiology (4 college credits)</p>
<p>Recommendations:
Guidance Counselor - Excellent
High School teachers - Excellent
My professor at USC wrote a letter of recommendation as well</p>
<p>Personal Essay:
I am submitting a new one to replace the original essay I submitted with my Early Action application. I definitely shine here (I'm a great writer). In my new essay, I talk about my unique experience living/growing up in Saudi Arabia and how it has cultivated my love of learning for the sake of learning and fascination with the world.</p>
<p>Also, I've really expressed my interest in Tulane: I've emailed admissions and had my guidance counselor make a personal phone call to admissions, I visited the school despite being deferred, and I got an interview with an admissions director even though Admissions says that they don't offer evaluative interviews.</p>
<p>Rigor weak? I think 4 APs, two languages (2yrs latin, 3yrs french, comes to a collective total of 5 years of high school languages), and two college courses at two fantastic colleges is fairly good. </p>
<p>And I know a 3.1 UW isn't great, but it's not atrocious.</p>
<p>I should probably add that my high school is nationally recognized (blue ribbon), extremely competitive, and has the highest SAT scores of any school (public or private) in the state of RI.</p>
<p>Yeah, I mean at a hard school, that's a great (or atleast decent haha) GPA, especially UW. I think on this board people don't realize that GPAs aren't like SATs, there isn't a set standard on how they're calculated. Some schools calculate grades and GPAs differently, so when crossed with SAT scores, I think it's not that bad. Maybe if there was rank, it would be better verified, but still, I can say again, I am surprised he's deferred when I look at my stats and my acceptance/scholarship. </p>
<p>Really though, we're not the admissions officers, so we don't know why you were deferred... all we can do is wish you the best of luck. </p>
<p>As for chances of being accepted, I really think that you're doing all that you can do, showing interest and trying to send in things that might improve your file. That being said, I'm not sure how good your chances are. I can't remember if I read this online or heard it from a Tulane admissions counselor, but as far as I know, last year they barely accepted anyone that was deferred because they had a great regular applicant pool, but the year before they accepted quite a few. If you want my honest opinion, I'd say not to get your hopes up because the amount of applicants has only been steadily increasing over the years (so it's likely that it's gonna be like last year). That being said, do not lose hope, because I honestly feel that you are just as qualified as I am to be part of next years freshman class. We wish you the best of luck, let us know how it turns out!</p>
<p>Yes, the worst part is 3.1, but everything else is really good. Outside of GPA, you seem a whole lot more competitive than a few others I've seen on here.</p>
<p>The problem with Tulane's admissions is that they're flooded. They do prioritize by the "objective stats" first and now they have to scrutinize the other apps.</p>
<p>I know for '12, they did accept people with pretty "bad stats" (like below 50% class rank, low end SAT scores) and they do wait til April, so you have a good shot.</p>
<p>Just an update: I found out today I got waitlisted...I'm remaining hopeful because I hear that Tulane has a low applicant yield. What do you guys think?</p>
<p>tben - that is a tough choice. Reed is a great school. Just keep in mind it is the classic LAC, emphasis on college, which means essentially no grad students. Technically they do have a Masters in Liberal Arts, but compared to Tulane this is pretty limited. My point in saying that isn’t about TA’s teaching courses; that isn’t much of an issue at Tulane. It is that, depending on your interests, Tulane will have a lot more research opportunities at a higher level. I know Reed profs certainly do research and publish, but it just can’t be at the same level as a school like Tulane that is a research university.</p>
<p>So while I am personally biased towards Tulane, I know a few kids that went to Reed in the last couple of years and they love it there. The kids are really smart, although the one complaint I have heard is that they come off as a bit pretentious sometimes. But I think that was fairly minor. Anyway, the schools have that fairly significant difference and so depending on your interests, that might be important. Good luck!!</p>
<p>tben - I just saw you are at Barrington. My kids are/were at East Greenwich, that’s how I know kids that went to Reed.</p>
<p>Wow, a large university and a very small LAC (one-seventh the size) are going to provide vastly different environments. I know nothing about research opportunities for undergrads at Tulane, but at Reed every senior is required to write a year-long research thesis, and the profs are over 98% dedicated to undergrads (2% are part-time grad students), hired for the teaching ability. If you are interested in academia or research as a career, Reed and Swarthmore prepare the highest percentage (per capita, about 25%) of future PhD earners in the country averaged across all fields (except for the technical schools CalTech and Harvey Mudd). I am indeed personally biased towards Reed, and know no one who attended Tulane. I do recommend visiting Reed before deciding.</p>
<p>Mostly agree vossron, although I wouldn’t call Tulane a large university. UCLA is a large university, U Michigan is a large university, Tulane is only large compared to Reed. I would call it medium. I understand what you are saying about the senior thesis, it is the same at Tulane if you want to graduate with honors. But that is why I said depending on your interests, just to be clear. If your interests are philosophy or the works of Thomas Mann, there probably isn’t much difference in the two schools for doing research on that. If your interest is in the sciences or engineering or Latin American Studies, for example, I can say with some confidence that the opportunitites at Tulane are going to be greater.</p>
<p>I was a chemistry major (big surprise there!) and wound up having 2 papers with my name on them published in American Chemical Society journals as a result of my senior research. Even better, it wasn’t just doing grunt work for the prof who already had his research mapped out and just wanted a pair of hands, but was actually an idea (a crude one that he refined, admittedly) of my own. That is the kind of atmosphere there is at Tulane; it is very tight between the faculty and students and they really listen. That was my experience with about 90% of them, anyway, maybe even 95%.</p>
<p>I totally agree with you though, that Reed turns out outstanding graduates totally prepared for whatever they want to do. And that if tben has not visited both, it is highly recommended. Stay overnight, go to some classes, talk to the profs, etc. I guess bottom line is he cannot go wrong either way, just a matter of the best fit.</p>
<p>I mostly agree also, but I wonder about the basis for sciences … opportunitites at Tulane are going to be greater. Maybe it depends on the kind of opportunities. In biology, chemistry, math and physics, Reed provides the opportunity for future PhD preparation at per capita rates in the top ten of the country. It’s a narrow measure to be sure, but it’s something tangible.</p>