Deferred from tulane. Ugh.

Applying to College
1

<p>Sooo I am unbelievably frustrated right now. I just found out I was deferred from Tulane. And it doesn't make any sense! I know everyone says that but I have higher test scores and gpa than many people accepted, ESPECIALLY those deferred (from past CC threads) in previous years. I applied EA and there was a slight problem with my transcripts so they didnt get sent until ~2 weeks after the deadline and it just said my app was complete like a week and a half ago. However, this is what is says online and I just opened the letter and they've definitely looked at my application already (i.e. they didnt just get oeverwhelmed with apps and push mine back bc it was kind of late)</p>

<p>"The committee on admission has decided to defer final review of your application until our regular review period.
We will try to get you a decision as soon as possible, but the latest you will receive an update is April 1. A letter with additional information will be mailed to your home shortly. "</p>

<p>I applied to Tulane kind of on a whim and because the app was free but since then I've become more and more excited about it and wanted to go there more and more.Right now it's my #2. My dream school was Cornell but after getting deferred from Tulane I honestly don't know how I can even think about that. I just genuinely do not understand why they wouldn't have accepted me. Here are my stats:</p>

<p>UW GPA 3.77
Weighted GPA 4.62</p>

<p>SAT Superscore 2120
CR 740 M620 W680
CR780 M580 W720</p>

<p>Class Rank: top 13% out of about 650. i soooooo wanted to be in the top 10% but sadly no.
Also i have a ton of really good and meaningful EC's with a lot of leadership and tangible effects like raising money and hosting big events. I am pres of 2 clubs, VP/ founder of one, foreign exchange summer program in spain, etc. Just a lot of stuff but in my opinion all very well connected. Also a ton of volunteer hours at the library and elementary schools and stuff. </p>

<p>My school is incredibly competitive and large and I looked on Naviance and people with lesser stats than mine have been accepted, EA and RD. Only people waaaaayyyy lower than me in tests and gpa were rejected. Like I was in the middle to higher end of people accepted. Also on Tulane's website, their avg SAT is like 1910- 2150. So I'm in the higher end of that as well. Also I'm not sure if it matters for them but I am Asian (well, half) and they don't really have so much diversity. Only like 5% of students are asian. so idk if that helps my case.</p>

<p>I've only gotten 6 b's in highschool ( 1 frehsman, 3 soph, 2 juinor) and they were all mostly in math related classes which is clearly not my strong suit. Also last year I took 3 AP's/ 1 IB and got all A's. I got a 5 on APUSH and english and a 6 on IB SL spanish. This year I am taking 6 AP's/ 2 IB's, strongly concentrated in the humanities/ social sciences. Looking back, i wish I had spent more time on the application and especailly essays, but honestly they were not terrible at all. I am a really good writer and one was a shortened version of my TASP essay for which I was an alternate. The Why Tulane optional one i thought was pretty good and connected my love of writing to the vibrance of NOLA and all Tulane has to offer, etc. Although I suppose i could have been a littel more specific about the English dept specifically? I put English as my intended major, something I have a strong demonstarted interest in through writing contests, english classes, departmental awards, etc.
SO basically if anyone can shed some light on this/make me feel better it would be much appreciated. Im not trying to sound concieted or anything but I really thought I would get in and I was counting on this acceptance a lot to get me through the next couple of months, whatever wouldve happened in Spring. Also they ask for supporting materials but I really dont know what else I can give them. my midyear transcripts will probably be more of a detriment, for while I think i can get A's in all my classes, I will most likely end up with a D in Calculus. I dont know what I would write for a letter about why I wanted to go to Tulane, other than whta i already said in my essay. I mean idk, I can really see myself there? They have interesting classes? New Orleans would be fun to live in? Why does anyone want to go anywhere!?!??! It's not like i have some specific major only one college on earth has. I'm just so dissapointed. I was really looking forward to telling everyone that I got in :( And now that I didnt, I want to go even more. Sorry for the rambling, it's just that I'm really sad about this, and it's made me really nervous to apply anywhere else. ahhhhhhhhh help.</p>

2

<p>First, breathe. You didn’t get rejected. </p>

<p>Second, sounds like they just want to see a little more from you, which isn’t a bad thing. If you really feel attached to this school, dig around a bit more. I think it would be wise to express more interest. </p>

<p>Tulane gets a lot of apps from kids who apply just because they think it would be fun to live in New Orleans. Dig deeper. You have to prove you’re not one of those kids. Might also be wise to make a visit if possible or attend an admissions event close to home, if you haven’t done so already.</p>

3

<p>hmm, well first, get down off your high horse. Not to be mean, but you sound a bit pompous. and if that came accross in your essays, then they might feel that you think you deserve to be there, and deffered you for that reason. True, you have excellent scores and activities, but possibly your attitude is what brought you down. I got in with better grades, but worse scores than you, and a scholarship.</p>

4

<p>I went to the meeting when the rep came to my school and even emailed her some questions afterwards. but texasgirl, I really didnt mean to sound pompous or anything, but I wrote that right after I found out and I was just mad, and well this is the internet so sorry if it didn’t come out the way I’d intended. I mean congrats on your acceptance but i definitely wasn’t dumb enough to act all condescending in my essays or anything. Actually i really liked my personal statement, it was about having a speech impediment and coming to terms with it and stuff. my why tulane essay was a little vague i guess but i thought it was pretty good as well. i am not on my “high horse”- everyone is entitled to a little ranting when they don’t get something worked hard for and looked forward to. I want to clarify that i didnt go through the whole process like oh im so above tulane or something, in fact when i was applying i really didnt know anything about tulane’s ranking or prestige or average scores or anything. I was just going by their actual data, and by people I personally know who were accepted like a month ago, not becauseI think my grades and test scores are like the greatest things ever. which obviously they are not.</p>

5

<p>

Kinda a longshot here, but when you asked for recs did you specifically ask your teachers if they’d be willing to write a strong rec for you? If you just picked some teachers from classes where you did well, it may be (and let me stress this is just a guess on my part) that the teacher(s) weren’t that enamored of you. A rec is an invitation to write an honest appraisal, and so if one or more teachers didn’t think so highly of you then that’s what the rec said.</p>

<p>While it can be uncomfortable for a student to directly ask a teacher if they’d be willing to write a strong rec or suggest they ask someone else, it HAS to be done. I know someone who was on the alumni scholarship committee for a well-known U and they regularly received letters of “rec” for the full-tuition scholarship that raked the kid over the coals. In “The Gatekeepers”,in which a NY Times reporter followed the admissions committee at Wesleyan for a year, is a real-world example of a bad rec. Obviously when the student asked for a rec she assumed it would be positive, but here is what she got:

This could have been avoided if the teacher had been asked if they would write a strong rec. The student did not get in.</p>

6

<p>Thanks, but Tulane (EA at least) did not ask for any recs with its application. thanks anyways though!</p>

7

<p>Well, they did say they are sending additional info in the letter; I’m not sure exactly what that means but perhaps they will ask you to send more info, such as a letter of rec, or tell you how you can send other supplemental stuff. When I applied there I definitely had to send recs, but that was RD.</p>

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<p>Yeah i just got the letter it was pretty short and basically said the same thing, but it said to send midyear transcripts and more test scores if I have them. I mean I really hope I wasnt supposed to send them any recs, I don’t remember seeing it on the app and on the gibson protal thing it never said i was missing them so hopefully not. but I will send some which i had anyways for other schools. thanks yall, I;ve really calmed down from this i was just really upset last night haha since it was the only school ive heard back from or even really finished my application to</p>

9

<p>^ Depending on how serious you are about this school, might want to get a rec tailored specifically for them. Not anything crazy but see if you can get one of your recs modified to make mention of something about you that makes you a good fit. Might not be necessary but certainly wouldn’t hurt.</p>

10

<p>thanks i think ill do that!</p>

11

<p>I got deferred as well. Do you know when the earliest is that they will be sending out letters for the RD pool?</p>

12

<p>No sorry I dont- I wish though! I was wondering the same thing. It said on the tulaneadmission twitter that they dont even start looking at RD apps until second semester so idk. Could be a while, unfortunately</p>