<p>I guess I underestimated the importance of showing interest compared to that of being an otherwise strong applicant… Still disturbing to me just because I haven’t gotten any acceptances yet and now I’m definitely doubting myself 
I didn’t apply to any schools ED because I can’t commit until I compare financial aid offers. I applied to U of Miami EA but their decisions still don’t come out until February.</p>
<p>Well, it is difficult to say what you should do at this point. You still should have applied ED at your top choice because you are not really committed if they cannot meet your financial needs, which most top schools that have ED almost always do. But too late, unless they have ED II. Where else besides Miami did you apply?</p>
<p>With my family’s income level, it is difficult to make a case that we “cannot afford” any given school…my parents just refuse to pay more than a certain amount and therefore would not pay for any early decision apps. Being a broke teenager I thought it would my in my best interest to go along with this haha. I live in CA and applied to Cal Poly SLO, UC San Diego, UC Berkeley, and am set to apply for several reach schools RD but am now reconsidering given the circumstances (schools including Rice, U of Chicago, Duke, and Brown [applying as a 3rd generation legacy])</p>
<p>Well, if you are not going to apply for need based FA but your parents have a ceiling on what they will pay, it does seem that last batch of schools is unlikely to work out for you. Rice is less than the others, so depends on their limit. But you should get into Berkeley, Cal Poly and UCSD.</p>
<p>If that is the situation and so Tulane really is someplace you could end up, then you should write to your admissions officer at Tulane and tell them why you would be happy to be there, that it isn’t just a fallback, if that is true.</p>
<p>I’m still going to apply for need based aid, some schools are more generous with need based aid than others so I’m just hoping I will get a decent offer. and if not, at least I can see which school gives me the best offer and try to convince my parents that it is worth the money, or hopefully as you said I will get into one of the public schools. I was hoping I would get merit aid at Tulane but apparently I will be lucky if I am offered admission at all 
Thank you for your advice!</p>
<p>I’ll bet a Sazerac with any of these high stat deferred candidates that they will get in RD and maybe even get some merit money. Here’s what I think is happening.</p>
<p>Tulane is getting a tsunami of HQ applications. That is the cumulative result of all of the application and merit aid pump priming TU has been doing since Katrina. Last year TU was really scrambling when their yield bumped up and they had about 150 acceptances more than they shooting for. It has to be a really tough task to get a class of 1500 exactly (not 1400 and not 1600) from something like 40,000 applications. That’s nuts.</p>
<p>Selective schools that get lots of apps don’t do anything like rolling admissions. They compare all the apps against each other after the EA deadline passes and then pick the kids they want to accept and give money to. Often, you hear back from EA in mid-January. Part of TU’s pump priming is that they try to give a quick turn-around to pique student’s interest – sometimes as early as October.</p>
<p>Some on here have speculated that TU is already over 40,000 apps for this cycle. There’s still 30 days for more apps to keep coming in until the RD deadline. In the face of that, I think TU just exhausted its budget for EA offers and EA merit awards and had to defer a lot of HQ apps. Makes sense since they have no idea how many more apps they are going to get or what those apps are going to be. Its only rational that they would have to defer a lot of HQ applicants for now that they ultimately will love to have. But they have to wait until all the apps are in so they don’t get too far out over their skis.</p>
<p>The last class had a 25/75 ACT range of 29-32. It would be a huge jump if that range moved up to say 30-33 this year. Even were that to happen, most of these kids are still way above average. Which means they will get in (and maybe get money) once the window re-opens after January 15.</p>
<p>Read the deferral topic on the Tulane admission blog for dos/don’ts for how to handle the defer process.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>I am pretty sure you will lose a lot of Sareracs, northwesty. Last year most of these high stat candidates got waitlisted because they still didn’t show any real interest in Tulane. Given that the pattern seems to be the same this year, I think the end result will be the same as well. Otherwise I pretty much agree with the rest of it. Not sure if the budget for offers and merit scholarships is exhausted or not, but I can certainly see how they want to tread as carefully as possible to get the right size and quality class.</p>
<p>I know I have said this before, and I know they have some historical results to help predict what will happen, but I still am amazed this works as well as it does. I agree with you 100%, it seems nuts! Not just for Tulane, but for most schools that cannot count on yields like Harvard’s and Yale’s.</p>
<p>I am embarrassed to admit I had to google “sazerac.”</p>
<p>Oops, just saw my typing error. But I know what it is from my time in New Orleans. One of the more famous bars in NOLA is the Sazerac Room in the Roosevelt.</p>
<p>just googles sazerac too. Vitrec, when we all meet up during move-in, we can toast with one!</p>
<p>kellijake1987 - Yes, he is very happy to already have an acceptance at a top notch school like Wisconsin 
We are thankful!! </p>
<p>Good luck to the others that were deferred!</p>
<p>I was also deferred from Tulane, which came as a bit of a shock.</p>
<p>SAT 2340
4.0 unweighted GPA</p>
<h1>1 in HS class of over 400 students, best HS of the 5 in county</h1>
<p>national merit semifinalist
14 AP classes through HS, 5’s on all 9 tests taken so far
800 and 770 on SAT subject tests
Captain of water polo team, varsity 4 years
varsity swimming 3 years
active member of honor society
active member of key club
really good letters of rec</p>
<p>I even wrote the “why tulane” essay (although to be honest I could have spent more time on it). I did apply at first simply because it was a free application, but after looking into it more I really really liked the school, so I’m disappointed by the deferral. I also have already applied for the DHS, and I feel like I am even more unlikely to receive it since I’ve been deferred. I emailed by admissions counselor this morning expressing my interest in Tulane and asking what else I can do to improve my regular decision chances…</p>
<p>Disappointing! Sorry to all of the other highly qualified students who did not get in. Hopefully things will pan out regular decision or at other schools.</p>
<p>Sorry to all the students that were deferred. Acceptance at Tulane has been getting more difficult the last three years. All three good students that applied from my son’s school were deferred last year, and we are from an underrepresented area.
Tulane is trying to improve their retention rates and they are seeking students that they think will stay and this is not an easy task. I am sure all of you (or your student) will land at the perfect school for you, even if it wasn’t in the package you wanted.</p>
<p>I think that tulane made the optional essay to see which students were actually interested in the school. I spent some time on it and I got accepted, surprisingly… I only had a 3.2 ( medical reason behind low gpa) and 1800 Sat score, African-American as well if that means anything. Also did varsity football and basketball for 4 years, and have played the sax since I was 10.</p>
<p>Congrats to you, JBoyFly15…!!! Nothing is impossible. Be blessed.</p>
<p>Hey Phil,</p>
<p>Go Blue Jays! Any word back yet? If not please let me know.</p>
<p>As of now my current status is still :"Undergraduate Admissions (2013 Fall)
The admission committee has decided to defer your application to the Regular Decision pool. Your application will be reevaluated in the spring. We will try to get you a decision as quickly as possible, but you will receive a final decision by April 1. "</p>
<p>Thank you all for the response and suggestions.</p>