I am nearly certain the PTA is fixed at 50 scholarships. So it is 125 this year (not counting the Global) as it has been since 2009.
I actually didnât get any mail at all today. Strange. Applied for PTA. Did all UPS envelopes get received today?
@starfish4 I donât mean to (potentially) be the bearer of bad news, but only those who received the scholarships get packages, and it seems they all arrived today except maybe international ones (Iâm about as far as you can get from Tulane in the US and my package was delivered today so I donât really think itâs varying that much). You can check UPS My Choice to see if it is perhaps on the way
Itâs a long shot, but every year there seem to be one or two packages that are misdelivered or left with a neighbor or something. It isnât quite grasping at straws, but close.
My son received DHS today. He was deferred by Tulane so it was a very nice surprise! We did not even know what the package was about.
Award won: No national award. A couple state awards, such as scientific projects.
UW GPA: 4.0/4.0
W GPA: 4.9/5.0
SAT/ACT score: 36
Were you interviewed by telephone by a Tulane designate?: no, never asked.
Likelihood of Attending Tulane (%): Donât know. He is still waiting for scholarship from several schools. But he is very comfortable attending Tulane if no better packages come later.
Donât know what he did for the box. We were not involved in his application process.
my daughter received the DHS today. We are from Minnesota. She had an ACT of 33 and a thoughtful, meaningful project but it was not extravegent nor expensive. She was interviewed by phone. She is thrilled.
Thatâs fantastic, @calvinandtux . Could you throw in her GPA, either weighted or unweighted? We could probably use a few more from MN at Tulane! Bet she would like the change in weather.
For my D:
Award won: DHS
UW GPA: 3.98
W GPA: 107.58 (100 scale)
SAT/ACT score: SAT - 2250/ACT 35
Were you interviewed by telephone by a Tulane designate?: Yes
Likelihood of Attending Tulane (%): Unknown at this point, still waiting to attend scholarship competition weekend at one more school. Very interested, will be visiting Tulane in April for Scholars weekend.
Comment: NMF scholarship eligible, which can be stacked with DHS according to the award letter. She really enjoyed her alumni interview and the personal touches Tulane seems to offer.
Award won: Deanâs Honor Scholarship
UW GPA: 4.52/4.8
W GPA: 4.07/4.3
SAT/ACT score: 2280
Were you interviewed by telephone by a Tulane designate?: Yes
Likelihood of Attending Tulane (%): 99%
Comment: Created a video parody of a well-known Saturday Night Live video and called it âProject in a Box,â and then wrote the essay about my love of comedy and how it brings people together. I am beyond excited and just want to thank everyone in this forum for all the information and support. Iâve been obsessively checking this thread for days now, and I am exuberant that the wait is finally over, and I get to attend my dream school!
Award won: DHS
UW GPA: 4.0
W GPA: N/A
SAT/ACT score: 2320, 35
Were you interviewed by telephone by a Tulane designate?: No, I got a call from a student asking if I had any questions but I donât think thatâs what this means
Likelihood of Attending Tulane (%): 0% (I was admitted to Vanderbilt ED)
Comment: Iâm not sure why they gave me DHS when I withdrew two months ago. Iâm honored, but I wish it had gone to someone who could actually use it.
My project was turning the box into a prescription label and prescribing myself a Tulane education. I put in a lot of little details that had to do with the school, but overall I didnât spend that much time on it. I feel like these projects are granted more for creativity than for laborious hours spent so that probably helped me. My accompanying essay was the same essay I wrote for Emory and was about my interest in pharmacology and global health.
A member that wants to maximize anonymity gave me permission to post the following:
Award won: DHS
UW GPA: 3.93
SAT score: 2360
Were you interviewed by telephone by a Tulane designate?: Did not say.
Likelihood of Attending Tulane (%): Needs to see what else comes in, but Tulane is very strong possibility.
Award won: Paul Tulane Award
UW GPA: Not sure, my school only uses weighted.
W GPA: 4.65
SAT/ACT score: 34
Were you interviewed by telephone by a Tulane designate?: No
Likelihood of Attending Tulane (%): ~90%. Still waiting to here from Duke, but the PTA is going to be really hard to turn down either way.
Comment: I wrote one essay on the relationship b/w privacy and tech advances and then wrote a legal opinion for a Supreme Court case for the other. I donât think my stats were really good enough on their own to get the award, so I guess they thought my essays were really good.
@proudmom1106
No Ivys considered. I strongly believe they are not worth the cost premium when compared to full tuition, edit scholarships or even top state schools. We would not qualify even for an Ivyâs generous Financial aid. U Illinois is a top 5ish engineering school and would cost half an Ivy. Child won their Chancellorâs Scholarship Award (120 recipients so top 1%is of attendees). We knew there was a good shot at some of the large generous merit scholarships to create parity with state schools.
Northwestern is different story why it achieves cost parity for us. Concern there is somewhat cutthroat reputation despite many claiming not their experienceâŠ
@FallenChemist
Yes u Michigan to me not with premium, but already notified of scholarship to bring to U Illinois regular tuition cost level. Tomorrow at USC hopeful to win full tuition like at Tulane. All of the others BMEng programs (Michigan, Illinois and USC and Northwestern) are top 15 whereas UM and Tulane unranked. However with Med School likely, I donât think we should be concerned with actual BioEng ranking, more concerned with the undergraduate opportunities. Some schools provide true graduate level research opportunities to undergrads, others do not and are more project or lower level related work.
Lots of stuff for my child to figure out. I just want to facilitate. I donât envy having to make the decision. As a parent, I already have guilt that we will need to decline all but 1 schools generosity that has been extended.
By the way, do you think Tulane is worth $60k total more than say U Miami or GTech should my child win full ride to them?
Oh, those are pretty great stats! But no doubt your essays brought it home, as the saying goes. Congratulations. FWIW, we love stealing a few potential Dukies every year, along with a few potential Commodores, a few potential Hoyas, some would be Bears (WUSTL, among others), etc.
Congrats too you as well! I think you inadvertently switched your W and UW GPA. OK if I fix it?
@fallenchemist
I have conversed with you a few times on CC. My DD was admitted to Tulane with a 30 on her ACT but was able to up her score to a 33 and I asked you about additional merit money and her chances for DHS/PTA. Not sure if that is ringing any bells but I wanted to post for future students that may not think they have a shot at these awards. She received the DHS award today!!! For anyone reading this, she was initially given $27,000 in merit but no honors program. When she got the ACT to a 33, fallenchemist and her regional contact at Tulane both strongly encouraged her to apply for at least one of the awards. After reading through all the past CC posts and all the AMAZING stats for past recipients of DHS, I truly felt she was a long shot. The box thing really threw her. I told her to not over think it and just go for it. Donât spend a lot of time, not a real contender was my rationale. She has always wanted to help the homeless and came up with a bakery run by them called âTwo Laneâ and went on to explain the significance of the name other than the obvious play on words. It was beautiful and touching as it dealt with the complexities of being homeless and how it could relate to a two lane road. The box was a picture of a 2 lane road in her favorite town with Bourbon St superimposed over it. Simple but heartfelt.
Thank you again @fallenchemist for all your insights and encouragement!
As those that have read my posts for some time on here, my utter disdain for ranking undergraduate schools is well known. You can triple that for ranking individual departments like history, any engineering, EnglishâŠwell, anything actually. Grad school? Sure, that is a totally different kettle of fish. But for undergrad, as long as we are talking about any school that offers a full major in that subject and is the kind of school that has the reputation for solid academics (as a rough guide, anything in the USNWR top 150 at least) will provide similar undergraduate educations in all aforementioned subjects in terms of the material itself. They all use the same or similar texts and all the profs are quite competent on the whole. Any faculty can have a dud, but that includes MIT down to Decent State U somewhere.
To me the separation comes in several places, and varies by student which is why there is no one list for all. You identified one, which is how involved can the undergrad get in the highest level research. Another aspect, often related but not necessarily so, is the interaction between professor and student at the undergrad level. To me these two are where Tulane is as good as any of them, and better than most. And New Orleans is leading the way lately in start-ups, many of which are BME related. This is where I think Tulane has a clear edge over Miami. GTech I canât say that so much. From what I see they are doing pretty great work there. But they also have a lot more grad students, so that might crowd out the undergrads from doing some of the higher level work directly, and instead the undergrads may be relegated to the equivalent of âwashing labwareâ. But I donât know that, and I am sure when you strip away my Tulane bias they do a nice job with the undergrads in BME there. One thing I can tell you, having taught there for 3 years in chem, is that the atmosphere is more competitive. Cutthroat? Not sure I would go that far, but more so than Tulane by a fair amount. Tulane is one of the most cooperative atmospheres I am familiar with, even among premeds. You donât see that everywhere!
The rest of the decision comes down to what I said before, once cost is eliminated as a factor: big school vs. smaller one, urban/suburban vs. rural, climate, etc. These are real considerations since this is essentially the new home for these students for four years, sometimes five (never ever an issue of not being able to get a needed class at Tulane, btw). That is why Michigan might be ideal for Student A and Tulane for Student B, even if costs are the same.
As far as the $60K potential difference between Miami, GTech and Tulane, regardless of my opinions above? You are asking for a value assessment, and i really cannot do that for you. It would be like asking me if I thought you should spend $60,000 on a car that we know will last 4 years, versus being given a free car that will last just as long. However the first car really meets your desires perfectly, having certain features that you think are important on a day in, day out basis for four years. Heated leather seats, sun roof, or convertible even, an engine you can work on yourself instead of having to take it to others. I know that last is a little silly in todayâs world, but I am trying to kind of relate it back to the research. Both will get you where you want to go (med school) with great utility. but you will enjoy the experience of the $60,000 so much more. Of course, if the cars being offered are virtually identical in your mind, then take the free one. Any other decision is bonkers. But only you, or in this case your D, can make that value judgement. Fortunately it sounds like if you do end up paying $15,000 per year for college, it wonât be a particular hardship. So at least the flexibility is there if she wants it.
Best of luck with the ultimate decision. I know there is information yet to be known. If she should happen to decide on another school, just drop us a note if you think about it. And of course we are all here to answer questions in the meantime.
Maybe it is just late and I am a little tired, but your message really got to me, and felt so good. Thank you. And YEEE HAAAA!!! That is so truly and utterly spectacular!!! And what a beautiful project. Really hits all the right notes. I can only imagine how she is floating on a cloud for now. Maybe you too. So very happy for you. Tulane will be so lucky to have her.
Award won: PTA
UW GPA: 3.9
W GPA: 4.8
SAT/ACT score: 34
Were you interviewed by telephone by a Tulane designate?: Yes, had a casual conversation with an alumni for about 30 minutes.
Likelihood of Attending Tulane (%): 100% with this full tuition scholarship.
Comment: I wrote 2 essays for this project: one about preserving our current history as campaign slogans, protests, and wireless internet in the Smithsonian and another about combining biology with ethics in the interest of preserving privacy in an era of genome sequencing.
That is really great! I have to say though, that half the things you wrote about didnât even exist when many of us went to college. Thatâs a bit sobering. Anyway, welcome to the Tulane family. Really like your screen name, btw.
Congratulations to all of the award recipients!