<p>Hi Pushydad,</p>
<p>If it makes you feel any better, I don’t think it is a small minority paying full sticker price for colleges. Of course, under a certain income level college is free for students, but most people pay it all. Merit aid is hard to come by.</p>
<p>Would just like to add my opinion here. As someone who was offered the highest merit aid offered at Tulane (with no separate application), I did not “drown myself in APs.” I worked hard in school, took the ACT once and was satisfied with my score, and did extracurriculars I was interested in. I am a “fun” person with a social life. It’s totally possible that they are looking for people that are truly interested in what they’re doing and work hard for that then just people who do everything for college.</p>
<p>^Same here. I took the SAT once, did well in school taking a moderate number of APs, and did several interesting activities. I got the highest partial award they offer with no separate application (Presidential).</p>
<p>SeaLion - I was being facetious when I said “drown themselves in AP’s”. Just meant that they might be weighting the rigor more heavily than usual. I have yet to see a single person on this board that does not have tons of interesting activities. I only know one high schooler who has tailored his life and choices while in HS so as to please colleges. Not advisable. However, ALL of the serious college-bound students at my daughter’s school are expected to take 4-5 AP’s their Jr and Sr years. It’s a well-known fact that our state flagship won’t admit kids from our area without that, so that is what the guidance counselors advise. I’m sure Tulane is looking for kids who have not spent their HS lives in the library or SAT tutoring center.</p>
<p>Congrats on your admission and scholly!</p>
<p>Is there any more to the DHS process (interview?) beyond submitting the application?</p>
<p>No, there is no interview. IIRC, there is the application form that includes an extra recommendation and the box project. That’s it.</p>
<p>Interesting to see all these stats. We live in AZ and in past have had all sorts of students accepted with high merit aid. My son was accepted EA but no merit $. He has 1920 SAT, 28 ACT, National Merit Commended, top 10% at very competitive public high school, 4.3 Weighted GPA, 4.78 unweighted, 4 year football player, tons of community service hours and he is profoundly deaf and hears with cochlear implants. He had a great common app essay. He was just deferred from Pomona ED (with high hopes to still get in as long as senior grades hold up). We were really surprised not to get merit aid and this will all but eliminate Tulane for him. He is in with full ride to AZ. schools, has applications out to Chapman, USC, Pitzer and Rollins College. So we wait…</p>
<p>joeconmom - It really is different this year, good to hear you are seeing it too and I am not just imagining things, lol. Sorry Tulane won’t work out, but it does sound like he has some great possibilities. Everyone says Pomona is amazing, so I hope that works out for him. My D strongly considered Barrett at ASU, it is a pretty remarkable Honors College. We had a really nice visit there.</p>
<p>Joeconmom: I dont know if there is any consolation for you but here is good link for you regarding the merid-aid from Tulane. It is written by tulanejeff: [Tulane</a> University Admission Blog - Jeff](<a href=“Tulane University Admission Blog - Jeff Schiffman”>Tulane University Admission Blog - Jeff Schiffman)</p>
<p>FC: based on your historical study and the current posts do you have a feel for what may be a minimum cutoff? For example, would it be fair to say you need a 30+ ACT or SAT equivalent to receive any merit Aid?</p>
<p>It would really be helpful if the two student posters listed their stats for the merit they received?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>I don’t think that current students at Tulane saying what their stats/scholarships were will be helpful, frankly. This year just seems too different to compare.</p>
<p>I really don’t see a logical cutoff for the merit. I have seen a couple with 29 ACT that got merit, presumably because their GPA and schedule rigor were very high, plus perhaps they had other qualities the admissions office valued. But certainly the vast majority of awards seem to start with ACT of 30, although again as we have seen there are those with higher ACT scores that did not get a merit scholarship. Maybe their GPA and/or schedule rigor was lacking, or maybe there were other factors. But I guess I only have the rather unsatisfying answer that this year is very hard to know how they are deciding the awarding of the merit scholarships. Certainly it still takes great stats in at least one of the usual areas, but there seems to be more “texture” to it this year.</p>