EA, Public Health major

Colleges and Universities A-Z Tulane University
1

Hello, beautiful and so fantastically helpful persons of CC! I’m applying early action to TU as a Public Health major. I’m also applying to New College of FL, UM Twin Cities, Stony Brook, Ohio State, and Indiana U. Tulane is my first choice.

STATS

-GPA = 3.44 UW, 3.61 W
-APs = 9 total + 1 honors.
>AP Euro as a soph
>APUSH (3), APES (3), and Lang (4) as a junior
>Econ, Stats, Psych, Lit, Gov. Honors Mandarin IV.
-SAT
> CR 720
> M 730
> W 710
-Subject Tests
> Math 1, USH, and Lit. All in the 640-680 range, probably not sending, because, not my best work.

ECs My pride, my joy. My most cherished passions.

-WORK EXPERIENCE
>Starting internship with my congressional representative! Yay me! (Waited my entire high school career to apply. Guess learning to type ridiculously fast thanks to facebook wasn’t all that useless!)
> Full time summer job for second year in a row. Working with children k-5. Anywhere from 30 to 40+ hours a week, appointed leader for training.

-ECs
>Editor in Chief of the newspaper associated with a civic education organization. My goal is to increase readership and encourage voter participation through access to unbiased, objective, nonpartisan information regarding presidential candidates.
> Member of two committees dedicated to accessible LGBTQA±accommodating health and wellness services. I focus on cooperating with local governments and school districts to ensure safe and supportive environments.

> I translate books into a language that’s being revitalized! It’s one I self taught for three years to proficiency, and can accurately translate children’s literature. One of my personal life goals is to visit the area where this language is spoken.

ESSAYS I’m getting feedback on them. But I have sought advice from staff and students, and I do believe that my ‘Why Tulane’ essay reflects that Tulane is my top pick, and, possibly, the amount of time I’ve spent googling Thai-Cajun fusion restaurants.

RECs Counselor rec will not be very special, my school is huge, but I do think she knows that I pursue anything within, or sometimes out of reach.
Possibly sourcing another rec from my boss, who is also pursuing an MPH! And is my role model!

HOOKS Twin? Left handed? Minority? Fan of the most disappointing team in the NHL?

2

Well, you didn’t really ask a question. Did you? But I assume you are looking for feedback on your chances and what you can do to maximize your app.

In short, I think your chances are excellent. You seem to hit the sweet spot for a Tulane applicant in terms of test scores, grades, course rigor, and passion. You have clearly done your homework about the school and the area, although you might want to check out Vietnamese-Cajun fusion as well. Decent sized Vietnamese community in NOLA. Also, I do believe there are people at Tulane specializing in preserving some local dialects as well as maybe some Latin American tribal languages. Not my area, just recalling some articles I have read over the years. Could be worth looking into and also it could make for a great minor or second major.

Otherwise, if you going to visit the campus that is a plus. If not, then attending a local session by Tulane this fall is equally good. I would do one of those two if at all possible. Your interest in Tulane is obvious, but never hurts to reinforce it by showing up for those sessions. If there is not going to be one in your area, then establish contact with your admissions officer.

I don’t think you need a hook, btw.

3

What can I say, it was a long day at work! Thanks for looking out for me. I definitely want feedback and realistic outlooks.

I’d love a second major or minor in languages!

4

Specifically what I was pointing out is that the work involved, the techniques involved, in documenting and historically preserving a dying language is quite specialized. Getting involved in such an area could lead to a very rich (and well traveled!) undergraduate experience. Just a thought, but since you seem to have a language you are looking to do the same with, you could learn a lot by getting involved this way. I should point out that one of Tulane’s strong attributes is that it is a top flight research university, but unlike most at its level it welcomes undergraduates to get involved, even as early as freshman year.

I have heard several NPR stories about preserving languages, and while it has been some time since I last heard one the numbers they cited were staggering in terms of how many languages are actually spoken in the world and how many die out every year without being even close to fully preserved. I just never imagined it could be so many. Not surprisingly Louisiana, especially southern Louisiana, has a rich mixture of languages and dialects. Many of those are fading as people assimilate more and of course because of mass media.