<p>I had called and asked in a phone call if my D would be in a pool with the SCEA candidates or the EA candidates, and I was told she would be with the SCEA candidates. However, I now know that I get some information from the interns that may or may not be 100% accurate.</p>
<p>It was important for me to know, however, because SCEA is quite a sacrifice. My D fits into the criteria required, but on the lower end. We possibly could have done better with other schools had we put in ED or EA’s. So holding her application now for all the EA’s would really not be cool. I agree.</p>
No, all scholarship decisions other than “automatic” merit awards are independent of the initial admission decision. I am not very familiar with the Musicianship Scholarship, do you know how much they usually are?</p>
<p>
I really don’t understand what you mean by this. The deadline for applying, and the promised date of notification, for EA and SCEA are identical. They are not holding anything unusually or doing anything that is “not cool”. If her stats are such that she is borderline, then applying SCEA helps her chances but Tulane, like virtually every school outside of the HPYS group, has to balance the number they admit against who they think will attend so that the school is not overcrowded come fall, while at the same time trying to build the strongest class possible. This is especially true at Tulane where each of the last two classes have been about 10% over target size, and the dorms are very full.</p>
<p>It is only $5,000.00 per year, but it is for music majors only, (my D will dbl major mus theat/neurosci) and they can help with the admissions decision…</p>
<p>meklove - thanks very much. And hey, $5,000 a year beats a sharp stick in the eye! Or zero, for that matter. I wish her the best of luck with this.</p>
<p>On the other issue, I hope it is clear that Tulane really does only promise a December 15 notification for EA and SCEA both. I know their track record of letting so many others know earlier raises expectations (and therefore tensions when you don’t hear quickly), but there can truly be many reasons for this besides deferring the candidate. Unfortunately there really is no cure for this tension, it is just the way this process goes. I usually advise students (and parents if need be) to just stay as busy as possible with other things and try not to think about it now, you/she have done everything you can. And, if you look at some of my posts from last year, I advise lots of deep breathing exercises.</p>
<p>As an outsider to this process, I still do not understand the advantage of SCEA over EA for Tulane applicants in this, the second year of the newly instituted SCEA…</p>
<p>Given the vague nature of this conundrum, I advised my students to stay clear and apply EA…both of them have already been accepted; </p>
<p>Do we have any SCEA acceptances on here yet this year?</p>
<p>Ah, now that is a different issue. Opinions obviously vary on this topic, and Tulane is not the only school to offer SCEA. However, one may want to look at TulaneJeff’s October 5 blog post on this topic. [Tulane</a> University Admission Blog - Jeff](<a href=“http://tuadmissionjeff.blogspot.com/]Tulane”>http://tuadmissionjeff.blogspot.com/)</p>
<p>Well, let me put it this way meklove. And I truly believe this. While I obviously think Tulane is a really special place, your D will almost undoubtedly have a wonderful college experience wherever she ends up. There are many great schools out there, and so much of college is what the student makes of it.</p>
<p>Having said that, if Tulane is #1 on her list, which it must be, then I think she/you did the right thing applying SCEA. As TulaneJeff says, it is the strongest signal you can send Tulane that you will attend if accepted, since they don’t have ED. Sometimes you just have to go for it. We will all keep our fingers crossed for her.</p>
<p>thank you so much Fallenchem (getting familiar there haha) - I will certainly let you know what happens - and I think you are right - it was her number 1 choice and we let them know that. So again, your counsel is very much appreciated! I shall keep y’all updated!</p>
<p>meklove, I have been reading your posts and I wanted to let you know this is one of the most difficult jobs for parents…trying to advise and support this college process for our children. We so much want them to be happy. This is my second child and has been difficult in other ways. </p>
<p>I think you and your D made the best decision possible. There is a chance since she could have been deferred if she is on the lower end of the stats. Tulane is a very popular college and over enrolled by 500 students, that is at least what I heard from last year’s class.</p>
<p>Congratulations on her acceptance and she still has the opportunity to apply to other colleges for regular decision. I know several families who went back to their college of choice, asked them to match scholarships they received from other colleges, and are successful in increasing their financial packages.</p>
<p>Great work and congratulations!
On another note, I was one of those distraught mother’s last week. I did not realize that my S common application did not go through when I pushed submit. I was busy checking the the supplement and payment boxes and forgot to check the common app. After the deadline I realized my big mistake. Thankfully, all the colleges have accepted his common app even though it was late in being sent. Partly because most had extended their deadlines anyway. </p>
<p>Good luck, we parents are all trying to do our best out there!</p>
<p>I agree that it is nerve wracking to see all the acceptances. My S app has been in for a month and
no word yet. Do you think that after the 15th they go back and consider all EA applications once they see the fuul pool?</p>
<p>clancy - yes, I think that is exactly what they do for those they feel are close calls.</p>
<p>The other thing I remembered last night is that Tulane uses your highest test score. Therefore if you indicated that you are retaking the ACT or SAT between the time you applied and the deadline for them notifying you (December 15) they might wait until getting those scores to make a final determination. In fact I would think they would since not only admission but also the level of merit scholarship they offer, if any, depends in part on these scores. So even if you would get accepted based on current stats, unless you are already at the level of the highest “automatic” merit award they would wait. They will not break the acceptance and the merit award announcement into two pieces; they do it at the same time.</p>
<p>FC: can you send me the link to that blog in a PM? For some reason, it won’t open…</p>
<p>Also, you mention that other schools have SCEA ( Stanford, Yale come to mind , but there are def more)…</p>
<p>…do any of them also have regular EA?</p>
<p>This is why I never understood Tulane’s motivation for instituting SCEA rather than ED…they already have a look- see at their best applicants with EA; what advantage does it give anybody to have SCEA? One of these days, when I am feeling ambitious, I may shoot an email to them…it’s very hard as an advisor for many prospective Tulane applicants to tell them to use SCEA there when I fail to see why myself</p>
<p>Thanks, FC. He actually has high SAT scores so he’s not retaking it but his GPA and EC’s are good but not stellar, we are all on edge as its a favorite choice for him!</p>
<p>Hey rodney. I know what you mean, I only know what they have said publically. I have talked in person with a couple of the other admissions counselors about this, but they say pretty much the same thing. That SCEA just shows a stronger commitment than EA or RD. My guess is that they leave EA on the table so that students that want to hear early have that option without forcing them to forgo applying EA to other schools. So if tht is right, you essentially have:</p>
<p>1) SCEA which shows the strongest interest and you get to hear by December 15;</p>
<p>2) EA which really doesn’t show much extra interest other than you are on the ball enough to get your stuff in by Nov. 15, but you do get to hear early;</p>
<p>3) RD which is just…well, RD</p>
<p>As far as SCEA over ED, that is probably rooted in the same reasoning as why Harvard and Princeton gave it up until this year. Many schools don’t like the idea of a “binding” decision on the students before they see all their options, and there are also those that believe ED discriminates against lower income students. I got into a bit of a tussle with an admissions person from Georgetown (or was it GW? I can’t remember) as to whether or not an ED is binding if the FA package turns out to be insufficient for the student. I was stunned that the school took the stand that if a family was in doubt about affordability, they shouldn’t use the binding ED. Under that policy, ED is certainly discriminatory. In practice that doesn’t happen often, but it does make one wonder how many don’t apply ED fearing exactly that. I can hear the conversation now: “I want to apply to X University ED, Dad. It’s my dream school”. “I know, but it is very expensive and you are promising to go if accepted. What if they don’t give you enough scholarship money or they want you to take out huge loans?” Since in many cases the FA packages don’t come out until much later that the ED notification, it puts families in financially tenuous positions in a bad spot.</p>
<p>I know I rambled there, but for that and other reasons (such as upper income students just having better access to counseling and therefore the knowledge that applying ED is even possible) many schools don’t like going that route.</p>
<p>A girl from my school got accepted with an SAT 350 points lower than me, and submitted her app at the same time…starting to think there is definately a problem.</p>