I’m a junior and Tulane is one of my top choices. I intend on applying SCEA and since my family lived in New Orleans for several years before moving up to Missouri; we know the city well and my dad even knows one of the professors. I feel like I can write a very good “Why Tulane” essay but I’m somewhat concerned about their extracurriculars requirements. I’ve just not done that much in any of them except possibly marching band. I’ve had probably 70 hours of volunteering.
My transcript are pretty good and my ACT is a 34 (going to retake for a 35/36), my UW GPA is a 3.96 and W GPA is a 4.45 with many honors courses and 4 AP courses by the end of Junior year and 10 APs by the end of senior year (I screwed up my schedule and had to take honors chemistry instead of AP Physics this year).
Am I still good or will this be a loss for me? And what about merit scholarships? I’m just worried since I’ve heard Tulane places a lot of emphasis on things like community service.
Tulane does, of course, value both EC’s and community service. However, the emphasis is still on academic performance and fit with Tulane, with fit not always meaning that you have done a ton of EC’s and service. So academically you clearly not only have what it takes, but you would be a strong candidate for a full tuition award. So be sure to apply for both the DHS and the PTA. And as far as the automatic consideration merit scholarships go, those are virtually entirely stat based. So for you the real issue is convincing Tulane you want to go there #1 on your list.
Certainly applying SCEA is the best first step. Second, get your application in as early in the process as possible. Third, make it clear you are applying for both the DHS and PTA. Fourth, attend local events when Tulane visits. I assume from your screen name you are in KC, and I am pretty sure Tulane holds a presentation there every fall. Visiting campus is nice, but since you lived in NOLA you can make it a point with your admissions person that you know the campus and city well. Fifth, get to know your admissions person through emails where you introduce yourself, express your interest in Tulane, and point out what I said about your intent to apply for the scholarships (shows you are very serious about Tulane and not using it as a “safety”) and that you lived there for a time.
I think you can use the essays as an opportunity to talk about how you are anxious to get more involved in service. But band is time consuming, and that certainly is a factor. College is both a continuation of who you are and an opportunity to make certain changes and do new things that you realize with experience you want to do. I don’t see why your resume to date should hold you back in any way.
I think that your participation in Marching Band is a plus since the Tulane Marching Band is growing recently! That might actually be a better factor than than the Community service, since it’s something you have been active in- and I believe there are scholarships available to marching band members too. YOu can receive credit for being a part of the TUMB and there are service learning opportunities where band members provide tutoring to New Orleans children- both musical and academic.
You said you did 70 hours of community service–that is not horrible. Did you find it interesting? Perhaps you can do more community service, it’s only March! While Tulane likes students who have community service, a few hours that they find stimulating are better than 100’s of hours where they have just clocked time. As far as the Tulane requirements, that is once you are a student and they make it easy to do your community service within your courses.
l@fallenchemist. That’s really reassuring. I think it’s just the super-qualified people that usually post here on CollegeConfidential that had me somewhat worried.
And to address @dolphinlvr6, I’d say I’m pretty good at marching band, but it’s not quite a passion. I do it because it’s pretty fun and since I have a lot of friends who make it fun.
@DebmomNY, I will definitely add in some new volunteering this summer!
I understand that when you see very high stat people get denied or wait listed, it can be confusing. Tulane makes a determination as best they can if those students really want Tulane or if they really want Yale or Stanford, e.g. and Tulane isn’t the best fit. From what you say I don’t think you will have an issue there.
As far as marching band at Tulane, don’t confuse it with Ohio State or some others that are very competitive to get into and practice as much as the football team. They of course take great pride in who they are and what they do, but Tulane’s is far more chill. And you get to march in several Mardi Gras parades!! And you are 100% right about it being a way to make friends fast.
I hope it’s okay to post a link to a Youtube video which I made of the Tulane marching band. I made this video almost four years ago, and as @fallenchemist said, Tulane’s marching band is a little more “chill.” I was there as an Ole Miss fan, but was impressed enough with the unusual show to post a video.
@fallenchemist I wasn’t aware that I had switched it to “private” until I posted the link, so I went back and changed it… You must have tried it within five minutes of my post. It should work now.