Is This College List Done?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I will start with my facts:</p>

<ul>
<li>White male from full-pay family</li>
<li>NM Semifinalist (likely a finalist next month)</li>
<li>Potentially interested in merit aid</li>
<li>SAT: 2310 (730 CR, 800 M, 780 W)</li>
<li>SATII: Spanish- 790, Math II- 750</li>
<li>WGPA: 4.46</li>
<li>UWGPA: 3.52</li>
<li>Somewhere between #7 and #10 (out of 73) in my class, though we do not officially rank</li>
<li>Intended major is Business/Economics and Spanish OR a specific International Business program</li>
<li>ECs are decent, but focus heavily on politics (factor in that I am EXTREMELY Conservative), sports, and travel/cultural experiences</li>
</ul>

<p>As for the list (with admission chances from Parchment):</p>

<p>DREAM SCHOOL THAT REJECTED ME ED:
Duke (was given a 31% chance, though I found this after the fact)</p>

<p>SCHOOLS THAT HAVE LONG BEEN NEAR THE TOP OF MY LIST (kind of ranked):
Richmond (74%)- considering the idea of switching my application to EDII, though I am leaning towards not doing so
Vanderbilt (47%)
Penn (18%)
Tulane (95%)- applied EA and was deferred, though my college counselor is still very confident that I will be accepted
Davidson (49%)</p>

<p>SCHOOLS THAT I RECENTLY ADDED AND HAVE ALREADY APPLIED TO:
Miami (97%)- significant merit aid possible, though I got in my application under the wire (and the school's part will not be submitted until Monday- 5 days after the RD deadline)
Alabama (100%)- full scholarship to NMF
Oklahoma (99%)- full scholarship to NMF (it is funny that UA and OU played in a bowl game last night in Tulane's home stadium)
South Carolina (100%)- near-full scholarship to OOS NMF</p>

<p>SCHOOLS THAT I WILL PROBABLY APPLY TO:
Bucknell (58%)- the only negative is Lewisburg, PA
Kentucky (100%)- really interesting Global Studies (Int. Business) program, but do I need yet another school that will give a full ride to NMF. Plus, I have always hated UK basketball.
Rhodes (100%)- not sure how I feel about D3 athletics (from the perspective of a fan)
F&M (100%)- same as Rhodes</p>

<p>As you can probably tell from the list, only include schools in the South (incl. OK and TX and the lower Mid-Atlantic- SE PA, S NJ, DE, MD).</p>

2

<p>Texas A&M is another good NMF scholarship school that is generally considered conservative.</p>

<p>But what you really want to know is, what (kind of) schools would you consider over your big-scholarship safeties, and at what price?</p>

<p>Also, if you are “EXTREMELY Conservative”, why was Duke your “dream school”? The conservative [CollegeGuide.org</a> - Rating America’s Colleges](<a href=“http://www.collegeguide.org/itemdetail.aspx?item=486fb85a-5d15-4d1f-a8f5-5ce2804c3129&page=3]CollegeGuide.org”>http://www.collegeguide.org/itemdetail.aspx?item=486fb85a-5d15-4d1f-a8f5-5ce2804c3129&page=3) lists it as one of the top 10 “train wreck” schools.</p>

3

<p>I do not think that a college needs to be as Conservative as I am, but just not super liberal. When I toured Haverford (which I hated for many reasons), I got the sense that it was of the far left. Duke felt like it was moderate (relative to colleges in the US), with some more Conservative students. It also had a lot of what I wanted and was familiar, as my parents went there and much of my family still lives in Raleigh, about 20 minutes from campus.</p>

4

<p>Why are you looking for more schools to apply to? Would you be happy at Miami, SC, OK or AL?</p>

5

<p>@ Erin’s Dad</p>

<p>I would be happy almost anywhere. It is just a matter of where I would be the most happy. My dad wanted me to apply to Miami (maybe just because he wants to go to Miami to drop me off/pick me up). OK, SC, and AL seem like good potential fits in terms of state schools, but I would have totour the campuses before I would choose to go to one of them. Plus, I will get a full ride, possibly with even a little more, as a NMF.</p>

6

<p>Baylor would give you a lot of money. Also auburn. And good football.</p>

7

<p>I can’t see any reason to send out any more apps. It looks like you have four sure things with good potential for scholarships. Just my 2 cents.</p>

8

<p>Very surprised you were deferred EA from Tulane. I might ask your counselor to check with the school to be certain that nothing was missing from your application to cause the deferral.
You don’t need to add any schools, but perhaps places like UNC or FL State, might be a better fit than some of the schools on your “probably” list.</p>

9

<p>^^^not surprising, happy1. There’s been a lot of talk about this over at the Tulane board where I’ve learned that Tulane is particularly suspicious of applicants with ivy scores who apply and don’t do anything else to indicate interest. That is, Tulane don’t wanna be nobody’s safety. If OP didn’t do anything to indicate interest, OP is one of many very good applicants to Tulane who were deferred. If OP wants to go to Tulane, OP has to get in touch with AO now and indicate that.</p>

10

<p>^^^That makes sense – I do not follow the Tulane board. I would agree that if the OP has real interest in Tulane it should be made known to the school perhaps through a message from the counselor, a letter to the admissions officer, a visit etc.</p>

11

<p>there may be other schools below the ivy and elites that have similar concerns about becoming safeties for students who don’t indicate any interest in going there. They’d rather take students who demonstrate that they want to come to Tulane and will contribute positively to the school–even if those students’ scores are lower. My D ran into this, I think, last year.</p>

12

<p>I have since demonstrated some more interest, but I had attended a local info session and was talking with my family about when a good time would be to go to New Orleans.</p>

13

<p>did you complete the why tulane essay, OP?</p>

14

<p>Yes, but my college counselor is very confused as to what happened, but expects that I will get in in March.</p>

15

<p>By the way, I never planned to apply to a rolling school until recently, so could anyone tell me how long they usually take?</p>

16

<p>

</p>

<p>Tulane considers “level of applicant’s interest” in admissions. It also provides a way for early applicants to express interest by offering SCEA as well as EA (SCEA = applicant agrees not to apply to EA or ED to any other school).</p>

17

<p>there’s a guy over at tulane folder who perhaps will be able to help you. name is fallenchemist. he knows a lot about tulane. pm him if you don’t want to continue wondering.</p>

<p>about rolling admission schools: how long do they usually take to do what? Tulane EA might reply in a week from the completion of your app if you applied early in the year, like July, and you had the stats you have. lesser stats will wait longer; later in the year will wait longer. Pitt is much like Tulane. perhaps it varies by rolling school generally?</p>

18

<p>@ucbalumnus that link is the biggest bunch of crap I have ever seen. That was obviously made by Rush Limbaugh or some other foagie. You should know, you went to the 2nd most liberal school west of the Mississippi, Berkeley. At least that is what I am assuming from your name.</p>

<p>In that list there is an obvious correlation between the exceptional schools being right winged and the train wrecks being left. For example, the exceptional schools include Pepperdine, Baylor, University of the South and Texas A&M while the train wrecks include Wesleyan and Santa Cruz, both liberal.</p>

<p>Survivor fan don’t listen to him. Vote Democrat.</p>

19

<p>not only do they consider it, ucbalumnus, they’ll turn down much more highly qualified students to get the students who want to go there. That comes as a surprise to me because I thought if you filled out their essay and went to a Tulane workshop that would be enough to show your interest and get you into Tulane, esp. with the OP’s stats. Maybe it’s not according to some people in the Tulane group. Maybe Tulane is keenly afraid of stats like the OP’s, maybe they know where else he’s applying, and maybe they have deferred him because they want the people who want them more than OP has demonstrated and/or they want to protect their yield.</p>

<p>It’s all speculation. Maybe OP blew the essay. Maybe OP upset the AO. Maybe the AO confused OP with someone else.</p>

<p>I’d be surprised if every school that says they consider interest means what Tulane might mean. Disclosure: my D was accepted at Tulane this fall. Heck, D got a birthday card from her Tulane AO. It’s a different kind of school. Applicants ought to be aware of how important interest might be at Tulane.</p>

20

<p>BookBook, I think ucbalumnus was trying to point out that there are lists of schools that some conservatives have put together to help conservative students find schools where they will find more people like them. </p>

<p>I, too, questioned OP in another thread about why he applied to Duke or even looked at Haverford. At least ucbalumnus was trying to help him, which ucbalumnus does better than many of us. Chill. We’re here to help students, not politicize them or College Confidential.</p>