<p>What are the usual cutoffs or stats for getting merit aid from Tulane?
I have a 2360, 3.75 (all honors + 7 aps) at a top public HS, very good extracurriculars, a good essay, great teacher recs... do I have a shot at $10,000+?</p>
<p>There are no official stats to qualify for the Presidential, Founders, and Distinguished Scholars merit awards. These range from $25K/year on down, I think the lowest being $7500. All accepted students are reviewed for these. The Deans Honor Scholarship (DHS), which is a full tuition scholarship, requires a separate application.</p>
<p>With your nearly perfect SAT’s, plus your challenging schedule, I would think you would get the top award of $25K plus an invitation to the Honors Program. I am assuming the GPA is unweighted. You should probably apply for the DHS, although time is short.</p>
<p>Best of luck.</p>
<p>Thanks so much (and yes, my GPA is unweighted)! Also, do you know anything about the Community Service Scholarship- if it’s based on academic achievement as well as community service involvement, whether you can combine that award with an academic merit one, how selective it is?</p>
<p>I don’t know a lot about the criteria, but I do know there is an academic component along with the service aspect. It ranges from $5K - $15K, and it can be combined with other awards. In fact, I suspect they use this award as a way of getting some students to a de facto DHS, by adding a CSS to a Presidential. I don’t know how selective it is, but probably pretty selective.</p>
<p>Your stats are very similar to my D’s and she got the DHS. She also looked at and got accepted at schools that are more selective than Tulane, and certainly the DHS was a big factor in her decision to attend Tulane. But she also really liked it there when she visited, and now that she is finishing her first semester, she is really loving it. She feels very challenged (admittedly she skipped the intro courses) and is very involved. Just throwing that in for what it is worth, since I saw by your other posts you are looking at the usual suspects for a student of your caliber. Tulane clearly is safety for you, and there is nothing wrong with that. But since money is an issue, as it is for most of us, I thought you might want to know how another high achieving, serious student is feeling about attending Tulane.</p>
<p>My daughter just got her letter today. She received an Academic Achievement Award worth $15,000 per year. Your stats are higher so I would think you would get at least what she did and then some… Good luck!</p>
<p>I have 2170 SATs and got 20k per year in merit aid (Founder’s Award).</p>
<p>my SATs were 2030 and i got the presidential award of 24k a year</p>
<p>Norcal, was that last year? Because this year the award is $25K. Never mind, I see now that you are a freshman, so that was last year. Not to diminish your achievement in the least (it is great that you got the $24K!!!) but I think it does possibly show that this year things are more competitive since students with much higher SAT’s are getting less. Of course there are also a lot more factors that just SAT’s.</p>
<p>I don’t have a TON of patience so the waiting (on the admissions/merit) decision is so tough! And to augment that, my twin sister, who applied a 1.5 weeks after me on a whim and has lower “stats”, has already been accepted (I’m obviously very happy for her, but it’s incredibly frustrating!). I’ve started checking the login 2x a day but… nothing :(</p>
<p>Hi cotton. My guess would be that since you have higher stats, the admissions might be delayed because they are trying to decide on your “package”, or just process it. Just a guess, although I still think there is no way you won’t get the $25K. Since you two are twins and all, I strongly suggest you talk to admissions and just make 100% sure there isn’t any mix-up in the records or anything. It does happen, absolutely.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for your response! I actually spoke with the admissions officer, apparently my sister had marked her application as “Early” and mine was just “Regular” (since I had been debating whether or not to apply to an ED school that allows no other early apps). They were incredibly helpful, though, and moved mine to the Early pile, 'cause otherwise I would have had to wait until ~late December!</p>