Hey everyone! I was posting here to inquire about my stats and possibility to win either scholarship. Both my applications are stellar, however, I am worried about my stats bringing me down.
GPA: 3.93uw/4.31w
ACT: 32
Many SAT Subject Tests done
8 APs
Hundreds of hours of Community Service + leadership within
president of two clubs and founded one
really good why Tulane
hooks: Hispanic ethnicity
Please let me know, without mercy, if I stand a solid chance or should look at other options for money.
Although they say scores do not put you out of the running, they did note that the winners over the past 3 years had an ACT of 31 and above. That’s good news for you since you have a 32.
Here’s the bad news. These awards are not automatic awards by any means. Your chance of winning even with the best application are somewhere between 5-10% depending on how many apply and how many are awarded. Last year I believe over 3000 applied for DHS and only 60 awarded. I’m guessing the number applying will continue to go up and the number awarded will continue to go down. Also they only tell you if you won/lost around the beginning of February.
You need to approach your college decisions as if you are NOT going to win this scholarship. Do you qualify for other types of financial aid? If you can’t afford to go Tulane without a full scholarship, you need to have some backup plans.
I would agree with everything @AH1310 has stated above. The minimum criteria is certainly met, but it’s getting harder to count on these very generous scholarships for a few reasons.
Tulane is drawing in 40K+ applicants a year now, and maybe growing. Most of them are imminently (and increasingly) qualified and in search on valuable merit packages.
I would also consider applying for the Community Service Fellowship (based on your profile) as they offer those at up to $20k / year.
Bottom line: can’t hurt to apply, but getting increasingly competitive to win. Have a backup plan
You can search the threads from last year to see what some PTA and DHS winners looked like. But recognize you are playing Powerball. Like the lottery, your odds of winning are as good (and bad) as everyone else. Which is lousy odds.
FWIW, three years back my 35 ACT, 4.0 UW, white kid from the burbs didn’t get one of these. But did get a half tuition merit award.
That’s helpful. With Tulane moving towards more need-based aid, what’s your thought on kids with similar scores to your kid’s getting some merit (e.g. 20K+ a year)? D20 really likes Tulane and has similar stats as above but I personally don’t think Tulane would be worth 300K to attend.
Tulane is one of the industry leaders in enrollment management as you probably know. They appear to be rapidly evolving their model in the last couple of years – adding ED1 and ED2, dropping ED2, dialing back the auto merit they were known for.
I had two apply to Tulane (both got big merit EA; one attended and graduated) before the advent of ED. The bar for merit definitely seemed to move up between Kid 1 and Kid 2. Seems like the ED add would continue that trend.
Makes sense – TU has always highly valued demonstrated interest and applying binding ED1 is the most interest you can show. Seats filled via ED have gone from 0% to 25% in just 3-4 cycles.
Seems to me like Tulane would most like to see your high stat kid in EA. If Tulane thinks they can enroll your high stat kid, they’ll give you a merit award. For my kids in the olden days, the acceptance/merit award came super early – early October IIRC, basically rolling admissions for some target applicants. And the merit awards were pretty predictable based on stats. The dear departed poster Fallen Chemist could pretty much call the merit awards to the dollar.
Now it looks like the EA decisions come out much later. I’m guessing Tulane would want to wait until their EA pool has been purged of kids who get in ED1 at other schools. Also, seems like Tulane has publicly gotten rid of ED2. But many suspect that Tulane this year will offer an internal option for applicants to convert up to ED2 in Dec and Jan. All very sophisticated stuff.
If they think your EA kid really isn’t interested in enrolling they’ll defer over to RD. ED appears to be for more matchy kids that would be likely fuller payors. To get merit, I’d still think you have to demonstrate interest. My guess is that there’s still a lot of merit availability at the high stat end (75%+). But not as much in the 50-75 range as in the olden days.
@socaldad2002 D18 with similar stats is in her second year and gets $31K per year in merit. Last year’s results showed similar stat kids still getting merit but smaller amounts (say roughly 25-30% less). Remains to be seen if that trend will continue in the current cycle.
@northwesty Applied EA. Demonstration of interest consisted of a regional visit with some post-session one on one time with the admissions rep and subsequent follow-up communication expressing appreciation and enthusiasm. Didn’t visit campus until after acceptance for the Honors Weekend event.
Adding to @pishicaca, I have a S with similar stats (35 ACT), class of 2023, lots of demonstrated interest. He got $27K and Honors College. The amounts definitely went down from previous years and they don’t do rolling admissions anymore. Everyone in the EA round was notified mid December. Based only on CC, most of the high stats kids received merit in the 20K range instead of the 30K range. If you factor in the tuition price increase, the merit value is even less. A handful did get $31K. Some got a couple more thousand after the DHS and Paul Tulane winners were announced.
The merit awards did not appear to be as consistent as previous years. There were a few awarded the $30K+ that were not high stats, so there must have been other factors in consideration. That was definitely not the norm though.
Somewhere I read advice to apply for these merit awards even if your stats are lower, to demonstrate more interest. There is a question on common app asking whether/which you are applying for. Thoughts on this? ACT 30.
The admitted student range at Tulane is 30-33. With a 25% score, I think an ED application (if that otherwise makes sense for you and your family) would be the strongest way to demonstrate interest.
You might want to talk to you admissions rep about that. A 30 ACT might be center cut in the ED application pool.
In my opinion, applying for the merit awards does show demonstrated interest, although I am not on the admissions board. To northwesty’s point, ED shows the most amount of demonstrated interest.
There is a fair amount of work required to apply for DHS or Paul Tulane. If a busy senior in high school is willing to put in the work for DHS and Paul Tulane AND apply ED, you are maximizing your demonstrated interest. You might get $1K-$2K extra in merit for applying too, but I can’t guarantee that.
There is no harm in applying for the scholarships as long as your expectations are realistic.
@Pdog155 -From where I sit (which is NOT in the Tulane admission office), I see you as a very reasonable candidate for these scholarships, although obviously the decision will be based on a ton more information than you’ve provided here. It’s the Hispanic “hook” that could push you toward the top of the pile and separate you from other contenders with similar stats. Tulane is making a major effort to diversify the student body which could work in your favor. But the strength of your hook will also be tied to the specifics of your Hispanic heritage. For instance, do you speak Spanish at home and/or live in a largely Hispanic neighborhood, or do you live in Greenwich, CT, and have one grandparent who was born in Madrid? In any case, don’t put all your eggs in the Tulane basket. If merit aid is a priority, make sure you’ve lined up other options because merit money is usually a crap shoot.
