So I know this is probably a dumb question, me being overly paranoid…
So I am a current junior in HS and have been looking at colleges and am VERY interested in Tulane.
It is a pretty selective uni. however, and I am very interested in some merit aid.
But I feel like my current math schedule could possibly break that, as I began high school taking algebra 1 ( counselor told me to retake after 8th to get a better foundation) and am currently on the “grade level” math course as I am in regular algebra 2 as a junior. However, I am planning on taking an “accelterated pre calc” which includes calc AB the second semester,( hence the name accelerated ) and could possibly pair that up with ap stats to rectify the deficiencies.
I know I could be overreacting as I DO want to pursue a major in political science, not engineering or mathematics. I also happen to have a 4.3 weighted gpa as of now, take a good amount of ap’s, have gotten a 30 on my ACT and plan to improve that a 2-3 points before apps are due. HOWEVER, I know most juniors are at pre calc that apply for top 30/40 schools and feel like I am already at a disadvantage…
Yes, but I am looking for merit aid. I was wondering if this will put me at a disadvantage for that, assuming my gpa and test scores matched me up for it.
I think you are overthinking this. Clearly there are a lot of extremely intelligent people that are not on the top track in math and/or science. If you do in fact get your ACT up to 32+, your chances of a merit scholarship are probably pretty good. Tulane is particularly strong in the Liberal Arts areas of study and a great many of the students there come in much stronger in those kinds of classes than math/science and get strong scholarships. It really is more about how you did in the math classes you took than if you took the most advanced ones. as long as the rest of your record shows that you took the more challenging classes, which you obviously did.
There is, and it is heavily stats based. I don’t know the guidelines they use exactly, but somebody was compiling the awards given to people and the stats those people reported. It is buried somewhere in the 84 current pages of the admissions thread. There were a number of updates along the way, but they stopped a couple of months ago.
The rigor of your curriculum will be looked at in the admissions process. As long as you have the required 4 years of math, and can demonstrate a rigorous curriculum in other areas, if your GPA and standardized test scores are very strong, I wouldn’t overthink the specific math curriculum you chose.
Many schools look at your math in context of your goals.
For engineering school that would be a problem for admission (forget merit).
For liberal arts / social sciences admit, not an admission problem as long as you do well.
ACT/SAT is most of the input to merit usually, if that is not at the level they seek,
the rest would not matter.
PS I went to Tulane for freshman year decades ago (parent here).
I too thought I wanted to go there while in HS, and hated it, transferred out.
Open up your mind and do your homework before becoming too attached to a single school.
Many don’t decide until April of senior year.
Given my negative comment I will explain that my problem had NOTHING to do with Tulane
academically nor socially. It was the city of NO itself that drove me away. Was a horrible
place back then, fun for a short visit, terrible to live there. Not sure what it’s like now.
My main point was to do more research, not to knock Tulane. I liked my profs at Tulane
and was in some ways sorry to leave (but was much happier when I did transfer to a very different school).