<p>I located a pre-wait list acceptance figure through a little detective work. I browse this forum from time to time and thought that some of the people here would be interested. It looks like 9,000 were initially accepted, which would give an acceptance rate of 23%. Here's a link to the information, which is located in the March minutes of the staff advisory council:</p>
<p>So 9,000 were accepted, and of those 9,000 a little over 1,500 are coming in the fall. That means Tulane continues to be stuck at about a 17% yield, as was indicated in the April minutes of the same link. It is certainly at the lower end of the list of private schools of Tulane’s caliber. Any thoughts on why this is? I will ask for, and can only hope to get, serious discussion only and not snarky comments from Tulane haters.</p>
<p>Well, I believe you have said that about 93 to 94% of kids who visit Tulane end up going and about 75% who don’t visit don’t attend. My son was one of those who had no intention of going to Tulane until he visited…and then fell in love! Maybe the problem is that since so many students come from so far away, many of them never get the chance to visit…which is undoubtedly Tulane’s biggest selling point. If we hadn’t visited, my son would have chosen one of about 8 other schools MUCH closer to where we live. Plus, once he decided to attend, we got all the idiotic comments like “isn’t NOLA ruined from the hurricane?” and “isn’t crime out of control there?”…kind of like people who have never been to the east coast asking me if they will be mugged in New York City…the media has helped create a perception problem with NOLA. It doesn’t help when the only story I’ve seen in local newspapers this past year about NOLA involved shots being fired during Mardi Gras…</p>
<p>^^NYBUCK: you must be friends with a mother in my town who used those exact words as to why her son, who received a $24,000 merit award from Tulane, was attending another lower ranked full pay school…</p>
<p>fallenchemist: I think that the low yield reflects not only what NYbuck reflects, but also the easy, application process that allows kids to apply with little effort…and little research beforehand…</p>
<p>FWIW, we are totally uninvolved with the Tulane community, but I LOVE when people make decisions based on assumptions/perceptions…makes a school like Tulane even more special in my book; at least the people who are there know what is really going on…</p>
<p>NY Buck - I don’t think I posted those numbers, but if I did I was quoting someone. And while I doubt that 93% that visit and are admitted enroll, I think your point is an excellent one. I have to believe that perception issues, both about New Orleans and about Tulane (everyone just drinks and parties all the time, etc) has to be a major factor. I would also think, to go to Rodney’s point, that the easy application process was a result of the hurricane and anticipated lower yield. If your yield is going to decline, you have to get the front end numbers up. I suppose, then, that the amazing result is actually that the quality of the accepted students continues to rise. Maybe that ties in with Rodney’s proposition also. Smarter people get past the perceptions/assumptions and realize Tulane is a great place to be. Interesting stuff.</p>
<p>Kids apply to SO many schools these days. Do they really visit all of them? Unlike others, DS applied to five schools intending to give research and serious consideration to them all. I suppose the easy application process has it’s pitfalls. It will entice a some high quality kids that hadn’t thought about it, which is it’s purpose. Unfortunately with so many schools to consider and the distance it is from home for so many, the school does have a disadvantage.</p>
<p>I would think that as Tulane moves higher in the USNWR rankings, the yield will increase, because like it or not those rankings influence many, many students in their college decisions.</p>
<p>Because of the school’s intensive recruiting/marketing efforts, and free short-form applications, I would guess that the 40,000 applicant pool represents at least twice the number of applicants that a comparable school would typically receive for 1500 slots. Tulane is known as a good school and college admissions has turned into a crazy process. Why not apply at minimal cost and effort? As a result it probably is misleading to compare yields straight up with other schools.</p>
<p>Soccerfreak - As you might already know, my D applied to only 4, after researching maybe 15-20 and visiting 8-10. One of those 4 was a total safety and to keep her mother happy, since my S is there now (well, he actually happens to be in Moscow now, but you know what I mean). But there is little doubt that your S and my D are the exceptions, from what I hear most kids apply to 12+ schools. No doubt the common app and relatively low cost of applying most places pushes that.</p>
<p>AC574 - If you are right (and I suspect you are), then it will be interesting to see what happens if Tulane gets caught off guard one year with a class of 1800-1900. I read on those same reports Utah referenced that if 1600 happens 2 years in a row it is a problem.
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<p>I agree that given the path Tulane has taken with applications and marketing it is not possible to compare it with other schools that have stayed with the more traditional approach. Just another example of why the USNWR rankings are garbage.</p>
<p>Here is our story. My S only applied because it was free and there was no additional essay to write. He got accepted early action. He never applied for any of Tulane’s scholarships, even though he had 275 community service hours under his belt and (I feel) the Community Service Scholarship was within his reach. He had his hopes set on another school (where he ended up waitlisted) and just couldn’t get past that. We “deposited” him @ Tulane in late March & FINALLY visited Tulane in April. He started really liking it then. Had we looked at it earlier, I feel he would have put in more (or, at least, some) effort into the scholarship applications, costing us less money since we are now paying absolutely full price. Further, he was a awarded a small scholarship from a local club 2 weeks ago, and one of the older women at the ceremony asked him, “why are you going there? Isn’t it still under water?”</p>
<p>The yield definitely isn’t great. It never has been though, at least as far as I know. I think the geographical diversity of Tulane’s student body, and the fact that we are currently under-ranked compared to the universities we are competing for students with combine to make it what it is. The lingering image problems of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina certainly don’t help either.</p>
<p>The yield last year was around the same, but the freshmen class still had the highest test scores and grades in the history of the university. Hopefully that trend holds for this class, since the applications increased and acceptance rate dropped again. I’m really interested to see what the finalized numbers will look like when they are released. Honestly, as an alum I would love the yield to improve, but I’m still really excited with the improvements in all other admissions areas. We should start moving up in the rankings soon based on these new numbers, which could have a slight impact on the yield.</p>
<p>Tulane’s rankings in USNWR, since 1996 and until 2007 (i.e.; until the hurricane stats kicked in) were 38, 36, 34, 36, 44, 45, 46, 43, 44, 43, 43, 44 - so as I looked at Tulane, I considered these a more realistic ranking than the 50/51 since Katrina. Also, I think President Cowen and Tulane have done a remarkable job of identifying students they would like to attend their school, and offering them large merit scholarships, easy applications, Honors, etc…it’s why so many of us applied and then visited when Tulane wasn’t even on the radar at the start of the process. What I found in my research (and I’ve logged 100s of hours doing it) is that Tulane is just full of opportunities for our kids at this moment…they have focused on undergraduate studies, they require community participation (very progressive and likely going to happen everywhere in the future) and they have restructured/streamlined their school. Couple that with very high student happiness (I’ve researched scores of schools we looked at and TU is almost always near the top) and good relations with their community (you’d be surprised how poor community relations are in many top schools), a unique atmosphere and culture in which to “come of age” for these kids and Tulane comes out as a very good choice…like so many of you, my son turned down several much higher ranked schools and we both believe he will absolutely get as good an education as he would have at any of them, but with the added bonus of all of the above!</p>
<p>What are the SAT scores of admitted students this year? Did that go up? If so, does that ‘rank’ Tulane any higher?</p>
<p>I think Katrina and New Orleans’ reputation are the biggies. It’s tough to change a collective mindset. The way to do that is through persistence. If the school keeps on keeping on, as they say, the corner will eventually be turned.</p>
<p>In the meantime though, it certainly can feel a bit like trying to maneuver an iceberg by attaching a 5 hp Evinrude to it.</p>
<p>My daughter will be attending in the fall. She’s thrilled and can’t wait. And I’m thrilled for her.</p>
<p>I know those of you that are now old friends also know there is no bigger Tulane booster than I. Well, OK President Cowen. For the others, I sure hope you didn’t take my comments as meaning in any way that I felt this was a negative for Tulane, although it did sound that way. I guess it is the scientist in me approaching it as an academic question that I am curious as to the answer.</p>
<p>I am persuaded so far that the whole New Orleans/Katrina thing probably is the most likely explanation. I also suspect that a lot of these kids that are capable of and do get into higher ranked schools know Tulane is a great choice as well that, let’s face it, they are more likely to get into. And with it being free…But the lure of rankings being what they are, when they get into those top 15 schools, they obviously do pick them quite often. At the other end you have kids that get in but don’t qualify for any merit aid, so they can’t afford it. As MartiniGirl knows, it ain’t cheap! So I guess when you add on those 2 additional factors, you get a lower yield.</p>
<p>I think it is easy to get hung up on that statistic because they do use it in the USNWR rankings, but it is becoming increasingly clear to me that when the admissions methods and # of apps are as different as they are between Tulane and some of those other schools (maybe all of them?) then it most likely is a statistic only the admissions staff should worry about. They have to for completely different reasons, like space.</p>
<p>Oh, and Winchester, last I heard (not too long ago) the incoming class is once again statistically superior to the previous one in virtually all categories, and I think that does help in the $<em>&$</em>(#&*# rankings. My D is also getting pretty psyched. We are in New Orleans next week on the 24-26 for that orientation session, so I will see what I can find out about the incoming class.</p>
<p>My son will also be attending the June 24-26 orientation. I was so wishing I could tag along with DH and DS.</p>
<p>fc:</p>
<p>USNews dropped yeild from its ranking criteria ~3 years ago.</p>
<p>wrt the question: like a lot of schools, Tulane does not have the budget to meet 100% of need, so even with a Tulane scholarship, other colleges could have a net cost that is cheaper. For example, Vandy meets 100% of need and has zero loans. Richmond and Emory meet 100% and caps loans. George Washington has a sholarship budget that may be larger than Tulane’s, but it also meets 100% of need.</p>
<p>For those of you attending orientations, listen closely for the scores of the Matriculants…</p>
<p>bluebayou - Interesting news about them dropping the yield factor. I must have seen an older formula page when I looked it up a while back. I still think that rankings like these will always have major flaws on a subject as broad and amorphous as overall “quality” or whatever it is they purport to measure, but at least that is something.</p>
<p>I am assuming that Vandy’s program, like Harvard’s and many others now, is to meet 100% of need with no loans if the family income is below a certain threshhold. Yes/no? And I will absolutely stay on the alert for any info on statistics of the incoming class.</p>
<p>fc:</p>
<p>Vandy (and Dartmouth, and others?) are 100% no-loan for a student determined to have any financial need, but it is still need-based under the typical formula that many private colleges use (Profile). Thus, even if the need is calculated to be $5k, 100% of it will be met with all work study and grants, but zero loans. Harvard, OTOH, cuts the tuition price to 10% of salary up to $180k, regardless of other assets? Thus, its conceivable that a millionaire (several times over), could still receive the tuition discount at H, but would not receive any need-based aid under the typical Profile.</p>
<p>I was the one who mentioned, citing a comment that Pres. Cowen made, that a high percentage of students who were attending (I forget the exact number, but it was cited as over 90%, IIRC) had visited campus, but that a high number who were admitted but chose not to attend had never visited campus. Perhaps with the acceptance rate dropping into the 20’s, maybe the Admissions office folks who handle enrollment management will tweak the procedure they use for accepting so many students so early. Certainly something they are doing is right, since so many strong students are applying. Agree with FC though, would like to see that yield improve.</p>
<p>One last puzzle— I thought I’d read that they again had more acceptances than they expected, yet posters were reporting here that they were getting in off the waitlist. That seems a little perplexing, unless there was more movement off the initial “accceptance” list than they expected??</p>
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<p>Agreed! Along the same line, while Tulane did absolutely the right thing by not charging application fee after Katrina in order to boost the application rate. perhaps it’s time for Tulane to start charging a small amt of app fee now (like $25) so it can attract more serious applicants and keep the application/admission period longer. I’m in sales/marketing and from my personal experience organizing users’ meetings, a free event may attract more people to register but the yield and quality of attendees are always questionable. By charging a small registration fee, we ended up with more committed attendees (less no-shows) and also more targeted customers.
In this economy when almost every school faces with a budget crisis, the small amount of application fee also helps Tulane to reduce the recruitment cost.</p>