<p>son keeps getting email from Tulane asking him to click on a decision re enrollment. will attend, undecided, and wont attend. I know he has until May 1 anyway
Tulane has already offered him the 25K/yr scholarship which is wonderful!! he has applied for the DH scholarship (we realize minimal chance for that) and the community service scholarship. To really keep Tulane in the running at final decision time, need to know if more merit money coming (as he has full ride at another school and full tuition at multiple other schools) Wondering if you check undecided whether that affects any potential merit vs if you check will attend? who would they be more likely to choose? Then again it probably comes from a different department and DHS etc committees may not even know what you click on.</p>
<p>I am pretty much in the same position as your son (25k, DHS, and CSS) I put undecided. After you pick undecided, it asks why or what further information you might need. Even though I am almost 99% sure that I am attending Tulane, I didn’t want to say that because I thought maybe they figured I would attend regardless of the outcome of the other scholarships. I certainly hope it doesn’t effect my chances for any further scholarship.</p>
<p>Hmmm. That would probably be a question that fallenchemist would know the answer to, but I’ll give it a shot. 25K is the maximum money for just the “regular” merit scholarships. In other words, unless he gets the DHS or a CSS, he will only receive $25K. I could be wrong, but I think that is accurate My daughter has not received an email exactly like that, but I believe received a couple saying she could pay her enrollment deposit. I can’t imagine that the fact that he hasn’t made a final decision yet would affect whether or not he was offered the DHS or CSS. Does your admissions counselor know that he has been offered full scholarships at several other schools, although I don’t think that would make any difference as far as swaying them to offer a DHS or CSS. My daughter only received $15K (nothing to sneeze at), so your son must have pretty good credentials. Was he invited to participate in the Honors program? From what I have learned on this board, if he wasn’t he probably doesn’t have a strong chance of getting the DHS. I don’t say that in a snide way…my daughter is in the same boat as far as the DHS. She applied because the mom of another student who is at Tulane and received the DHS encouraged her to do so, but it wasn’t until just recently that I thought about the Honors program and the fact that she wasn’t asked to participate in it. So, that only leaves the CSS. Has your son done a lot of community service work? That, too, varies from year to year as to who gets awarded a CSS. If there are several candidates who started health clinics in Africa (which I think one year there was an applicant who had done that), well it is hard to compete with that. I think that my daughter has a good chance of getting a CSS, but then again, I don’t know what the rest of the applicant pool’s credentials are. </p>
<p>Anyway, all this is to say that I don’t think that it matters one way or another as to what he indicates is his choice at the moment. If he clicks “attend”, it will probably prompt him to the page that says “pay your enrollment deposit”. We just paid our deposit a few days ago. So, if his decision to attend will be based on getting more scholarship $$, then I would just wait and see what happens. The CSS offers anywhere from 5K to 15K. And, from the way the description of the DHS is worded, not sure if it is a FULL scholarship or just pays for tuition (in other words, not sure if it pays room and board, fees, etc.) If Tulane were his first choice and he would be able to go there regardless of receiving additional $$ (but it would be nice to have additional $$), then I would say he should indicate that he is going to attend. Ultimately depends on what you and your family are able to do about paying for tuition at Tulane. You can also look into financial aid, if you would qualify, that can be combined with the merit $$.</p>
<p>Hope that helps. And, I am assuming that he was already accepted to Tulane.</p>
<p>Looks like several people have gotten the same email. My daughter never received anything like that and we just confirmed attendance within the last week by paying the deposit. But I have been speaking with her admissions counselor since last fall when we attended a “Destination Tulane” event, so she knew from the get-go that our daughter wanted to attend Tulane. Maybe that had something to do with it. When we received the offer for $15, I was a bit surprised that it wasn’t more because I had heard that “everybody” received the max. A girl that attended the same high school as my daughter applied a couple of years ago and was offered $27,500 (they have since lowered the max) and her stats weren’t nearly as good as my daughters. But, it does vary from year to year and the applicant pool. I had the same thought as you, gabby, that perhaps since she indicated on her app that she would be applying for the CSS that maybe they didn’t offer her more initially because they thought that she was a good candidate for CSS money, but I’m not so sure about that now. You all may have received that email because you are what Tulane considers “top candidates” and they want you there. Were you invited to participate in the Honors program??</p>
<p>Never mind gabby1116, I just saw your other post about making arrangements for the Honors weekend. I would suspect that perhaps they are really interested in you and other honors applicants that haven’t confirmed yet. My daughter was not an honors candidate, so that may well be why she never received one of those emails. Everything that I have read suggests that they offer 75-100 DHS and generally only get half of those to accept and attend, so I would say if you are a candidate, they will offer you one whether or not you have indicated that you were attending.</p>
<p>Anyone know how difficult it is to get the CSS award? DS did most of the app yesterday, but now I wonder if it’s kind of a snowball’s chance in hell thing.</p>
<p>cmb thanks for your thoughts. my problem with cc is i always begin to overthink things! son was accepted into honors. so far he has just waited to answer the email as it really is still up in the air…he would love to go,loves school, city etc, but he is also practical… we have an agreement with him… we will pay up to a certain amount and even though he has a full ride at a school he really likes, if another school is his top choice and he can justify it academically and it comes in at the allowed amount, he can go. a bit more money will put it in the running.</p>
<p>I’m interested in finding out the statics on the CSS. I have read about a few people receiving the DHS, but never the CSS.</p>
<p>I haven’t seen anything on the CSS either. Maybe because it really isn’t an “academic” scholarship and therefore doesn’t really have any set-in-stone guidelines like the DHS. From what the admissions counselor told me, it just depends on the applicant pool each year. I think that my daughter has a pretty good shot at it, but then again maybe I’m just dreaming and don’t know what/how much community service other applicants are involved in. Would you mind sharing what your community service activities have been? Trying to get an idea of what the other students that applied for a CSS have done so I can figure out if my daughter even has a chance. She is president of her service club at school, has been involved with and has regularly volunteered at several other outside community organizations since her freshman year and went on a community service trip to Ecuador this past summer. She really loves community service stuff and believes passionately in it. Gosh, I don’t mean for that to sound obnoxious, just wondering how she compares to what others do. She is interested in the Public Health program at Tulane.</p>
<p>If you’d rather not talk about what you’ve done, I completely understand. Like I said, I am just trying to get a feel for what it is that other students have done. Thanks!</p>
<p>CMB - I haven’t really done many different activites, but have dedicated a lot of time to each. Young at Heart Adult Medical Day Care, Bartley Manor Nursing Home, Jackson Food Pantry, NJ Special Olympics, Meridian Health Care, Community Service Vice President of FBLA, Events Coordinator for NHS. I am also the Activities Director for the Ocean County March of Dimes. </p>
<p>Thanks for sharing what service activities your daughter has done. Hopefully others will post their activities so I can see if my chance of receiving the scholarship is a possiblity are merely a pipe dream.</p>
<p>I, like your daughter, am very passionate about doing service in the community. This is one of my main reasons why Tulane is my top choice, even though some of the other schools I applied are considered higher ranked. I am planning on minoring in Public Health. Good luck to you and your daughter!</p>
<p>You are modest, gabby116! Sounds like you have done PLENTY of different activities and, in my opinion (which counts for nothing!) you have a fantastic shot at a CSS. But, I also wouldn’t count yourself out for a DHS, either. You sound like an excellent candidate for that, too (although I don’t know your SAT stats).</p>
<p>Thanks to you too for sharing. You and my daughter sound like you have a lot in common and hopefully may get to know each other next year (should you end up at Tulalne). When she heard Dr. Cowen speak, she knew that Tulane was the school for her. Good luck and hope you end up at Tulane!</p>
<p>Gabby is very modest, she is an outstanding student and will be a great addition to the Tulane family.</p>
<p>Back to the OP and the original topic: Tulane is certainly not alone in asking this kind of question. I completely understand why they ask it; they are trying to do the almost impossible job of going through 44,000 applications or so and then accepting the right number so they end up with an incoming class of between 1500-1600 students. At least I think that is their target. So as they start to make decisions on RD applications, the more they know about who is coming from the EA group, the better their chances of success. Even knowing all that, I hate the question for exactly the reasons shown above. It causes anxiety among students and parents who cannot help but wonder about the ancillary effects of letting Tulane know this when a) there are scholarships still at stake and b) there is still a lot of information they are waiting on besides the scholarships, such as FA, other schools acceptances, etc. Here is an article that was in last Sunday’s New york Times that is dead on this issue:</p>
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<p>Now the part of the first article about senioritis makes no sense to me, it is like the author had two topics in mind. After all, if Tulane or any other school let’s a student know they are accepted before Christmas, and that school is an acceptable choice for the student, then the May 1 deadline has nothing to do with “dropping AP Calculus”. The author isn’t saying all schools should wait until April 1 to notify or do away with EA/ED. Paragraph 2 just doesn’t fit with paragraphs 1 and 3. Anyway, it would be easier on the parents and students if they made schools stop asking before April 1 about your plans, but it would probably make admissions officers jobs hell.</p>
<p>My feeling is not to overthink Tulane’s motives with regard to the question in the e-mail vis-a-vis scholarships. I wish I could swear they were unrelated, but I can only say I think they are unrelated. After all, you could argue it both ways. If you say you will attend, they are smart enough to know that isn’t binding but that it indicates you are heavily leaning that way. If you are a top student, they might be more inclined to throw more money at you to cement the deal. Or you could argue that saying undecided would cause them to decide more in your favor to sway you towards attending. I would have to think that saying you are definitely not coming would be a negative, if in fact they are coordinating with the scholarship committees, which I have no idea if they are or not. My guess is they are not, because they also know that an extremely large group cannot possibly decide until they know about the total financial situation.</p>
<p>So I would say just answer it honestly. If you know you are going, say so. If you are undecided, say that. As one thinks it through, the simplest explanation seems best. They are trying to manage enrollment, and the more accurate information they have earlier rather than later, the better they can do their jobs. I will suggest to them at some point that they add some language to the e-mail along the lines of “Your answer to this question in no way affects any pending applications for scholarships or financial aid.” If they cannot put that, then I would be extremely disappointed in Tulane. I feel pretty confident it is a true statement, however.</p>
<p>Oh, and I guess I have at least one anecdote related to this. My D told Tulane she was undecided when she got that e-mail and she got the DHS, so that didn’t hurt her. It would be interesting to hear if anyone that got a DHS or CSS told them they were coming and got one. I have to believe there are examples of that too.</p>
<p>It’s been less than 1 month since my son was accepted with 20K merit aid, no honors and he has gotten the email twice, and we have responded to both as undecided. Hopefully we will not be getting it every 2 weeks until May 1. Since he has yet to hear anything from the majority of his schools and won’t be visiting Tulane until late March, I am unclear what they are trying to accomplish with the emails. Clearly, those who have decided yes will pay their deposit and those who have decided no will tell the school when they do. But my guess is that almost everyone falls in the undecided category or Tulane would already know otherwise. Certainly more money or honors might sway us but that is true for most families.</p>
<p>thanks fallenchemist!</p>
<p>As for the CSS, it is not just “one” scholarship. They offer many (I forget the #, but can see if I have it somewhere) with amounts that used to range up to $15k, but am not sure its currently that high. I will see what I can find. Stay tuned.</p>
<p>According to our Admissions Counselor, Tulane offers approximately 30 CSS each year. The awards vary from $5,000 - $15,000. Hope that helps.</p>
<p>S got a couple of thoses emails, too, and found them rather off-putting. He won’t decide until later after visiting and seeing what his other options are. </p>
<p>We’re planning to attend one of the honors weekends. Is there any reason to do both an Honors weekend and Destination Tulane?</p>
<p>Motherbear - No, just do one or the other, and I would say do Honors Weekend. Much more directed to what his experience will be since he is in the Honors Program, while Destination Tulane probably won’t address that much. Also, not sure if DT includes an overnight stay, but HW definitely does, and I think that is probably valuable. Plus with HW they can even start to register if they have decided by then.</p>
<p>If your s wants to do an overnight at Honors Weekend, motherbear, I would recommend registering for that early. They have a limited number of overnight opportunities and they fill up.</p>
<p>Thanks jym, I didn’t realize that or had forgotten (which I suppose is basically the same thing). Motherbear, I should have added that another advantage of Honors Weekend is that your son might meet someone that he thinks would make a good roommate. It isn’t like orientation in June where all students are definitely going to Tulane, but a high percentage will and since a lot of them will probably choose Butler (Honors Dorm), it might be another thing that would make choosing HW worthwhile. Just to be clear, the overnight might not be in Butler, it could be in any dorm (well, not JL in your case), but otherwise the people he will be with will all be potential HP students.</p>