<p>I am currently a sophomore in high school, and I am looking at colleges and universities to eventually apply to. Tulane looks very interesting to me because of its location in New Orleans and because of its academic reputation.</p>
<p>I have had straight A's all throughout my freshman year in high school, and I currently have straight A's this year as well (taking as many advanced classes as I can). I have been in marching band for two years now, and I will soon be partaking in more extracurricular activities.</p>
<p>I have noticed that Tulane is an expensive school, which could be a problem because my family is not rich (but they're also not poor by any means. My older brother goes to a private university that probably costs about $20k-25k in tuition). How much money do you think a student like me could get in financial aid based on academics and merit? What ACT score and class rank should I aim to get to be accepted into Tulane, and to get some good financial aid?</p>
<p>I will greatly appreciate any other suggestions, opinions, or information you have to share with me. Thank you.</p>
<p>I think it is great that you are planning so far ahead on this topic. Kudos.</p>
<p>Of course it will only be possible to get specific after you have your SAT’s in a year or so, and the other caveat is that things can change in 2-3 years with regard to schools and scholarships. With those disclaimers out of the way…</p>
<p>Tulane is indeed one of the most generous schools for merit scholarships among the highly competitive universitites. There are currently four levels of scholarships (as far as I know) for which accepted students are considered. These range from $7,500 - $25,000 for the class of 2014. There are also a couple of scholarships you can apply for, the DHS and the Community Service Scholarship. I know you know about the DHS from your other post, but for others that might see this, the DHS (Dean’s Honor Scholarship) is a highly competitive scholarship that guarantees full tuition for all 4 years (5 years for architecture students) no matter how much it increases. They award between 75-100 of these per year. The CSS is $5,000 - $15,000, but unlike the DHS it can be added to any merit award received. So a student getting a $25,000 merit award that also gets a $15,000 CSS essentially has the same deal as a DHS winner. There are other scholarships available to Louisiana residents only, so I don’t know if that fits you or not.</p>
<p>As far as ACT/SAT scores to get in, if trends continue as they have the last 3 years it will be higher by the time you apply. But based on today’s standards, it takes a 2250+ SAT score and 33+ (really probably takes 34-36) ACT to have a shot at the DHS. It graduates down from there for the various “automatic” merit awards. You can see from the two threads on here: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/tulane-university/812100-accepted.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/tulane-university/812100-accepted.html</a> and <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/tulane-university/808505-anyone-here-gotten-their-admission-letter-but-not-gotten-money.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/tulane-university/808505-anyone-here-gotten-their-admission-letter-but-not-gotten-money.html</a> some anecdotal examples about money and stats. It will give you a bit of an idea anyway. Assuming you keep up the straight A’s or close to it, GPA and class rank won’t be a problem. For winning the scholarships and awards, taking as many AP’s as possible is important. Universities look at how much you challenged yourself relative to what your school offers.</p>
<p>There are many other fine schools that offer great academic experiences which have very generous financial programs for top students. Also if you do well on your PSATs you will eventually be a National Merit Finalist and that would be worth $2,000/year at Tulane and opens up opportunities at many places.</p>
<p>Let us know if you have any other questions. There are many people on CC ready to help.</p>