<p>Weird, so can someone explain Tulane's admissions? I had heard that, if you had certain stats, Tulane was a relatively easy school to get into, even with little to no demonstrated interest. From how my counselor was talking about it with me, Tulane was almost a safety. He said I should apply because they might offer me scholarship money. I had 1440 SAT and a 4.0, with good everything else, and was rejected. I know a lot of kids with similar to much lower stats who got in even with scholarships. SATs in the 1200s, GPAs below 3.5.
I'm not writing because I'm hurt. Honestly, if Tulane denied me because I was for sure not going to go--no demonstrated interest whatsoever, not EA--then they denied me correctly. Or perhaps the school is just a lot more competitive than I thought it was. I'm just writing this as a warning to others. Please, don't take Tulane lightly like I did. I feel stupid for missing out on the opportunity to maybe get some scholarship money and/or even attend. It's a great school with a lot to offer. </p>
<p>Anyone else, please share thoughts/experiences/questions on this topic.</p>
<p>Whoever suggested that demonstrated interest was not important in your Tulane application was very out of touch. That being said, Tulane admissions have also become much more competitive in recent years. Stats are important, but Tulane seems to be looking for the whole package - and not necessarily the same package other universities of similar caliber are looking for. There are certainly those with stats both above and also below yours, but community service as well as other things that you might bring to the Tulane community are very important when applying to Tulane. Without demonstrated interest, you most likely appeared to be just another applicant who filled out the free application to pump up scholarship numbers. Tulane is truly looking for those who have made a serious effort to learn what Tulane is all about.</p>
<p>Being a bit repetitive with kreative, but the statement you heard about demonstrated interest not being important is 180 degrees from the truth, so I just wanted to really emphasize it. This is possibly more important to Tulane than just about anywhere else. Tulane does have a free app and it is a very good school, so a lot of students with Ivy or similar aspirations apply to Tulane as well, thinking as you did it will be pretty much a sure thing. That is one reason they added the “Why Tulane” question a couple of years ago, marking it as optional. In reality, it is only optional if you don’t care about getting in. Adding to that, Tulane has had two classes in a row that were about 10% over target enrollment, so they were even more keenly weeding out those that seemed to be applying casually.</p>
<p>Many students at Tulane do indeed have 2200+ SAT scores and were in the top 10% of their class, but besides also showing other strong traits as kreative mentioned, they also let Tulane know they were seriously considering attending if accepted. I guess you must not have looked at the threads on here earlier in the process because this was emphasized quite frequently, so that’s a shame.</p>
<p>It was really considerate of you to come on here to let future applicants see what happened in your case and learn from it. I hope you are going someplace next fall that you are very happy with.</p>
<p>I’m sorry things didn’t work out for you regards Tulane. I hope you have other equally inviting options. Going by your user name, perhaps Brown is a possibility?</p>
<p>Truth be told, if I hadn’t read the forums here, I would not have known how competitive college admissions has become in the past few years. I thus took an opposite approach and assumed no school was a safety or guaranteed admit. I applied to 4-5 schools early action, and a bunch more regular decision - probably too many, but I was convinced I’d be lucky to get in my state flagship.</p>
<p>At any rate, I wish you luck.</p>
<p>In response to Candles2014, I didn’t get into Brown. It was my first choice, but I couldn’t apply early decision because of financial problems. I was accepted to many other amazing schools, like Tufts, Vassar, and UChicago, but financially these aren’t options for me. I’m going to go to Indiana University, my state school, for free with like 4 different merit scholarships. I really like it there…really pretty, good programs, great scholarships, amazing social life…so not going to those big name schools isn’t such a big deal.</p>
<p>Actually, Indiana is a really big name in certain fields, and obviously offers a quality education in just about everything. But for music, foreign languages, linguistics, and about a half dozen other areas IU is considered right up there with the very best in the country. And for free? Can’t beat that! Congrats.</p>
<p>Brownhopeful, I love your attitude, and I’m glad you have an excellent option. Congrats on your acceptances to Chicago, Tufts, Vassar as well as full ride to Indiana. I know many people who’d give up their firstborn for those acceptances.</p>
<p>The Kelley Business School at IU is extremely well rated!</p>
<p>I really think you need to be a genius just to crack the college admissions code! Two smart for some schools, not smart enough for others…not interested enough, it’s nuts! It sounds like you’re going to be a rising star at IU…Good luck!</p>
<p>True, it isn’t always simple. But sometimes people make it too hard as well. The average stats are readily available, as is the % of people admitted. Strictly with respect to difficulty of admission for a given candidate, those two things alone should give most people about 80% of the view they need. As far as showing interest, that is not something that is obvious to most. I think what a lot of people not so familiar with this area miss is that even in aggregate there are fewer slots at the more selective schools than there is demand. For any individual school it is often highly imbalanced.</p>
<p>It is those kind of nuances that makes boards like these so valuable. Of course, financial aid is a whole 'nother can of worms. So while maybe you don’t have to be a genius, it certainly is a lot to take in.</p>
<p>Haha thanks everyone! I’m not really interested in business, but English and foreign language and international relations are really interesting to me and IU is pretty good/extremely good in all of these areas. I’m really excited.</p>