<p>Hi everyone. I've applied only to two schools so far, both EA, one of which is a safety and the other is my top choice. I'm beginning to think that my list of schools might be too reach-heavy, and I should apply to some more match schools. Would I have a decent shot at getting into Tulane, maybe even with a merit scholarship? Here are my stats:</p>
<p>Ethnicity: White
State: NY
Gender: Male
School: Public
Class size: Approx. 500
GPA: 94 UW. So I think that's around 3.7-3.8 on a 4.0 scale?
Rank: School doesn't rank
APs: Spanish Lang (4), Euro (4), Bio (5) BC Calc TBD, Chem TBD
Intended major: Chemistry</p>
<p>SAT I: 2090 (680 CR, 740 M, 670 W)
SAT II: Math II-750, Chem-730
ACT: 28 composite (will not send)</p>
<p>EC's (I know it's not a lot):
-Summer camp counselor
-Varsity baseball since sophomore year; captain this year. All-County sophomore year, All-Conference junior year. Third team All-State.
-Marching band in freshman and sophomore years; quit junior year b/c of schoolwork
-I umpire 4th and 5th grade baseball games during the spring
-After school tutor for third graders
-NHS treasurer
-MUN officer for junior and senior years
-School paper; news page editor</p>
<p>Recs: I feel good about these. One is from my bio teacher and the other's from my precalc teacher from last year who I also had freshman year for geometry. My GC rec probably isn't anything special, though.</p>
<p>Essays: I worked really hard on them. I think they turned out better than I expected.</p>
<p>Tulane seems like an awesome school, I visited New Orleans on a community service trip last year and loved the city and got to walk around the school a little bit too. My school sent 7 kids to Tulane last year, the most students to one school aside from state schools. Is Tulane a realistic option for me?</p>
<p>Absolutely! You seem like a great candidate, and with your service trip last year you have a great start on your “Why Tulane” statement. I guess I would only ask why you hesitated to apply before now? Especially since it is free.</p>
<p>I am not sure why I hesitated to apply. I guess I was sort of turned off by the fact that my school sends a decent amount of kids there, but now that I think about it, it’s a silly reason not to apply. I was more interested in attending a larger school for the most part with a big sports presence (aka big state schools), but Tulane has a lot to offer too. </p>
<p>I’m just worried about merit money. I know they’re generally good about merit money, especially to applicants from the northeast as far as I know, but do the people that receive these have out-of-this-world stats, or are they fairly average like mine? What I’m trying to say here is, are these merit awards based solely on stats?</p>
<p>I’ve seen people on here with similar stats to yours who received as much as 20k-22k, I think. Although because you’re just now applying, you would be RD which might lessen your chances of merit money. But I am not very knowledgeable so I would listen to FC over me. xD</p>
<p>The sports scene at Tulane is changing a lot. As you have probably read they just joined the Big East, they are building a new on-campus stadium, and I truly think they will be more competitive in the future. Coach Johnson (football) and Coach Conroy (men’s basketball) are really good coaches, and recruiting should be helped by this move and by the stadium. Plus the basketball team will play 6-7 games a year where the Hornets (soon to be Pelicans???) play. Man, I wish they would give the Jazz name back to New Orleans. Anyway, don’t know if you would be into supporting the women’s side as well, but Lisa Stockton has put together a really fine team in women’s basketball. All to say there is a sports scene at Tulane that has some exciting days ahead.</p>
<p>Merit money is a tougher call. Tulane is probably the most generous school in its class in this area. And you certainly don’t have to have out-of-this-world stats, but they have to be better than average. Your stats are far better than average. a 94 UW is very very good. 4 AP’s is solid, and the 2060 is a better than average score. Maybe not quite as eye-catching, but make no mistake that still puts you towards the top nationally and over Tulane’s average by 50 or so points. So while the merit awards are not based 100% on stats, as far as we can tell they are the major factor involved.</p>
<p>Bowler - My apologies! Absolutely everyone should support them, not only as a Tulane sports team but because the Rock ‘n’ Bowl is so cool. Where else can you bowl and get live Zydeco???</p>
<p>shabang, I didn’t realize you had your SAT on here as well. I just saw the ACT. Your SAT is higher than the equivalent of your ACT so perhaps my evaluation was off? Again, I don’t really know, just guessing.</p>
<p>Hugo (and everyone) - New Orleans and Southern Louisiana has the most incredible, rich complexity and texture beyond the obvious. San Fran is one of the few places that really compares. NYC of course has everything one can imagine as well, but it is far less accessible than NOLA. Just because of its sheer size. Anyway, 4 years in New Orleans can be an amazing experience if one makes the effort to access it.</p>
<p>shabang. yes. apply and apply now. make sure that you write a great why tulane essay (mention your community service experience in NOLA). if you had applied EA, i would say that you would most likely get merit $$. (DS had very similar stats to you and recieved $20k per year - but he sent in app in early october). i do not know how generous they are with merit $$ for RD (fallenchemist could answer that one) but you should still apply (you should definitely be accepted IMHO).</p>
<p>Normally I would say that it doesn’t matter if you applied RD or EA, once they decide to accept you they will treat your status for merit money the same. In the past that seems to have been true. After all, once they decide they want you, they will use the same incentives. I have no reason to believe it will be any different this year, but of course we on the outside don’t know things like that have changed until we see they have. But in the end, once there is a pool of accepted candidates, you cannot tell the difference between the first drops into the pool and the last.</p>