13% admit rate. 41,365 apps. https://news.tulane.edu/news/tulane-sees-record-applications-students-nationwide-apply-university.
Crazy app growth. Will be interesting to see if yield continues to rise this year.
Wow, it seems pretty early for them to already have an acceptance rate.
They defer everyone to keep their stats looking good. Most of my friends from Long Island have been deferred for no reason. This school is playing a good game. Many of us refuse to play the game and never should have applied.
They don’t defer “for no reason”.
Do they release stats on the percent deferred? I am guessing it is extremely high.
This is how I parse it. With a 13% acceptance rate, there will be a lot of deferrals especially with EA applicants. Tulane invites more applications than many of its peer schools because they have no application fee and EA options. One result of this is that they receive a bunch of applications from students who are not viable applicants, but it boosts their application numbers. On top of that, they need to manage yield so they pay a lot of attention to demonstrated interest and the likelihood that you might attend. Many high stats kids are deferred in EA because they have not demonstrated enough interest and the school sees them as using Tulane as a safety school or otherwise unlikely to attend. But since admissions can’t really know, they offer those kids the chance to convert the deferred EA to ED2 so if Tulane is your first (or second choice, if your ED1 option didn’t work out) then you can let them know. This allows them to craft the best class they can out of kids they know will attend and takes some of the guess work out of yield management. Over enrollment can be a real problem. If they under enroll, they have a long waitlist. Is it self-serving of Tulane? Sure. But opting for EA is a self-serving option for applicants as well.
“Most of my friends from Long Island have been deferred for no reason.”
Tulane has no shortage of applicants or students from NY…it is geographically over-represented and as a result one of the most competitive states for admission. An unfortunate but real variable that NY applicants have to contend with.
@goodjob No they don’t defer everyone. Tulane began using ED in 2016 (and they played around with SCEA briefly, which I believe came and went a few years ago). They also hired a new Dean of Enrollment Management a few years back after longtime Dean Earl Retif retired. So things have changed a bit on the Tulane admissions landscape. They also no longer do an “unofficial rolling” admissions in the fall. They have gone to a few more specific release dates.
If you perhaps don’t show demonstrated interest, or if your 1300 SAT is likely a variable that will be a weak link in your application, be appreciative of a deferral. That means they ned more information to consider your application. Don’t blame it on the school or insult it by saying its “playing games” (and feel free “not to play” if you feel that way). But be aware, in past years much of the class filled early, so RD applicants (which included deferred applicants) had. quite a challenge.
Good luck to you at your other schools. Remember, this forum may be read by admissions folks… and sometimes it is not too hard to identify an applicant by what they have shared. Sneering is likely not going to bolster one’s application. Just sayin’
We are very grateful that D was accepted EA, but puzzled by how many kids with similar stats were deferred/rejected. Why was she chosen while others were not? I have come to the conclusion that Tulane is truly interested in her because of the total package. Her essays were honest, and she really wants to go to Tulane. I think it takes away from the kids with great credentials who are able to express their heartfelt desire to attend Tulane to suggest that they somehow got a spot by “playing the game.” If “playing the game” means spending 3 hours a day in the summer studying for the SAT to get her score in the mid-1500s: guilty as charged. Foregoing partying on the weekends to maintain a 4.0 UW GPA: also guilty. Taking on the most rigorous curriculum available at her school: yep, guilty there too. I think those 3 things most likely kept her application in the pool; but what likely got her the spot was a combination of demonstrated interest (no visits yet, just lots of communications with admissions counselor), focused ECs, and her ability to convey who she is: a kid who loves learning for the sake of learning and cares about making the world a better place. I am sure there are equally qualified kids who deserved and wanted a spot, but please don’t detract from the kids who made the cut by suggesting they got there by playing a game.
This time of year many sour grapes-type posts and the “I didn’t want to go there anyway”-type posts tend to pop up on cc. These are kids. Many who are targeting top schools have had successful school/EC experiences and haven’t had a lot of experience with lack of success. Life lessons are hard.
I think that Temperantia has described the science of enrollment management! I am sure that everyone here is sophisticated enough to now that many schools play the same “game,” which also forces students to play the “game” as well. Perhaps it is all unfortunate – and IMHO there are many aspects of the system that are indeed unfortunate-- but if you believe that good old capitalist competition yields the best from everybody in society by maximizing the incentive to meet customers’ needs in the marketplace, then this is indeed the “best” system. Unfortunately, it takes a great psychic toll on its participants, as do many aspects of a free market system. Viewed in this light, Tulane is a very rational actor in this system.
I agree, up to a point. Most of this has been pretty well known for years, except the ED1 and ED2 throws a new component to the mix. The part I disagree with is the “applying as a safety school”. That may have been true years ago, but Tulane is no longer a safety school for anyone except guaranteed LA admits.
I agree that it’s not a safety for anyone but if you’ve seen some of the stats of some of the kids who were deferred it is hard to believe that some didn’t think of it as such.
Maybe it means they are considering it as desired school. Stats are only one part of a wholistic application, and many top students choose it as a top choice school. Back when my DS applied, he had extremely strong SAT scores (I forget his exact score but they were in the 99+ percentile), was a National Merit Finalist, a strong GPA, lots of ECs, awards, all 5’s on his APs etc… He didn’t consider it a safety-- he loved the school, attended/graduated and is happily working in silicon valley. Some very strong candidates with strong stats love the school and have it as a top choice.
If strong candidates consider any school with an admission rate below 20-25% a “safety” they are seriously misinformed.
@jym626, with a 6% EA admit rate, they are basically deferring “everyone” (94% of applicants anyway) in that particular pool.
S “played the game” after deferral by going ED2, even though we are not full-pay. I believe switching to ED2 is without a doubt the primary reason S19 got accepted. Many, many kids with better stats, etc. are in the larger EA/RD pool. Tulane’s strategy is clear. The ED card may be more powerful at Tulane than any other top school IMO…
Where is a link to the ED/EA admission numbers?
Several schools (IIRC, Pitt and either Case Western or Carnegie Mellon) delayed the release of their ED applicants because they just didnt have time to get the applications all reviewed, and then deferred a bunch to RD. Wondering if that’s true here too. Would make sense.
Can someone please link the ED1 and EA admission numbers. Where were they made available?
Also, Tulane has ben working hard (IMO) to increase yield. ED 1 and 2 would help with that.
@4kids4colleges Where do you see the 6% EA admit rate?
This is from 2017-2018. That year, Tulane had a 21% overall admission rate. In 2018-2019 overall rate went down to 17%. This year, overall rate apparently at 13%. So if anything, one would expect EA acceptance rate to be even lower this year (but who knows). Same info in Tulane’s Common Data Set.
https://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg02_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=1555
2017-2018:
Overall Admission Rate 21% of 35,622 applicants were admitted
Women 22% of 21,607 applicants were admitted
Men 21% of 14,015 applicants were admitted
Students Enrolled 1,965 (26%) of 7,657 admitted students enrolled
Women 1,214 (26%) of 4,756 admitted students enrolled
Men 751 (26%) of 2,901 admitted students enrolled
Early Decision Admission Rate 36% of 1394 applicants were admitted
Early Action Admission Rate 6% of 21216 applicants were admitted
Students Offered Wait List 5,596
Students Accepting Wait List Position 1,672
Students Admitted From Wait List 0
(P.S. these numbers also show that a spot on the waitlist at Tulane is definitely a rejection).