<p>My older son is in his second year at Tulane. His brother will apply to Tulane next year, but our family is spending his last two years of HS living in China.
Obviously my son can't attend any of the regional info sessions, or go visit officially.Any suggestions on how he can show interest which seems so important for acceptance?</p>
<p>One idea is that he could maintain a relationship with his admissions counselor through email, explaining why he can’t visit and then occasionally sending another email with a question just to stay in touch and keep his name in mind.</p>
<p>have one letter of recommendation delivered every single day until admitted</p>
<p>answer the why tulane question.</p>
<p>I was going to say exactly what @sandrasccr said. It’s optional so DEFINITELY do it!</p>
<p>My S was accepted even though we had minimal contact. We didn’t visit because we live in the Northeast and it would be too expensive. He also missed a local info session he signed up for. (he got hurt at school that day but I did email Tulane admissions to explain) So I don’t think it really matters much. A few casual e-mails to admission and a strong “Why Tulane” essay would probably be fine. (Make sure the essay is actually about what Tulane has that other top schools don’t)
BTW S got waitlisted at Pitt even though we flew out there and arranged a special meeting with students from the major he’s interested in.</p>
<p>LOL, well, there is always the unexplainable! It certainly isn’t a science, but the significant majority of experiences would seem to indicate interest does matter, and admissions directors certainly all say that it does. But it is only a factor, not the ultimate or even most important one.</p>
<p>Congrats on his acceptance.</p>
<p>Helpfulmommmy: I’m a mom too and this was my first time going through this whole college process. A lot has changed since I went to school and boy have I learned a lot. So hopefully the following info will be useful to you…</p>
<p>I’m so surprised that everyone gets so caught up in the Optional Essay thing. The number one rule of thumb when completing apps is that Nothing is Ever Optional. Always do everything. Here’s some stuff that we did and seems to have worked: 1) We are from the NE too and never visited before applying, as a matter of fact we recd the acceptance letter on the day we were leaving to visit 2) My S did do the optional essay but it was 4 sentences long stating that he wanted to go to Tulane because its a place that would afford him some ‘balance’. He could study hard but find an enjoyable activity to help him relax. 3) We have terrible guidance counselors so we hired a college couselor. She was the one who advised us to apply to Tulane and she said to do it ASAP. My S completed and submitted the app on September 1st and all school records were sent out 5 days later. I made sure of that by calling our HS and making sure (even offered to fed ex the papers myself) I think getting your app in quickly shows a lot of interest. 4) My S had nice scores, GPA, rigorous course load but I’m pretty sure that the clincher was his 4 page resume, highlighting community service projects, three of which he created on his own and were very unique. At the past honors weekend Cowan spoke and stated that no one in the audience would have been accepted if they didn’t have COMMUNITY SERVICE on their app. So in the grand scheme of things I really think his service was the most important part of his resume. He secured the Presidential Scholarship by October 23rd and then the Deans. And once again his Deans Scholarship was all about his service program that he founded/created… I think no matter where you are in this world your s needs to do service. Living in China may give him a great opportunity to do something very unique, that no one out there has done before. Being overseas can be a big leg up! Good Luck</p>
<p>PS.<br>
I just remembered that Cowan stated that having community service was their ‘litmus test’. You basically needed to show that before they would even consider any other part of your file.</p>
<p>Good Luck!</p>