<p>Thank you for sharing your thoughts FC…and thanks for the link too. There are a few on there we havent seen. She already requested the nfb interview. Im not giving up on Tulane. One thing that somebody said to me when we were down there that really hit me hard “They celebrate life here” (talking about all the festivals and the nice laid back friendly attitude of New Orleans) </p>
<p>And you all are the nicest most helpful group on these forums </p>
<p>We shall see…there are pros and cons to both schools. Music is a big priority for her and all we know about music for her at Wellesley is they own a marimba (first thing she checked on last fall)…but she is interested in participating in the jazz groups and other ensembles at Tulane… Im just going to let the glitter settle and keep my mouth closed for a bit and see where her thoughts lead her.</p>
<p>It has been a few days since I checked this thread. We haven’t heard anything yet about my D’s PTA application. Have all the winners been notified? Have emails/letters been mailed for everyone who has not been selected? I apologize if this was addressed earlier in this long thread. I just have a few moments tonight to check.</p>
<p>I am not sure SoCalDad. All I can tell you is that last year, the first for the PTA, most people were notified towards the end of February, but apparently a few were told they got it around mid-March. At least going by the posts on here. So I would say if you don’t hear anything at all by the end of Saturday March 15, call or write Tulane that Monday and see what they can tell you. Admissions would be the place to call, they are in charge of this award.</p>
@fallenchemist Hi, I am really interested in Tulane!! Unfortunately, my parents would never pay $60,000 a year. So, it is really going to come down to scholarships. Do you think I would have a shot? I have a 3.78 UWGPA, 4.79 WGPA. I am ranked 9/520 students. I have taken 12 AP, 3 AICE and 6 dual enrollment classes. My extracurriculars and essays are stellar. My only concern is my ACT is a 32 but, my superscore is a 33.
@fallenchemist hi… just read your post about Tulane Paul Award. I think my stats is not competitive… cumulative GPA 3.76
SAT I 2030
International student.
Do you think I could apply to this award or I will be outright rejected…?
Hi fallenchemist! You seem to have a lot of knowledge on the inner workings of Tulane so here goes: 33 ACT 3.96/4 GPA All honors and AP’s. Varsity Field Hockey and Captain, Student Council VP, Campus Ministry Leader, etc. Do you think my D has a shot at full tuition scholarships? She was awarded 25K but her ACT has changed from a 30 to 33 from October test. I see that most of the awards have gone to kids that were awarded 30+ initially.
Yes, I think with that new ACT score she definitely has a shot. I think you said before that 3.96 is UW. If so, her stats definitely meet the criteria to be competitive. Of course, keep in mind that the DHS and PTA together represent 125 full tuition awards for over 500 or so qualified applicants, and more total applicants than that. These days I wouldn’t be surprised if the number of qualified applicants might be closer to 1,000. In any case, winning is still very competitive.
Are they looking for outstanding academics or is it more about the kids character and leadership abilities? While my D’s stats are good they aren’t necessarily “outstanding” but she really shines on the others. I think one of the main reasons she was accepted so quickly and so early was the strength of her recs, particularly her counselor’s. It’s a huge award, both monetarily and prestigious, so I am expecting her stats to be very borderline but if they are looking for an overall “outstanding” student she may have a shot. I put “outstanding” in quotes because aren’t they all “outstanding”??? Sometimes in this whole college process that FACT certainly gets lost(:
Sorry one more thing. If they are giving 125 awards, do they play the numbers game, like they do with admissions, and give substantially more then 125 knowing some kids will still elect to go to other schools?
Yes and yes. Which is not an answer trying to be cute. The reality is that to make the first cut, you have to have stats that are in the top percentiles. I am not sure why you say your D’s stats are not there. 33 ACT and 3.97 UW GPA (if on a 4.0 scale) are really outstanding. As I said earlier, anything 33+ is way up there. Now if she had topped out at a 30, you would be right that her stats would fall short. Maybe where you are looking at this wrong is that you are thinking that all the kids with 34, 35 or 36 will automatically be ahead of her. My understanding is it doesn’t work that way. Once your stats have been checked as meeting the threshold, the applicants are on pretty much even footing as far as stats go. I am including how challenging the coursework was as part of “stats”.
So once they have their pool of applicants that passed the first bar, then they look at the essays (Paul Tulane) or project (DHS) and other factors in the resume. But I think it is those tasks for that application that create the final list of winners for the most part, although I am sure a particularly outstanding record of service or other accomplishments play a role.
Yes, but from the other direction (I am full of obtuse answers today, aren’t I?). In other words, they really have a budget for less than 125 knowing that not all awardees will take the scholarship, for a variety of reasons. Most common are they get similar scholarships from other schools that they decide to attend instead, money was never really an issue for that family and they got into another school they like better, or they get sucked into the prestige of another school and decide to take on debt to attend it. Sorry, I guess that last was cynical. They certainly might like another school better enough to think the debt is worth it, although it is hard for me to imagine unless the debt is minimal.
Anyway, to anticipate another often asked question, they never award untaken scholarships after the fact, even if the “yield” is low. Although after years of doing this, they usually come in with similar numbers every year. I am not sure what those numbers are now that they have the Paul Tulane. Back when it was only the DHS, it was usually between 1/3-1/2 that took the scholarship offer. I am sure Tulane could absorb it (and in many ways would be thrilled) if say 100 out of 125 took the scholarships some year, but I don’t think it has ever come close to that.
Thanks for your insights. It must be pretty obvious that this is my first child headed to college! I have always thought of her as outstanding for many reasons but when one puts their toe in this high stakes game of college acceptance it feels like every kid becomes a stat. We have always tried to push the character counts and that seems to be highly overlooked in the college process. So unfortunate but I realize with the amount of applicants these schools can’t possibly get to know each and every one.
Well, in some ways I wish I could tell you it was a “stats-second” world, @fontana, but you have it right when it comes to admissions at more selective schools. But despair not, for at least two reasons. First, she really does have great stats. CC is HIGHLY skewed in the demographic that populates it most heavily. It may not just be the “one percenters” of stats, but it is frighteningly overpopulated with the highly accomplished. If you just went by what you see on CC, you would think the world of applicants is a very different place than it really is. I mean as you saw, on here a 30 on the ACT seems so “ordinary”, whereas of course it is the 95th percentile!!! Think about that. For your D’s initial score before her amazing jump, only 4 out of 100 people did better. And in looking at the chart, it did confirm that 33-36 are all in the 99th percentile, thus explaining why they are usually considered the same.
Second, once you do get past all these admissions hurdles and singularities (her ACT score will never count for anything ever again except possibly a source of pride), all those other traits and values you have emphasized count for a lot more in real life, and will serve her very well, especially at a school like Tulane.
Thank you for your always positive and upbeat replies! Sometimes in this game, it is hard to stay optimistic even if one is just the observer, not the future college student. Not to give away my age but, when I went to school, students that got a perfect score on the ACT’s or SAT’s got their name in the local papers and pretty much had their pick of schools. Today, there is little recognition other than as you stated “a source of pride” and many are rejected from most or all of the Ivies. College is a great time in a young person’s life and it’s such a shame that getting in has become so competitive that it is almost a let down when kids finally pick their schools. My criteria had a lot more to do with the strength of the school’s athletic teams and proximity to home! I miss those days!!! Thanks again for all your great insights. I truly believe many kids on this forum have chosen Tulane because of them.
So true, except in my case I picked Tulane partly because of the lack of proximity to home! You are 100% correct that the competitiveness, the amount of strategy involved, the amount of work and planning involved, and often the amount of pressure and disappointment involved (often as much due to not being affordable as not getting in) are all way, way higher than a few decades ago, and maybe even a couple of decades ago.
I think the Paul Tulane essay topics “spoke” to her while the DHS is more vague and maybe seems more competitive since you can literally do anything with the box.
No question that is often the case. The DHS box leaves a lot of people with “project block”, no pun intended. I wonder what my D would have done if the DHS had not been the only full tuition scholarship available then. I think she would have done it anyway because of the Stamps possibility, but who knows.
I should have also pointed out that only doing the PTA takes ones chances down from 125 scholarships offered to 50. I know you knew that but, just to be thorough…
</p>
You are 100% correct that the competitiveness, the amount of strategy involved, the amount of work and planning involved, and often the amount of pressure and disappointment involved (often as much due to not being affordable as not getting in) are all way, way higher than a few decades ago, and maybe even a couple of decades ago.