Yes, she knows. She will also apply for the community service one though.
@fallenchemist - Hi - My D is in process of preparing her Paul Tulane Essays and wondering what her chances might be. She has 32 ACT and approx 4.0 weighted GPA from a top public HS with many honors, 2 AP’s (limited AP options), EC’s etc like all the other candidates (varsity, work, captain, leadership, comm service…). She has had a major uphill trend in GPA over 3 years. She did receive the Distinguished scholar merit award ($27K) and Tulane is a top choice.
Do you know how many apply actually for this award yearly, what % accept it/what are the recipient’s stats? - I know they only award 50 or so. Just wondering thoughts and experience based on past recipients history and if there is a shot -Thanks for your insights.
This is only the third year of the Paul Tulane, so there really aren’t stats that are meaningful, even if they would reveal them, which they don’t. I suspect that the odds (if you went strictly by numbers which you really cannot of course since it isn’t random) for the PTA are around the same as the DHS, or about 1 in 10 or so, maybe even ranging up to 1 in 15. I am strictly guessing that the number of PTA applicants might well be higher than for the DHS, because applying for the PTA is probably more comfortable for most people, with two essays as opposed to a very vague, creative project and having to get an additional recommendation. On the other hand, the DHS is the only way to be eligible for the Stamps (and the Hainkel for Louisiana residents) so who knows. I do know that traditionally about 33%-45% accept the DHS offer, and I have no reason to think it would be different for the PTA. Stats tend to be what I have listed before, top 1% nationally or the kind of stats Ivy schools typically look for. So that is 2250+ for the SAT or 33+ for the ACT, top 5% of one’s class as far as GPA with as challenging a schedule as that high school offers. But certainly there seem to be a couple of winners every year whose stats drift a little south of that, like your D’s. But the “odds” become less for sure.
I hope that doesn’t discourage her (or you), because without the effort her odds are zero. And she is close to the typical stats. At the same time, there is nothing wrong with having ones expectations at the right level. I hope she is one of those exceptional winners for the award. She does have a shot, based on some past winners that have contacted me.
Thank you - I find all your posts to be thoughtful and on point. We have discussed realistic possibilities of course, but we have told her that the worst that can happen is she does not receive an additional award and we are certainly proud of her effort to apply.You have to be in it to win it as they say. If we have good news to share, we certainly will do so.
Everything you said, spot on. I would also add, for whatever it is worth, that far more applicants don’t win the awards than do. It is akin to Ivy league admission these days.
The Tulane website sates that PTAs are decided on a rolling basis. Does anyone have a sense of what this means? You get an accept, reject, or other decision within 30 days, 90 days, … of submission? Is this rolling basis approach consistent with recent years?
This is only the third time that the PTA has been awarded, so it is still evolving somewhat. In the first two years they have not, as far as I can tell, awarded them on a “rolling basis” in the sense that as they read one they think is good that they announce that one as a winner. That would make no sense, of course, as there would be so many still unread and there are “only” 50 awards.
In the first year there seemed to be essentially two batches of announcements for this award. One set around the same time as the DHS, which is usually around the Friday after Presidents Day, plus or minus a couple of days. Then another a couple weeks later in March. Last year, as best I can recall, I think they were more skewed in February, but I think some still trickled out into March.
So I think what they mean by rolling is that they are reserving the right to announce them over a few weeks rather than all at once. We will see, but I wouldn’t expect any announcements before late February.
doing last minute application!
question: how important is it to stay within word count? on the form in says between (250-500 words) but I am having trouble cutting mine down any further and it is at 597 words.
Would sending it over the length be considered “not following directions”
or do you think it wouldn’t really matter?
Ugh! That’s a tough one. My gut says get it down to 550 at least, however you have to do it. I don’t know how they will react to that, but that just seems too much over the stated limit. Obviously getting it down to 500 is best, but if you can’t, then you can’t.
Question: Says for PTA you need to complete the Nov. 15 deadline, (which I Did), but I wasn’t able to send my Oct. ACT scores until the beginning of December, which was the last component I needed to complete my application to Tulane, does that mean I’m still eligible for the scholarship? I already wrote and emailed my submission but I was just wondering if that was a waste of time
You are fine. As long as you got your part of the application in by Nov 15 you are still EA, as I understand it. The delay in both SAT and ACT scores this year were clearly out of your control.
Has anyone heard back about the Paul Tulane award yet this year? I’m hoping (probably in vain) they send the decisions out soon!
Should be soon. See the pinned thread that was started that is towards the top of the thread list.