@fallenchemist, 35 on her ACT, 4.00 un-weighted at a top La. high school, and will be a NMSF (even though letters don’t go out until next school year, she scored very high)–so she has the auto-admit. We are hoping for a nice scholarship. Fingers crossed; she would love to be there. I would like her to go sit in on a class though.
Excuse me for laughing, but I am laughing. You clearly have an incredibly accomplished academician there. She not only will get a great scholarship, but she will be in the running for the Hainkel, which pays for everything. Obviously that is a very competitive scholarship as there are only two of them, but it is only available to Louisiana students. Of course she would also be in the running for a Stamps, which also pays for everything, There are 5 of those. And then there are about 120 other scholarships that pay full tuition. Her stats certainly make her a strong candidate for any of those.
If she wants to sit in a some classes, then sure, make the trip. But she could do that any time, either now or in the fall. There is little need to take the kinds of steps most candidates would to insure that admissions knows they want Tulane. She is in already. And while I imagine staying in touch with her admissions person is a nice idea, it won’t affect her chances for those scholarships at this point. The automatic consideration merit based partial scholarships are mostly stat based, and so she seems sure to get the Presidential or at least the Premier Scholar, which are very similar. $32K vs. $30K per year this fall, and they might be a bit higher for her admission cycle. Both get invited to the Honors Program, and both are the majority of winners of the full tuition and full ride awards. Then for the full awards that require a separate application, there are many others involved in who gets those. For her, since she already has the stats, it will mostly depend on her project (DHS) or essays (PTA).
So with Tulane as her clear #1, she should simply apply early and apply SCEA or EA, because that is required to be eligible for those full awards. Then she can spend some extra time on her DHS project and her PTA essays. TECHNICALLY she doesn’t even need to apply to other schools, since Tulane is an absolute as long as they maintain the Louisiana policy. But of course one cannot count on money until it is actually in the bank, so to speak. As sure as I am she will get at least a top partial award, one never knows until one knows. Fortunately Tulane will tell her about the partial when she is admitted, no later than Dec. 15 and likely much earlier. And she would find out about the others towards the end of February.
She is very lucky to have Tulane as her #1 and to know she is in already. And it looks bright for merit aid. I wish her and you the best of luck, and I am sure there will be questions as the time to apply approaches.
@fallenchemist, I appreciate your words of encouragement. I just am one of those people who says you gotta hope for the best and prepare for the worst! Sometimes I have to pinch myself when I think of her accomplishments – she has so many friends that are really smart! We’ve never been cocky about school accomplishments and just feel so fortunate she has done so well. I’d say there are three schools tied for her first choice, and she’d be happy at all three, with Tulane clearly one of them. New Orleans is a huge draw for her.