<p>From today's Tulane email:
[quote]
Each day, undergraduate admission staff members monitor commitment deposits sent by students accepting the offer of admission to Tulane University for the fall semester. On Friday (April 30), the day before the May 1 deadline to commit, 1,634 students had sent in their deposits.</p>
<p>A record-breaking number of applications for undergraduate admission for fall 2010 is bringing a high-quality, diverse group of students to Tulane from all regions of the country. </p>
<p>Earl Retif, vice president for enrollment management, says that the work by the staff in an incredibly busy year "is very much a team effort." </p>
<p>Tulane had 44,000 applications for full-time undergraduate admission this year. That's a record-breaking number for Tulane and appears to be a greater number of applications than were received by any private university in the nation. </p>
<p>Applicants often apply to multiple schools, making the task of the undergraduate admission staff all the trickier and unpredictable, says Retif. </p>
<p>Admission staff members must deal with competing interests as they assemble an incoming class. They look for students with high SAT and ACT scores and top rankings in their high schools. Good grades count, of course. But so do extracurricular activities and diversity of all sorts — geographic, ethnic and academic. </p>
<p>In step with the university's commitment to public service, students who show a dedication to community engagement have an edge on getting into Tulane.
<p>So many questions about this. How many free priority applications did they send out? In the end, how many of the uber-qualified kids who used that priority app/Tulane as a safety school choose Tulane? What is the average SAT/GPA of the 1634 new members of the Green Wave? Are they significantly different from previous classes? </p>
<p>In short, what is the goal of these mass mailings and is Tulane happy with the results? Does huge number of applicants = quality student body/school.</p>
<p>While all the numbers you ask about aren’t all out yet, there were posts in other threads about the average SAT/ACT for the applicants. This # is always negatively impacted by the guaranteed admission for some instate students.</p>
<p>Additionally, as has been posted elsewhere, there are many colleges and universities that send out personal applications. U of Chicago did it this year and their applications were up over 40%.</p>
<p>I had remembered some of the articles from when I was applying to TU a little more than a decade ago.</p>
<p>I just searched for Tulane admissions 1997(98,99, ect.) until I found it. I did the same for SAT averages. I compiled some of the random missing ones from other TU articles and letter from the president. Oh how i love google.</p>
<p>I may have the SAT #s for class of 2007 at home. I remember writing it down at an info session-- just not sure if I still have it or if I can find it</p>
<p>One of the reasons that I personally don’t put too much stock into US News is that Tulane has grown much more competitive over the last 20 years yet it has done nothing but fall in the rankings. It has also grossly outpaced the rising standards of all US universities and colleges and its endowment and university giving rate have all gone up yet Tulane has continued to be surpassed by other universities due to the Peer assessment score. </p>
<p>When I was looking at colleges you had to drive to a book store to pick up the magazine to find the rankings. Obviously not too many did that. Now there’s a freaking countdown on the US News website. I think kids looking at colleges today need to understand that hiring managers do not care where your school falls in the rankings. </p>
<p>People who are old enough to be in a position to conduct an interview know which schools (they perceive) are good/great schools and the schools that have major sports programs. That’s it. Some are more regional than others. Overall though I’m not going to hire someone because their school jumped 5 spots and fire someone else because their school dropped 10. So why would I even check on the rankings. I’m looking to hire someone for at least the next 5-10 years, not just 1.</p>
<p>I see value in US News for generating ideas for schools to look at but it’s funny how much stock people, particularly those that are younger, put in rankings.</p>
<p>Just the ramblings of a man with a bug of some sort…</p>
<p>Here is the marketing strategy Tulane has employed as I see it. I think it fits with both their stated overall strategies, tactics used, and the results.</p>
<p>Tulane decides in 2002, I believe, to start offering the free app. I might be off a year or so. Anyway, as they tweak the execution of that plus the priority app to the better students, they start to really hit a lot of students that are thinking Duke, Vandy, WUSTL, Chicago, some Ivies, etc. Many of those students ignore the offer to apply, but many say “Hey, it’s free, it’s easy, and it’s New Orleans. I have heard of Tulane, I’ll take a look on the web a little.” They apply when without the free/priority app they would not have, and within a few weeks to a couple of months they get their acceptance along with a great 4 year scholarship offer. So now Tulane has achieved key point #1, hooking their interest. Then that student puts Tulane on the visit list and for most students, the campus and the area are a huge plus. Tulane shows well. Many students feel like they could “go there” and really like it. Key point #2 achieved. Then the student starts to get the acceptances/rejections from the other higher ranked schools, and their FA packages. Tulane is looking even better in many cases. In the end, when all the dust settles, a certain percentage of those students that would never have submitted to Tulane and got into Emory, Duke, WUSTL, some Ivies, etc. choose Tulane. Maybe it is 5%, maybe 10%. I don’t know. But the increasing scores delineated by Benetode shows that it is indeed working.</p>
<p>Now add Katrina to the mix. An unforseen and potentially carestrophic event for Tulane, it in fact seems to have struck a chord with a huge number of students that become enamored with the idea of rebuilding an entire city. They love the service requirement Tulane institutes and the chance to really make a difference. After a pause of a year, probably for people to feel sure Tulane and New Orleans really were coming back, applications surged. There may have been other factors, but I think this was a big one.</p>
<p>Now as Tulane gets more good publicity (Time Magazine, Carnegie Award, etc.) and focuses on supporting those top flight students more than in the past (e.g. a person in the Honors Program dedicated to getting students Rhodes, Goldwaters, Marshalls, and other prestigious fellowships), they are trying to build for the future by reputation.</p>
<p>As an aside, there have been some people that have decried the lower admissions rate as a byproduct of these tactics. I think that is true. However, those same people like to point out that the yield is around 15%, which is also low. But both are part and parcel of the same tactical methods employed to achieve their strategic goal of getting higher quality classes of about 1500 students. Can’t have it both ways. Besides, as I have said before, getting a yield like a WUSTL’s or Duke’s would be a total disaster. 1,634 and counting is already too high. Good thing that new dorm will be done for fall of 2011. Anyway, Tulane is quite aware that they will get a low yield with this admissions plan and they certainly are not worried how that number “looks” to the uninformed compared to getting better students. So to answer UVaHoo’s last question, it isn’t the huge number per se, but the mix of students contained in that huge number.</p>
<p>1687: Total number of students who have deposited to enroll at Tulane this fall. Now, this number will go up or town a bit based on students getting into other school’s wait lists and us adding some athletes to our class. This number will be a bit smaller come the end of August, but it should be pretty close.</p>
<p>9: Point increase on the two-test SAT average over last year’s class.</p>
<p>63.7%: The percentage of the class of 2014 who are in the top ten percent of their class. This is higher than last year as well. Way to go gang.</p>
<p>61.53%: The percentage of the class of 2014 that is female. Actually, we have more men deposited in the class than we did last year, but as a percentage basis, the the ladies have it this year.</p>
<p>And now for the top ten lists:</p>
<p>Top ten states for the class of 2014:</p>
<p>Louisiana: 210 students
New York: 168 students
California: 138 students
Texas: 116 students
New Jersey: 93 students
Illinois: 83 students
Massachusetts: 76 students
Florida: 72 students
Maryland: 71 students
Pennsylvania: 66 students</p>
<p>The only two states not represented in this class are North Dakota and Wyoming.</p>
<p>Top Five most popular majors:</p>
<p>Cell and Molecular Biology
Political Science
Psychology
English
Biomedical Engineering</p>
<p>International Students from the class of 2014 hail from: Barbados, Bahamas, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Guam, Nigeria, Panama and Singapore.</p>
<p>Wow mom222. Who you been sweet talkin’ in admissions? Great info, thanks. Usually the number goes down a little (summer melt) but not that much.</p>
<p>That’s a really high percentage of women. I wonder if Tulane will make any special efforts to try and balance that more next year. For that matter, I wonder what has led to such an imbalance the last few years at least. I know nationally there are more women going to college than men, but that is like 52-48% I think. Here is Tulane’s data over the past decade: </p>
<p>So there seems to be a correlation between the increase in applications and the rising gender imbalance. Or if too soon to call it that, at least they are trending together. Any theories?</p>
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I may be confused by what you’re asking Fallen. Usually a ratio 62% of women is enough to attract more young men. Perhaps times have changed. j/k Great numbers, thanks for posting!</p>
j/k Great numbers, thanks for posting!</p>