Accepted (merit scholarship of $15,000)
Act: 32
GPA: 3.62
Did the optional Tulane essay.
Submitted a portfolio even though I do not intend on majoring in art.
A lot of extra-curricular activities.
I did not visit the campus, but I demonstrated interest by doing an alumni interview and emailing and meeting with my admissions rep. when he came to my school.
DS Accepted with Founder’s Award ($22,000/yr)
Major: BME
SAT: 1450 (M 770 / V 680)
GPA: 3.89 UW and 4.67 W (13 AP’s and remainder Honors w/exception of Leadership and some mandatory electives)
Did the optional Tulane Essay and visited during Tulane PreView Day
Eagle Scout, NHS - President, Student Gov’t Senior Class President, 200+ hrs community service, Varsity Soccer
Deferred: UMich and Case Western
Deferred
Major: Finance
SAT: 1340 (Superscore) 1320 (Not Superscore)
GPA: 3.4 UW and 3.5 W (4 AP Classes)
Applied to Tulane as a big reach and I’m so happy I didn’t get rejected. Probably gonna switch to EDII.
Accepted EA 
Leadership Award, $5,000/year
Major: Psychology w Concentration in Cognitive Studies
ACT: 30
GPA: 3.35 UW (my school doesn’t weight GPAs/advanced courses)
I go to a pretty elite private school with very intense classes, so my lower GPA is still an achievement I guess? The kids who get 4.0’s at my school all end up going to Ivy’s, just so you get a sense of our course load.
I also worked on my Why Tulane it for about 2 months, so I guess the hard work paid off.
accepted EA with the Leadership Award above!
1460 SAT and about a 3.8 GPA with a lot of extracurriculars
white female from PA
I’m super excited!!
My son was deferred for Architecture
Deferred
ACT 36 - taken once
SAT 1580 - taken once
1 in class
National Merit Semifinalist
Tons of EC and leadership
Solid essays
It’s all a crapshoot
@Boymom2018 - I am speechless. 36 and NMSF, what more do they want?? Many colleges will give full rides for a candidate with those stats. I’m sure you have many other offers in hand.
Tulane is looking for applicants who have demonstrated interest in attending. If you are a high stats applicant who was deferred it’s because you most likely didn’t visit and then didn’t make up for it by proving to admissions that you will go if offered a spot. Opening emails, clicking on links, attending regional visits, reaching out to your AO…all these things will give you a leg up with Tulane if you haven’t visited.
Agree. Why would he/she not get into every school? Either they don’t accept the overqualified because they know they won’t go there ultimately and it will just hurt them statistically, or there is some obvious red flag somewhere in the application.
Have to agree with collegemom9 post above. Though we were unable to visit (we are in NorthEast), my daughter devoted significant time researching for and writing her responses Why Tulane etc, attended the rep meeting at her HS, attended the regional Tulane information session that was held in our county, and then attended another one in the neighboring county as well, and followed up with emails etc. The rep knew her by name and face by the end. Her grades were great (3.9 UW), plenty of EC and AP accomplishments, but test scores were less than top of the line (SAT 1350), so I think it has to have been her interest that made the difference, especially that she was placed in the Spring Scholar program which seems to support this theory, based on commentary I have seen at Tulane website with respect to that program. We’re still not sure what it will all mean in terms of potential for $, without which it’s not going to be an option for us anyway, but still I think without the interest she would not have even received the Spring acceptance.
My daughter got admitted with merit scholarship but I don’t see any other financial aid information on Gibson. When do they release FA awards?
David, I’m just a parent, I don’t know details of the admissions process, but why wouldn’t you? I didn’t read your entire resume but clearly you’re cream of the crop. Go for it.
My D was deferred. Act 33, 3.9 UW (4.3 W), 12 APs, passed all AP exams taken so far with 4-5s, All State Tennis, 700 volunteer hours, Governor’s Award for volunteering excellence, started STEM club for girls, excellent essays (even optional Tulane), etc.
She demonstrated no interest. She didn’t want to miss class to meet the Tulane Rep at school, wouldn’t miss school to visit Tulane again (she visited years ago when big brother toured), but she really doesn’t have much interest. It’s far down her very long list, so it’s just as well. The application was free and they kept sending her postcards and such claiming she was a special student they wanted to apply. She knew it was to get their application numbers up, but we weren’t out any money on the application, so no harm done. She is turned off by the #1 Party School ranking, the ratio of girls to boys (60/40), lack of nationally competitive sports, and the crime stats of NOLA. Plus it’s hella expensive.
To increase their yield, universities are using ED and ED II. EA really makes no sense other than to over anxious and diligent students getting in applications early thinking it reflects their interest and dedication only to find out it has no meaning at all. As a result, EA causes a considerable amount of applications for review, likely more than RD although I may be wrong, resulting in a high number of deferrals. My daughter falls into that category. Effectively, it seems to me that universities want to take the control of the process out of the student’s hands (and their parents when it comes to the finances). In other words, students who are very competitive are no longer able to gather up their acceptance letters and offers, going back to the school and maybe requesting a better package,and then spend their time waiting until March, April and May to make an ultimate decision. Those days are gone in the age of ED and EDII. I would think soon or later there may be an EDIII. Who knows.
But in my opinion, not that it counts for anything:
ED requires a contract and, if accepted, immediate withdrawal of all other applications with relatively immediate remittance of deposit. But for EA to make sense, what it should require is a decision without contract, however, an expedited deadline to commit, i.e.: (1) You’ve been accepted; (2) you have to accept and remit deposit on or before _______; (3) should you fail to accept remit deposit as required, status will be automatically changed to rejection (or withdrawal of application). Using EA in the manner described provides for a middle ground that not only works for the university, but also the student.
Does anyone know how much the largest merit scholarship is? I saw that some got $30K but last year I think they went up to 32K. Is that still the case? And if you’re deferred is there still a chance for merit money? I suppose they don’t know how many will actually commit and use it so they should still have some for students admitted later?
@Boymom2018 seems there is a gaming of the system for higher yield and higher ranking, and sadly, it is working, but at the expense of students who have worked hard. Each of these deferred students will find the right school that appreciates their accomplishments.
@collegemom9 Agreed. However, it is ridiculous to expect high school seniors already swamped with sports, academics, and ECs to also spend most of their time playing these college games of tracking how many times an applicant clicked a link, participated in chats, visited, sent an email, smiled at the rep, bought a sweatshirt, asked a question on tour… This is the Cambridge Analytica version of college admissions. I can attest to the email, online, chat and mail blast campaign that this college engaged in to get more applicants so they could reject more applicants and get lower acceptance rates and higher yields. Plus the no application fee…plus all the emails about “special status” all in an effort to get more students to apply. It’s a tried and true strategy that other schools have been successful at as evidenced by their recent meteoric rise in rankings.
@tmeg01 Exactly!
@aurora2016 I’m not sure I agree. It doesn’t take long at all to do any of this stuff. If it’s a top choice and you’ve done your research on Tulane (and therefor know how important interest is to them) it’s pretty easy and worth it. My child did not visit (and everyone told us that Tulane defers everyone who doesn’t visit) was accepted after doing these things. All on top of academics, sports, etc. Most of it amounts to a few minutes a week. Again, if it’s important enough it’s worth it.