<p>So I find myself in an interesting situation as my younger son recently increased his ACT score from a 27 to a 30. Suddenly - there are schools possibly available to him that were not on the horizon a week ago. He is a junior at a very competitive public hs - has about a 3.6 gpa - just about a 4.0 weighted. Lots of honors classes and 2 APs. According to his hs Naviance - he has a good chance of being admitted at both Tulane and Univ. of Miami. Good amount of community service and decent (not extraordinary) ECs. </p>
<p>Leaving the issue of would he be admitted aside - my question is more along the lines of would he be able to succeed at Tulane or would he be over his head? His academic interests are psychology and business.</p>
<p>Would he have any chance at merit money with those stats?</p>
<p>He is a sports fan and also interested in Hillel and/or Jewish frat. Do you think Tulane or Univ. of Miami might be a better fit?</p>
<p>Rockvillemom!!! So glad to “see” you on this board and am happy that maybe we can provide you some insight, since you’ve given so many helpful tips to the folks at CC :)</p>
<p>Fallenchemist will likely chime in on the prospect of merit money – I can tell you that my 3.7 (w) / 31 ACT was offered none, but perhaps the 4.0 weighted will draw some? You never know. It seems that at Tulane, early bird gets the worm, so encourage your son to apply as soon as applications open.</p>
<p>Here’s where I can help – concern about academics. My S is totally excelling, doing better than he did in high school. Given where your son’s school is located, I imagine it would be the same for yours, because the schools in your area are so good at preparing these kids for a college load. This is not to say classes are easy – they are not. S is working hard, but, he also has time to enjoy himself and he loves nearly all of his classes. </p>
<p>Sports. Okay. So…if your son is a huge sports fan, Miami is the better option (no offense meant, Tulane baseball team!). Tulane’s football games are fun – they are held in the Superdome – but not very well attended. Still, the small student section always looks like they are having a fabulous time, even if they do clear out by early 3rd quarter to enjoy everything a fall day in NOLA has to offer.</p>
<p>And, well, as for Jewish clubs and activities, Tulane has 'em in spades. Really nice group of kids from all over the United States.</p>
<p>Thanks for the input - have no idea as to whether or not he will apply - but I have heard repeatedly to do it early if he decides to. Tulane intrigues me - just very different from what we have been looking at to date. Thanks for the advice.</p>
<p>Hi RVM!!
Tulane is definitely worth a visit for you and your son. Many, MANY applicants get sold on the school when they visit. Definitely pay a visit!</p>
<p>Yep, visiting can make all the difference. The evening of the first day of our visit S2 said, “Dad let’s make the deposit right now for Tulane.” I was somewhat surprised since he had been accepted at many fine schools; I thought there would be more contemplation. He simply said he could simply not see himself anyplace else. We paid the deposit online from our hotel room. He is still thrilled with his decision after nearly a year.</p>
<p>Wow! That is quite an endorsement! We will not get there any time soon. My thinking at this moment is that the app is easy - nothing to lose - he should go ahead and apply and just see what happens. if he gets in and if he gets a decent merit award - then we could visit. It’s kind of fun to have some new schools under consideration that were previously out of his reach.</p>
<p>There is more to it than that, however. Did your son fill out the “Why Tulane” question? What was his UW GPA? Does he have a class rank? Hard to say what that means without being able to see the whole picture.</p>
<p>His unweighted gpa is 3.6, he has 9 AP’s and his mid-year report shows 4.5 gpa for last fall semester. He answered the “Why” question very well. Very strong recs. and top 10.5% from a very competetive high school. I was surprised, disappointed and quite frankly insulted, especially when I see so many kids getting $ with the same stats and then complaining that it’s not enough. We make too much for need-based. However, that’s quite misleading since we have 3 kids in college. Fortunately, he loves Wake Forest and UM, both of which are ranked higher, and will decide between those two.</p>
<p>That’s great that he has those choices that he likes so well. I would only recommend for any others that find themselves in this situation (or cpr still if your son at all wants Tulane) that you contact your admissions counselor to see if merit $$ are possible. I agree that I would have thought $15,000 would have been possible for your son. Admissions people are human and mistakes get made. It could have simply been an oversight. There have been a number of people that have gone that route and gotten money or, in the case of improved stats, more money.</p>
<p>While I understand the visceral reaction of feeling insulted, I am sure no insult was intended and it might have been interesting to make the inquiry. At least that is what I would have suggested and still would, unless his mind is made up for one of those other 2 schools.</p>
<p>cpr777 - my older son is a very happy sophomore at Wake Forest. We are 100% pleased with the school and the experience he has had so far. Feel free to PM me if I can be of any assistance.</p>
<p>Can’t figure out Tulane admissions. I have a friend who was waitlisted three years ago and is now a junior at Northwestern. Funny thing is, she REALLY wanted to go to Tulane; her sister was at Loyola!</p>
<p>I’m sure if she had the stats/ECs and essays to go to NU, she had the stuff for Tulane. So who knows what their rubric is?</p>
<p>I’ll tell you one thing, they need to stop advertising their admissions as EA and RD, because basically, it’s rolling.</p>
<p>It’s true that Tulane is, in large part, rolling admissions, especially for early applicants. But by leaving it as EA and RD, they keep the flexibility to postpone a decision until the respective deadlines, like this year. They could do that anyway with officially rolling admissions, but then there would be even more complaints from people that didn’t hear in 3 weeks!</p>
<p>As far as the person that got accepted to NU and not Tulane: I know! Every year there are some like that, but not many (at least not that get posted on here, and not as many as at WUSTL and some others that complain about getting into Ivies but not WUSTL). I guess we have to remember these are decisions being made by human beings, and while stats are obviously a huge part of it, it isn’t all of it. Who knows what one admissions committee sees that another doesn’t, or vice-versa? I thought that video of Grinnell admissions (wasn’t that who it was?) going over each applicant was pretty interesting. If that is typical of the review the second or third cut gets, there is definitely a human factor.</p>
<p>fyi: my son’s unweighted GPA is a 3.1. His ecs were unimpressive. But his ACT was a 33, his SATs were 2150 and he got 5s in the three AP exams he took He’s the kind of very bright kid who admissions committees either label “lazy” or “has great potential.” His GPA was hit hard because he refused to do homework that he thought was “busywork,” and just refused to “play the game” and do anything “just to get into a good college.”</p>
<p>Tulane is giving him $15,000 a year in merit aid. I think it helped that he visited Tulane (from the NY metro area)and applied early action single choice. </p>
<p>By the way, I’d love to get perspectives from others with a kid like mine at Tulane–very smart kid who’s a very independent thinker, outspoken but not obnoxious or pretentious He will probably major in poli sci or history. I’m hoping that Tulane will challenge and inspire him. We’ve already sent in the deposit.</p>
<p>Just noticed this thread–haven’t checked in a while. Tulane was the first school my son was accepted to, and he was so excited. He has since had serious doubts. Like cpr, he can’t help but feel somewhat inferior compared to some of the students who were offered generous packages from Tulane. He received no merit aid, and with his stats and his excellent recs and ec’s(award winning jazz guitarist, started new service initiative in his school, etc)he definitely feels a bit snubbed. He seems to be the opposite of fondmemories’ son. He took 9 classes when the requirement was 6, giving up his lunch for an entire year and coming to school an hour early every day–basically he never ever backs down from a challenge. I won’t say Tulane is off his list, but it went from the top to the bottom.</p>
<p>Thanks for posting, fondmemories. Sounds like we have the same stubborn child. But now I’m wondering why my now 3.3, 2170 SAT son with amazing ECS didn’t get any merit offer. we weren’t expecting any and figured no one with his stats gets that.</p>
<p>fondmemories - my S (who did not go to Tulane and is now about to graduate from a public LAC in Missouri and has been accepted to a fine grad program at Michigan and is hoping for admission to their law school or one of a few others that have a specialized program in which he is interested) was a lot like yours as well. Majored in Russian Studies and Poli Sci and did very well in college. A lot of kids grow up when they get to college and realize they have to do the work or truly fail, and often don’t mind doing the work because it is more challenging. It also helps that they can take a lot more courses in things they like, and only a few in areas they don’t like so much. Still, some remain undisciplined and I encourage you to encourage him to take advantage of whatever resources there are to make sure he stays on track with his homework and studying. There is nothing wrong with getting some structured help to assist in success. Also encourage him to visit the profs during office hours with some regularity if for no other reason than to get to know them. Then he won’t feel like he can let them down by slacking off. Having said all that, chances are he will do it anyway, because he will want to, at least if he follows the pattern I see quite often, including with mine.</p>
<p>As far as the merit awards, it is really hard to say how the decisions are made. Obviously stats have a big role, but I imagine they look at other things. A 33 on the ACT is like a 2200 on the SAT, and most schools will just use the more favorable test. But I cannot disagree as to the fact that it seems mysterious on the surface as to the disparities. I can only encourage asking the admissions counselor if there can be a reconsideration, especially if they had a good first semester senior year.</p>