Tulane Honors Program or Tulane Accelerated Physician Training Program

Colleges and Universities A-Z Tulane University
1

<p>I'm a Senior in California and really interested in applying to Tulane's honors and accelerated program. </p>

<p>ACT: 33
SAT: 2110 (but is 2270 with superscore)
Bio SAT: 720
Math ii SAT: 730
Unweighted GPA: 3.88
Taken 7 AP courses with mostly A's and a couple B's (our school doesn't allow AP's fresh and soph year) 5's and 4's on the tests</p>

<p>EC's:
Senior Class President
300+ community service hours
YMCA volunteering
Work with local government and city councilmembers</p>

<p>What would my chances be to getting into one of these programs? Please help me out!</p>

2

<p>You don’t have to apply to the Honors Program, you are either invited when you are accepted to Tulane or you aren’t. You most likely will be, I would think. But keep in mind also that the HP is largely there for students that are wanting to graduate with highest honors, which requires a minimum GPA of 3.6 and a thesis project. You also take some honors level courses, but that is actually rather minimal. There is also special advising for scholarships like the Rhodes, Goldwaters, etc. So it is definitely a good program, but it is not an Honors College, separate from the rest of the university, like some publics have. That doesn’t make much sense at schools that are already highly selective like Tulane.</p>

<p>Comparing it to TAP-TP is apples and oranges in several ways. Most obviously they serve completely different purposes. Also, TAP-TP is far more selective, with only a handful of slots every year, maybe 10? Everyone that does make it into this program will already be in the HP, since it will be the best of the best. Finally, I don’t think you apply for TAP-TP before coming to Tulane, I think you apply once you start classes. You can check with a premed advisor about that after you are accepted to Tulane and the HP.</p>

<p>As far as your chances for getting into TAP-TP, that is very hard to say. It is really tough, but certainly nothing I see in your record says that you shouldn’t give it a try. Some people with 2000 SAT scores and 3.3 GPA think they will get in, and sadly they are just woefully misinformed. You certainly are not in this category by any means, but keep in mind there will be a significant number of applicants with your stats and better. Just trying to attenuate your expectations.</p>

<p>But first things first. Since Tulane doesn’t have pre-approved 6 year programs like some schools, you will first have to decide if it is the right school for you even if you didn’t get into TAP-TP.</p>

3

<p>Thank you very much for all that information! I would really love the atmosphere of New Orleans and especially the musical and cultural aspect of it. But I’m also worried that the parties and drinking might get in the way of doing the best I can. I assume that you are from Tulane? How much does the atmosphere of the University play into the academics?</p>

<p>I think Tulane is my top choice tied with Duke and UCLA, but then again I’ve never been to any of these colleges.</p>

4

<p>I am a Tulane alum and have a daughter there now. Never know exactly how to describe her status. She is in her 3rd year at Tulane, but would typically be called a 4th year because she spent the year abroad in Beijing. But she will probably stay an extra semester or even a full year just because she can due to her scholarship. But she has enough credits to graduate now I think, although I am pretty sure she hasn’t fulfilled all the distribution requirements, plus she is in the HP and will write a thesis. Whew! Hope that made sense, just saying all that because her situation was similar to yours except that she was never premed or a science major. So if you have questions I can probably answer them directly or can ask her, except about premed stuff these days. I know the basics, but detailed questions maybe not so much.</p>

<p>As far as your other questions/concerns, I wouldn’t worry much at all about the “party atmosphere” at Tulane. I can promise it is no different than at Duke or UCLA, except for the unique venues of New Orleans. In fact there are lots and lots of people at Tulane that drink moderately or not at all, and are quite disciplined about budgeting their time between academics, clubs/sports and social activities. It is easily doable, my D being just an anecdotal example. She is on track to graduate summa cum laude with a double major and probably a minor, is involved in 3-4 club type activities, is involved with her church group, and still has time to get out with friends. Obviously one cannot do all that successfully getting plastered 3-4 days a week, and that really is not the atmosphere for most students. Do some do that? Yes, and they are more visible than the majority that do not. That is not unique to Tulane, it will be the same at Duke, WUSTL, Chicago, Harvard, UCLA, Cal, etc. College students at selective universities are pretty similar in their behavior overall, as a group. Always a few super hard party types, a lot in the middle, and a reasonable minority that choose not to drink or party for the most part.</p>

<p>So with these three schools you really have very different choices. Duke is the strongest academically, but Durham is not a very interesting city. Kind of a dump, actually, but the Duke campus is really nice. Of course the basketball team there is famous, if you are into that kind of thing.</p>

<p>Tulane is about the same size as Duke, with New Orleans really being a key difference. There are other differences as well, of course, but this really stands out. It would be a totally different experience, as long as you take advantage of what New Orleans has to offer. You probably saw the post I wrote on the other thread regarding “Life at TU”. But college is fun no matter where you go, if you get involved and take advantage of what is offered in that environment.</p>

<p>UCLA is so much larger, obviously. And for you it is a state school, with most of the students being from California. I worry about the budget cuts there, but of course UCLA will always provide a great education. Are you from the LA area? Also, is money a factor? That will make a difference in which school might come out on top here.</p>

<p>Once you sort all this out, I strongly encourage a visit. While 2 days in a place cannot really tell you everything you need to know, it at least gives you context and hopefully a gut feeling as to how you would like being somewhere.</p>

5

<p>Ah, too any choices for me! But i’m from the Bay Area, so all of these schools would be far for me. The money issue isn’t a HUGE factor as long as it’s a really good school but getting a scholarship would make my decision much easier. </p>

<p>I was thinking of visiting Tulane after (and if) I got accepted. Actually, just visiting all the colleges I would get accepted to. Some of my other choices include Brown (but I don’t think I’ll get in), Stanford (another reach), Columbia, USC, and Berkeley. </p>

<p>And as for class difficulty, it’s probably very similar i most colleges, but how hard is it to get a 3.6? I’m guessing that it is extremely difficult and even then, getting into med school is a very far reach. I’m still trying to think of what to write for both of the Tulane essays, but I’m running out of time because I want to apply EA. </p>

<p>For the “why Tulane” essay, one of the main reasons I would want to go there is because of the location, the culture, and the music. Is that a good enough reason to write about? or to go? I’m not very knowledgeable about the academics side of the school… But I know it’s very good and that’s good enough for me!</p>

<p>Is traveling abroad out of the question for the TAP-TP or the creative 8-year program? I have been studying french for 4 years (another reason why New Orleans sounds awesome to me), and I would want to go to a French speaking country. Not necessarily France though.</p>

6

<p>Good questions! And a really good list of schools. So let’s start at the end.</p>

<p>Going abroad for the TAP-TP would be unusual, just because of the concentrated nature of the program. You may have noticed there is a year of community service in Louisiana after the 2nd year and before you start at the med school, so that makes studying abroad even harder. Ah, if only you had been doing this 30 or more years ago. Lots of parts of Louisiana still spoke a lot of French! But keep up with your French anyway, there may be opportunities to spend time in the summer in Haiti. Tulane has a lot of connections to that country for humanitarian aid.</p>

<p>If you went the Creative Scholars route, then studying abroad is not only possible, but probably more common than not. Because you cannot major in a science for that program and because you don’t have to take the MCATs, a semester or even a year abroad is quite doable.</p>

<p>Class difficulty is similar at selective schools, but in my mind there is a strong correlation between the quality of your peers and the difficulty of getting top grades. But getting a 3.6 is really quite doable for a student of your apparent caliber if you just have a plan to stay disciplined about classwork, take advantage of resources like office hours with the prof and TA help, and of course depending somewhat on your choice of major. Getting a 3.6 as a BME student is usually more difficult for most students than if you are a history major, and that is no knock on history majors at all. And it is only a generalization anyway. If you hate writing papers and are bored by lots of reading, history would be harder for you. Anyway, I am convinced that any student capable of getting into most or even some of the schools you mention can get a 3.6 anywhere with good effort.</p>

<p>OK, the Why Tulane essay. Those are good reasons of course, and it is hard when you have not visited. I am assuming you did not attend the local program when Kasey Bruns was there on Sept. 30. No problem, and you could write to her and ask her if she will be back in the area before the app deadline, or anytime for that matter. <a href=“mailto:kbruns1@tulane.edu”>kbruns1@tulane.edu</a> But in any event, I think you might do well to focus on the unique programs that you are interested in, TAP-TP and Creative Scholars. Do you think you know what you might major in? If it is a non-science like French, that would make a natural essay since the Creative Scholars program is one of a kind as far as I know. It has the added benefit of sounding like it really might be the case for you, lol. It is important you are honest and natural and not telling them something you think will just “work”. They smell that stuff a mile away. I don’t know how, but they do. But they are not asking you to declare a major, just what your thinking is that is leading you to Tulane. It might not have originally been for that program, but obviously you discovered it in your research (good for you!) and you do want to study abroad. Hence a possible fit especially for you.</p>

<p>I just think essays that focus on the personal rather than the more general stuff (weather, food, good academics…everyone says that stuff. Of course it is true, but still) show more initiative. Like you rooting out the existence of the Creative Scholars program. Not pushing that, just a good example. Sometimes it is a professor doing research in an area that you think sounds really interesting. Or a community service program at Tulane that really appeals to you. Even when you cannot visit, there is so much of that kind of information online, it shows you really looked into the school and thought about why it is right for you.</p>

7

<p>We talked about the possibility of the TAP-TP, but what are some of the prerequisites for the creative scholars program? How selective is it? and maybe some statistics on previous people who have been accepted? </p>

<p>But that was very wonderful insight about the essays, I really appreciate you spending your time to answer my questions! I also just send out Kasey Bruns an email for good measure.</p>

8

<p>Good that you sent her an e-mail. I helped out at one local event with her a year or two ago, she is very nice.</p>

<p>As far as the CS program, you take all the premed courses your first two years. That’s Freshman Chem with lab, Organic Chem with lab, Biology, English, Physics, and I think you need to take Calc as well. You would have to double check that last one. Then you also declare your major in any non-science area. Music, History, French, whatever turns you on. Then in your second semester sophomore year you apply to the CS program. They will review your grades, activities, and presumably talk to some of your profs. Then sometime during that summer they will let you know if you are accepted. If you are, it really doesn’t change your path much, except you know you don’t have to take the MCATs and you know you are in med school in 2 more years.</p>

<p>I don’t have any info on how many get in each year and their stats. The med school and/or the premed advisors at Tulane might have that. My pretty firm assumptions would be that you got strong grades in all your courses through the end of sophomore year, including the premed courses. By that I would think mostly A’s and A-'s, with no worse than one or two B+'s. Good luck! Do you have any thoughts as to what you might major in if you went the non-science route? Also, I think the program allows for a minor in a science if you wanted it. But again, you would have to check that out.</p>

9

<p>I was thinking something along the lines of diplomatic relations, French, or maybe history! I’m worried about french because writing essays the details of a language bug the crap out of me! haha </p>

<p>I think it’s going to be a real challenge to get the 3.6 but hopefully I’m up for it! Most people actually associate me with a very liberal arts education because most classes I take are like that.</p>