@fifi32 The issue with that is that you have visited Tulane which is one of their major factors that you checked off that you likely wrote about in your essay as well. Even though I couldn’t tour Tulane I wrote a (in my opinion) very strong Why Tulane essay, noting that I took countless virtual tours and spoke to regional officers that came to my school, etc. And then when I was deferred and looked at the Admissions blog, I was told that touring would NOT do anything that would give me an acceptance letter, so I tried to continue showing interest as I did before by emailing my counselors and Tulane to no avail, even calling to see if I could get an interview. For a school that values interest that’s disheartening to see your attempts basically ignored. Just because I could not tour the school does not mean I don’t have high interest in Tulane. That’s the idea I got from Tulane EA Admissions: Unless you toured your chances were slim to none.
While demonstrated interest is important, its part of the big picture, and if an application isn’t compelling for whatever reason (maybe a teacher recc wasn’t as strong as one hopes, or maybe something else was not what they were looking for as they built their class) well… interest isnt going to be a big push over the top, unfortunately.
Touring the school is not the only way to show interest. My daughter was accepted last Fall early action without having visited the school. She showed interest by attendance at her high school when the regional admissions representative showed up during the Fall. And by attending a Tulane reception for prospective students that was held in our geographic area during September or October. And in her Why Tulane essay she not only communicated what was important to her from information learned at these local admissons receptions ,but also from what she learned online from Tulane’s website and numerous YouTube videos. And of course she described her talents and interests and what she could contribute to the campus and NOLA, and why it’s a good fit. These are the ways that Tulane can see which applicants are really interested in attending --so it’s not just about visiting the school. Another factor that hasn’t been mentioned, is whether , in addition to a strong Why Tulane essay, the waitlisted applicants submitted the separate Paul Tulane and Deans Honor Scholarship applications. With Tulane having to choose between so many highly qualifed applicants, an applicant who does one or both of these extra projects and who puts forth a well done effort are further evidences to the admissons committee that the applicant is serious and passionate about attending the school. It could be the additional indicia of interest to tip the scale in favor of admisson.
This thread has gone off the rails because. for whatever reason, there is a significant mismatch between the timing of RD rejections/waitlists and RD acceptances so that there’s a disproportionate amount of negativity on display. Hopefully the RD acceptances come out soon and some balance will be restored.
@jym626 Everyone who received an initial acceptance EA at my school toured Tulane before the Admissions round. I don’t think it’s 100% correct to say it’s simply only a part of the big picture, but rather a very important factor, with of course exceptions to this. @trackmbe3, I did the exact same measures, speaking with the rep at my school, applied to Comm. Service Fellowship, and incorporated all of that into my Why Tulane Essay mentioning specific areas and departments to show that I had done my research and had tangible proof of my interest. Again, I’d like to think that my essay was rather strong. I had two current Tulane students that attend my school read it to see if it fit their interest factor as well as a professor. Guess it just didn’t get there. What’s more frustrating is that I presented interest before and after decisions were released and Tulane was not responsive, even though they value their applicants doing so which was a problem I never encountered at any of the other schools I applied to.
Lets not underestimate how much Tulane cares about community service and involvement, they said multiple times when I visited that they crafted a class that engages in community service as it is something that is embedded into their school’s culture.
@pastpower-
Read their common data set. Tulane considers interest, but they don’t (and can’t) require it. They are well aware that many students cannot visit campus. There are other ways to demonstrate interest and present a strong complete package. For whatever reason, your application was not what they were looking for. It is unfortunate, but it is what it is. If you were deferred EA, that means they are likely looking for more to strengthen your application— eg additional honors/awards/accomplishment, super strong mid year grades, etc. If you didnt send additional info between the EA deferral and the RD application, they have no additional info to see a stronger reason to accept.
This is the only thread I’ve been on where people get so defensive about a school. Even kids with absolutely everything going for them will be rejected from competitive schools. It seems an exercise in futility to try to micro analyze every detail. It’s not the students’ faults and it’s not the school’s fault (totally normal to defer, waitlist, reject etc). I only took issue with the way my son and I experienced the process and it was far less inviting or accessible than every other school we dealt with. I understand the mix of emotions and variations of experiences on here, I just don’t understand trying to encourage kids to assume there was something inferior about their applications. Stellar kids will be rejected, it’s just how it goes.
Sometimes students have a hard time accepting that a school… any school, will defer/deny. It can be a hard pill to swallow, especially for strong students who haven’t experienced much disappointment.
I’m hoping it’s just a coincidence that we found Tulane’s administrators and process so condescending and arrogant and that same tone is mirrored by its online defenders. I’ll see myself off this thread. It’s just annoying at this point. Good luck to all the great kids on here, whether you got into Tulane or not!
Right now people are mostly looking for answers as to why they or their child were waitlisted or denied at the end of a very long, imperfect, and largely arbitrary admission process. The admission process is no different at Tulane than it is at other schools but people want to vent, so let’s let them vent.
Tone is not easily expressed on line, and is often skewed by the reader, who may slant their read by their perspective and preconceived opinion.
Speaking only for myself, as I mentioned earlier, one of the worst experiences we had with an admissions office was at the school DS#1 attended and loved. Unwise to make a decision based on a staff member or student working a campus job in the admissions office.
I have no skin in this game- just interesting to watch how things have transpired over the years and what is helpful to explain to readers in an attempt to answer some questions. (This is how fallenchemist first reached out to me when his dau was applying and my DS was a freshman.)
As has been explained earlier, Tulane’s new Dean of Enrollment Management has been there for only a year. He has likely instituted new policies and procedures, yet readers and applicants seem to think much is the same as in past years. While Tulane may be going through some growing pains (meaning changes with the new policies and procedures he may have implemented) it doesn’t necessarily make them “arrogant or condescending”. Perhaps some might benefit form some customer service training. Perhaps someone had a bad day. But the flip side is some posters here sound like they have a sense of entitlement.Then again, maybe its just the tone 8->
@jym626 I’ve received plenty of rejections/deferrals no problem, and know Tulane is a competitive institution where admission is not a given. The root of the issue I took is the irony I’ve seen from Tulane as a school reputed to value interest while my many attempts were ignored (no responses whatsoever from office or regional counselor). However, I know that there’s no reversing this and that all I can do is offer words of advice to students to follow. Just so astonishing that a school like UCLA with thousands more applicants, as well as Duke and UNC, were much more responsive to my attempts to reach out with no stone left unturned by them.
Maybe the adcomm was ill? Had a family emergency? Who knows. Its unfortunate. Hopefully the questions being asked were not something that could be found readily on the website. Sometimes that can backfire.
I do know that WiscoRunner who has a different adcom than me had the same issue where not one of his messages were responded to, even though he took time to ensure he asked comprehensive questions and provided legitimate and thorough updates. Maybe it was both of them with circumstances. Just really didn’t feel like Tulane’s statement on their page, “Feel free to contact them with any questions or issues,” really held up in that regard specifically. For contrast, I was denied Stanford SCEA but hold no concerns over them. I was always able to reach my counselors and the office to show interest and didn’t find that admissions process as painful and wound up.
That is unfortunate. Sorry that happened. Hopefully the adcomms are reading along and will take a few pointers back to the “suggestion box”.
I recall one campus visit where the woman at the admissions desk never bothered to look up from her knitting, and barely grunted “hello”. Some folks are better suited for other jobs 
Whoever commented earlier that the complete decisions for RD haven’t been released (seems like a slow dribble, perhaps) was on point that perhaps this is causing a negative reaction. Perhaps it would have been prudent for the school to release all the accept/WL/deny on the same day.
@jym626 @Pastpower is correct, I contacted my adcom approx. three times, spaced out with a few months in between each, over the course of the admissions cycle, and each time I asked relevant questions that definitely could not be found on the website. I read my adcom’s bio and saw that he was from the Midwest like me, so one question I asked was how he liked New Orleans in comparison to the Midwest/Ohio, how he adjusted to living there, his fav things, etc. (I actually found the email I sent: my exact wording was “Seeing that you are from the Midwest too, I would love to hear your perspective on the best (and worst) parts of living in New Orleans, as I have never been to the city or anywhere in Louisiana!”) I was hoping to strike up a conversation with him to build a relationship, and of course show interest. While I understand adcoms are extremely busy people, I find it hard to believe that 3 unanswered emails can simply be blamed on circumstances. I was very disappointed to receive no response to any of my emails.
Again, to clarify, I am not upset that Tulane didn’t accept me. I absolutely was not entitled to an acceptance. However, I didn’t apply to Tulane as a safety or throw-away school, it was genuinely my #1, and I did absolutely everything in my power to show my interest in the school. For me, the only ways I could access showing interest were via email and letters (which I chose not to send, in lieu of emails), as well as by completing the optional essay and applying for the PT scholarship, both of which I did. I was not able to visit, nor was I able to participate in the alternatives others have mentioned – no adcom came to my school and the nearest regional admissions session was 4.5 hours away so out of reach for me. So you can understand why I would be frustrated when one of my only ways to show continued interest was ignored.
I’m not saying interest was the only thing that kept me from being accepted. My app/essay could’ve just been sub-par. And that’s ok. My experience was just underwhelming and I was upset by it, that’s all.
There is no excuse for unanswered emails. Did either of you consider reaching out to Jeff Schiffman when you were not getting a response? Surely he would want to know if his staff is unresponsive.
As for the posts here, it is the “off with their heads” tone that some have that seems unhelpful. Venting is fine but accusations about participants doesn’t help contribute to a productive conversation. JMO. Best of luck to all in this college admissions round.
@WiscoRunner I’m sorry you were not admitted because you really sound like you had your heart set on Tulane. My advice to you would have been not to send e-mails but instead to pick up the phone and call and to keep calling until you got that adcom on the phone. E-mails are not nearly as powerful in terms of creating impressions as actual conversations and in the business world e-mails often get ignored. That adcom at Tulane probably got no less than several hundred e-mails per day. If they had bothered to respond to you(which I agree they should have) it probably would have been very short. I had my son start calling his target schools as soon as school got out last summer. Sometimes adcoms at those schools would call back, sometimes they wouldn’t. He hated doing it at first, because nobody likes cold calling. But after a while it got easier and he could tell he was making progress because after he would talk to an adcom several times the adcom would almost always reference prior conversations. IE They were getting to know him and were remembering him. When adcoms visited his school some of them knew him already from the phone conversations(Tulane did not come to his school). He kept notes on the phone conversations in a folder, and then always followed up after the call with a thank you e-mail. Very few of those thank you e-mails generated replies, because again e-mail is very ineffective. We drove many hours to get to the nearest Tulane info night because we knew from conversations with the rep how important it was that he get there since we could not visit campus. In the end I’m not sure if those things made all the difference but I think they helped.
Your points are well taken, @EDHDAD. I think those things did help your son, because your regional adcomm should be the reader of and advocate for the students in their region. My DS had the reverse experience in that he met his adcomm at his school fair, and attended and spoke to her again at the nighttime presentation. He too followed up with an email and a thank you note, and when we visited campus for admitted students weekend, his adcomm greeted him by name. If a student is waitlisted this year, there are things they can do if they truly will attend if accepted.