My D applied to 11 schools and got into 9 of them. She applied ED and was deferred and then spent the months between Nov and March doing everything in her power (with the exception of another visit since we live on the other side of the country) to convince admissions that Tulane was her top choice, had been for four years and that she would succeed there. And she still was rejected. 3.8 unweighted, 1350 SAT, 9 APs, leadership, volunteer hours, Girl Scout Gold Award, etc. She did an alumni interview (interviewer was raving about her and even sent a follow up welcome to Tulane note!) her Why Tulane was strong, and she visited campus AND drove across the state to visit them when they came to Seattle ) She met and exceeded the requirements that they claim to be looking for.
I’m just a little bitter (can you tell) because I didn’t see many ED deferrals who were ultimately admitted and I feel like they strung her along, gave her false hope and then sent her the most condescending rejection letter ever. The other school that rejected her let her know in a timely manner and were much more positive with their correspondence and the whole process was WAY smoother. I am glad this process is FINALLY over but Tulane has left a poor impression on many people with this crazy admissions process. . They obviously want to be an IVY and they aren’t, and the holistic review they used is ridiculous and leads people to believe they have a shot when really its totally random. My D will be attending University of WA on a full merit and aide scholarship package in the fall and I know she will succeed and love it- but boy have I learned some lessons for when my two boys go through this in a few years!
So looking at all the stats of those waitlisted I have one question - did you visit the school? Just curious since this is on my son’s list of top choices and we are flying down from Maryland this summer to visit the school and the area.
I think that a lesson learned from reading this thread and the other Tulane Admissions thread is that if you apply ED (either ED 1 or ED 2 (especially after being deferred in Early Action) and (1) don’t get admitted (deferred or declined) via ED for Fall or (2) don’t get offered spring admission (something they just started doing this year) then it is time to move on and focus on other schools. Tulane wants high yield and ED offers the school the most attractive pool of applicants, those who must accept and have the financial ability to be full pay. To not receive either of those two outcomes should be a clear warning that you will likely eventually be denied or waitlisted, because the school did not holistically view your application (not You personally) as a good fit for whatever reason (gpa, course rigor, standardized test score, extra-curricular activities, teacher and guidance counselor letter of recommendation, selection of a particular major, common app or the why Tulane essays, demonstrated interest, financial profile, geographic location, and lastly, absence of any luck). Who really knows? Such is life.
@kinithia Please do not take this the wrong way, but a likely reason your daughter may have been denied could be due to her 3.8w GPA and 1350 SAT. You said the “holistic view” is ridiculous but that would actually more benefit your daughter due to her stats being on the lower side. That being said, this was the most competitive year for tulane applicants and I wish your daughter the best, but many people being deferred and waitlisted have SATS in the 1500’s.
@kinithia So sorry to hear about your daughter’s experience – that is terrible. I think you summed it up perfectly when you said that your daughter felt “strung along”, as those are my sentiments exactly. Many people on here are saying that we should have applied ED/EA to prove our interest and boost our chances of admission, but I, along with your daughter and many others, did just that and was deferred. It’s so great that your daughter got a full ride to the University of WA, though! Congrats to her. That is definitely an accomplishment to be proud of.
@EDHDAD Just to clarify, I did call once but was only able to reach a student worker at the admissions office, I can’t remember exactly what she said but I know I wasn’t able to speak to my adcom at that time. I asked her to make a note that I was still very interested in Tulane (post-deferral) and she said she would. I didn’t call again which I guess could’ve been a mistake but I was following the advice of the admissions director on his blog who said not to over-contact the school. Doesn’t matter either way of course — oh well.
@WiscoRunner So where are you going to go?
@EDHDAD I’m still waiting to hear back from Vanderbilt, but not expecting an acceptance there so I will be choosing between Arizona, Arizona State, Minnesota, and Temple, and will probably end up at Minnesota.
@WiscoRunner Minnesota is awesome, you can’t go wrong there. U of A and Arizona State would be epic fun in the sun. I know lots of people that went to those two and both are great . Waiting on Vandy as well, but we have no expectation of winning that lottery.
@EDHDAD Couldn’t agree more! Minnesota is a fantastic school, I love it a lot. Visiting Arizona State and Arizona soon, so we’ll see if they can top UMN.
Barrett Honors College at ASU is top notch. Very highly respected.
A post I wrote in another thread. I just feel really bad after spending an evening with some of my son’s friends over dinner about college outcomes.
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It is a WL epidemic out there. Seems like schools are using this tool to achieve multiple goals - lower acceptance rate, ensure high yield, and “unblind” the financial needs (so they can provide aid and claim meet 100% aid needs).
It’s been a brutal season. Couple of my son’s buddies came over for dinner after the game tonight and we were chatting about the various outcomes. Schools deem to be “safety” just couple of yrs ago have seen the acceptance rate decreased by 10-15% or even 20%. Only the state flagship remains somewhat steady. One of the kiddos told me Villanova acceptance rate is going to be 29% this year. Tulane dropped to 17%, BU to 22%, NEU to 19%. I wonder what CWRU acceptance rate maybe this cycle. Maybe 30%?
Just the increase in the application number can’t explain all the drop. The increasing use of ED/EA and WL combo allow these schools to do all they can to accept fewer number of kids in RD (let that be financial driven or yield driven). I think this is the new reality and will only get worse. I have no idea how schools can accurately predict the yield with so many kids put in the WL limbo. It is a vicious cycle.
If I am the parent of a HS junior now, and the kiddo has no special hooks (URM, athletes, social-economic, FG, legacy etc), I would be deeply concerned with this trend. Fine, if the kiddo is average and being in the state flagship is not the end of the world. But what if the kiddo been working hard, did all the right things with the scores and ECs, and now facing the reality of - hey, the top schools are all crap-shoots (and <10% acceptance rate), and the so-called “safety” schools for these “Ivy-ready” kids are practicing WL/defer limbo because of yield protection or what not - what a tough spot to be in. They don’t have the hooks to get them go to some top-ranked schools, and they are penalized because the “next tier” schools want to formally accept fewer numbers, and WL more in this whole ranking game.
I just feel really bad for the kiddos I talked to this evening. I have thought many of them would be in good spots already, but little do I know how extensive the whole WL situation been across the board. Like one kiddo told me - “it sucks to be good, and with no hooks”… “why bother, why even try if I am being rejected because they think I will not attend”… “better to have parents w/o college than to have parents went to some no-name college, and take the FG hook away …”… these are bitter comments, and I wonder how many of such is being discussed in households across the country. Just an observation.
I agree, that may have had a lot to do with it, her scores were not amazing and I get that but if that was all it was- why not reject her ED? Why defer her and leave her hanging for months? That was the part that irritated me. If they had no intention to take her it would have been way better to deal with that back in November, switch gears and focus on other schools. Tulane as a “maybe” just added to the stress and honestly kept her from being more excited about some of her other offers when her top choice was still technically in play. In the end she decided she was happier being someone’s top choice and not the leftovers- valuable lessons were learned!
If they had no intention of taking her they would likely have denied at ED (though some schools deny very few at ED). The goal is not to emphasize how much you want them, but to present an application that makes the school want you.
I think that it is clear that if Tulane is your number one college then you should absolutely apply EA! The early bird gets the worm in this situation. That’s the bottom line. The admissions staff was incredibly nice and responsive to both me and my son. Jeff Schiffman responded to my emails even on a Sunday afternoon! Jeff Schiffman’s blog will give you all insight into Tulane and their admissions process.
When a school defers an ED student to the regular applicant pool they are basically saying that they think you are a competitive applicant but not one of the top ED applicants so they are going to compare you to the regular applicant pool(which they have not seen yet at that point). So if you end up comparing well to the regular applicant pool you get in, but if the regular applicant pool is stronger than you don’t. This is the way it works everywhere, not just Tulane. People mistakenly think ED is an easier route to admission because they see that it has a higher acceptance rate than the other admission pools, and because the ED pool has lower stats. So if you are really wealthy, or if you are poor enough to know you won’t have to pay if accepted, then surely it’s the fast track to acceptance…right? The problem is that those ED acceptance stats are misleading because they include all of the athletes, band members, connected alumni kids, etc. These are kids that had hooks that were offered admission not because of their grades or scores, but because of some other special reason. When you subtract them out of the ED pool the admission rate is not higher and the grades and scores needed are no different from the other admission pools.
There are not too many schools that still give significant legacy boosts.
@jym626 Just one example of the many types of hooks that add to the ED acceptance pool. Agreed it probably does not affect the averages the way the sports teams do.
But not all sports teams have their recruited athletes apply ED. Can’t recall when the letter of intent signing day is, but not sure schools require the athletes to apply ED.
Here’s an interestng read https://www.noodle.com/articles/worth-the-rush-thoughts-on-the-race-to-early-acceptance-at-elite-schools-part-two
@jym626 Again, agreed that not every school is the same. Those were just examples of how the ED gets skewed. And yes, within those examples you could have a lot of variance school to school. Some schools really value the Alumni relationship when it comes to admitting a legacy, some don’t. In my post above I mentioned the “connected” alumni kids. You can bet at most schools that the connected alumni kids(these are professor’s and upper admin’s kids, large donors kid’s…not just a mere kid of any alumni) do get in. If you have ever worked with data then you know that it does not take a heck of a lot to really skew the results.