I applied EA to Tulane, was deferred, was upset and confused, and today I was wait listed. I’m upset because I thought Tulane was a target school and now it’s worrying me about my other schools. Can anyone explain to me what happened?
I have a 32 on the ACT, 3.95 UW, 4.8 W, tons of extracurriculars (I’m Editor in Chief of my school’s newspaper, literary magazine, and president of Jewish Students United.) I did write the Why Tulane essay and after I was deferred I wrote Tulane an email updating them on my first semester grades (I got straight A’s) and telling them about the awards I received in the 2016 Scholastic Art and Writing Awards.
Did I overestimate myself??? I’m really worried about my other schools. I was accepted EA to Northeastern with merit, CU Boulder with merit, and wait listed at WashU. Do I not stand a chance at schools like NYU and GW? Or was this just a fluke??
As TS sings, shake it off. You have a solid profile. Maybe Tulane accepted a few others just like you so right now you just don’t add anything new to their incoming class. You sound competitive for NYU and George Washington but they may be very pricey options compared to your other offers with merit.
Yeah, there’s nothing you can infer from a single wait list / rejection. My kid got results from three schools that are roughly peers in terms of selectivity, score ranges, etc. Two admits and a rejection, the latter from the one I felt was the best fit (and which had a marginally lower score range). Go figger. Good luck.
SAME EXACT SITUATION. Not only do I have the same grades and scores, (and participate in the same clubs as you!), I also updated Tulane (after being deferred) about my Scholastic Art Awards and straight A’s! And I was Waitlisted too!! Grr. But I can promise you as someone in the same situation, that this means nothing for other schools because I got into much more selective schools with scholarships! Keep your head up
“tufts syndrome” - you’re not over-qualified, but at about the 75% mark. Tulane is looking at folks and projecting whether they think they’ll attend or not. it’s a game - played by both applicants (10+ apps) and schools (managing yield). Your waitlist at WUSTL tells you you’re qualified almost anywhere.
A friend of mine who works with high school seniors in getting their essays and college applications prepared likes to analogize college admissions to the sorting hat in the Harry Potter books/movies – it’s all really just a mystery, with a little bit of magic thrown in. The worst thing you can do is let the admission decisions define who you are as a person. Based on the information that you have given above, I have no doubt that you will be successful at whatever college or university you end up attending.
I hope everything works out the best for you!