<p>Hey quenched - it takes a pretty mature and big man to admit something like that, apology accepted. It does get a little infuriating to see posts like xSteven and then yours (I was totally blown away at the direct personal attack) that are just lashing out. For what it is worth, I understand your frustration. I suspect the explanations posited on CC regarding the huge number of early acceptance interest at Tulane have it right, and it put Tulane in a very difficult position regarding highly qualified students that applied later. As someone pointed out, Tulane cannot afford to have a class of 2200 accept their offer, they don't have the space or other resources.</p>
<p>If Tulane was a higher choice for you than Michigan, that does make it hard. They are very different atmospheres in almost all ways except academics, both are really excellent in that regard. But I know about 10 people that are Michigan grads, and they all loved it there. So if that is where you end up, I wish you nothing but the best of luck. FYI, the fallenchemist name is because I have a degree in chemistry (from Tulane, obviously, and grad work in chem elsewhere) but rather than keep going in that direction and work in a lab I changed course and got my MBA. I have spent most of my career on the business side of science, the "dark side" to a true scientist. Hence I am "fallen".</p>
<p>Everyone, I am just as befuddled by some of the decisions as those affected are, but I feel fallenchemist provides an extremely rational response to the item at hand. There is but one more piece of information I would like to include in the explanation for this phenomenon and that is the fact that on the application Tulane asks which other schools you will be applying to. Now, let's all imagine these adcoms sitting here wanting to create a stellar class. Since they are adcoms they know whether or not a student will or will not be accepted to their other choices, and in the case of a 2300 they have a pretty big reason not to accept that student because they know that student is going to pick Vanderbilt or Duke over Tulane (most likely). So folks, take this as a compliment in a sense. Tulane isn't saying they don't want you, I bet you they're depressed and flabbergasted to be able to tell a 2340 that they're waitlisted, but they know what steps they want to take and they know they need to be realistic so that they don't hurt the yield.</p>
<p>admittedly, I stopped reading the messages after the first two or so pages so this may have already been covered, however, it is very smart of Tulane to waitlist all of you great candidates so that they can in fact weed out those who did not truly have Tulane near the top of their lists. If you choose not to accept a place on the waitlist, then they know that you were not serious about attending their school. If you do truly want to go to Tulane then I suggest you let them know that you are interested. Furthermore, they probably did not expect to receive the level of applicants that they did through RD. They most likely admitted tons of amazing students through EA and had given away all of their spots and are now waiting for those students to make a decision on whether or not they will attend. I know that for me, in this economy it depends on how much money I can get elsewhere and how much of my need Tulane will be able to cover.</p>
<p>if it helps....
i know that at least 10 people from my school who were accepted with scholarship money will be declining admission (me included) </p>
<p>i applied early action and received the 20,000 scholarship
4.65 Weighted
30 ACT
6 AP's
Varsity Soccer, Golf
Best Buddies Organization
Model UN Club
Futsol Club
Several Exchange/Community Project trips</p>
<p>This thread has been an interesting read. Tulane has reported that they had over 40,000 applications this year! That is overwhelming for a school the size of Tulane, with an entering class of only about 1500. If they admit about the same # as last year (around 9200) their admit rate will be around 23%. Thats almost half of what it was just a few years ago (shortly after Katrina). Enrollment management must be <em>extremely</em> challenging. If the yield (which, IMO is an area they need to work on) stays at only around 17-19%, they'll get their expected freshman class size. I suspect that the waitlist will move quickly (though thats purely a hunch-- based on the low-ish yield #s from the past). In this economic climate its probably hard to predict what students will do admissions-wise. </p>
<p>I strongly suspect that they had to put many very very qualified candidates on their wait list because they simply couldnt risk accepting too many students, and the regular admissions folks got the short end of the stick. Last year they planned for an entering freshman class of about 1400, and instead got around 1600 acceptances. There was some attrition over the summer, and this year's entering freshman class was about 1550, with an average SAT of about 1391/1600 (that statistic was from an admissions counselor at an accepted students event in our town). They cant take on more students than they have room to house or faculty to teach, so may be being cautious this year so as not to stretch their limits.</p>
<p>As an aside, all one need do is read the Princeton Rev. books, Fiske guide, the Yale Daily News' Insiders Guide to Colleges (my vote for the <em>best</em> book that really gives a feel for what it is like to be at a particular school, from the students perspective) to see that students who apply to Tulane often also overlap/apply to Vandy, Emory, Duke, Northwestern, etc. These schools are certainly not identical, but they tend to draw the same pool of students. My S turned down Emory, with a scholarship, to attend Tulane (with a better scholarship).</p>
<p>For those of you on the wait list, SHOW INTEREST! Contact your admissions rep by phone and/or email, and VISIT. They said that something like 94% of admitted students who visit Tulane attend, but over 90% of admitted students who dont visit, don't attend. Thats pretty powerful. Also, if you are admitted but don't get an offer of aid, make an appointment with the FA office and discuss your situation, compare your competing admissions/scholarship offers and ask them for a reconsideration (there is a technical term for this requesst, but I am blanking on it at the moment). This approach can be very successful. Good luck to all!!!</p>
<p>Almost all schools, aside from top ivies, play the yield game. That being said, most of the supposedly indignantly "overqualified" waitlisters have significantly lower stats/SATs than me and a few others I know who were accepted.</p>
<p>My son just got a letter accepting him off the wait list. This seemed sort of odd because he just got waitlisted 3 weeks ago, so we verified it online – but he’s in! The waitlist may have been a way of gauging the level of interest in the school. This is an abundance of riches – we are going to NY and Boston to check out the schools to which he was accepted before today over spring break; guess we’ll need to make a trip to Nawlins.</p>
<p>wow, how is it even possible that they’re already accepting people off of the waitlist?! i would love to know before may 1st so that i could possibly save a deposit. would u mind saying what your sons stats are/what he did to get off of it? thanks!</p>
<p>I would guess that they would take them off depending on major. If a chemistry major declines their spot then they would take the highest ranked chemistry major from the wait list.</p>
<p>EnjoyTheAdventur - Do you actually have knowledge that they go by anticipated major? Since kids change their minds all the time, that would kind of surprise me. I would have thought that they just start accepting people from the top part of their wait list as they start to get a feel for how things are shaping up with their earlier acceptances.</p>
<p>I was accepted today off the waitlist as well - completely unexpected, “proudly offer you admission…” </p>
<p>I was also offered a $56,000 Academic Achievement Award based on my “extraordinary academic and personal qualifications”
^^ then why didn’t you accept me in the first place?!</p>
<p>catra - timing most likely. If you applied rather late compared to the flood of EA they got this year, they had to hold off because they were afraid the class would be overloaded. But judging by the fact that some are being accepted from the top of the waitlist already, they must be anticipating that enough of the early offers are going elsewhere it is allowing them to make a few offers. Cannot really read anything else into that I don’t think, it is just a strange year all the way around.</p>
<p>Just out of curiosity, what award did they give you? I assume you mean $56K as a one time award, since $56K is more than the cost of attending for a year.</p>
!</p>