We've Messed Up

Colleges and Universities A-Z Tulane University
41

As an IT person, shows the value of not cutting corners in IT.
Our jobs are offshored, people shop around for cheapest software as if buying
a commodity. Good tech may cost more, but may prevent such mistakes.
I have worked in firms that merged, and the merged entity retired high quality systems
for cheapers systems that fail and impact customers, because they selected the cheaper
of two systems. Colleges, like other organizationa are not immune from such cost cutting
short term decision making.

As a parent, I hated the whole ED process.
These are 17-18 year olds making one of the most
complex (financially, socially and career) decisions of their life.
Is it really necessary to rush that process ? Harvard and Yale had dropped it,
why does Tulane need to have this process ?

Finally, as a long ago former student, one who chose to transfer OUT of Tulane,
I can say that while I recall an excellent academic experience,
there are lots of good colleges out there. I was an A student in their former
engineering college. I liked my profs, and many classmates. Did not like
New Orleans even a little bit, so I left. I found happiness and success elsewhere.
Academically, had I stayed, I would have an engineering degree from an engineering
school that no longer exists.
Those not accepted, there is a big world out there,
and many colleges will be even better for you.
Don’t give Tulane another thought. You don’t need them.
None of these schools are perfect, as demonstrated here by Tulane.
You’ll quickly forget the admissions process, regardless where
you end up, and should focus on success at your chosen school.
Just look at all the transfer threads, many people dont know what they want
or could not get it, right out of HS. So even if you applied ED, dont be so
sure that was the best choice for you. I thought Tulane was for me,
and while it was a good choice, it was most definitely was not the best choice,
after spending a year there.

My own kids also support the fact you dont really know what you
want in HS. Eldest is in a place he applied ED, an Ivy,
and not as happy there as I had hoped he would be, certainly not
with the quality of teaching. My youngest, “settled” as he did not get into
his ED, nor even 2nd, 3rd choice schools. Despite this, he’s really happy
where he ended up, surprised how good it has been for him. So don’t
give this decision a 2nd thought…move on to what may well be an even better
choice for you. Don’t mean to trash Tulane, but there are many fine schools,
and Tulane is one of many, and despite your decision to go ED,
you may be even happier elsewhere, as I found after leaving Tulane.

42

@blevine I agree with several of your points. The first one being there are many fine schools and the second being no school is perfect. What I disagree with is your statement “I don’t mean to trash Tulane.” That’s exactly what you did throughout your entire post. You have very valid , personal reasons for transferring to another school. These students have very valid personal reasons for choosing Tulane as an ED. There is no right school for everyone , but Tulane may actually be the right school for some of these students who may have very legitimate reasons to attend . That is not to say that I believe that all should be accepted because of a computer error because I don’t .I agree that you are entitled to your opinion, it might be better received if less inflammatory . JMO.

43

@carolinamom2boys So “I recall an excellent academic experience,” and “there are many fine schools,
and Tulane is one of many,” still means I am trashing Tulane ? You read what you wanted to read.
Obviously you support Tulane, so any fair and balanced pros and cons would be inflammatory to you.

My point was, don’t cry over this…life is not over because one did not get into Tulane.
That doesn’t mean one should not attend if you did get in.

44

@blevine I’m not a fan of ED either but I can understand why a university implements it to compete with peer schools or in an effort to climb in the rankings to enter another tier. Most top schools have ED. Harvard and Yale dropped it but they do have REA and SCEA which also limits students’ choices, and besides, they are in an ultra-elite niche that does not need the yield protection offered by ED that other schools do.

Now that Tulane has introduced EDI and EDII, it may want to consider dropping EA altogether, or at least dropping its policy of releasing the EA decisions in batches. It is an unwieldy and complicated admissions system they’ve got going on over there right now and I am not entirely surprised that the mistake occurred.

45

@carolinamom2boys I did not see one criticism of Tulane by @blevine. Looks like he didn’t want to be in New Orleans. My son (with us) will be visiting Tulane and New Orleans and I really hope he gets a good feel for the campus and the city in the two days we will be there. We’re visiting Tulane after Emory and that’s a tough act to follow. My preference is that he not apply early to Emory. It bothers me that the success rate of ED is higher than RD, but money will be a factor, among other things. I see zero difference between ED1 and ED2. They both are very early binding commitments. My first made up her mind after deciding that law school might be down the road and the value of an education at our state’s flagship would give her the same opportunities as Brandeis, Northeastern, and other schools she was admitted to. I like EA as there is no risk.

46

@Aida Yield management is useful, but it is to the benefit of the schools at the expense of young kids and families experiencing the college decision process for the first time. Yes in some cases it is a wonderful thing, for the kid that is 100% sure and family that knows they can afford (meaning very rich or very poor, not middle class). But my conjecture is that even kids that are sure, should not be so sure.

One of my kids was a recruited athlete at D3 level. Most of those coaches pressure you to go ED once the coach wants you. His coach specifically said he does not require ED, which to me was a big benefit. No high pressure sales tactics. Coach just asked for an idea of how they ranked in his choices and took his word as honest, how refreshing in this day and age. Their integrity was among many reasons I was in favor of his attending this school. My son still had other attractive options, but accepted this one in part because of how he was treated.

47

@blevine I support the decision that Tulane made, other than that I have no opinion at all regarding Tulane .Never attended. Never applied. Usually when someone feels like they need to make a clarification statement such as “Don’t mean to trash Tulane” there is some awareness that their statements could be interpreted as “trashing” The way that you made your point in the second post was more direct and clear IMO, but you are certainly entitled to yours.

48

My son, who went through this process two years ago, was actually treated best by Tulane. Yet, even so, it’s a ridiculous process and, if I ruled the admissions world, it would be very different than it is now. (That’s another discussion for another day.) But back to the topic of this thread (the Tulane ED snafu) …

Here’s today’s New York Times article, for those interested who haven’t seen it yet: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/16/us/tulane-college-applicants-acceptance-emails-wrong.html

49

Our daughter was one of the 130 students.

Whether or not she becomes part of the Tulane family, I respect how the situation was handled. We have no difficulty envisioning the string of four letter words that were bouncing around the admissions office. We’re sad and hate the situation but it is a reminder mistakes do happen and life isn’t fair. Not a bad life lesson for a 17 year old.

50

@ljberkow My son didn’t even want to visit Tulane because he “hated” New Orleans. However, every visit we’d ever made had been to the French Quarter, which he did not like. We visited the Tulane campus, stayed Uptown, and he loved it.

51

Jeff, you’re right. This isn’t a “perfect world.” You made those students’ worlds imperfect, and it’s up to you to make it up. Tulane should bear the majority of the burden of its mistake and allow all falsely admitted students admission to the university. Your apology is well written and compassionate—but that doesn’t suffice or solve any problems.

The consequences of your admissions team’s actions not only instilled deep levels of anxiety within potential Tulane admits but also incurred consequences far beyond. Students who applied ED to Tulane but EA to other schools cancelled their EA apps, believing they were committed to college, sacrificing their spots at other universities. And even if they repealed their application cancellations to other schools after you admitted your mistake, they were forced to give up the confidentiality of their ED application to Tulane. Meanwhile, any other ED student at any other school could still maintain such confidentiality while applying to other EA schools. You didn’t just perpetuate anxiety but also physically tainted their college processes.

Accidents happen, but accidents don’t get swept under the carpet. It’s time for you to take real action and allow Tulane to deal with a slightly oversized entering class instead of instilling tons of unnecessary anxiety and externalities among hundreds of students.

52

I think this situation was handled in the best way it possibly could have been, with and honest and sincere apology, with no minced words

53

@Guitar321 You allege that the 130 students who incorrectly received the welcome immediately withdrew their EA applications sacrificing their spots at other Universities. You are making an assumption that in the short 3-hour time frame in the afternoon (before the retraction email was sent to each of these students) while the students were presumably in school, that they actually withdrew their other EA applications. I highly doubt that more than a few, if any, of the 130 students actually withdrew their other EA applications during this short 3-hour window during the school day. And even if they did, I cannot imagine any consequential harm occurring to them by giving up “the confidentiality of their ED application to Tulane.” While this error was unfortunate, it is unfair–and I argue it would taint the admission process, to allow these 130 students to be admitted if their academic and overall qualifications are. not up to Tulane typical admissions criteria, just because of this mistake. It would not be fair to other applicants. Notwithstanding the above, i understand that of the 130 students whose credentials are slightly below the typical admissible range, Tulane is doing its best to admit them. For example, some students were admitted for spring 2018, something Tulane has not done before and would not have done but for trying to remedy this error.

54

I get the heartbreak. I would be crushed if this happened to me or my kid. Tulane had a duty to apologize and did, and also a duty to ensure that this never happens again. I would argue that they also have a duty to personally assist any student who might have taken action with other schools during those three hours to ensure that action is rolled back and the status quo is restored.

But I think @MommaJ’s comment was spot on:


[QUOTE=""]
If a bank made an error and credited my account with someone else's $5000 deposit, perfect world or not, it would never be the right thing to just let both of us have the money, no matter how thrilled I was to get the windfall, what plans I made to spend it, or how many people.I shared my good luck with on social media in the few hours I thought I had the cash. Why not? Because it would be absurd to give me a benefit I didn't deserve just because I was caught up in a short-lived computer glitch. How can admitting a bunch of random applicants because of a computer mistake seem "right" to anyone?<<<

[/QUOTE]

55

If I were given $5,000 in bank credit with someone else’s deposit, I would know it’s not my money, and I, therefore, wouldn’t spend it. I wouldn’t take any forward action: I wouldn’t donate the money, I wouldn’t pay any bills with it, I wouldn’t develop any further plans with it, because I would know that this money is not mine.

But if I were mistakenly given acceptance to a college—which I fully believed was my own acceptance, which was fully mine—then I would take a series of actions. I would cancel my other EA apps, I would post on social media, I would celebrate with my family. And when I’m later deferred, I would have to embarrass myself on social media, out myself as a Tulane ED applicant to other schools who now know that they’re not my first choice, and I would have to completely re-evaluate the college situation.

This is not the same scenario. Tulane needs to cover up its mistake in an actionable way, and I won’t stop believing that no matter the outcome.

56

I respect Tulane for not " covering up "
their mistake . They are not the only school to ever experience technological errors such as this, won’t be the only school to ever experience them in the future . As long as there are humans involved in the applications and acceptance process , there will be the possibility for errors. There are no perfect systems .

57

Why would anyone withdraw other applications before they had put down a deposit on the ED school? That would just be foolish.

58

There is a school or 2 every year they accidentally does this. It’s very unfortunate, but acknowledging it and correcting it is the right thing to do, which Tulane did. The school is not required to accept any student they don’t feel is right for them.

59

Those complaining they should just let the “Tulane 130” in are probably folks who would think they should get to keep a mistaken $5000 wire to the account, or that Ford should honor an ad for $40 trucks bc the newspaper mistakenly left off the last 3 zeros!!!

60

Thanks @EarlVanDorn . We have our visit scheduled in April. My son wants to go to a university in or near a city that has a good business school. He also wants to get out of his comfort zone and away from home (suburban Boston). We’ll visit Tulane after Emory during April school vacation. We’ve already visited Maryland. He’s excited our Tulane visit and also about New Orleans. For my son, it’s not just about the campus.

I didn’t want to get off topic here, but at this point, it’s an internal issue that Tulane will address. The problem with admitting students who otherwise would not be admitted is that they take spots that really belong to more deserving candidates. At the end of the day, THAT would not be fair to those students or Tulane.