<p>I was just deferred from Tulane and it was my safety school.
My scores are 660 math, 680 reading, 690 writing --> 2030 combined and SAT2 scores of 720 lit and 630 US history
My GPA is not as good as my SAT scores, 3.2 but I go to a extremely competitive private school
My extracurriculars are great. Captain of my sports team, varsity since freshman year, started a club at my school, involved in a mentoring program, community service in Africa, student council, model UN, and more.
I understand that my GPA is low, but I really felt that my SAT scores and extracurriculars would get me in. Can anyone give me advice or tell me what they think kept me from being accepted?
Thanks a lot, I'd appreciate any opinions</p>
<p>I agree it is a bit surprising. The only thing I can speculate is that applications are way up again this year, and the administration must have some reason to believe that the students that are likely to come are stronger than ever. The GPA is no doubt a factor; does your school do class rank? Because if they grade everyone tough then it would show up there. How about AP’s? If you didn’t challenge yourself with them and still have a 3.2, that would make the GPA seem even worse. I concur that your EC’s are outstanding.</p>
<p>The only other thing I think you can do is go to visit (have you yet?) and make an appointment to see your admissions counselor and see what they have to say. Of course it might all be moot, since you say Tulane is your safety school. Where are you hoping to get in? Also, where are you from? Finally, how do your grades look like they are going to turn out from first semester?</p>
<p>Gotta be the GPA. Are you sure Tulane knew how competitive your HS is? If you HS doesn’t rank then it’s possible that competitiveness didn’t get across to Admissions. If you got good scores on your AP tests it might be worthwhile to communicate that. Good luck.</p>
<p>I met with the admissions women from Tulane when they came to my school so I did get some face time and she also must have an understanding of my school. I am taking some AP/honor classes.</p>
<p>Also My high school does not rank and we just started doing GPAs this year because our student’s GPAs were always low in comparison to other local schools in the area that were not as competitive.</p>
<p>It is a tough call then, because Tulane isn’t really a top choice for you. Even having said that, if it is not too expensive for you to make a trip down there I would. It would accomplish 3 things: 1) Meet on site with admissions. It would show Tulane you have enough interest to consider it more strongly, and therefore for them to consider you; 2) You will get to see the campus, attend a couple of classes, meet some current students. It would not be the first time that doing so raised Tulane higher on someone’s list than they would have imagined; 3) You get to see New Orleans and hopefully get some really great food.</p>
<p>Just a thought. I can only imagine you have some schools on your list that will be reaches, and it wouldn’t hurt to solidify Tulane as a possibility.</p>
<p>OP - When the Tulane admissions person came to your HS, did she ask which schools you were considering applying to? If so did you respond with something like “Well my list is ridiculously long right now, but Tulane is definitely in the top three.” (In other words did you leave the impression that a small push like EA acceptance might have been enough to get you to attend?) Other than the low GPA, the meaning of which might have been misunderstood, I’m having trouble understanding why a student with your stats would get deferred.</p>
<p>OP - did you have a weaker junior year as far as grades than freshman/sophomore? I didn’t think about that before. If the trend is down, combined with a somewhat low GPA by Tulane standards, that might give them pause.</p>
<p>I find it concerning that the OP considered Tulane a “safety” school. I hope others understand what safety means. A true safety is typically a school where one’s stats are in the top 25% and has an over 50% admit rate. Given the OP’s scores Tulane should have been considered a “reach” because of the GPA. If the GPA had been much better, 3.65 & up, it would have been a (perhaps high) match.</p>
<p>Yeah, idad, I agree. I guess i just didn’t have the heart to say it, lol. My wife thinks the term “safety school” should be banned totally. Not sure exactly why she thinks that, but she does.</p>
<p>My son has a slightly higher weighted GPA than collegehopeful8 (3.29 weighted) and his grades improved every year through high school. Otherwise they are very similar candidates. APs, sports and community leadership positions, US News Top 100 high school, etc. He got into Tulane Early Action. The difference may be that he sent the admissions counselor an email letting her know that he was very interested.</p>
<p>Hi jordydog - That absolutely helps, letting Tulane know of the interest. Also the rising performance might be a difference. Thanks for the info.</p>
<p>We are worried that Tulane might feel that they were a safety school for son, because we did answer the question, what other colleges will you be applying to.</p>
<p>Son answered Duke, Hopkins, Vanderbilt, and Marquette, because they were, in fact, other schools he was applying to. The only one he dropped from the list was Duke. He did not list the state schools, as he did not want Tulane to feel he was applying there because they gave him a free application, which was not the case. It is, in fact, the best instate choice for son. </p>
<p>Sadly, we have not yet heard from Tulane, and are worried that answering this “other colleges” question, which was optional, may have blown his chances. Although we got his app in early, we did not do SCEA, because we did not want to be bound in any way because Tulane is a financial reach for us. I know SCEA is not binding, but it was still scary to put that checkmark.</p>
<p>Hi Montegut - I understand why colleges ask that question, but I think they should not for exactly the reason you describe, among others. I read something in yesterday’s New York Times that the association these schools belong to is going to require them to stop asking that question. I still have the paper, I will look again and post exactly what it says.</p>
<p>In the meantime, if your son thinks that Tulane is for him, then he should make an appointment to meet with the admissions counselor. You are local after all. But if he thinks that he has a decent shot at getting into another school he likes more, even if it is just to go to school in a new place (which I think is an excellent reason personally), then I guess he will just have to wait it out and take a chance.</p>
<p>Here is the article from this last Sunday’s NYT. It is the second one that I am talking about, but I am including both so the context is clear.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Frankly I don’t get the first one. It is fine to tell students they have until May 1 to inform the school, but it doesn’t change the fact that schools can let students know they are in as early as they want. Once the student knows, how does it cure senioritis? Oh well.</p>
<p>The second one, if they enforce it, would get rid of the problem you point out, Montegut.</p>
<p>I too find the question about where else one is applying obnoxious. S2 did not answer it for Tulane since it was optional. At another school he did because it was required, but did not like it.</p>
<p>The question about “what other colleges are you applying to” is really quite a stumper. First of all, colleges are such a crap shoot now, many students are applying to 10+ schools. Are they going to/should they list them all? </p>
<p>Regarding the OPs post. I wonder how much importance Tulane puts on the essay? At a seminar my kids and I attended at my alma mater, we played “adcomm” for a few hours with old applications (names and all identifying info blacked out). Those with quality essays really stood out. The “meh” essays also stood out in their blandness…</p>
<p>What OP can do is knuckle down and shoot for amazing grades this semester and contact Tulane, as was recommended in previous posts. Good luck!</p>
<p>““Colleges were putting far too much emphasis on students’ responses,” Ms. Smith says. “We’re trying not to have colleges offer incentives to students who say they’re their first choice.” Like? Better financial aid packages or first crack at housing and classes, she says.”</p>
<p>^^ I guess I don’t understand logic behind this. Why offer incentives if Tulane is already their dream school and you’re probably getting them anyway?</p>
<p>If I were a Tulane Admissions Officer, I would use financial aid and dorms and honor programs as bait to lure the student who probably has other (higher ranked) options. </p>
<p>For example, if the students says it’s between Tulane and Princeton (random example), and a quick glance at their application says they have a good shot at Princeton, I would offer them the best deal I could offer-- to take a page from The Godfather, I would “make them an offer they can’t refuse” on the hope they look at both acceptance letters and say “Princeton is a higher ranked school, but not worth the extra $25000 it would cost vs. Tulane.”</p>
<p>Of course, I’ve become fascinated by this whole process as a exercise in game theory. How Tulane takes 40,000 applications and turns them into 15,000 acceptances, and, in turn, winds up with 1500 bodies on campus in the fall is an amazing process. I read somewhere that last year their goal was 1500 and the actual number was 1526. That’s a degree of precision worthy of a moon shot, and when you realize all the variables involved it’s simply stunning. If they’re calculations are off 10% either way it’s a potential disaster.</p>
<p>Don’t forget, they’re already well under way in planning their strategy for the 2011 freshman class.</p>
<p>I don’t think I would want to sit across a poker table from Earl Retif, Dean of Admissions, because I suspect he’s one Hell of a gambler.</p>
<p>Really interesting post, Scorpio. Like you, I am fascinated and amazed at how they manage the numbers.</p>
<p>Regarding your statement
</p>
<p>I have seen this cut both ways, but usually on the side of going to Princeton. Of course there are examples when students take the financially better deal, but I will guess (and that is all it is, since it is based solely on anecdotal experience) that 75% of the time the student goes to the Ivy. That percentage probably tracks with the difference in the perceived prestige of the schools. I think there are 3 reasons the financial incentive might not work to get that kid that got into Princeton; 1) The money isn’t enough of a factor to his family i.e. they are rich; 2) They are low income enough that the new “no-loan” guarantees kick in; 3) They decide that $100,000 in debt or savings depletion is worth the difference between Princeton and Tulane. So unfortunately there often isn’t “an offer they can’t refuse”, and it makes it hard for schools to move up. I thought the financial crisis would give schools like Tulane that give a lot of merit aid a boost. I think it has, but not as much as I thought it might.</p>
<p>So I think given their experience, schools like Tulane focus on getting high-achieving students that might otherwise pick Vandy, Emory, Wash U or maybe even more especially Wake, BC, etc., not Princeton or Harvard. If Tulane can pick off the top 10% of the students thinking about going to those last 2 school types, and a few that might otherwise go to the Wash U’s, that would be huge. Seeing a list of schools the student is considering, comparing that to their record to assess the student’s chance of getting into a more selective school, and making admissions/aid decisions based on that makes sense from Tulane’s point of view, certainly. But it can also lead to false impressions, as Montegut says.</p>
<p>” Of course, if a student wants to proclaim undivided love for a particular school, there’s always early decision."</p>
<p>assuming a school actually has ED; there are a number of Tulane kids who applied SCEA (which would assume 1st choice) who were deferred anyway with competitive stats…and they were notified late in the process…</p>
<p>I have said this on other threads but here I ask a question:</p>
<p>Why wouldn’t Tulane bring ED back?</p>