Why was I deferred from Tulane? What can I do to make my chances better for RD?

Applying to College
1

<p>Got my deferral notice today from Tulane :(. To be honest, I expected to get in, as I felt my stats were better than the 'average' accepted student profile. Here's last years Freshman Academic Profile:</p>

<p>Median SAT's of students accepted to Tulane</p>

<p>Critical Reading: 630-700
Math: 620-700
Writing: 630-710</p>

<p>This would be an 1880-2110 average (median 50%) of those accepted to Tulane</p>

<p>Average GPA: 3.49
% with GPA 3.75 of higher: 30.49%
% with GPA 3.50 - 3.74: 24.48%
% with GPA 3.25 - 3.49: 19.55%
% with GPA 3.0 - 3.24: 16.68%
% with GPA 2.5 - 2.99: 7.54%
% with GPA 2.0 - 2.49: 1.13%
% with GPA 1.0 - 1.99: 0.13%
Students in Top Tenth of HS Class: 60.02%</p>

<h2>Students in Top Quarter of HS Class: 87.73%</h2>

<p>OK and here is a very quick overlook of my stats</p>

<p>SAT: 2030
GPA: 3.2UW/3.7W
AP's: 9 AP's, 7 Honors</p>

<h2>Rank: Not sure, top 25% though</h2>

<p>Also, 2 of my friends got in with:
Friend 1 - 1860 SAT, 3.6UW/3.8W, 7 AP's at a joke of a highschool.
Friend 2 - 2100 SAT, 3.2 UW/3.5W, 5 AP's at the same HS as me.</p>

<p>So, the way I see it, my academic profile seems to fit right in with those who were accepted last year. Yet, unfortunately I was deferred. Why is this?</p>

<p>Also, what can I do to make it into Tulane RD? I realllllly want to go, and am pretty disappointed with my deferral. I took the SAT again in December, and am expecting around a 2100. Also, my grades this semester will probably end up better than the majority of my other semesters in years prior. So I guess here are my Q's:</p>

<p>-Why was I deferred, especially since I've seen other member on CC who said they were accepted with SAT's as low as the 1600's?
-When I send in my new SAT scores and midyear report, do you think I will be accepted?
-How many of those deferred actually get accepted during the RD period (%-wise).
-WHAT CAN I DO TO GET INTO TULANE?!</p>

2

<p>What was your M+CR SAT? What was your classmate’s M+CR?</p>

<p>Your GPA is lowish…will your mid-year grade report show an improvement for senior year? If so, that might help.</p>

<p>Last year, a student with a 2100 (but not a 1400 M+CR) and a so/so GPA was rejected. I felt that it was his M+CR that hurt him.</p>

<p>If your Dec M+Cr is much higher, your chances will be better. </p>

<p>Do you live in Louisiana? If so, then you can’t compare your stats to students accepted who live elsewhere or who might be URMs or athletes who were accepted with lower test scores.</p>

3

<p>To me, based on the data you posted, it shows that 75% of the accepted applicants had a higher GPA than yours.</p>

4

<p>News flash you have a 3.2 GPA.</p>

5

<p>The big unknowns are your essays and recs.</p>

6

<p>Yes, I realize my GPA blows, and is lower than like 70% of those accepted. However, like I said, my friend got in with the same UWGPA as me (slightly lower actually), lower WGPA, easier classes, less recs, and 50 points higher on her SAT. The other friend had a higher GPA, yes, but it was highly inflated, 200 pts lower, etc. I’m not saying I’m a prime candidate, but unless me and these 2 friends of mine were all right on the acceptance/deferral threshold, I see little reason why they should get accepted and I should not.</p>

<p>M+CR = (720+690)</p>

<p>Essays I guarantee are better than both my friends (Although Tulane EA didn’t really ask for an essay). Recs are better than friend 2 for sure, can’t say about Friend 1 (goes to different school)</p>

<p>Also, no I don’t live in LA, and the of the 2 kids I know got accepted, 1 goes to my school and the other a neighboring school.</p>

7

<p>Tulane had a very large class come in Fall 2010. Their target was 1500, they got 1630. This may not seem like a lot of difference, but Tulane also requires that students live on campus for at least 2 years. Therefore there are real space considerations. Because of that, they have made it clear they want this next class to be close to 1400.</p>

<p>It would appear that Tulane quickly reached a threshold from the EA pool, and are deferring everyone else to the RD pool so they can carefully manage class size. There are students with 4.0 UW and 33 ACT (or 2240 SAT in another case) that are being deferred. So while your GPA is low, that may not be the entire issue. Fair or unfair, it may have more to do with your timing.</p>

<p>The best thing for you to do is to convey that passion you have for wanting to attend Tulane to their admissions office and why. This is very important for Tulane, even more so than most schools.</p>

8

<p>How exactly can I “convey my passion” for Tulane? If I were to be accepted, I would attend immediately.</p>

9

<p>That sounds like a pretty good statement to me! Tell your admissions counselor exactly that, along with why that is true. Make sure the “why” shows some real thought, not just “because it is in New Orleans” or “because it is such a great school”. That doesn’t tell them anything.</p>

10

<p>Why don’t you email the admissions office and ask? I got a deferral letter my application year from my first choice. Turns out they actually sent me the wrong letter - they’d meant to accept me, lol! Even though it might not turn out like that, though, you may get a positive response from an admissions officer who has the time to answer your question.</p>

<p>In all honesty, your SATs are smack in the middle of the 50% and your GPA is relatively low unweighted. You can’t really compare yourself to your friends because stats aren’t everything; maybe they had something else the school wanted? Besides, your friend at the “joke of a high school” had a higher GPA than you and your other friend had a higher SAT score combined with a similar GPA, so maybe that helped. You have to remember the percents - just because your friend with the same unweighted GPA got in doesn’t mean EVERYONE with that UWGPA gets in.</p>

11

<p>3.2 gpa is NOT LOW. I have a 3.2 career and i think its awesome, i had a 3.1 frosh 2.9 soph 3.78 jr and 3.7 right now. Maybe people dont realize how important high school is, maybe theirs a certain family situation, maybe he gets a b<strong>chy nun for a chem teacher and ends up with a C- and all A’s and B’s besides, maybe the kid is a great athlete and doesnt have the time. Dont give the “Newsflash” **</strong>****.
I say the same thing–your life is not determined by your hs career.
Just like an NBA/NFL player’s career isnt determined by HS,examples everywhere</p>

12

<p>No one is saying that it is low on an absolute scale, but it is low relative to most people accepted to Tulane. Hence the phrasing “relatively low”. Certainly it would be very low if we were talking about Harvard or Stanford. It would not be low for Podunk U. That is what was being said.</p>

13

<p>Dont feel too bad, it’s happening a lot. I mean honestly? They deferred me: 2100 SAT, 4.3 GPA, IB student, which means I have insane ECs, upwards of 60-70 hours volunteering at a hospital plus a ton of other stuff, played JV basketball, my essay was great, not to brag, but my english teacher, who also teaches college, was raving about it and all, and I’ve always been the best in my class and very competitive classes for that matter (gifted, IB, etc), passes 5/5 AP tests, AP Scholar with Distinction, NHS, and the list goes on and on.
I was nervous at first because I was so confident, but now I’m just annoyed.</p>