Would Tulane be considered a safety for me?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Tulane University
1

<p>So I'm looking into adding more safety schools to my college list, and I received a free personal application to Tulane about a week ago. I've already submitted it -- I just copied and pasted some stuff from the Common App and used my Common App essay as the personal statement. I'm now about to send my counselor the form she has to fill out, but I honestly don't know too much about Tulane besides the fact that I like its location and it offers both of my intended majors. Could Tulane potentially serve as one of my safeties? Here are my brief stats:</p>

<p>Personal Information:</p>

<p>Race: Chinese
Gender: Female
Class: 2015
Location: California (lived in Michigan during junior year and Singapore during underclassman years)
Intended Majors: Linguistics, Classics
Tip Factor: Certifiably fluent in Mandarin Chinese (S, R, W), French (S, R, W), Spanish (S, R, W), and German (S, R, W). Currently studying Latin (R). Also have had plenty of international experience (lived in 3 different countries and traveled to 15+ others)</p>

<p>Academic Information:</p>

<p>Cumulative GPA: 3.8 unweighted
Class Rank: N/A due to switching high schools twice and the fact that none of my high schools did any form of rank
SAT Reasoning: 2350 (760 CR, 800 M, 790 W)
AP: English Language (5), Chinese Language & Culture (5), US History (4), French Language (5), Calculus AB (4), Macroeconomics (4), Spanish Language (5)
AP (pending): English Literature, German Language, Calculus BC, Spanish Literature, Physics C: Mechanics
Academic Honors: AP Scholar with Distinction, National Merit Semifinalist</p>

<p>Extracurricular Information:</p>

<p>Won't go into too much detail but I have about 5 main activities, 3 of which I participated in through high school (9-12) and 2 of which I began in my sophomore year (10-12). I also have some awards/honors associated with them (won't list to protect privacy). </p>

<p>Thanks in advance for your help! :)</p>

2

<p>I don’t much like the term safety, because it implies something no one can really tell you, i.e. that you will absolutely get in. However, having said that, you are highly, highly likely to get in, get into the Honors Program, and get an offer for a $25,000 scholarship with your offer of admission. With your stats, rank is rather meaningless. In addition, you would be an extremely strong candidate for the Deans Honor Scholarship (DHS), which is full tuition for all four years. This does require an additional application.</p>

<p>My D had stats very similar to yours (she was 2330, 3.85 UW, fairly fluent in French, etc. etc.) and she got the DHS. She is now a sophomore (China Studies major, Creative Writing major, hopefully French minor if she can squeeze it all in), and very much enjoying the school, her new friends, and the city. I hope you can visit. If you can, PM me. I am sure she would be glad to show you around, unless you catch her during a week with 3 tests and 2 major papers or whatever.</p>

3

<p>^ Thanks so much for the prompt and helpful reply! :slight_smile: I’ve also heard that at Southern colleges, Asian students aren’t really ORMs since there aren’t a lot of Asians living in the South… is this true at Tulane?</p>

4

<p>I think yes, Tulane would love to have more Asians. Because their engineering program was scaled back after Katrina (sorry for the stereotype, but there is a correlation), I think the number of Asian students dropped. Also, not sure if you would want to get involved in this or not, but the Asian Studies program at Tulane is an area of high emphasis, with some substantial grants, lots of new things happening, and a new institute presumably ready to be unveiled next semester. But even if you are not interested in going that direction, Tulane would welcome you on many fronts, I am quite sure.</p>

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<p>I think Tulane would absolutely love to have you as a student. You’ll be a great asset to the University. Agree fully with FC.</p>

<p>You’ll get plenty of acceptance offers from other schools. But, you should plan on visiting Tulane and New Orleans soon. You may get hooked. Good luck.</p>

6

<p>I read your other posts about how your parents think you are going “too far” down the list by applying to Tulane. I understand the pressure you face, I think, although not from first-hand experience. But I have seen it many, many times. Sometimes there is just not much you can do, but I sincerely hope you can persuade them to keep a more open mind. There are some books about the whole “Ivy syndrome” thing, maybe you can look at one of those for some ideas. I am guessing money is not an issue because I am betting Tulane would be a lot cheaper for you than some of these others if you won the DHS.</p>

<p>Just to show you how far off the USNWR rankings can be, Tulane is #28 or 29 in average SAT scores. Yet they rank 51. Why? Mostly because Hurricane Katrina wrecked their 6 year graduation rate, wiping out the other gains they have made in the last 4 years academically. Today Tulane has very high retention (91+% freshman retention) which will eventually translate into a very good 6 year graduation rate. But USNWR made no allowances for this disaster when calculating their formula. Next year will be 6 years exactly since Katrina, and Tulane won’t be able to report anything on that. As another example of the problem with the rankings, UC Davis ranks #39, 11 spots ahaed of Tulane. Yet their average SAT score for entering freshman is considerably lower, and somthing like 20% of the freshman scored below the national average on the CR section of the SAT. How can that possibly be a top 40 school? I am absolutely not disparaging UC Davis, I like the school a lot. I am disparaging USNWR for their shoddy methodology. OK, I am done with my rant, lol.</p>

<p>I hope it all works out. And I hope you can visit Tulane, with your parents. Who knows, they might like what they see.</p>