Tulane is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Right off the Mississippi River, Tulane’s campus is in the city but also sits right on top of Audubon Park. Tulane has a public service requirement and prides itself on community engagement. Their acceptance rate was just under 10% last year.
Tulane’s supplement has two questions. The first is a question that we see again and again, “why do you want to go here?” with a little twist. They ask, “Please describe why you are interested in attending Tulane University (optional). 50-800 words''
If you are anything like us, your eyes immediately zoomed in on that word count. Tulane unfortunately does this every year. They seem to think that this truly wild word count ‘gives kids freedom!’ But we know that it actually stresses students out and is honestly kind of mean. It’s much easier to write when you have some boundaries. So if they won’t give you some guidelines, we will. You should be able to do this in under 500 words. You really don’t need more than that.
That being said, the first step in an essay like this is choosing a major. If you are undecided, choose one that you are interested in and think you might study. It’s important not to be wishy-washy here. Choosing a major will make this so much easier to write and will also help the admissions office plan their class out. They can’t have a year where everyone is the same major, so giving them a good idea of what you might do will help them immensely.
Once you have chosen a major, it’s time to think of an origin story about how you first fell in love with it. For example, if you are writing about art history, you can talk about spending hours in your local art museum or going to gallery shows with your friends. This origin story will serve as the intro to your essay, so make it fun and approachable.
After you told your origin and stated what you will be majoring in, it’s time to talk about Tulane’s academics specifically. You want to find 2 higher-level courses in the major you are writing about and mention them by name. You can find courses through their course catalog. Stay away from mentioning intro classes. Intro classes are usually the same across colleges. This is an essay about why Tulane is the best place for you, so try to choose classes that are unique to Tulane. The easiest way to do this is to choose courses in the 3000-4000 level. If you are writing about art history, classes like ARHS 3700 Pre-Columbian Art and ARHS 3790 Art and Architecture of Brazil show more about your interests than Intro to modern art. Once you have chosen your courses, write about why you want to take them and how they connect with your interests. You can also mention a professor that you would like to be the research assistant of and why you are drawn to their work. The word count is high enough in this essay that you can really explore why you are interested in your chosen courses and professor.
After you have talked about why Tulane is right for you academically, it’s time to move on to what you will do outside of class. Look into Tulane’s student organizations and mention 1 or 2 by name. Tulane has a lot of on-campus clubs, the smartest choice is to select an organization that builds on something you already do. For example, if you do your high school's musical every year, consider choosing the Tulane University Performing Arts Society or the Tulane Musical Performance Organization. This will give you a chance not only to talk about on-campus life but also to talk about yourself and your extracurriculars.
Once you have talked about academics and on-campus activities, you can speak to the school at large. Don’t say they have a beautiful campus (they know and it’s not as specific as you think it is!) Instead, you can speak to programs like Tulane’s service requirement. It’s also a great time to speak about why you want to study in New Orleans. There are a million reasons why you might want to study in NOLA, but please keep it PG. We love traditions, museums, culture, etc. Just maybe keep it more Jazz Fest and less drinking on Bourbon St. Make sure that when you wrap up your essay it leaves the reader with the feeling that “Tulane is the right place and best place for you!”
The second prompt says:
“Tulane values the lessons gained from pursuing an education alongside a student body that represents a wide range of experiences and perspectives and is reflective of our multicultural world. If you would like to share a perspective related to your family, cultural group, sexual or gender identity, religious group, or some other aspect that has shaped your identity, please do so here (optional). 50-800 words”
Again, the word count is annoying, but you should cap yourself at 500. You don’t need 800 words for this. We believe every student can and should write this essay.
This essay is asking for you to speak about a community that you belong to. They mention many specific types of community. You can use any of those, or define community in any way you choose. When many students think of community, they only think about the big parts of their identity, but those aren’t the only kind of communities. Your community could be a baseball team, a group of friends, the people you do metalwork with every Sunday, etc. All a community truly is a group of like-minded or in some way similar people. We all belong to different communities that have shaped us in various ways. For this essay, you should bring us into your community with a story. Think about the time when you are most impacted by your community. Your story should focus on what happened and how you were impacted.
One important note for this type of question. Recently, many of the students we work with have come out to us. They haven’t told family or high school counselors. Some of them haven’t even told their friends. We feel very privileged that these amazing young people feel comfortable with us and trust us enough to bring us in. Our students come out to us because they know we support them no matter who they love or what pronouns they use. They read this question or questions like this in other supplements (like Duke’s) and think they need to write about their sexuality or gender identity, but are nervous to do so.
We want to talk directly to these students for a moment. A supplemental essay should not dictate when you come out. Coming out has to happen on your own timetable. You don’t need to write about being queer to get into college. If it is unsafe for you to come out or you are unsure if it’s safe, don’t pressure yourself. It does not make you any less valid, and you will still get into college. Once you get into college, you will meet so many people who love and accept you no matter who you are. So hold on for the next 10 months because trust us, it gets better. If you are safe but unready, read those last three sentences again. It applies to you too.
If you still want to write about your identity. Do it. But make sure that decision is right for you. Also, if you are a queer kid who feels like they don’t have anyone to talk to, drop us a line. We’re here.
Now, if we could speak to Tulane really quickly. We love that you call out sexual or gender identity in this prompt, but if you want to be an ally to this community, we think it would be awesome if you gave students the option to privately email you the response to this question. Parents and admins often have access to students’ common app accounts and some kids aren’t ready or able to answer this question in the way that they would want to because of it. Putting it into the prompt is being open, creating a secret/email address option is being an ally.
Once you get past the word counts, Tulane’s supplement shouldn’t be too confusing. You have a lot more room than on many other supplements, so take your time. You have the room to add details and really tell a story.
And if you still need help, we would love to hear from you.