5 Way to Demonstrate Your Interest

The class of 2019 is just about to be finalized, and I am already hitting the road today to meet the future class of 2020! I'll be all over California this week meeting you all, so come say hello. I thought now might be a good time to speak on a topic that's definitely been a hot one as of late.

"Demonstrated interest." It's a term that certainly has become quite the buzzword in the world of college admission over the last few years. Over the last decade or so, you high school kids have started to apply to more and more schools. Thanks to the ease of applications, platforms that allow you to apply to multiple schools with just a few additional clicks, and free applications (like us here at Tulane!), the whole concept of "demonstrating your interest" has started to play a much bigger role in the admission process. Reason is, schools have a vested interest in admitting students who are not only qualified for admission, but also have a genuine interest in attending said school. Off the record, schools like to see a healthy "yield," as in the percentage of students who are admitted that end up enrolling at that school. One way to help yield is to admit great kids who really want to attend that school. But more important than managing yield, we truly want to seek out students who have done their research, have a solid idea of what they are looking for, and clearly are inspired enough by what we have to offer that they truly see themselves falling in love with the school when they arrive as freshmen in the fall.

So... how do you let a school know you are interested? There are a few ways, which I will list out here. Now, big time disclaimer here on this one. Please, please, really only utilize these at the schools you have a true passion for. Don't express your genuine interest in 14 schools. Don't spread yourself too thin, and don't lead a school on or misinform them—never tell a school they are your top choice if they are not. You want my real advice? Only apply to schools that you would definitely enroll at if you were to be admitted. Really! Even if that means you are only applying to six schools.

Here goes. Five tips for demonstrating your interest in schools that you are authentically interested in.

1) Apply Early. Specific to Tulane, the earlier you apply, the better. We find that students who write their essay over the summer, are ready to apply in September or October, and have everything in and completed for November 15th, are usually seriously considering our school. Of course, there is no better way to express your interest in a school than by applying through their Early Decision (binding) program, but also look into plans like Single Choice (or Restrictive) Early Action, like we have at Tulane. Based on the timing and method of your application, admission officers can definitely sense your level of interest. While you are certainly not at a disadvantage whatsoever if you apply later or regular decision, you won't get a leg up in the committee reviews.

2) Do the optional statement. Period. That's it. See my previous blog on this very topic.

3) Communicate with your counselor. Despite what some may think, the college application process is a very human process. Real people read your file and real discussions are had about each applicant. We also want to establish relationships with our students. Take the time to reach out to your counselor during the admission process (one e-mail will do, maybe after an information session or high school visit, or after a decision comes out). If we can put a face with a name when the file goes to the committee, it can certainly help. You can read about the best ways to e-mail us here. And yes, I did say e-mail us after the decision comes out. It can help with a deferral or a waitlist, but for those admitted, we are still here to help as a resource and for some of you who enroll, as a mentor here on campus. You can meet your Tulane admission rep here.

4) Attend a high school visit or information session. Admission officers are on the road in your hometown a lot. Make it worth our while! Come to the high school visit or the information night in your hometown. We can't get to all cities and all high schools, but if we are nearby, it's a great way to meet your rep and help us with #3 above. Plus, and more importantly, you get to find out all about our school and discover if we happen to be on that short list of schools that you have a genuine interest in. Got an AP Physics test the day I am at your school? No worries, send me an e-mail and let me know you would love to have made it but academics took priority. Just as well.

5) Visit. I put this one last because I don't want you to feel pressured to book a trip down to NOLA, even with Southwest offering such great deals to our airport (seriously, I just got a round-trip flight to Los Angeles for $270!). We know it can get pricey and sometimes it makes more sense to visit after you get the letter of admission. However, if you are able to make it down, that sure does send a strong signal to the admission committee that we are pretty high on your list. After your visit, shoot an e-mail to your admission counselor just letting him or her know how it went. We'll add that to your file. And yes, kids, a handwritten thank you note goes a long way in this whole process. Trust me!

I hope this helps. Remember, only do these five things for the schools you where have the real, true desire to enroll. It will make your life and ours much easier.

Oh and one last thing... after we work together all year, I see you at your high school and then on campus for a preview day and we have been communicating the whole year, well, if you don't end up enrolling, just shoot us an e-mail and let us know. We won't hold it against you and won't be upset. It's nice to just let us know—trust us, we really appreciate it.

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Finals Season

With the spring semester winding down, only final exams stand between students and summer. Walking through campus today, I was stoked to see how much support our students have here during finals. From therapeutic rescue dogs to free massages to all kinds of support from various campus departments, Tulane's got you covered, even during the most stressful time of the year. To learn a bit more about the numerous ways Tulane students can find support and help when needed, whether in finals or year round, check out:

Tulane Academic Success Center
Tulane Student Resources and Support Services
Tulane Counseling and Psychological Services
Tulane Center for Wellness and Health Promotion

Now enjoy these shots I took today on my walk to lunch!

Success is easier with puppies. Trust me. 

Because who wouldn't want a free massage?

Support!

And free stuff!

The best support of all is the smell of jasmine, which is everywhere on campus right now. 

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STUPIDITY

Stupidity, I am sorry to say, is no joke, as it is portrayed on stage, screen and TV. It is the second worst crime against humanity and a very close runner-up to evil. It is neither necessarily heedless (it can be the very best and most considered that some persons can manage) nor headless (as it lodges snugly under many a cranium). It can crop up even in the oldest and wisest, perhaps most strikingly there.

It has many forms. It boasts in equal profusion crimes of omission and of commission. It can pop up in the most unexpected places, such as the philosopher who on an icy day steps out without his overcoat, or the accomplished cook who gets burned more than once. It can make heroism look stupid—rightly so—in those brave in a bad cause or heroic in a foolish war. How right Brecht, who was often wrong, was when he wrote, “Happy is the nation that has no need for a hero.”

Take the populations of the mightiest nations and ask yourself how many of those billions are immune from stupidity within or without. In the absence of statistics, I would venture an educated guess: close to zero per cent if you include minor or infrequent stupidities. As I suggested, it is protean in form, and ubiquitous in habitat. It includes even seemingly dutiful attempts at avoidance, as in those who year in, year out seek out psychotherapy that does them no good. As Karl Kraus remarked: “Psychiatry is the disease of which it pretends to be the cure.” Nevertheless, one must admit that, used in moderation, it can be beneficial.           

What makes stupidity especially sinister is that, like certain forms of cancer and other illnesses, it is impossible to diagnose before it is too late. With the passage of time, one may even look back benignly on earlier years’ stupidities. Yet how effective is recognition when it comes to reparation? It neither redeems past stupidity, nor resists the future kind.

In any case, does being wise about some things protect from being stupid about others? When it was finally realized that the earth is not flat and that the sun does not revolve around it, did mankind in other matters become smarter or better? Of course people are no longer burned at the stake as in Galileo’s time, but where is the improvement in so many other respects?

Granted, some stupidities are harmless or even useful. It is good that Erasmus was able to come out with his satire “In Praise of Folly.” But then look at the cost of not one but two atom bombs to end the war against Japan. They did, however, generate one harmless dumbness. The charming British actress, Sara Miles, had such loathing of anything Japanese that only the most desperate effort could prevail upon her to play a scene with a Japanese actor in a movie. “O.K.,” she finally relented, “I will do one scene with you. But I’ll never forgive what you people did to us at Hiroshima.”

It is especially easy to be stupid, or at any rate ignorant, about many things in our era of science and technology. I myself couldn’t explain even why, when I press on a switch and, lo, there is light. My only consolation is that , reciprocally, most scientists or technocrats have not read Proust. And even if they have, what could  they glean from it?

Stupidity, by the way, doesn’t have to be gigantic in order to matter. To be sure it can be enormous, as when Lloyd George and Haig and the rest of them caused innumerable inexcusable casualties in World War One. This was caused by that very arrogance, that stubbornness that causes our much humbler stupidities. Great ones depend on great power. But the principle is essentially the same. Which of us hasn’t through stupidity lost a friend, a lover, a spouse?

You cannot tell me that Andreas Lubitz, the wretch who intentionally ran that German plane into a French Alp, killing also 149 innocent others, wasn’t, beyond depressive and whatnot else, also stupid. Why couldn’t he sensibly kill only himself by some private means? Did the mass murder give him a sense of power? That he was going to make history and reap immortal fame? Or did he stupidly think that dying in such extensive company makes it go down more easily? Or that jumping out of a window was somehow more difficult? And what about the stupidity of the people who thought him fit for piloting?

But for large-scale stupidity is there anything worse than war? Well, yes, a religion that, discounting your stupidity, allows or indeed encourages you to wage it. Aren’t almost all wars, to say nothing of jihads, caused by religion? The excuse that suicide bombers or ISIS misread the teachings of Islam won’t wash: any religion that lends itself to such misreading is clearly to blame. And fanaticism is surely one of the monumental forms of stupidity,

I am writing this as Easter is approaching, and wonder how many of us qualify as dumb bunnies, who not so much hide as lay an egg. And, speaking of eggs, how many greedy fools among us wouldn’t kill the goose that lays golden eggs if such a fowl existed?

There is an old joke about two loonies painting an asylum wall. The one holding the ladder says to the one on top of it, “I am about to move the ladder. Hold on to your brush.” That, only slightly exaggerated, is the archetype of stupidity. The only difference is that from this stupidity only the top loony will be hurt. From other, typical stupidities it is usually more than one person who suffers.

Now there are stupid men who want their women to be submissive, stupid. As Baudelaire said to a woman in a poem, “What matters it to me that you be wise? Be beautiful and be sad.”  That is the view of a sexist or sadist. Stupidity in anyone very much does matter to both possessor and victim. Yet what about the men who lust after the beautiful bimbos on TV talk shows? They look absolutely smashing until they open their mouths. After that if you still wish you could have one of them, it is you who are stupid.

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