How to Write the Tulane Supplemental Essay

Tulane’s Supplemental Essay is straightforward and simple.

Don’t let this fool you, though: simpler essays tend to be more difficult to write. That’s because colleges with simple essays don’t want to limit their applicant and their writing capabilities. Thus, they demand more out of the applicant. This lift in restrictions makes the competition much more fierce.

With that said, here’s a little bit about the school and admissions pool.

Tulane University is a private university ranked #42 in the National Universities list in the US News and World Report. As with many other competitive schools, Tulane also has a rigorous acceptance rate. This, understandably, will only decrease over time.

Tulane University freshman admissions stats, Class of 2025

  1. Acceptance rate: 9.73%,
  2. SAT: 1410–1510
  3. ACT: 31-33

They also practice holistic admissions, which you can learn more about here.

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Table of Contents

  1. Tulane ‘Why Us’ Essay Prompt
  2. How to Write the Tulane Supplemental Essay

Tulane ‘Why US’ Essay Prompt

New Orleans

Please describe why you are interested in attending Tulane University (optional). 50-800 words

Tulane Common Application Page

 1. Is It Really Optional? (Hint: It’s Not)

Here’s the golden rule of optional college essays: they’re not optional. At least, ignoring it would be foolish.

Remember what we said about Tulane practicing holistic admissions? They’re going to take extra consideration to anything that makes you stand out among the rest of the admissions pool other than your GPA and SAT/ACT scores.

Think of it like this: you have both quantitative and qualitative attributes to describe yourself as a candidate. How much do you think the admissions officers can understand about you based on the numbers on your transcript. They may be able to infer hard work and intelligence, but there’s not a lot they can get out of your character. The essays are the only chance for you to demonstrate qualitative attributes about yourself in words. So, capitalize on it.

Not submitting the “optional essay” will only single you out as someone who isn’t unique. You’ll effectively surrender one of your greatest assets in the college admissions process. With an acceptance rate of 9.73, Tulane is a school that practically demands a unique essay to help you stand out.

Write the Tulane essay so that you can at least be considered in the admissions process. It would be a waste if you applied with a significant disadvantage compared to those who wrote their essays.

2. The ‘Why Us’ College Essay Prompt.

Because it is competitive, many applicants don’t know how to write the Tulane supplemental essay and approach it properly. This format is just like the other “why us” college prompts. As such, you should make sure to hit all of the following points in your essay.

Just remember to stand out as a unique applicant among the others. As we said: simple essay prompts demand more.

  1. What benefit can Tulane university give you career/major wise?
  2. What skill or attribute makes you a great addition to Tulane?
  3. How do you know you will be a good fit culturally?
  4. How will you be a good fit environmentally?

How to Write the Tulane Supplemental Essay

1. What Benefit Can Tulane University Give You Career/Major Wise?

It only makes sense that you would be applying to a school that has a positive impact on your future career goals. Remember: many schools can academically challenge you, but there must be a reason Tulane specifically is good for your major and career.

You can take a look at their list of majors here. See which one fits you best.

Did you do very well in your biology classes? Did your school offer engineering courses, and did you do well on them? Have you tried competitions or projects in the field? Then Tulane’s biomedical engineering program would be a great fit.

You may also want to consider asking yourself this question:

If you were accepted into Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, and Stanford, why would you still choose Tulane University?

It’s hyperbolic, we know. You may even say that you wouldn’t attend Tulane at that point. Many would say that. However, this serves as an exercise to help you generate reasons as to why Tulane is absolutely crucial to your future career prospects. Perhaps the combination of location, culture, local businesses, school resources, and professor research at Tulane has created a hyper-specific niche that you wanted to monetize in your future business plans. Maybe you are planning out the early stages of a non-profit with an aggressive growth strategy, so every minor advantage helps; attending Tulane may give you the .005% increase in the success that you need for your non-profit to be successful.

Whatever your reasons are, you want to demonstrate that Tulane plays a role in your future major and career that you absolutely know you cannot jeopardize through attending another university.

2. What Skill or Attribute Makes You a Great Addition to Tulane?

At some point, you will have to mention or infer to the admissions officers that you have an admirable skill or trait that makes you worth accepting. Tulane has a lot of very competent and smart applicants. Being smart yourself will not be enough; you will have to show you have a skill that sets you apart.

Let’s say you’re a person with good foresight. Your skills as an advanced chess player have translated into your everyday life.

This would work fantastically because you’d be able to show admissions officers that you’re more than just the average student who can make great marks. Good foresight suggests great leadership and a strong ability to plan for projects. You may want to include how exactly your skills will help the community through examples as well.

For instance, your leadership and foresight skills can translate to your interest in business and marketing for social equity movements. Tulane’s community is most known for its majors in business and marketing, but it is also known for the social sciences. The social sciences are often in opposition with the world of business. Thus, your skills in foresight and leadership may help you bind the two fields when you create a club dedicated to both social equity and business.

One of the skills that would be fantastic in a university setting is the ability to convince people through charm and speech. This is especially important in the wake of a more politically involved university climate. Many universities will find themselves inexorably tied up with the world of politics, especially in young activists circles. The ability to charm and communicate with people through civil dialogue and healthy discourse would be a skill that not many people have, and it would be infinitely useful in the university setting –especially with how often civil discourse could break apart any proclivities for major contentions on campus.

3. How Do You Know You Will Be a Good Fit Culturally?

You don’t want to forgo this one. I would recommend not directly describing why you would be a good fit culturally, but showing it through your writing. In essence: “show, don’t tell”.

Why show and don’t tell for this particular subject? That’s because of the word count.

Remember: Tulane University’s supplemental essay section limits you to 800 words. That can seem like a lot, but you’ll begin to realize that the word count begins to stack fast. You can solve this problem by using implications. Don’t tell your audience but show them through implication that you are a good fit for the school culturally.

Here’s an example:

You attend a school known to be uptight and academically heavy with no consideration for the youth experience. You may say that your background contrasts with your person because others work to survive, but you work to live.

This would make you a good fit for Tulane University’s, “work hard, party hard” culture, because your philosophy will connect well. We often feel that people don’t take this part as seriously, and we understand why. “We go to college to work and make a good future for ourselves. So, why would cultural fit be important?”

This is exactly the kind of attitude and philosophy Tulane, and many other colleges for that matter, try to avoid. They don’t want someone who is here just to get a good career. Tulane University only has a few spots available with such a low acceptance rate. Thus, they would only accept those who they know for certain have the cultural fit to appreciate the school they’re attending.

4. How Will You Be a Good Fit Environmentally?

Lastly, you should consider environmental fit.

When we say you need to be a good fit environmentally, we mean the New Orleans community. Think about the university application process as a series of screenings that measure your ROI. From the university’s perspective, there are many factors that determine whether you are an asset who is worth investing money, time, and professor talent on. GPA, SAT/ACT, research work, extracurriculars, and leadership positions are just a few factors that determine whether a school should give you the time of day.

Now, let’s think about your average high-performing student at a university. They can get through their classes with flying colors and take strong leadership positions. However, whether they are a good “fit” for the community can play a major role in determining whether a school would like to invest in them.

Maybe said talented and smart student is incapable of communicating well with other people, and can only coast through school through performance alone. Thus, that would only make them a “taker” than a “giver”. The taker is someone who can perform well in a school setting, but whose only purpose would be to get through school to pursue a career. They serve no function in helping others around them grow and develop over time.

The giver on the other hand is someone who is both extroverted and works as a team with others. Their hard work and dedication are connected with those they network and collaborate with. Thus, they may get along well with the New Orleans culture and revivify the environment and atmosphere for other students. Applicants who have this sort of personality and temperament are of high value, as they serve to bring up other students on the campus. This helps the campus overall and makes the school more likely to invest their time and money in the students –thus accepting them.

Think about why you may believe you would be a good fit for Tulane University and the New Orleans community. Consider your temperament, and figure out how that will contribute to your positive networking and collaboration efforts to breathe life into the community.

Note: you should not say that you want to attend Tulane because you just want to live in New Orleans. Anyone has the freedom to move anywhere for vacation.

Let us know if you have any questions about the Tulane University Supplement or about how to better write the essay!

Excited about New Orleans? Hoping to attend but still unsure of whether you can write the Tulane supplemental essay properly? You might want to consider talking to an admissions expert who can help you craft the best supplemental essay. Here at PenningPapers, our admissions essay consultation and review is free for the first time. We help our students capitalize on their strengths in their stories. This ensures our students can beat out the competition through a holistic admissions process.

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