Program Caps

Tulane strives to promote educational opportunities, rigor, and excellence at all levels of the undergraduate education – including study abroad. Limiting the number of applicants per location is in line with OSA's learning goals for students. Our office has over 200+ programs on six continents, and only a limited number of programs are capped. 

Our office has programs for every major in multiple locations. Diversifying the locations Tulane students study abroad is a core goal of this initiative. Oversubscribed programs are not long-term competitive for our students, increase the burden on local communities, and decrease the quality of service our providers can offer. Additionally, 63% of students in an oversubscribed program in 2024 said that fellow Tulane student oversaturation was a major inhibitor to their cultural immersion.

The best fit model recognizes that there are some majors or students that need to be prioritized on certain programs due to academic concerns or fit. In order to best serve our students, we will prioritize nominating students for capped programs based on a variety of applicant factors (specificity of major, academic goals, personal goals, language immersion, etc.). Study abroad is an academic pursuit and not a vacation. Our office has over 200 programs in our portfolio, and there are multiple programs that fit a student’s needs.

Program caps are set based on current and historic enrollment data. 

All approved OSA programs have some form of cap enforced. The universal, Tulane-enforced cap is 75 total students per-program. However, many programs are capped at a lower number by the host university due to exchange agreements, the on-site program provider due to capacity, or even foreign governments who limit the number of international students in their host country. 

Oversubscription from previous year will automatically place a program on the “likely to fill” list. If during a current semester a program hits 50+ applications, the program is then placed on the “likely to fill” list.

OSA will update a publicly available list of programs that are close to/exceeding the cap by current number of open applications.

• Commitment to CGE Learning Goals (study abroad as an academic pursuit) 
• Fit towards program (ex. An architecture student applying for an architecture program is prioritized over a sociology student applying to an architecture program) 
• Eligibility of student for program (ex. If program requires 3.0 CGPA, then a student with a 2.5 will not be eligible or evaluated for the program) 
• Personal statement and program research (a student who has thoroughly researched the host country/program and has a personal reason for the program is prioritized over a student with no clear rationale for choosing the program) 
• Language experience (students majoring/minoring in a language are prioritized over students with no interest in language learning. Students with Goldman language exceptions are not measured using this metric)

• By applying to programs without a cap (95%+ of portfolio programs)
• Applying in the spring semester for capped programs
• Researching and applying for a truly best fit program

Each application, student, situation and program is unique. GPA is not the only metric we measure.  

You will still apply by the unified semester deadline. Students are reviewed at the same time to maintain consistency. 

Capped programs are not available as backup options. You must pick a non-capped program as your backup. You should feel comfortable with your backup option as a choice. OSA Advisors can talk to you about your first and second choice programs as you get ready to apply.  

All NTC students have multiple pathways to a study abroad semester that works towards their graduation. No student requires a single specific program to study abroad. Additionally, NTC College Advisors and OSA Study Abroad Advisors, are available year-round to help students plan out their academic progress. All capped programs are available both semesters.    

No – applications are reviewed without names for equity using a rubric. You are applying for our recommendation to proceed via the external application. For equity’s sake, we do not allow advisors to recommend individual students.  

To promote integrity in the review process, OSA Advisors cannot assist you with your essay. However, we encourage you to reach out to ALTCfor additional proofreading. 

No. 

No. The most likely reason is that ultimately, this program was a better fit for a different student. It is not a reflection on who you are as a person, but instead the circumstances around their application or academics. You are still going to go abroad, but to a different location. 

Either the Director of Study Abroad or Associate Dean of Global Education will review the students’ applications and decide the outcome. 

• Likely: Student A is an architecture major in their 4^th year out of 5 years. They have taken extensive classes in their major, along with the NTC baseline language requirement of Spanish 2030. They write their essay about the specific courses and what they hope to gain academically on their program during the rigorous 6 credit studio course. They want to combine their passion of urban design and architecture upon graduation and write in their essay about how studying Barcelona’s “super blocks” will positively impact their career. 
• Less likely: Student B is an architecture major in their 3^rd year out of 5 years. They are partially through the program. They have also taken SPAN2030. They write their essay loosely about their academics, but don’t show that they’ve done a lot of research about the program or the host city outside of a basic and short overview. It is unclear if they know specifics about their courses or about the region.  
• Unlikely: Student C is a sociology major in their 3^rd year out of 4 years. They recently switched into the major. They took French 2030. Their best friend is an architecture student who is also applying to the Barcelona architecture program. They will not receive credit for the major when they’re abroad, don’t have any academic reason for attending this program, and their essay shows an incorrect/basic understanding of the location or program.  
• Note: Even in this example, a student who is “unlikely” to be approved may still be approved in a low-enrollment semester or subsequent term. 

Students applying for capped programs are prioritized for review. Students will be notified that they were not offered a nomination for their top choice program within two weeks after the deadline. This will give ample time for students to decide whether to pursue a back-up choice, or to remain at Tulane. 

No – you are not denied outright unless you did not meet the requirements of our office. If you are redirected from your first choice program, you are moved to your backup program. You can choose whether or not to accept your placement, withdraw from the process, or defer to a subsequent semester for re-entry into the review process.  

You have two weeks from the date of approval to commit or withdraw from your assigned program. 

There is no waitlist for capped programs. If you are unsure if you will commit to study abroad, do not apply to a capped program. There is no waitlist because our office is not aiming to send the max capacity of a capped program. 

No – these will not be approved because it is antithetical to our goal of increasing student academic outcomes.  

No. The decision is final. If you would like to re-apply to a capped program, you must do so in a subsequent semester.