As for all of these chances threads...

Colleges and Universities A-Z Tufts University
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<p>Look, I don't want to sound mean, but all of these threads from people asking for their chances of getting in are a bit silly. Seriously, the whole college admissions process is a crap shoot. You are only going to drive yourselves crazy by trying to over analyze this. When the admissions board is looking at an application, they're not just looking at you by yourself, their looking at the class as a whole. Some people with AMAZING stats get rejected, and some people with so so stats get accepted. I think in the end, if you're intelligent and you give it all you've got, you have a chance. If you slack off and wait till the last minute to send in a shotty application, then you don't. If you really want to get into Tufts, give it your all then let it go. The people on this board are not college administrators, we don't know what's going through their minds when they put together a class. Trying to decide whether or not you will get in based on your stats is impossible. Now, on the other hand, if anyone ever wants another person to take a look at their essays I am, as I'm sure many others on this board are, perfectly willing to do that, because that is productive. </p>

<p>This is starting to get rather long, so I'll wrap it up. Don't over-analyze. Relax. Good luck.</p>

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<p>I agree.
And if people are desperate for info they can check out collegeboard.com and princetonreview.com for basic stats, which is probably what most people here use to judge anyway. </p>

<p>Or go to the school's website.
If someone is really interested they should probably do the research instead of just post on here.</p>

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<p>I agree - It is much more beneficial to do some proper research than to argue with HS juniors and seniors on CC (of which most threads are pure opinion). If nothing else, the Tufts forum is good because of the incredible amount of advice given by two Tufts students, ariesathena and bluirinka, on a wide variety of topics.</p>

<p>Far too much time is spent on the general CC forum(s) arguing over the relative selectivity and admissions criteria of Tufts vs. other colleges and vice-versa. It is, in short, a crap-shoot. Yes, there are certain things one can highlight that embody the principles of any top university, such as Tufts volunteer and international focuses, or Brown's artsy character, but, in large measure, it's whatever the admissions officer finds exciting, different, new, out-of-the-box. All "Most Selective" universities follow these guidelines, and it's impossible for HS students on CC to even remotely accurately gauge the chances of a student, aside from the fact that if you have top stats and great EC's, then you have a shot. As do the other 14-16 thousand students who have similarily great stats and apply. Essay review would be a much more productive measure (although I'd be wary of posting/linking to them online). Thanks travelgirl :)</p>

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<p>First of all, thanks WorldbandDX for the compliment! but you sell people like gojumbos and snuffles and others short :)</p>

<p>I agree about the crap-shoot quality of admissions, but there are also other things to take into consideration. You may not get in because you are the hundredth white girl from New Jersey, like me. You might get shafted because you go to a competitive school, take all APs, and were ranked tenth in the class, over a kid from West Virginia who took all sped classes but had the highest GPA and was therefore valedictorian.</p>

<p>But overall, what I realized about admissions is just that you will end up getting into the places where you belong. If the admissions office does not recognize your amazing qualities, then they probably didn't accept people LIKE you. They had a different idea of the type of person who would do well at their school. Really, it's just like, why would you WANT to go to a school that doesn't think you're good enough? The places that accept you are the ones who recognize your awesomeness. Of those places, you'll choose one and be happy there.</p>

<p>I never once did a chances post during my admissions process - not when I applied ED to Penn, and not when Dartmouth became my first choice after I got deferred. And you can see that I got into neither, and am absolutely thrilled with Tufts! So it'll work out.</p>

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<p>OOPS ! I'm really sorry - did not mean to ignore others like gojumbos and snuffles. They (as well as Duffman, etc.) have excellent posts, too (wow, I feel really guilty. sorry guys!). >_< ! (hitting my head on the desk). And I don't normally ignore them! </p>

<p>I agree completely with your statements; It all comes down to the nature of highly-selective admissions, school-beliefs and concentrations (& the image that they want to project), personality, & their individual strengths and weaknesses. Coming out of the application process, I feel it's often difficult to step back for a second to realize that the some of the schools we applied to may not have been beneficial in the long-term. It's about match. I applied, for example, to so many schools, that Tufts initally became lost in the mix. I knew it was an excellent school, but that was about it. It was only later on that I realised how international, humanities/IR driven it was, and then the lightbulb came on as to why they wanted me. </p>

<p>"The places that accept you are the ones who recognize your awesomeness." - Great point. </p>

<p>And, once again, I did not mean to leave the others out. You all have wonderful posts and advice.</p>

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<p>Thanks, WorldBand!!! :) :) (I'm actually an alumna interviewer. You all actually help me to keep up with the school - so thank you all.)</p>

<p>I do think that some people who know a fair amount about the school can give you reach/match/safety. The key to those is it just tells you how likely you are to get in - or rather, if you and 99 other people with those stats apply, how many of y'all will get accepted. </p>

<p>While Tufts is fantastic in that it really looks beyond the numbers, I think we can all agree on a few ground rules. If you go to a New England public high school and aren't in the top 5% of your class, it's match/reach. SATs less than 1350, good New England school - match/reach. No ECs - unless there is something else amazing about you, you probably won't get in, because Tufts is the last bastion of schools looking for BWRK. </p>

<p>Then, there's the stuff that any Tufts student can tell you that the school loves:
-living overseas
-real ECs - most of my friends were varsity athletes, dancers, horseback riders, or did 10 years of karate. Committment to making yourself a more interesting person.
-community service - with LCS on campus, Tufts loves that stuff
-any sort of life experience that makes you a more interesting person - that whole global community thing.
-SOUTH DAKOTA. We always need people from South Dakota. :)</p>

<p>Applications from the Virginia/Tennessee/NC area have doubled or tripled in the last few years. I was really surprised (and sad) that some amazing kids didn't get in. Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Connecticut are always well-represented. Stats matter more for engineering than for liberal arts.</p>

<p>Anyway... I do agree that none of us can say, "Oh, you have a 47.329% chance of getting in," but I think we can offer some perspective. A few years back, there was a chart that had chances of admission based on class rank, vSAT, and mSAT. Great thing - wish we could have it again, because it really helps show that you either need something special to get in, or the admission is yours to lose.</p>

<p>All in all, though, Tufts really does accept people who will be happy there. I feel like colleges have some amazing crystal ball that they all use - if you've done your homework and applied to a good range of schools, you'll probably end up where you will be very happy. Tufts students were almost uniformly thrilled to be there.</p>

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<p>I can vouch for the Tufts' commitment to accepting a kid who standouts in an EC. My dd graduated from Tufts in '05 and was bright kid who really dedicated herself to a rather out-of-the-mainstream sport. (She excelled in it and was on the US national team and was ranked fourth in the country when she applied. She also represented the US at numerous international competitions). Given the huge time commitment this involved, she had no other ECs (except that her high school required 100 hours of community service to graduate). Her stats were good--but not amazing.
She had 3.3 GPA, 1310 SAT, and only took 2 APs and got 5s on the exams. Her school (one of the Friends schools) didn't offer honors courses, didn't have class ranking or a class valedictorian. She loved Tufts and did well there. She can't say enough good things about the experience she had.</p>

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<p>What was the sport?</p>

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<p>From now on, whenever one of us sees chances threads, we should direct the questioner to an Official 2010 decisions thread to show them the facts</p>

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<p>OH great! A future person to take over the unofficial representative of Tufts on CC when I retire :) Aries had the torch long before I did.</p>

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<p>lol :) Btw, do we have an official 2010 Decision Results thread?</p>

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<p>Yes, just search the forum history.</p>

<p>Edit: here it is: <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=164069&highlight=decisions%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=164069&highlight=decisions&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>The 2010 RD decisions.</p>

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<p>Rhythmic gymnastics</p>

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<p>Interesting... :)</p>