Chance Me for ED Please

Colleges and Universities A-Z Tufts University
1

<p>Grade 11
White Male
Average Public High School</p>

<p>Applying to Tufts for ED. Want to major in Engineering.</p>

<p>Scores:
SAT-Not Submitting
ACT: Comp-31 (not sure, but considering taking again)
34 English
31 Math
31 Reading
29 Science
(recently received scores, expecting a 9 or 10 on writing)</p>

<p>GPA and Classes:
GPA Unweighted-3.67 (difficult courseload); Weighted-4.853 (top 5% of class of approximately 220)</p>

<p>I have taken the hardest possible courseload my high school offers. Additionally, I am one of two students taking every AP class available.</p>

<p>Classes of Notability:
AP US2
AP Biology
AP Calculus (AB?)
AP Physics (BC)
AP English
AP Chemistry
AP European History
Honors German 5 (only honors is offered)</p>

<p>EC's:
Math and Science Leagues, History Club, school science fair (won 1st one year), HS JV Baseball Team, couny baseball team, volunteer at food bank, volunteer at summer camp, volunteer for Relay for Life, and volunteer for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (writing essay about this). Volunteer work for the entirety of high school is around 350-400 hrs. </p>

<p>Work Experience:
Worked as a bagboy in a supermarket and a camp counselor at a summer camp.</p>

<p>Essay (common app): Overall, I think my essay is well written and unique. It is about how volunteering as a clown in the Macy's Thankgiving Day Parade (well known televised parade in NY) gave me the courage to express myself even though I was an intrinsically quiet and introverted person.</p>

<p>Supplements: My supplements also have a personal and unique twist to them.</p>

<p>URMs: None, middle class</p>

<p>Reccomendations: One will be from my German teacher, who I have had for 5 years. She knows me well and I am confident that the rec will be good. My other rec will be from my physics teacher; I know it will be good, but not as good as the latter.</p>

<p>By the way: Please no trolls that say that you can't get into a prestigious college without a 3.9-4.0, 2250-2400/33-36, and participating in a science olympiad. I know for a fact that that is false. Please give me your honest oppinion, good or bad, and any advice that could help improve my application.</p>

<p>Thank you very much.</p>

2

<p>I’m a bit confused. Why is an 11th grader already done with ACTs and his college essay?
Are you planning to skip senior year and go to college early?</p>

3

<p>Wow I meant “12th”. Sorry about that.</p>

4

<p>No trolls here, my son’s stats were lower than yours! He was lucky to be able to claim state medals for the Science Olympiad team, but as you know that requires a critical mass of other medal winners on the team to move on up in the competition. Your chances look as good as anyone who has the numbers - it will all depend on what your teachers have to say about you and what you have to say about yourself. </p>

<p>One thing to consider, while your German teacher knows you well, language learning is not generally a subject where your intellect or ability to write shines through. At least at the high school level it has a lot to do with memorization. My older son used his Latin teacher and while he got into some great schools, I can’t help wondering if he would have been better served using an English or history teacher (except there were good reasons not to use them since neither would have given a 100% positive recommendation.)</p>

5

<p>I think you have a shot with ED. Are you submitting any SAT 2? You have to look at your high school history. How many does Tufts take historically every year from your school. I do believe that makes a big difference. From personal experience, no matter how good your GPA or your scores are, if your high school doesn’t register on competitive colleges radar, your chances are a lot lower. People will argue that there is always an exception to the rule, but as I said personal experience.
But coming back to your chances. I would say average. My concern would be your science score on the ACT. Considering you’re going for engineering it’s pretty low. I’m not sure how competitive engineering program is. They take just under 200 kids, but I don’t know how many apply. Something you can find out from admission. If Tufts representative comes to your school definately go meet him and take his contact. Do you have any science AP scores that you’re submitting? Was calc BC offered in your school?</p>

6

<p>Your ACT and GPA are both solid, but obviously not overwhelming.
Your ECs are diverse, and the description of your essay sounds interesting.
My concern is that your math and science ACT sub-scores are not strong for an engineering applicant, especially from the NY metro area, from which Tufts receives thousands of solid applications.
I think you should definitely re-take the ACT, but have you considered trying the SAT and, perhaps more importantly, SAT Subject Tests in Math Level 2 plus Chem and/or Physics?</p>

7

<p>Thanks for the feedback. I will likely retake the ACT; I am not submitting my SAT scores because I have scored better on the ACT. I have considered taking subject tests, but I ultimately decided to take them later so I could focus on the ACT. I emailed Tufts and they said that this was a perfectly acceptable option and it will not hinder my application at all. I do have an AP science score, Bio, but I only got a 3 (I am heavily a math/logic thinker so Bio’s straight up memorization nature did not suit me). By the way, my school sends around 2-3 people a year to ivies and around 4-6 to other top schools. I know my scores are only average/slightly below average, but do you think that I can make up for this in my essays/supplements if I were not to improve my ACT?</p>

8

<p>^^if you’re applying ED, will you be able to re-take the ACT and the Subject Tests before your application needs to be complete?</p>

9

<p>unfortunately not</p>

10

<p>Why don’t you do ED II</p>

11

<p>That’s why the Admissions Office’s response to you didn’t make sense. Of course you’d be better off with some high Subject Test scores in Math, Chem and/or Physics.
I agree with momworried - you should go EDII, so that you will have a chance to do both ACTs again and take the Subject Tests before they review your application</p>

12

<p>If you submit the ACT, you absolutely don’t need SAT subject tests. If you want to take them, that’s fine, and if you do well, that certainly won’t hurt you, but as far as I see it, there is no reason to drop money, time, energy, or Saturday mornings on the SATs if you know you’re more comfortable with the ACT.</p>

13

<p>@DanAdmiss@Tufts</p>

<p>Hi, thanks for giving me a clear response. I am a little concerned about my ACT score, though. As a prospective engineering student, I am worried that my math score of 31 and science score of 29 are a little low. I feel as if I could make up this ground by doing well subject tests–but, as you said, the energy and resources expended on them may not be worth it. If I were to stay with the scores I have now, would I still have solid objective side to my application?</p>

<p>Additionally, can you tell me a little bit about Tufts’ engineering program? Its small, intimate nature first attracted me. How large of a role does this play in the overall experience? Is the curriculum research or project based? It would be great to hear back!</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

14

<p>I’d like to bump what Rubi said. Dan, do you think you could answer his questions?</p>

15

<p>I will not. My role here is not to provide an assessment of a student’s chances, but to offer you a sense of what we do and how we do it so you can make decisions for yourself. And, I believe I already answered that question. If you are comfortable with the ACT, there is no reason to take subject tests. If you are not comfortable, that’s a different set of issues.</p>

<p>Regarding the engineering question: you said you are applyng ED. I hesitate to write this, because I don’t want to appear disrespectful or unnecessarily harsh, but if you still have such fundamental questions about the academic culture of the engineering school, it leaves the impression you shouldn’t have applied ED.</p>