Chance me for Tufts EDII :)

Colleges and Universities A-Z Tufts University
1

Hello! I was recently deferred from Brown ED and after a lot of crying and moping around I decided to apply EDII to Tufts.
I’d like to know my chances. If it helps, Tufts has a history of admitting a lot of people from my school, especially ED. Last year, 2 got in ED and 1 got in EDII, and same the year before. This year one person applied and go in ED, and I have a slightly higher GPA than her/do more ECs & have a more rigorous course load. She got admitted to Engineering, I’m applying to Arts & Sciences. Here are my stats:

UW GPA: 95.5
W GPA: 97.7
Rank: Top 10% (that’s as specific as my school gets)
School: Strong public school. About 700 students, 151 students in my senior class.
SAT I: 1420 (700M, 720CR, 24E)
SAT II: These are not very good. 670 Lit & 650 bio-M. I know, I know. But these scores in no way reflect my abilities in English or Biology. I’ve gotten straight 97+ in English all throughout high school and a 5 on AP Lang. My final grade in Honors Bio was 95 and AP Bio was 98. These types of tests stress me out so I’m not very good at them.

Race: White, of Middle Eastern origin. I was born in Iraq, but my family moved to the US as refugees when I was 7 years old because of the war.
Language: Arabic first language (read, write, speak, spoken at home), English (read, write, speak, also spoken at home)
Gender: Female
State: Maine
Major: 1. Biology 2.Biotechnology 3. Science, Technology & Society
Essays:
Common app: Don’t want to say too much, but I honestly don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say 10/10 though. It’s an essay that I wrote a while back (edited of course), and it means a lot to me. I won a Scholastic Gold Key for it a couple of years ago. It discusses my experiences dealing with two opposing identities as a first generation immigrant. I think it really shows off my writing skills. People have told me that it’s very moving. (It’s not a sob story though, I don’t want you to get the wrong impression).

Supplements: I worked really, really hard on these. I think that they really showcase my writing ability and my personality. For the last supplement, I chose the “it’s cool to be smart, talk about subjects that excite your intellectual curiosity” I talked about science and I got very specific about some of the science research projects that I’ve done. Last year for example I worked with a local biotech company to research GMO detection. My project this year has to do with tissue engineering using plant-based scaffolds. It was a pretty nerdy essay, I think it really showcased my love for science and the work that I’ve done in high school. In my “Why Tufts” essay I highlighted my interdisciplinary interests in science, writing, and politics, etc and how Tufts would be perfect for allowing me to pursue all of those interests.

Recommendations:
Counselor
-My counselor spends a lot of time on her recommendations. She goes out and interviews teachers, gets quotes from them, etc. She said that out of all of her 19 years working as a counselor, if she could create her own college campus with only 50 kids that she’s worked with then I would be one of them.

Teachers:
-My first is from my AP Lang & Comp teacher from last year. I got 97+ in her class and a 5 on the exam. She said I was the best writer she’s had in years. I’ve also known her all four years of high school because she is the advisor for my school’s literary and arts magazine, which I am the editor-in-chief of. She went to Tufts if that helps lol.

-My second recommendation is being written by my Science Research teacher. I’ve also known her for all four years of high school and over the years she’s become a great friend of my family’s.

ECs/Volunteering:
-School Literary and Arts Magazine (9-12): Editor-in-Chief junior and senior year
-Student Government (10-12): Head of Academics Committee
-Science Bowl (11-12): Co-captain of team 2017, Captain 2018
-VEX Robotics (10-12): Team Captain 2018, led initiative to recruit girls (I used to be the only girl in the team).
-Civil Rights Team (10-12): Senior Member
-National Honor Society (11-12): Community Service Committee
-Youth Court Volunteer (11-12): Advocate/Judge
-I do an independent science research project every year and I have presented scientific research every year at the state science fair, and the junior sciences and humanities symposium.
-I volunteer at a local mosque teaching Arabic to young kids

Awards/Honors:
-Inducted into the French Honor Society (10th grade)
-New York Times Editorial Contest Runner-Up (Top 25 out of almost 8,000!!) (11th grade)
-Award from the American Psychology Association @ State Science Fair (9th grade)
-Three scholastic writing awards (Gold Key, Silver Key, and Honorable Mention) (10th, 11th grade)
-Columbia College Chicago Young Author’s Competition finalist in the creative nonfiction category (11th grade)
-My school chose me as one of 2 delegates to Girls’ State, and there I was elected to the senate, then elected senate president (11th grade).
-RIT Medal for Creativity and Innovation from my school (11th grade)
-Selected to attend Consider Engineering camp at the University of Maine (Summer 2017)

Course rigor:
By the end of high school, I will have taken 8 AP Classes, 1 IB HL class, and 10 honors classes. This is my course load for senior year:
-AP Literature
-AP Physics
-AP Calc BC
-AP Comp Sci (online)
-AP US Gov and Politics (online)
-AP French (conflicted w/ IB History and AP Calc–approved independent study. Pass/fail grade).
-IB History HL Year 2
-Science Research (Honors)-- This class is a pretty small group of people. It’s taken in a three-year sequence so I’ve been doing it every year since the 10th grade.New project every year.

Also, I just requested an alumni interview.

Thanks for the help :).

2

I think your SAT might be slightly below their average but your background and ECs are impressive. I’d say it’s a good chance. Good luck! I’m rooting for you. Chance me back? http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/2044226-chances-at-nyu-cas-lsp-ed2-bu-gwu-umiami-and-brandeis-low-gpa.html#latest

3

Match I’d say. Strong EC’s and courseload. Focused passion which always helps, and your background is definitely a plus. Good luck! The only weakness is that scores are a little bit below average, but it shouldn’t affect you that much. :slight_smile:

4

Are u applying for aid?

5

@SandDad yes

6

Hey!! Thanks for the reply on my thread, I actually saw your post and was inspired to do mine haha :slight_smile:

Your ECs and awards are excellent, and definitely are a strong point; SAT composite is a little below average (according to prepscholar it’s a 1490, not sure how accurate this is) but your curriculum definitely shows academic rigor and proves your success with a high GPA. For sure you are a very competitive applicant, as tufts admission is supposedly “holistic” and, from what I’ve read, essays and personality outweigh quantitative scores. A girl from my school got in ED1 with a 28 ACT, no extracurriculars (seriously) and a 3.5 cumulative GPA, so it goes to show that Tufts really values how interested you are in them/your personality/your essays. Good luck!! Hope to see you at tufts next year :))

7

bump

8

Very strong chances!!

9

@MaybeHarvard2022 I hope you’re right! (seriously if I get deferred again I will drop out of school lol).

10

Thanks again for commenting on mine! Sorry to hear about Brown, but based on this post you will definitely end up at an excellent school! Your SAT is a little bit lower than they’re average, but your ECs, honors, and writing supplements sound incredible! It may not be definite, but I’d like to think you have a good to strong chance. If you end up getting deferred (I hope not!!), don’t let that bother you too much. You still would have a great chance of getting in the next round! Your interests seem to really shine through your app and that is a strong plus! Good luck!

11

http://provost.tufts.edu/institutionalresearch/files/CDS_2016-2017.pdf

this is the data for the last years admissions for tufts… good luck… hope you get in where you soo desired to be… all the best to you…!!

12

If I were you, I would apply for at least Cornell. You are a very strong candidate, and I believe Brown deferring you is just because they want to see other applications from the RD pool. For Tufts, you are most certainly on the hook

13

@cagdasr3 Thanks! I didn’t end up applying to Cornell; it was a bit too far away for me. I applied to WPI EA (accepted with presidential scholarship), UMaine EA (accepted honors college), Northeastern EA (we’ll see soon), Bowdoin, Smith, Dartmouth, and of course Brown & Tufts.

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WPI knows what it is looking for and you are on fire! Congratulations!

Class of 1967.

15

@retiredfarmer Thank you so much! I got into WPI for Biomedical Engineering. It was never really at the top of my list but I’m considering it more and more now. My scholarship was $32,000 a year but I still haven’t received my financial aid package so I’m crossing my fingers!!

16

OK can someone please help I was just deferred from Northeastern EA. Honestly Northeastern wasn’t my top choice at all, and I would probably pick WPI over but my counselor said that I would for sure get in and I thought I would too so I’m so confused. I’m so upset. Not because of Northeastern, but because I feel like I won’t get accepted anywhere else now. If Northeastern won’t accept me, why would Tufts? It just sucks. I literally spend my entire life studying and working and doing everything and no college wants me.

17

Keep the faith, my son just got deferred from Northeastern as well. You have a great background and you will find a school. This process is very stressful.

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@sciencenerd123 i applied to the same schools you did (Tufts and NEU) and I just wanted to say that after looking at the EA thread for NEU, the people deferred had really high stats (a lot of those deferred had better stats than mine, and I got in) - I think it’s a classic case of yield protection. Your stats are much better than mine as well, and I really think you’re competitive at the schools you applied for, especially Tufts. Keep in mind Brown and Tufts are so difficult to get into, and with so many qualified applicants, college admissions sometimes comes to a “luck of the draw” situation. Don’t give up, and keep working hard! Everything will work out in the end :slight_smile:

19

There are many other factors in addition to the “stats” which are so often referred to as “objective” because they carry a number which is assigned by a process assumed to be scientifically objective. If these were all that was needed there would be no need to:
write essays on applications;
present evidence of creative scholarship;
show independent evidence of genuine curiosity about the world around you;
show sign’s of “grit” to thrive
in a given university/college’s, possibly unexpected experience;
attempt to match your perspective with a university/college’s educational goals;

If it were ACT/SAT scores, GPA’s, and AP scores that gave all the “objective” answers schools would not ask for all these other inputs and they could just run the data through a computer. For starters, AI is not at that stage because behavioral science is not at that stage. Even after scientists assign numbers to their many tests, their answers are problematic.

This is why schools need to know about applicants and why applicants need to know more about schools. Test scores and the number of applicants rejected are not sufficient data if a school’s objective is to maximize the benefits they hope to offer to their students. What are YOU looking for? :-t

In interviewing more than 30,000 US Graduates, a 2014 Gallup-Purdue index poll identified factors that contributed to “great jobs” and “great lives” (assuming that is what you are looking for). It reports that engaging professors more than doubled the odds of a student being engaged in their work regardless of where they were teaching. The same study reported that when actively involved in ECs and work on projects, which took a semester or more to complete, their odds of being involved in their work after college were also doubled.

These processes are available in a wide variety of outstanding schools you may never have heard of before. Did you know that U Mass Medical School in Worcester is more highly rated in primary care studies than Harvard, Yale, or Cornell? Check out https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-medical-schools/primary-care-rankings?int=af3309&int=b3b50a&int=aac509. How can this be? Is it real?

:bz

20

I wouldn’t worry too much about getting deferred from Northeastern (northeastern really prioritizes having a class with high test scores – their SAT, ACT-mid 50% is on par with Cornell, Tufts, and Georgetown – as they don’t even have supplement essay requirements.)

Unlike Northeastern, Tufts puts heavy emphasis on supplement essays, GPA, and your fit to the community.
Based upon what I read here, you did put tremendous effort into your essays which will help you getting into Tufts.
That being said, your test scores are in the bottom 25-30% of the enrolled students’ profile, so I cannot tell for sure whether you will get in or not. (Who knows, after all. I know a kid with 1400 SAT who now goes to MIT.) Other than your test scores, you seem to possess everything college admissions officers would like to see in the application (remarkable extracurricular activities, stellar grades, unique background, etc.)

Asking for a chance to X, Y, Z school will not help you at all. Try to forget about college admissions for a day or two; at this point, there’s absolutely nothing you can do other than waiting. According to your post, I am pretty sure you’ve done everything you, as a human being, could have possibly done. I’m sorry to hear about Brown, but take a deep breath and remind yourself that you are smart and resilient, no matter what happens. You will end up at a place that you will love and flourish.

I am rooting for you, and hopefully, everything works out. Don’t worry too much.