Chance me for Tufts et al

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

So I will be brief. I come from a low income neighborhood and a not very affluent family. I go to a nationally acclaimed private school and I commute an hour to and from school.

Gender: male
Ethnicity: hispanic(Iberian)
GPA: 3.4ish(we use a wacky scale so I’m not sure.
Junior course load:
English 11 (no ap offered)
Anal/trig
Ap Latin 5
Greek (ancient) 2
Honors Chemistry (no ap offered)

Senior:
English 12(no ap)
Ap calc (ab or BC idk yet, hopefully BC)
Greek 3 and Latin 6 (semester split)
U.S. History
Honors biology (no ap offered)

SAT: 2100
750 math
690 writing
660 CR

Have yet to take sat 2 in chemistry math 2 and Latin. Assume good scores.

ECs: glee club, model UN
Cantor at church twice a week

Awards: national Latin exam summa cum laude, national Greek exam high honors
Recs:
Will have very positive reviews about curiosity and enthusaism and kindness
and dedication since I live far from school.
I have 10 siblings, mother doesn’t work
Tell me if you need more info
I want to go to Tufts maybe Ed, also applying to BC BU Northeastern Emmanuel Harvard

2

I also was three sport athlete freshman and sophomore years and this year 2 seasons and working at a fast food gig in the spring. I am NOT good at sports.

3

Hey! I have an hour commute to my school so I know how that feels haha

Honestly, I haven’t really been on this site very long but I think your stats look ok; however you might want to consider some leadership positions.

Also, does your school rank? And if not, do you have an above average GPA for your school? Because a lot of top high schools have grade deflation; therefore, your 3.4 GPA could either be pretty good or not so great.

4

I don’t know about my rank but I’m definitely not the very top. My school sends as many as 8 of its 55 kids per graduating class to Harvard. There’s a clue. Almost everyone in my class is extremely invested in her education, but I am above 50% I would say

5

Well that’s definitely impressive! I would say that since you have so many kids going to elite universities your school is definitely well known and they will understand how difficult it is. My advice to you is to get your SAT scores up so that they’re all in the 700’s and focus on leadership or maybe add an extracurricular.

6

Do you qualify ethnically for the National Hispanic Recognition Program? (sorry I don’t know what you mean by Iberian). Did you get a high score on the PSAT (185+)?

Are you connected with Questbridge?

7

I got a 184 on the psat, I hadn’t been aware of the NHRP until recently. And by Iberian I mean my parents are both from Spain

8

Hmm, well 184 may not be enough if you are in Massachusetts. Tough because I’m sure they did not tell you to prep for the test and NHRP can be a big help with merit aid at places like Northeastern.

Although if you can get your CR up to at or above 700, you will have a great chance at selective schools, which generally give very good financial aid to low income students. So the potentially missed merit aid is less important.

Are you going to take the SAT again? A CR score above 700 would really help with schools like Tufts and Harvard.

Your school probably doesn’t rank, so top % doesn’t matter. Your GPA will be viewed in the context of your school, which if it is well known by admissions you should be ok.

I think if you can get the CR up and you write some compelling essays/supplements, you have a shot at all of your schools, even Harvard. Don’t get your hopes up, but in my experience, high-stats hispanic applicants like yourself tend to do well.

If you really like Tufts, you should consider ED. But generally low income students cannot use ED because you are committed regardless of the finaid offer. If you can raise the CR score, I would recommend doing Harvard SCEA and leave Tufts for the RD round.

Good luck!

9

When are you taking your SAT IIs?

10

So I’m taking sat 2s in June, and I most likely will take the October sat if need be. Is it an issue that I am not from Latin America? My parents are still immigrants but they come from Spain. When we came here, we literally had nothing, but now we’re doing okay now.

And my issue is dispelling tufts Ed to try for Harvard. I don’t want to risk not getting into tufts by not doing ED. Is ED that beneficial?

11

Personally I did not think that hispanic included direct Spanish lineage, but the NHRP does:

“For purposes of the NHRP, students must be from a family whose ancestors came from at least one of these countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Spain, Uruguay, or Venezuela.”

https://www.collegeboard.org/psat-nmsqt/scores/using-results/scholarships-recognition/national-hispanic-recognition-program

I mean no one would fault you for choosing hispanic on the common app, but it does seem a little strange to add Spain in with central and south american countries.

I would just be concerned with ED that Tufts may not give you the finaid package that you need to attend. If you cannot attend after the final offer comes in due to finances, you can back out, but by that time you wouldn’t have applied to any other schools, maybe just a few EA.

If you go to a private school you should have a college advisor that can help you with these issues. You may be able to call Tufts to get a better understanding of what your likely financial aid would be. It is also very important to discuss finances with your parents. If you are very low income, the only issue that could come into play would be if your parents owned a small business, which can sometimes reduce a financial aid award.

Tufts admits around 40% of their students ED, which is about average. I think ED helps a little at Tufts but not a lot.

Also check out http://www.questbridge.org/ which is income based. Harvard does not participate, but a bunch of other top schools do, including Tufts. If you get matched with a school, it is like getting in ED but with a guaranteed full ride.

12

I won’t start a flame war, but the word Hispanic literally derives from the latin word Hispania, which was the name given to the territory of modern day Spain. I am Hispanic through and through :slight_smile:

Also, I spent a lot of time doing sports, even though I am not a good athlete. My school requires two seasons of sports a year, so I don’t really have more time for ECs. I know that when I visited Tufts, they said that they don’t care what ECs you’ve done, that as along as you’ve been busy throughout HS, they will consider you. I haven’t made any major contributions to pretty much anything, other than at church, where my role as a cantor is really important for the assembly. Going to school far from home has made my availability for ECs pretty low, so I guess I feel like I have used my time effectively, which is good.

13

@gleeguy If I were you I would check Hispanic on the CommonApp, and not that it matters, but I would have no problem with it. If the NHRP considers you hispanic, for the purposes of college admissions, I think you can choose hispanic.

No flame wars here, but…

Hispania is Roman Latin word that refers to the Iberian Peninsula, which includes Portugal, right? Native Portugese and Brazillian people are not Hispanic because they do not speak spanish, so “Hispania” != “Hispanic”.

I just thought that Hispanic referred to Spanish Speaking South/Central American people, or inhabitants of the USA from those countries.

I suspect if you immigrated to Canada, you would not be considered Hispanic for the purposes of US college admissions. And if you were applying from Spain, you’d just be an International student. So be happy you are in the good ol’ US of A and check that box!

I think “leadership” in ECs is overblown, and breadth is certainly less important than depth. As long as you meet the basic requirements (3.7 GPA, 2100 SAT), the most important part of your applications are going to be essays and recommendations.

14

How does work experience look for college admissions? I am currently devoting a lot of time to my part-time job instead of doing sports. I know working at a fastfood joint doesn’t sound intellectually stimulating, but I think it’s helped me open my eyes to other aspects of life.

Also, if I were to start volunteering and joining a ton of ECs in the fall would colleges see right through that? Not that I will do this. I’m just wondering.

15

Yes, colleges will discount last minute EC cramming.

Are you working a lot because you are lower income and you are helping your family out? That would be a plus. Just working for extra spending money will not help at all.

16

On the one hand, I am not by definition low income, but on the other hand, the money I am using for school trips and such help out in that my parents have an extra source of income for nice things. I’m not providing food for the family, but I’m paying for my own necessities and also trips.