Chance Me Tufts RD 2025

Hi! I was hoping someone could chance me ?
1560 SAT
3.97 UW 5.27 Weighted GPA
~1000 Service Hours- mostly from programs I started for kids with special needs
13 APs
4 Years Cheer- Captain of JV 10th, Captain of V 12th
National Commended Scholar
Other ECs
Applied for Biopsychology, Cognitive Science, and Child Development

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Would you help us better understand how gpa’s work in your school? The 5.27 weighted is making me question the 3.97.

Hello! I think of admissions as being a number of hoops to jump through and your GPA, classes, and SATs get you through the first hoop. From there your ECs sound like a great fit with your college interests - so that too helps to get through the next hoop. We know overall acceptance rate means only around 16 of 100 are admitted in the end. Maybe the first hoops weed out 50% of apps, so now it’s more like 16/50(?)

Now maybe they then look at essays and recommendations. I’m sure they want to judge ‘fit’ and whether you would accept an offer. Were your essays compelling? Did they jive with the recommendations? Did you show interest by taking a tour, info session, subscribe to email, etc.? If interviews were available did you try to secure one? Maybe by passing some of those it’s now odds are like 16/25. Are you a demographic they want/need to recruit? Did past apps from your HS accept offers and maybe if they attended did they do ok? Maybe those moves the needle to 16/20.

The challenge for RD is that, in the end, Tufts is looking to build a class - and they will have already laid down a foundation through ED1 and ED2. Maybe they got that kid from Idaho, found a tuba player, hit their target for first-generation students, etc
 Now they start filling in the gaps and they have more apps and fewer spaces left to work with.

This is our first experience with colleges apps for our senior and I don’t claim to have any more great insight other than you’ll shine the most by being authentic, enthusiastic, well-researched, and unique. “Just keep being you”, right? Good luck with the app and fingers crossed for everyone.

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Chance Me

33 ACT
4.0 GPA - school doesn’t weight so idk re: W
1000+ Service Hours- including org I started and serve on the board for plus other orgs
4 Years Varsity sports - 3 sports - captain one year, prob 2 years tbd
Honors Society
Other ECs including jobs
Applied for IR

IMO, 33 gets submitted, but does not really help your case. Depending on how your transcript looks, there are scenarios where you might have beeen better holding the scores back. Most people would submit the 33 though, even though questionable in my mind.

Given your varsity sport success, are you a recruited athlete? Tufts D3 sports seem to give certain kids a bit of an edge. Also, would want to know more about your high school. Basically, I think your overall academics are going to be key. If you are truly off the charts (a real 4.0), I am inclined to think you get accepted. If you are just very good - a few B’s, not all honors/AP’s, average high school - waitlist would be my best guess.

Of course, this is just my opinion, but I do have some experience with the school and admissions norms/outcomes.

How about your essays, recommendations, interview, etc? Did you feel that you did an outstanding job of making your case and that you were able to demonstrate your knowledge of Tufts? Any hooks? Do you feel that you were able to demonstrate how your ECs and school work either related to International Relations and/or are tied-together? Apps are up 37% and RD round is going to be tough.

Where did you get that stat about applications being up 37%? That seems logical to me, but commonapp is saying something very different.

Oops, may have been 35% officially but if you Google it you’ll find the TuftsNow article from 1/19/21. Is commonapp feedback general or specific to Tufts? The overall trend may be for fewer apps across all schools, but that’s not the case for highly selective schools. In the big picture, demographics are working against colleges and we have perhaps already witnessed peak-college attendance (at least by US residents). Schools will be chasing fewer students in the coming years but, again, the most insulated are the elite schools.

yeah, I’ve thought about the ACT score, but to be honest I am lowkey proud of it. I would have retested to SuperScore if I could have tho.

was recruited by other D3 but not by Tufts.

high school is rigorous even during Covid and doesn’t offer a ton of APs and my 4.0 is a real one.

they don’t weight honors classes at all and only .5 for an A in an AP.

I hope you’re right about getting in. Would totally go if I got in but I hear Tufts can be hard to predict.

solid essays and strong rec. Good demonstrated interest. Don’t know how to answer the hook question - which means probably not, right? Made a case for how my non sport EC and class choices flow into IR.

Heard that apps are up. Feel like I keep hearing that for almost every place I’ve applied. Would have thought it would have been opposite because of Covid, but it makes sense that with test optional, people are trying at some places they might otherwise skip because of tests.

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Awesome, sounds like you made a good case. Yeah, a hook might be that you are a legacy, a demographic the school wants to recruit, that one applicant from that one state so they can say “all 50 states and 14 countries” or whatever, lol. Agreed - things are very mixed news. Everyone is saying that remote learning is the future, that college is too expensive, etc but here we are. Covid may have suppressed international apps for a season, but sounds like they too are back in full force.

If you get an extra .5 for an AP, what kept you from getting beyond a 4.0? Also, did you consider ED2?

they don’t report our weighted gpa, just the uw so I don’t know how exactly to factor it in
 is it the average of each of the semesters or is it the average of every grade I got in hs?

so you have gotten 4 years of all A’s (no A-'s) based upon what is reported to colleges on an official transcript?

yes. and now 4 A’s (not A-) in APs Sr 1st Sem

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Good for you. If you were ED2, I think you would get in. RD is so hard to predict this year assuming colleges maximize ED, but I think you are 50/50 which is impressive in itself. Good luck!

Thanks for chancing me. I didn’t ED anywhere - couldn’t having been unable to go and physically visit most of the schools I applied to because of Covid. Just had my interview though
 felt like it went well.