SAT I (breakdown): 1540 (790 Math / 750 CR+Writing / 16 essay) single sitting
ACT (breakdown): Did Not take
SAT II: 800 Math II, 730 Physics
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): ~3.7 (5.5 on a weighted scale of 6)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 15%, school isn’t more specific than that.
AP (place score in parenthesis): Physics 2: 4, Statistics: 5, and US History: 5
IB (place score in parenthesis): NA
Senior Year Course Load: AP Calculus BC, AP Physics C, AP Chemistry, AP Goverment, AP Economics, AP English
Q1 BC: B+, Physics C: A+, Chemistry: A-, Gov: A+, Econ: A, English: B-
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Qualified for the AIME (American Invitational Mathmatica Examination) this year and got a 6. Placed 4th for the Circuit Lab during the Science Olympiad Massachusetts state tournament (not sure this one is major though)
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
-Programming Club (Current President)
-Science Olympiad Competition Team Member (Informal group leader)
-Varsity Wrestling
-Have been playing piano and guitar since 8th grade. I take lessons an hour a week and practice for about 6.
-Bee keeper
Job/Work Experience: none
Volunteer/Community service: Taught English to members of the Greek Navy via Skype.
Summer Activities: An internship at Philips on QRS detection on an electrocardiogram; wrote a short research paper on my findings.
Essays (rating 1-10, details): Plan on making them good, but that’s a summer thing.
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1: AP US History 9/10. Good guy: talked about history/ politics a lot after school.
Teacher Rec #2: Honors Precalc and Trig. Hopefully good. 8-9/10?
Counselor Rec: 10/10 - I have known her for 3 years now. She’s told me to my face she would be including that I am the most passionate student for physics she had ever seen.
Additional Rec: 10/10 Rec from the person I did my internship under.
Other: Can speak Polish
Applied for Financial Aid?: Dont think ill get any with my families income bracket
Intended Major: Physics/ Computer Science
State (if domestic applicant): MA
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public- Consistently top 15 in the state.
Ethnicity: Polish/Greek
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: 200k+
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Mom didn’t graduate High School, but that kinda gets canceled out by my dads PhD, so not really I guess?
I just wanted to let you know that applying ED shouldn’t be a strategic one; rather, you should only apply ED when Tufts is TRULY your first choice!!! I applied ED I, for I knew that I would choose Tufts over any other institution for my undergraduate experience, even Harvard if I were to be admitted. Before asking whether you should apply regular or ED II, ask yourself why you love Tufts and how you would fit into the community.
That said, your test scores, GPA, and extracurricular activities – your summer activities seem super cool – all seem to be within the admit range & above.
Please note that last year’s SAT mid-50% was: 1440-1560 for admit students and 1410-1540 for enrolled students (super score), which puts you around top 20-25% with your awesome score. Your SAT II & AP scores are strong as well. More importantly, you seem very involved within your community with unique community service experience from what I read here.
Out of all, I would say your GPA strikes as relatively weak, but considering that your HS is consistently ranked top 15 in the state, especially in MA, Tufts admissions officers must be aware of the rigor of the curriculum.
Basically, your GPA, test scores, and extracurricular activities all seem to demonstrate that you do have a strong shot at Tufts, regardless of applying ED II or Regular while applying ED II should definitely help your chance.
What I really want to emphasize, however, is your supplements for Tufts. Tufts really approaches each applicant holistically, meaning your data should match with your “voice” which can be shown through your essays and teacher recommendations.
Show why you love Tufts, how its community fits you, and how you would add and contribute to the Tufts community as an unique individual through three supplement essays. I really cannot emphasize how IMPORTANT the supplement essays are when it comes to Tufts admissions as Tufts truly values each applicant’s story and passion.
GOOD LUCK to you and I hope to see you on campus – Go Jumbos! :))
If you are sure you want to go to Tufts, by all means apply EDll. It will increase your chance of acceptance. Your resume is impressive and you have some unique EC’s that sets you apart. Good Luck!
UMass Amherst has an excellent computer science program. We hire lots of CS majors from there. To be honest I can’t recall ever working with a CS major from Tufts (and I used to work really quite close to Tufts). Given your in-state status plus moderately high income, there is likely to be a huge price difference between Tufts and UMass.
“im currently conflicted between tufts and several other schools.”