<p>I visited Tufts and LOVED it, but I honestly have no idea what my chances are (my counselor isn't the best and kind of just shrugged when I asked her). Anyone have any insight or advice?</p>
<p>Female in prestigious/competitive East Coast public school (huge % Ivy admits, etc). Background on my school: average GPA is about 91, average SAT is 2100+, and we don't rank. Not many APs available, but senior year is all electives since we've finished our high school requirements by then.</p>
<p>I'm applying as a Classics or English major.</p>
<p>GPA: 95
SAT: 2270, retaking and hoping for 2320+ based on practice tests
PSAT: 224</p>
<p>Junior Grades
AP Latin: A+
U.S. History: A
Precalculus: A-
Physics: A
English: A
Chorus: A
Theater Production: A+</p>
<p>Senior Classes:
James Joyce's Ulysses
Theater In New York
AB Calculus
Organic Chemistry
Latin V
Intro to Philosophy
AP Music Theory
Ancient Greek Independent Study</p>
<p>ECs:
-Mock Trial (3 years, team has done quite well)
-Assistant Stage Manager for professional production company
-Stage Manager for multiple high school productions (selective process, leadership)
-piano for 10+ years; attended selective chamber music camp for 3 years
-props crew for multiple high school productions
-volunteer at National MS Society for 100+ hours (working to recruit other volunteers)
-Latin Sectional Editor for Polyglot (language mag)</p>
<p>Awards, etc:
-two national Scholastic Writing awards
-multiple regional Scholastic Writing awards
-multiple National Latin Exam awards</p>
<p>You’re a strong candidate. Are you thinking ED or RD?
I am curious, though, about your description of a “prestigious” East Coast school that doesn’t have many APs available, since i usually assume that top schools have plenty of them.</p>
<p>Probably RD because of financial stuff and because limiting myself makes me a bit nervous…but I know ED might show more interest, so I’m not sure. Do you think ED would give me a huge advantage?</p>
<p>We’re only allowed two electives in junior year, so only two possible APs. (Everything else is honors.) We can take whatever we want as seniors, of course, but my school really only offers math/some science/language APs – no Euro, US History, Human Geography, English Lang/Lit, Environmental Science, etc.</p>
<p>The admissions department has a blog that has interesting posts about the admissions process in general, and about this year’s class. Interesting reading.
[Tufts</a> Blogs Tufts University Admissions Department](<a href=“http://admissions.tufts.edu/blogs/]Tufts”>Tufts Blogs | Tufts Admissions)</p>
<p>My advice:
Keep up the good work!
Enjoy the rest of your high school experience as much as you can! It’s a once in a lifetime experience that is much more than a getting-into-college project.
Do lots of research on your own as well as getting input from your GC and trusted teachers to come up with a comprehensive list of GREAT schools that you would love to go to, making sure to include some where your odds are better than Tufts. But by all means apply to Tufts and let them know <em>WHY</em> you want to get in. Beyond the obvious reasons of course ;-)</p>
<p>Yes, for some applicants applying ED is a big advantage, and I think you would be in that group. I think your odds of getting in ED are very high. If you apply RD, you will be a strong applicant, but no school can accept all of its strong applicants, so it becomes more of a crap shoot.</p>
<p>OP, are you a National Merit semi-finalist?</p>
<p>Before considering applying ED, talk to your family about their budget. Have them run their numbers through Tufts’ Net Price Calculator. If you have a situation that’s not covered cleanly by the NPC (e.g. your family owns a small business, your parents are divorced) then you might want to talk to the Financial Aid folks as well. </p>
<p>If it looks like Tufts would be affordable, then think some more about ED. But if it’s going to be out of reach financially, stay with RD. Not getting in would be disappointing, but getting in but not being able to afford to go is its own special kind of hell. </p>
<p>Talk to the counselors at your school and see if people with your grades and stats have been admitted to Tufts recently. That’s some of the best advice you can get.</p>
<p>I thought National Merit hasn’t come out yet…? I’m above the usual cut-off for my state, so we’ll see.</p>
<p>Yeah, I’m gonna probably talk to financial aid people at all the colleges I’m considering applying to early (I also loved Swat) because there is some more complicated financial stuff, so I guess we’ll see when that happens. My impression is that it’s not TOTALLY out of reach for us financially (we have some $ saved, and we should be getting some need-based aid) but it’s obviously not the cheapest thing, and I’ve heard they tend to give ED kids less money because they don’t feel the need to lure them in with financial aid…so it would be less about “can we afford it at all” and more about “I wish we had gotten more aid”.</p>
<p>Admission rates from my school have been decent, but I feel like it’s a lot of people’s match and then they don’t end up going. I’m a bit above the average admitted GPA and SAT. But when I look at the scattergram, I’m in the middle of a mass of accepted and waitlisted people, and the waitlisted part is what worries me about RD…</p>
<p>I know of at least one public school district in Westchester County, NY that is very anti- testing and has done away with most if not all AP designations for its courses, though many students still take AP tests. You are obviously a strong candidate, but there’s just no guarantee, since good stats only assure that your application will get a serious read. My son had much weaker stats than you, but really put his heart into his essays, and wrote about some activities he did outside school that weren’t quite run of the mill (though they weren’t wildly unusual either.)</p>
<p>OP, you have a terrific chance. Your awards in writing distinguish you, and your ECs in theater show a strong passion for the arts. In addition, I was admitted EDII for the Class of 2016 (this year) and your stats are around the same as mine. Just be creative and thoughtful with your essays, and you’ll really be in good shape. </p>
<p>Good luck to you as a rising senior! I hope you be part of the Class of 2017!</p>
<p>This I can totally sympathize with. My D1 came from a small school where Tufts isn’t hugely popular, and is more often used as a backup for students aiming at tippy-tops. Since Tufts was D1’s top choice, and since D1 was very much middle-of-the-pack at her high school, and since we could afford to pay the whole thing, she applied ED to avoid the issue of being in any way compared to higher-stats students from her school who applied to Tufts. </p>
<p>Was it the right strategy? We’ll never know, will we? She’s in, she’s happy at the school, we’re happy with what she’s getting from the school academically etc etc. She might’ve gotten in on her own merits RD, because her love and care would’ve shown up in her essays. She tells me that she now realizes that people will end up being happy wherever they go, and she wants to tell other high school seniors this bit of wisdom. I asked her if she believed me when I told her that during high school. She paused, and said “no.” </p>
<p>You’re going to have significant merit opportunities with your stats. My advice to you is to apply nowhere ED, and wait and see what comes your way RD. At the very least, do try and get an FA pre-read at Tufts and/or Swat that takes your family’s financial oddities into account.</p>
</p>
She’s in, she’s happy at the school, we’re happy with what she’s getting from the school academically etc etc. She might’ve gotten in on her own merits RD, because her love and care would’ve shown up in her essays. She tells me that she now realizes that people will end up being happy wherever they go, and she wants to tell other high school seniors this bit of wisdom. I asked her if she believed me when I told her that during high school. She paused, and said “no.” 
</p>