Chances for Admission?

<p>Hi, I am a Senior and I have looked into Tufts. Neither of my parents went to college (blue collar) and I am Caucasian. I go to a public school also, and I want to major in political science or pre-law.</p>

<p>SAT I:
Overall-1990
Math-610 (yeah, I know....going to attempt and raise it)
Verbal-710
Writing-670</p>

<p>SAT II:
Literature-540 (have no clue what happened there...going to retake it)
U.S. History-630 (also retaking it-a tad disappointing)
Math II-610</p>

<p>AP History: 3</p>

<p>GPA-3.8-3.9 (unsure as of now)
Class Rank (6/353)</p>

<p>Classes: All Honors and AP all 4 years
Senior year-
AP Psychology
AP Spanish
AP Calculus
AP English
H Physics</p>

<p>EC:
Literary Club-Secretary
Interact Club (like Rotary)-Secretary
Debate Team (disbanded last year-little $$$, no supervisor)
Baseball-all 4 years</p>

<p>Misc.:
National Youth Leadership Conference in D.C.
Boys State</p>

<p>*Yeah, my EC are pretty weak.</p>

<p>Any and all feedback and suggestions are welcome. I also have no problem with vitriolic and hard-line answers (be honest</p>

<p>Your class ranking is fairly strong which should help, though you should mainly focus on raising your SAT IIs. Do you have a person who could write you a strong letter of recommendation? It might be enough to offset your mediocre extra curriculars. Another thing to consider: has your family's financial status prevented you from pursuing many activities? If so, I would note this in your application as it will be considered contextually in your application.</p>

<p>The thing with the EC is my school is VERY slim in this area.There are basically 3 or 4 active clubs in the school. Even if I wanted to start one up on my own, I would need school approval and a teacher supervisor, which the school will not provide. Basically, there's not much I can do about it; all I can do is get really involved in the EC I there are already.</p>

<p>As for SAT II, I am re-taking them.</p>

<p>Well, your GPA, class rank and rigor of classes are super, and I don't think your ECs are bad at all. You played varsity baseball all four years and held leadership positions in two others -- committment and passion to extracurriculars are more impressive than a laundry list of clubs attended sporadically.</p>

<p>Regarding your scores, you might want to compare them to those of accepted Tufts applicants at this website:
<a href="http://admissions.tufts.edu/admstat.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://admissions.tufts.edu/admstat.htm&lt;/a>
Unfortunately, as you know, your standardized score are your biggest problem in your application. Definitely work on bringing up your SAT and SAT2 scores. </p>

<p>Other stuff that can help you: As you are the first in your family to go to college, somehow bring that up in your application, perhaps in your essay or at least during your interview. That's a big deal. Also, where do you live? If you live outside the usual Tufts' catchment area of the northeast, that will strengthen your chances of acceptance.</p>

<p>Also, if you ADORE Tufts and it's your absolute first choice, consider applying ED, visiting, showing interest, etc. Tufts is one of those schools for which early decision exponentially improves ones chances.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>