<p>What do you think my chances are for Regular Decision at Tufts?</p>
<p>Weighted GPA - 4.17/4.00
Top 10%</p>
<p>SAT I - 2310
SAT I Math - 730
SAT I Writing - 780
SAT I Critical Reading - 800
SAT II Bio - 700 (9th grade)
SAT II World History - 770 (10th)
SAT II Math IC - 690 (11th)</p>
<p>AP World History - 5
AP American History - 5
AP Bio - 5
AP English Language - 4</p>
<p>This year I'm taking AP Latin, AP English Lit, and AP Gov. All of my other classes are honors.</p>
<p>EC's:
Latin Club - Executive member (10-11)
Spanish Club (10)
Model Congress (9-10)
Ultimate Club - founder and co-president
Leadership Club (seminar type club) (9-10)
Varsity Winter and Spring track (9-11)</p>
<p>Awards:
National Latin Exam - Cum Laude twice and Magna Cum Laude
National Spanish Exam - 97th percentile
Medusa Mythology Exam
Kodak/University of Rochester Young leaders award
National Honor Society
National Merit Commended Student
High Honor Roll
Scholar Athlete Award</p>
<p>Community Service:</p>
<p>Tutored middle school math
Interned at an environmental lobbyist group
Helped out at the American Red Cross in response to the Katrina disaster
Over 200 hours in total.</p>
<p>Summer:
2003 - Cycling trip from Seattle to San Francisco
2004 - Cycling trip from Paris to Rome
2005 - Summer job - cashier</p>
<p>If you don't show interest or any sort of interest/activity (such as possibly blowing off the interview like one of my friends did), you might get waitlisted. Every year people send in generic applications that look like they haven't been well-thought out and some well qualified students are met with a slap in the face rejection. This in turn leads to the propagation of the Tufts Syndrome myth where schools reject overqualified applicants who have a low probability of matriculating.</p>
<p>it isnt a myth, my counselor a few years back called up a college that waitlisted its valedictorian to cornell university. the kid had 1590 SAT's amazing gpa/courseload ecs and whatever. the dean said they were almost positive he wouldn't attend and wanted to give the spot to someone who would actually come.</p>
<p>However, waitlisting students who won't come is different from waitlisting a student who is overqualified. Tufts will not reject applicants for being "overqualified" - it's faulty logic from whiners every year. Most schools waitlist students who won't go but are usually willing to take a chance with the top students. I know of a decent number of 1600s at Tufts and even a few students who chose Tufts over Harvard and other ivies. They may not be the majority on campus, but they do exist.</p>
<p>How DO we show interest in Tufts? Obviously, going to the interview and having meaningful things to say about why we want to go, but will visiting the campus help? I also submitted my National merit commendation thing to them last spring, will they notice that? My stats are very similar to the OP's, that's why I ask...</p>
<p>Yes, visiting campus will help enormously, especially an overnight. Even if you don't apply to Tufts ED, you can always work in a comment about that overnight and stuff you really liked about Tufts into one of your essays. Another idea that Ariesathena (a recent Tufts grad) recommends is preparing a cover letter and sending it along with your application, extolling the virtues of the school and the great match you'd make. :) This is how you'd work in your overnight visit comments. </p>
<p>PS: My Tufts sophomore son had stats like those of the OP. He LOVED LOVED LOVED Tufts, and was so terrified of being rejected due to Tufts Syndrome he decided to apply ED round 2. </p>