EA/ED at Tufts, Georgetown, Brown, or Columbia?? Chance back

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi, I’m thinking about applying EA/ED to a school but I’m not sure which school. I’m thinking either Tufts, Georgetown, Brown, or Columbia? Based on my stats, and the schools’ acceptance stats, which do I have the best shot at or would be best for EA/ED?

School type: Public
Location: Florida
Race/Gender: White Male
Income bracket: <$60,000

Major: Political Science, English, and possibly Biopsychology (possibly double major+minor/ major+double minor in some combination of the 3, or just pick 2 - Poly Sci and English are my favorites)

SAT I: 2180 (750 CR, 760 W, 670 M) taking the ACT in June and will likely retake SAT in fall
SAT II: Lit 780, Math II 730

GPA: 3.7 (UW), 6.66 (W)
Class rank: 4/ 508 (top 1%)

APs: Human Geography (5), World History (5), Psychology (5), Environmental Science (4), English Language (5), US Government (5), Comparative Government (5), US History (5), Physics 1 (3), Statistics (5), AP Art History (didn’t take exam)

Dual Enrollment at local community college: College Algebra, Public Speaking, Political Science, Sociology of Marriage & Family, Religion

Foreign Language: taken 4 years of Spanish (levels 1, 2 honors, 4 honors, & 5 honors)

Senior Schedule:
AP Biology
AP Calculus BC
AP Microeconomics
AP Macroeconomics
AP English Literature
Dual Enrollment British Literature
Dual Enrollment American Literature
Dual Enrollment Sociology

ECs:
-Political Discussion club (founder, President, Liberal Discussion Leader)
-Teenage Democrats club (cofounder, Director of Volunteer Activities)
-National English Honor Society (President)
-Social Studies Honor Society (President)
-Math Honor Society
-Spanish Honor Society
-National Art Honor Society
-Poetry Club
-Published writer as intern for local newspaper
-volunteer private tutor for SAT Critical Reading and Writing
-volunteer assistant (100+ hours) at wildlife animal hospital

Work:

  • ~15 hours/week kennel worker at vet office (since end of sophomore year)

Awards:
-National Merit Semifinalist
-National AP Scholar

Recs: (assuming)
-Teachers: 9/10
-Guidance Counselor: 7/10

Essays: (assuming)

  • 9/10; very good writer; will likely write about forming politics-based clubs because of my passion for the subject, and/or struggles growing up and in high school (family members being arrested and dealing drugs, etc)

Thanks for reading all of this!!

2

Bump?

3

Helppppp bump

4

Each of those schools is very different from the others; you should really focus on narrowing down your ED/EA choice based on which one you’d be happiest at, and which one would best serve your needs as a student. For example, I find it hard to believe that the same student would be happy at both Brown and Columbia.

Nonetheless, you’ll have a decent shot at any of those schools, though I think it’s more likely that you’ll get into Tufts or Georgetown than Brown or Columbia. I’d say that your chances, were you to apply ED/EA, would look something like this:

Columbia: High Reach (~15%)
Brown: Reach (~20%)
Georgetown: High Match: (40%)
Tufts: Match (60%)

Best of luck!

5

I don’t know about Georgetown, but I doubt that Tufts ED would be 60%- the ED1 acceptance rate this year was below 30%. And Columbia does not release ED acceptance rate. Brown’s is below 20% and in my anecdotal experience is filled with hooked applicants (based on probably about 25-30 ED applicants in the Boston area).

That said, I do agree with @Tman1005 about the relative chances between schools, I’d just divide those % by 2 and would probably put Brown and Columbia both at less than 10%.

You look like a great overall candidate, but without a hook your chances at Brown or Columbia are very low. Your UWGPA and SAT are good but not great. (NMF will help with merit aid at a school like Northeastern, so be sure to apply there)

If you feel like you would be happy at Tufts, I would definitely not waste an ED at Brown or Columbia and instead really focus on Tufts and the supplemental essays.

You should check to see if you qualify for Questbridge, which is primarily based on income. If you do, and if you are a finalist (and this is a big “if”), you could apply to Tufts, Brown, and Columbia essentially all ED at the same time and rank them in order of preference.

Good luck!

6

@Tman1005 @ormdad thank you both for your comments! I guess I’m realistically stuck between Tufts and Georgetown. I really like both schools. Anyone have any further advice distinguishing the two? Student life? How about fin aid? I will need a considerable amount to attend either school and as I said earlier, my household income is about $55,000. Will I not have to worry much about either given my income?

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Sorry @bahstaffer my D was not interested in Gtown so I don’t know anything about it. I think given an interest in Poly Sci you would do well at either school, but Gtown may have the edge. For me it would probably come down to which location you prefer.

There is a thread on the tufts forum right now about these two schools. If you search the tufts forum for “georgetown” (or vice-versa) you’ll get a lot of opinions.

8

Thanks! @ormdad

9

Bump- any further advice regarding social scene (drinking, drugs, parties, etc) and financial aid? At tufts and Georgetown