How am I looking for Tufts?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Tufts University
1

<p>I'm a junior, probably applying regular. Do I stand even a slight chance</p>

<p>Race: White
-Gender: Female
-High School-Public (very affluent, but barely sends any kids to Ivies)</p>

<p>Academic:
-SAT: 2030 (first time taking with little studying, hoping for a 2100+ with hardcore studying)
-SATII-Haven't taken. Will take Math I and US History
-GPA-94.5 UW/99 W
-Rank-1st Decile
-AP's: Junior Year: Gov, Eng Lang/ Senior Year (likely): Euro, Stat, Bio (school only has around 10 AP's offered, most don't run bc lack of funding, limit of 2 per year)
Extracurriculars:</p>

<p>Athletic:
-Track&Field(Pole Vaulting, on track to get scholarship, got injured)-9,10
-Tennis-JV 9,10/V 11,12 (Captain)
-Black Belt Tae Kwon Do-8,9,10,11,12
Academic:
-Debate Team-JV 9/V-10,11,12 (Captain)
-Chinese Club(Treasurer)-11, 12
-School Lit Mag-published 9,10,11-magazine won award 9th</p>

<p>-Barnard Pre-College Program-10,11
Volunteer
-Assistent teacher Hebrew-2 years/2 hrs/wk
-Hebrew Tutor-for children with special needs-4 years 3 hrs/wk
-Volunteer trip-worked in New Orleans Head Start/Rebuilt house in 9th Ward
-Native American Reservation-coordinating coat drive that will transport airplane load of coats/clothing to a impoverished reservation
Work:
-Counselor-10,11,12-counselor for children with behavioral/emotional problems.
-Instructor-Tae Kwon Do-10,11,12
Research:
-Research Assistent in inner city psychology clinic intervention center (internationally known psychologist)
-Co-author of paper on development in children, published in peer review medical journal</p>

<p>Courses:
Hardest Courseload available:
-4 AP's by senior year
-6 years of foreign language (Chinese+Spanish)</p>

<p>Other:
-Diffiucult sophomore year-severe anorexia, was not in school much 1/3 of year. This may be looked on negatively by colleges.</p>

<p>Hook:
Legacy</p>

2

<p>I will state that you have a very good chance of getting in. Yes, you’re SAT I is definitely on the weak side, but try to raise it to 2200+ for a very high chance to get in.</p>

<p>Also, SAT ii Math 1 is not considered by many universities. I advise that you take on a different SAT ii subject, like Math 2.</p>

<p>You have a lot of extracurriculars, but make sure that this passion shows in your essay.</p>

<p>Lastly, legacy will definitely help you</p>

<p>I personally think you have a very good chance of getting in if you apply RD</p>

3

<p>Thanks, I’m thinking Tufts is a mid-reach for me, I’ll get my SAT’s up, but its one of the harder schools on my list. Anything else I can do to increase my chances?</p>

4

<p>^Write great essays. Find a teacher who believes in you and will write a great and personal recommendation. Your activities sound good, you should ask for a recommendation from the person you wrote the paper with.</p>

<p>As far as I know it’s mostly engineering schools that prefer Math 2. If you are taking pre-calc you should look at Math 2 because you are liked to be prepared for it. My kids all took 3 SAT subject tests in one sitting. (Admittedly each had at least one college that required 3, but when my younger son didn’t like his Math 2 score he had something else to send.) He sent Tufts US History, and Biology if I recall correctly.</p>

5

<p>I’ll try to write great essays, I’m hoping to get a rec from the psychologist I work for. For some other schools I’m applying to they need either math i or math ii. Math is my weakest subject, so I’m just taking the easier one .</p>

6

<p>If math is your weakest subject I highly, highly recommend taking something else as well. Ideally you want two scores over 700.</p>

7

<p>I’ve always been under the impression that at Tufts legacy has greater value ED than RD.
Are you planning to apply somewhere else ED?</p>

8

<p>Yea…Barnard ED probably</p>

9

<p>Barnard will be easier to get into than Tufts, so I expect that this inquiry will prove to be purely academic (pun intended).
Barnard’s middle 50% on SATs is considerably lower than Tufts’ (especially on math), and for the last year reported on its web site, it admitted 48% of ED applicants.
My guess is you’ll be going to Barnard.
Good luck!</p>

10

<p>idk, Barnard is pretty hard…but a 48% acceptance rate is pretty good, didnt know that. but i guess if i cant get into barnard, tufts will be a very high reach</p>

11

<p>Yes, it will.</p>

12

<p>Hey just a note regarding Barnard, and actually I think most women’s colleges (I’ve applied to Smith and so have done some research on the matter): They tend to be very self-selecting in the applicant pool, especially more competitive ones. Think about the women who apply to all women’s colleges: in GENERAL, they tend to be highly focused on academics which is what drew them to the all women environment, for the extra academic/research/student group leadership opportunities it may afford. That 48% admit rate can be deceiving in that regard when compared to co-ed counterparts. Certainly not to say you won’t get in – I’m not qualified to make that assessment in any way (personally I don’t know much about Barnard specifically, and am not an admissions counselor at any school – just a nerdy high school student). Just food for thought. Good luck with Tufts, Barnard, and any other school that you may become interested in!</p>

13

<p>Thanks, I know, all of Barnard’s applicants are great, but I’ve shown a lot of interest there, and am in contact with the admissions officer from my area, so I’m hoping that will help me.</p>

14

<p>Bumping this up. Got a 2300 on the SAT’s. How does this affect chances?</p>

15

<p>2300?!?! You beasted that test! I think you’re beyond golden for Barnard. Tufts would be a bit harder, but with legacy, I’m sure if you applied ED you’d have an awesome chance. :smiley: Way to go!</p>

16

<p>Thanks…I know, I’m a total beast hahaha…I was banking on a 2100, but the 2300 was a nice surprise.</p>

<p>Would a 2300 make me that much more competitive?</p>

17

<p>It’s not going to hurt your chances for sure. Congratulations.</p>

18

<p>You seem like a great candidate, especially with this wonderful SAT score you just received. I can say that I entered as an EDII applicant with a 2280 if that interests you (was accepted by the way). As long as you do well on your SAT II’s, I think you have an excellent chance. The legacy status doesn’t hurt things either. You seem to be very, very well rounded, and your difficult course load for your school is something, I know, Tufts looks at very carefully. Your activities are truly extensive, diverse, and, well, interesting (in a good way). I think if you can get your character across in your essays, you’ll be a very competitive applicant who I would hope gets accepted. :slight_smile:
And as for the difficult sophomore year, if that gets addressed in your application as something you have overcome, I think that colleges would not be so harsh about it. We’re all human, but if we learn from experiences, that’s something that colleges see.</p>

19

<p>Thanks! Now the only thing I’m worried about is the social life at Tufts…I heard there’s not many parties, and football games aren’t well attended…the social aspects of a school are really important to me. Does anyone have input?</p>

20

<p>The social life at Tufts is very diverse and has a little bit for everyone.</p>

<p>If you are more into football games and parties it sounds like you might be interested in Greek life. It isn’t huge, but it is growing. Most freshman spend a significant part of their year at different Frat parties.</p>

<p>Additionally, some students spend all their time at off campus house parties or even in Boston (clubs, apartments). </p>

<p>There’s a niche for most people at TU.</p>