I know I'm not the strongest applicant but...

Colleges and Universities A-Z Tufts University
1

<p>Hi everyone! I'm a rising senior at a public high school in Massachusetts. I want to apply to Tufts to study within their Biopsychology program. I'll try to keep this kind of succinct since I'm sure you've been seeing a lot of these. I do want to preface this by saying that throughout my high school career I have undergone family issues that have influenced my performance, but have also shaped by future path. My father passed away from a neurodegenerative disease this past year, lending to my passion for the neurology field. I do not intend for this to be a "waiver" card of sorts, however, I cannot deny that it has had a profound impact on my academic performance. </p>

<p>GPA (W): 3.4 on a 4.0 scale. My guidance counselor has said that a major part of her letter is going to be devoted to how this doesn't reflect my academic potential.
SAT: 1980. I'll be taking it again in October and based on recent practice tests, I should be 2100+
SAT II: Lit 690, US History 710
APs: US History (4), Psychology (4), Human Geography - self studied (5), Environmental Science - self studied (3)
Honors: Ten classes total by the end of high school. Pretty much every class aside from math & electives. </p>

<p>Senior year classes: AP Gov, AP Lit, AP Bio, Anatomy & Physiology (H), Mock Trial (H), Calculus (H2), Band</p>

<p>ECs & Awards: </p>

<ul>
<li>Selected to attend RYLA, a youth leadership conference by my town's Rotary Club</li>
<li>AP Scholar with Honor</li>
<li>Stanley Z. Koplik Certificate of Mastery Award </li>
<li>Spanish Honor Society Inductee </li>
<li>Key Club (11, 12)</li>
<li>JV Lacrosse (9) and JV Field Hockey (9, 10) </li>
<li>Knitting Club (I know, sort of lame haha.) (12)
Co-founder, President</li>
<li>Marching Band (11, 12)
Secretary</li>
<li>Theatre Guild (9, 10, 11, 12) </li>
<li>International Relations/Model UN (9, 10, 11, 12)
Secretary (10, 11), Co-President (12) </li>
<li>Newspaper (9, 10, 11, 12)
Editor, Featured Writer (9, 10, 11, 12)</li>
</ul>

<p>As for community service I have a ton of hours stacked up from various walks & volunteering at my town library. I have also been babysitting for two families for about five years now. </p>

<p>My essays should be strong considering I am a strong writer overall and I have solid ideas to work with. I am mostly concerned with my GPA seeing as though it is much weaker than the average Tufts applicant. I'm hoping that my personal connection to my academic field of interest will at least help.</p>

<p>I appreciate you taking the time to read & reply to this!</p>

2

<p>Your numbers are certainly not at the more competitive end of the applicant pool, with a 3.4 and a 1980. If you can actually break 2100 that would be a big help (with the focus being on the math and CR).<br>
Where does Tufts fall on your list? Are you applying RD or ED?</p>

3

<p>My GPA is really only that low because of my sophomore year GPA - I would have had a consistent 3.8 had it not been for a 3.0 during a particularly rough time when school was not (and truly should not have been) my main priority. In terms of SATs, I am working hard to get them to where they should be. </p>

<p>I was planning on applying RD because I am a bit wary of the binding nature of ED, especially when my family is looking for quite a bit of financial aid in order to make this feasible. It is currently my top reach school. Calling it my dream school, as trivial as it sounds, wouldn’t be too far off from how I feel haha. Besides, their biopsychology program is phenomenal & rare among many universities. Other schools I am looking at, in order of preference, including University of Washington (Seattle), NYU, Boston University, Northeastern, Syracuse, UVM (safety).</p>

4

<p>If Tufts is your dream school, you sould apply ED. If you’re a good candidate for financial aid it wouldn’t matter if you do ED or RD. And if they don’t give you enough FA and you can’t afford it, I’ve heard of people getting out of the contract for that reason. ED is the best option for you with your STATS. You should speak to the admission and find out. But I asked the FA question every time we visited a college and they always said that they’ll let you out of a contract if you can’t afford it.</p>

5

<p>Thank you very much for this information. I am touring the campus and attending an information session tomorrow so I will be sure to address this as you recommended!</p>

6

<p>If Tufts is your “dream school” then just do whatever you can to improve your chances: improve GPA and test scores, write a great essay and supplemental essays that explain both your interest in Tufts and your personal situation, make sure you get great recommendations etc. Apply! You just never know how they will evaluate a situation like yours.
You are already doing the other smart thing: coming up with a strong list of other schools that meet your needs.
BTW- We stopped by the University of Washington a few weeks ago on vacation (in case my son wants to consider grad school there), and it was a <em>beautiful</em> campus with a great location.</p>

7

<p>

Correct. A school will make you a FA offer; if it’s not enough to support attendance, you tell them thanks but no thanks and apply elsewhere RD. Also, ED is an honor-system agreement (with possible consequences, especially in the non-FA area), but it’s not a contract.</p>

8

<p>spanishcaravan, a caution for you: Tufts admissions are partially need-aware. Initially, students are admitted need-blind (i.e. without considering if they will need financial aid). That will account for most of those admitted, something like 90-95% of all admittees. For the last 5-10% of admittees, the admissions folks will only admit students who aren’t applying for aid. This is bad news for lower-income students who aren’t as highly ranked in the overall admissions pool. </p>

<p>Tufts does heavily consider essays and other holistic factors, not just GPA and test scores. That makes it tougher to estimate the strength of your record relative to others. I also don’t know if you’d fare better applying ED (maybe slightly better odds of getting in…dunno, Tufts doesn’t release ED statistics) or waiting until RD (which would give you a chance to strengthen your academic record). </p>

<p>How did students fare applying to Tufts from your high school last year?</p>

9

<p>I’m sorry this response is so delayed, things have been getting quite busy with the new school year rolling around.</p>

<p>BeanTownGirl - Everything that you listed are of top priority. Part of why I am interested in UW is because of the campus…as silly as it sounds, it’s like Hogwarts! However, while I am comfortable with making the move cross country, my mother would prefer to have me close by, which is throwing a wrench into things. But that is another conversation.</p>

<p>vonlost - Thank you for the clarification!</p>

<p>SlitheyTove - Wow, I was unaware of this. That certainly is not good news to people in my position and I will bring it up with my guidance counselor when it comes time to apply, in terms of if it is worth taking the risk ED vs. RD. My school, according to Naviance, has had 13 students accepted, 7 enrolled.</p>

10

<p>^^re the concern about the last 5-10% being reviewed by the Adcom on a need aware basis, I wouldn’t think that that would affect ED applicants, since by definition theirs are among the first applications reviewed.
I recommend calling the Admissions Office to ask.</p>

11

<p>I agree with WCASParent that yes, ask the admissions folks for the definitive answer! </p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Does your school’s Naviance also show a scattergram of GPA vs SAT score, with acceptances and rejections indicated as well? That’ll help you assess how someone with your stats from your high school has fared with Tufts admissions in the past.</p>

12

<p>Ah, thank you. I will be sure to do so in the near future! </p>

<p>According to the scattergram, we have had ~70 applicants, of which 13 were accepted. This does not seem to be ideal.</p>

13

<p>

</p>

<p>Untrue. For that last 5-10%, we start paying attention to a students need, but we are still admitting students who require aid, and in many cases fully funding students.</p>

14

<p>spanishcaravan: the scattergram only tells a small part of the story. If my son had based his application decisions strictly based on scattergrams, or even the other data compiled by Naviance, he would never have applied to Tufts, much less be a member of the Class of '16. I’m not suggesting you be unrealistic, because you must have a balance of reach, target and safety schools. But Tufts will definitely give you a serious look so long as you meet their threshhold academic requirements.</p>

15

<p>Whoops, sorry Dan and spanishcaravan for misrepresenting the way in which the last 5-10% is handled.</p>

16

<p>At info session I attended they encouraged ED. I think you’d have a better shot showing they are #1 for you.</p>

17

<p>I actually think the knitting club is the most interesting thing on that list, which otherwise looks exactly like every other CC list. :)</p>

18

<p>To me, you really seem like the kind of kid Tufts is looking for, just with a slightly lower GPA/SAT than normal.</p>

<p>If you can raise that SAT a bit this month, you stand a reasonable chance. Definitely apply, and see what happens! I’d make sure you highlight editing your newspaper. Speaking from personal experience, that’s something Tufts is looking for. (I edited my hs newspaper and feel strongly that that is one of the reasons I was admitted).</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>