I said snakie would have an uphill battle, and only with Native American status would admission be “without too much of a bother”. Tufts tries to build a diverse class and that means holding spots open for particular demographics. To be blunt, snakie isn’t competing against all other Tufts applicants; snakie is competing against other Native Americans for places in the class reserved for Native Americans. I think you’ll find that while snakie’s stats may seem sub-par for the general student body, they are quite good for the Native American cohort.</p>
I don’t work in the admissions office, so I’m completely speculating, but I really really don’t think most schools have a Native American quota the same way they might have an African American quota.</p>
<p>Colleges are generally a lot less open about their affirmative action policies, but the grad schools adcoms that have answered aa questions candidly have stated that they have quotas to fill for only a few groups of minorities. Eg being African American or LGBT may add another dimension to your application, but it won’t give you the auto-boost that being African American would.</p>