<p>ASIAN FEMALE
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Low-income, first-gen attending upperclass highschool</p>
<p>Rank: Top 20%
When I took the practice PSAT from the study guide the school gave me, I got a 224. When I take practices tests from Collegeboard for SATI, I score around 2100~(in the summer). I'll be taking the real thing in two weeks!
GPA: 3.83 weighted currently. if I get straight A's (very plausible) I will then have 3.76uw/4.02w =/////////</p>
<p>APs taking this year: AP Lang, AP Physics
AP I will take senior year: AP Lit, AP Calc AB, AP French, AP Art, AP Bio</p>
<p>Activities:
National Art Honor Society - will earn a position this year!
Amnesty Int. (9-12) Historian(10), Secretary(11), 95% sure Pres(12)
Editor-in-Chief of Literary Art Magazine(11-12)
Service Club- (10-12) Publicity(11-12)
Dance- 5 hours every week- hip hop mostly
Art- BIGGEST PASSION- 10+ hours a week</p>
<p>Awards:
Unfortunately I have not won any awards because I never took the initiative to enter my drawings into competitions in the past...I'll be submitting everything I can this year. I know I can score some awards from Scholastics.</p>
<p>Other factors:
I might join Science Olympiad, contingent on whether I'll have the time for that.
I'm really trying to earn all the volunteer hours this year. So far next month I know I'll be earning about 30+ for sure.</p>
<p>my dream school is tufts....how much more should i have to work to get accepted in the BEST UNIVERSITY IN THE WORLD??!!!!!</p>
<p>Your transcript and scores (both of which, of course, remain a work in progress) both indicate that you will be a strong candidate. If Tufts is your dream school, I assume you will apply ED, which is second to none in ways to demonstrate your interest in the school.
Do well in all those APs, get absolutely stellar recommendations and then write knockout essays (do the "optional" ones on the Tufts supplement, too),and you will have a very solid shot of getting in.
Good luck!</p>
<p>Your test scores promise to be fine, and Tufts is very receptive to first-generation applicants, so you should go forward with some degree of confidence.</p>
<p>But tell us more--what is it that you are looking for?</p>
<p>Location. I knew that I've always wanted to go far away from home for college, and, coming from California, the Northeast seems like an ideal place for college. My friend who is at Brown even convinced me that the east coast was great for the college experience because of the people. So, not only is Tufts located in the Northeast, but it is about an hour away from Boston! Also, Tufts should only be a few hours worth of subway rides away from New York. </p>
<p>Secondly, I am interested in studying abroad once I go into college. I know that I will never have the chance to study abroad while I am in high school now ( it's too expensive for my family) but I assume that Tufts will cover expenses for their students if they choose to(?). Well, I read that 40+% of its student body travel abroad anyway, so it seems like Tufts really supports the students' endeavors.</p>
<p>Academics. I know that I want to go to a school that has more of a humanities focus than on science/math. According to PrincetonReview.com (I'm not sure if it's reliable), the most popular majors are Econ, IR, and English. When I asked about Tufts' art/design program on this website, I was told that it was exceptionally renowned. My real plan for college is to double major in art and in another subject that I'm still unsure of (but have time to ponder about!).</p>
<p>Lastly, what really made me certain that Tufts would be the school for me was Princeton Review's ranking of Tufts at #7 for Happiest Students.</p>
<p>Thanks for the input guys!
I really want to apply ED, but I hear that ED is mostly for wealthier people who don't need to worry about the affordability. Nevertheless, I'm going to take a campus tour when I go to the east next spring! =)</p>
ASIAN FEMALE
Low-income, first-gen attending upperclass highschool
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</p>
<p>Short answer - nobody knows, and if Tufts is your dream school, why do you care about chances, just apply ED, explain why Tufts is your dream school, and let the dice roll whichever way they care. Having said that, first-generation college students deserve every break they can get. My D has all the opportunities in the world, from her parents proof-reading her essays for the 1000th time, to paying for college visits, to plain old not having to worry about anything other than doing well in school. However, it seems that not all low-income minorities were created equal</p>
<p>Definitely apply ED if Tufts is your dream school and you want to up your chances. Finaid offers get better every single year so you'll likely get what you need if they accept you.</p>
<p>Also, some correction: Tufts is about 5-8 minutes outside of Boston (by car), NOT an hour.</p>
<p>And you can't ride the subway to New York. ;) You can take the bus or train and it takes about 3 1/2-4 hours.</p>
<p>Also, some correction: Tufts is about 5-8 minutes outside of Boston (by car), NOT an hour.</p>
<p>!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Okay. That is REALLY thrilling news.
When senior year rolls, I will definitely check up the financial aid information. Actually, a Tufts representative will be visiting my high school so I'm going to bombard him/her with questions ! =)</p>
<p>Tufts is not 5-8 minutes from downtown Boston by car. I am not sure what your definition of Boston is but there is no way you can get out into downtown from the Tufts campus by car in that amount of time even if there were no other cars on the road.</p>
<p>I had a car while at Tufts and it took me 8-10 minutes to get to Downtown Crossing on most days. I knew backroads because my roommates were from the Boston area. ;)</p>
<p>I was born in Boston and have lived here most of my life. I've probably taken every single road into Boston possible. Care to elaborate on your 10 minute route?</p>
<p>HarvardEngineer, I don't need to prove my route to you. Be creative and don't take Mass Ave. It's not so hard when you go through the backstreets of Somerville and Cambridge.</p>
<p>It used to take me 10 minutes to go to my boyfriend's place near Downtown Crossing, what can I say? During rush hour, maybe 15-18. But I usually went at the odd hours college students have time off at, so I never got stuck in traffic.</p>
<p>Regardless -- whether its 10 minutes or 20 minutes, Tufts is very close to downtown Boston. No more than 20 by subway, which is the most pertinent number to prospective students, I'd say, as most Tufts undergrads and all freshman don't have cars.</p>
<p>I know that one of the biggest draws to Tufts is its location -- retaining a campus feel while at the same time being accessibly close to a large city.</p>
<p>Yeah it would take me 10-12 minutes to Newbury St area going through the backstreets of Cambridge. It took awhile to figure out which streets were the best to take. I don't remember the name of the street anymore, but it's the one that passes behind Somerville High School that works the best. With traffic ab it more as LolaBell concedes.</p>
<p>Google Maps just gave me 14 minutes from Tufts to Downtown Crossing using routes that lolabelle and kofi000 would not bother with.</p>
<p>I'll grant you that if I had a meeting in Boston, I'd give myself more than 10 minutes to get there. But the point, as lolabelle says, is that Tufts is a lot closer to Boston than the OP thought.</p>
<p>BTW, there are some other things that the OP still has to learn about Tufts before I think she should call it her Dream School. For example, she said that she was looking for a place with a humanities focus. It's certainly true that the humanities are one focus at Tufts, but there are also a lot of math and science types. There's the School of Engineering of course, and there are a lot of people planning on going into the health sciences. There are also ecologists, geologist, etc. One nice thing is that many of the humanities people and the science people share an interest in international issues and/or "active citizenship."</p>
<p>If you want a humanities-focused education at Tufts you can absolutely get it. You can even take science and math courses for your distribution requirements that have a heavy humanities focus. That was my experience</p>
<p>I don't think the OP said he/she needed a school where everyone is a humanities student; I think he/she just wants his or her own experience to be that way.</p>
<p>But it's fair to let the OP know that there are all kinds of students at Tufts with varied interests, and this will only help you -- a well-rounded academic environment! It's true that everyone at Tufts, regardless of major/academic interest are all tied together by internationalism and the "active citizenship" mantra.</p>
<p>I realize that Tufts offers more than just the humanties; after all, it IS a research university. My teachers have always told me that many students go into college with a single passion and leave with a slew of new interests. I feel that I can gain different perspectives and different interests if I were to attend Tufts. PrincetonReview says that Boston is an hour away--people on this board argue that it is less than 10 minutes away. Whatever the distance, I would willingly make the trip =). Also, I wanted to ask, how active are the students on campus? Does everyone make contributions to the Tufts community?</p>