Hi! I am a rising junior. I visited Tufts and fell in love. Every school I have seen after has not compared. I can’t see myself anywhere else… Does anyone have some tips for getting in? I want to start early! (and yes, I will 100% apply ED). 
My daughter is a rising Tufts sophomore, applied ED and is extremely happy with her choice. ED boosts chances of admission, but one definitely needs to be in the range of who Tufts would admit under RD. If you have a hook (legacy, athletics) that will help. You need academic rigor in your coursework (APs, Honors and good grades in those courses. My daughter had a weighted 4.1, which isn’t outrageously good, but was good enough), ACT/SAT well within their range (which I think Fiske puts at 31-34), and essays that are original and tailored to the Tufts prompts and reflect knowledge of the Tufts community. She also got great teacher and counselor recs, as well as a glowing rec from a fairly prominent Tufts alum who had known her since Kindergarten. I don’t know how huge a role the teacher/counselor recs play, as it seems at most public high schools, there isn’t the intimate knowledge of a student that there is at a private, smaller school. At our visit, the Tufts admissions speaker emphasized the academic transcript as being the most important factor, but per posters to this board, Tufts seems to really value quality essays. If your high school hosts any Tufts admissions or other visitors, make sure you go and introduce yourself to the Tufts rep. Same if you find out about Tufts events in your community. If you need FA, that could be a factor in an ED admission decision.
I recall at our visit in the fall of 2014 that when a few students talked to admissions people, they referenced their frequent emails to Admissions. I don’t know if it makes a difference, positively or negatively, to bombard Tufts Admissions with emails (my daughter emailed nobody in the Admissions office during the ED application period), I imagine someone in Admissions can tell you that. I don’t know if these students got in or not, or if that made a difference. However, not emailing Admissions didn’t hurt us.
One other thing to be aware of – you may not get in. Definitely have other schools you can see yourself at, and will have a reasonable chance of admission. My daughter was prepared for rejection, had her other applications ready to go (and had already submitted UC apps as well as a couple EA applications to safeties), and was very pleasantly thrilled to get in.
Hi! I’ll be starting at Tufts in the fall. Make yourself interesting! Those essays are incredibly important. Answer them honestly, completely, and uniquely. They had 16,000 qualified students apply last year (out of a total of 20,000). The 2800 or so they did accept had to be interesting in order to get their foot in the door. And ED helps tremendously.