Tufts Gets Creative With College Apps

Colleges and Universities A-Z Tufts University
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<p>From the Boston Globe: Tufts</a> gets creative on admissions</p>

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[quote]
This fall, Tufts will try a more scientific approach to its toughest decisions, using its application to measure aspects of intelligence that cannot be approximated by SAT scores. A top Tufts dean believes that creativity and practical skills -- the ability to implement ideas and win other people's backing -- are just as important as the analytical skills typically measured by standardized tests.</p>

<p>The university will ask applicants to show original thinking and imagine, for example, an alternative version of history: What if civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks had given up her seat on the bus? Or, they could be asked to write an off-the-wall ministory with the title, ``My roommate is a space alien."

[/quote]

Thread</a> in Parents Forum</p>

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<p>Interesting. Wonder how many essay choices applicants will have, and how broad or specific the questions will be...(?)</p>

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<p>That sounds so fun! I wish that had been an option for us!</p>

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<p>I'm excited. Why am I liking this idea so much?</p>

5

<p>hmm sounds interesting. I like it :-)</p>

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<p>NPR story this morning featuring Tufts quirky essays:
<a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7384490%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7384490&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>Wow, what a waste of time!</p>

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<p>^^^ My D agrees with you! She applied to Tufts but chose not to do any of the extra essays. It may hurt her chances of admissions, but she is willing to take the chance. That's just not her thing ... and if that is the only way to get in, she figures it's not a good fit. What makes some happy makes others run for cover!</p>

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<p>wow, people are writting about philosophers about the 'confessions of a middle school bully' essay?! i used that same topic and now i feel like mine is so much less adequate ...</p>

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<p>the cynic in me feels that this cooky crazy approach will amount to nothing if an applicant has sub-par SAT's.</p>

<p>cough 2000 cough :&lt;/p>

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<p>I have another article to go along with this:</p>

<p><a href="http://milton.edu/news/pages/magazine_2006fall_fs.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://milton.edu/news/pages/magazine_2006fall_fs.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>
[quote]

The Tufts Plan:
Admission process seeks evidence of leadership skills</p>

<p>Lee Coffin, dean of undergraduate admission at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, tested the secondary school admission world at Milton. He was dean of admission at Milton from 2001 to 2003. Lee takes mission statements seriously. To the extent that a school’s mission is alive in that school’s culture and priorities, the mission guides the admission decisions: Who would thrive in this environment? In turn, the students who enroll ultimately strengthen the mission. A pilot program that will be filtered into Tufts’ standard admission process aims to improve the chances of maximizing that two-way dynamic.

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</p>

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<p>So you're penalized or "not fufilling your oppourtunity if you don't do anything extra?</p>

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<p>^I applied before they started this new stuff, but passed on the optional essay and still got in. Remember you're writing for a human who is trying to view you as a human, not for some dense mystical system with a magic recipe or a key to victory.</p>

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<p>Ooh it sounds fun! I hope it's still there in a couple of years' time ;)</p>

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<p>My daughter applied this past year & skipped the optional essay. She was accepted.</p>

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<p>I got into Tufts without doing an optional essay, and we, to this day, do not hold prejudice against those not writing the entirely optional essay. </p>

<p>I do, however, love the essay topics and the opportunity they present to you. There are a lot of students that possess abilities, ways of thought, and personal characteristics that don't get talked about in the Common Application essay. We've tried to create questions that intentionally give students a chance to express different qualities - whether that be an ability to write stories, design scientific investigations, or a quirk of personality that sets you apart. It's challenging (and sometimes impossible) to get all of those ideas across on the common app, especially since you should be aiming for approximately 250-500 words. We offer the optional essays to give you more opportunities (both conventional and unconventional) to let us know who you really are.</p>

<p>If you accurately represented yourself, your talents, and your ways of thinking using the common application alone - that's fantastic! And if you feel you've done that, then it's most reasonable to skip writing an optional essay. But I know that many of our applicants are grateful for the opportunity to express themselves differently. And as an admissions reader who's interested in actually getting to know those students, I'm grateful as well.</p>

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<p>S. chose to do the optional essay -- about a period in history that he's really interested in. Because he liked his topic it went very quickly, and it was one of the few he actually seemed to enjoy writing. It was quite painless, as essays go-</p>

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<p>The New York Times has highlighted this new approach now that it's being used for the second year. It gives examples of what the admissions committee is looking for in each answer:</p>

<p>
[quote]
Tufts has a problem shared by most competitive universities: After it rejects the weak and admits the geniuses, too many decent applicants remain — about three for every spot. Recommendations and polished essays “all pretty much say the same things,” says Lee Coffin, dean of undergraduate admissions.
Skip to next paragraph
Education Life
Go to Special Section »</p>

<p>So for the second year, Tufts is inviting applicants to write an optional essay to help admissions officers pinpoint qualities the university values — practical intelligence, analytical ability, creativity and wisdom. These attributes make students intellectual leaders, according to Tufts’s dean of arts and sciences, Robert J. Sternberg, a psychologist whose work on measuring intelligence inspired the experiment. Applicants choose one of eight unlabeled questions, each designed to home in on a different attribute. Questions will change every year.</p>

<p>In the last admissions cycle, Mr. Coffin says, only a third of the essayists demonstrated one of the four qualities. They were twice as likely to be admitted as other applicants. Below are examples of each quality, as illustrated by members of this fall’s freshman class.</p>

<p>Practicality</p>

<p>Tufts’s Definition Can implement an idea — gather the necessary resources, attract others to the cause and lead them to a solution.</p>

<p>Question Describe a moment in which you took a risk and achieved an unexpected goal. How did you persuade others to follow your lead? What lessons do you draw from this experience?</p>

<p>Good Answer My family owns a vacant town home, so at our weekly family meeting I suggested we offer it to a Katrina family. When my father contacted the homeowners’ association, we received a certified letter from them stating that a Katrina family was prohibited from living in our town home because the bylaws prohibit “transients.” ... I called the local newspaper and talked to a reporter about the Katrina family. ... When the board considered their racist position being printed in the newspaper, the morality of the issue was forced on them.</p>

<p>What Tufts Said She does not sit back and watch life go by. Academically, she is not the strongest applicant from this school, but she has very compelling personal qualities, initiative and drive.</p>

<p>Analitical Ability</p>

<p>Tufts’s definition Can assess an idea for its feasibility and logic.</p>

<p>Question An American adage states that “curiosity killed the cat.” If that is correct, why do we celebrate people like Galileo, Lincoln and Gandhi, individuals who imagined longstanding problems in new ways or who defied conventional thinking to achieve great results?</p>

<p>Good answer While we celebrate the great thinkers who challenged predominant beliefs in the past, we hypocritically criticize those who do the same today. Gay marriage advocates are criticized today as threatening the institution of marriage. ...This ironic situation emanates from the fact that human nature finds comfort in conformity.</p>

<p>What Tufts said His teacher recommendation says he embraces critical thinking. His essay highlights that. It reveals a well-reasoned, opinionated and grounded student.</p>

<p>Creativity</p>

<p>Tufts’s definition Can think outside the box.</p>

<p>Question Create a short story using one of these topics: “The End of MTV,” “Confessions of a Middle School Bully,” “The Professor Disappeared” or “The Mysterious Lab.”</p>

<p>Good answer “Hey Ugly,” I think I called her ... and the laughter rolled softly like twin tympanies behind me, and she hiccuped. But now I felt a beat — I knelt in the seat, started to preach ugly to the assembled crowd — we had a 20-piece band now, I was walking, playing the bus, like Louie A on a red-hot horn, burning right through the solo of Opus 1.</p>

<p>What Tufts said Her essay takes the form of an opus, a very original construct. She weaves her orchestral experience in as she turns the bus into a faux orchestra pit.</p>

<p>Wisdom</p>

<p>Tufts’s definition Can assess an idea for service to the common good.</p>

<p>Question A high school curriculum does not always afford much intellectual freedom. Describe one of your unsatisfied intellectual passions. How might you apply this interest to serve the common good and make a difference in society?</p>

<p>Good answer I love Shakespeare not only for the deliciousness of language, but for its applicability to current events. Political instability and rapidly changing leadership in the Congo? Macbeth draws shocking parallels. Race relations in South Africa causing unrest? Sounds like Othello. Since many people in India, and Africa, and Latin America can’t afford to read or attend plays, I want to take Shakespeare to them.</p>

<p>What Tufts said She personifies the concept of intellectual citizenship. She’s taken what she knows and loves and formed a creative and unique idea she hopes to use to enrich the lives of others.

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</p>

<p>Original article here: <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/04/education/edlife/tufts-blackboard.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/04/education/edlife/tufts-blackboard.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>I applaud Tufts for their approach. As parents we have always stressed a love of learning by encouraging our children to be themselves, valuing their curiosity and willingness to explore, and not over emphasizing grades or scores. They/we understood that grades are a measure of academic achievement and have importance, but that there are other very important factors as well…creativity, personal character, active citizenship, etc. It is reassuring to know that a University cares to look at all parts of the whole. Among other things this is where our personal values intersected with Tufts’, and I’m certain the reason why my daughter chose to go there next fall. Tufts valued what she valued…it resonated. My daughter’s academic achievements are excellent, and we can surmise that her acceptance was in part due to that…but we can also tell that Tufts valued the fairly unconventional experiences/path she had throughout her high school life, which likely showed her willingness to take risks, and an enthusiasm for “other” perspectives helping her to see the world more broadly. She did choose to write an optional essay and seemed to embrace another opportunity to express herself. I was not involved in her essay writing in any way, shape or form…but I do recall looking at the questions from all of her applications and distinctly noticing Tufts’ as being different. It was evident to me that Tufts’ offered a more varied and creative essay writing opportunity to allow the many different students to find plenty of good choices to help them express who they are. I like Tufts’ approach and as a new parent of an incoming freshman, I want to continue to see the many ways in which Tufts is unique, just the way you want to know that about ours kids. Keep showing us! We’re absolutely interested!</p>

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<p>^ Same with son. But he had a lot of other things that I think made it less of a deal breaker.</p>