<p>I have just been waitlisted by Tufts, but it is currently my #1 choice. I know that expressing a lack of interest definetly killed me, but I showed no interest in any of my schools except my previous #1 (ED Cornell -- deferred -- rejected). I really want to get the big city experience in college and come from a small suburb of Syracuse, New York. Any help on how to be "bumped" up the wait list would help. I have already sent a letter to admissions and have sent in my request to remain on the waitlist. I am also working ferverently on allowing my parents to let me go up to visit the campus in around 10 days or so when I go on Spring Break. So far, 3 kids from my school have gotten in but 2 will be turning down admission to go to Harvard and Upenn respectively. The other 1 has slightly lower stats than me but got in under ED. I come from an extremely competetive HS that had over 30 kids accepted into Cornell (for example from a class of 350 or so (good connection with the college). All my classmates were shocked that I got rejected from Cornell and are pulling for me to get into Tufts.</p>
<p>Stats are as follows:</p>
<p>Race: Indian
Gender: Male
Scores: Sat I 1460 (750 verbal, 710 math), writing 650, chem 690, math II c 670 ---> I am a horrible standardized test taker
AP's: U.S. History 5, A.P Chemistry 3 (not shown, my teacher guaranteed me i wouldn't get less than a 4 and should have a 5, but I had a bad day) Yet to come: AP Calculus, AP Enlish Lit and Composition
Gpa: 4.53/5.5 (this is just a shade above an A-), probably just barely within the top 10% of class although we are unranked and gpa is unweighted
EC's: Tae Kwan Do (blue belt), Recreational Basketball, School Newspaper, Intramural Badminton, Intramural Handball, Model United Nations, Ultimate Frisbee Club, Tri-M Music Honors Society, National Honors Society, Science Honors Society, Playing the Cello (since I was 9), and I volunteer with people who have Alzheimer's Disease. </p>
<p>Nothing spectacular, but I have certainly given HS my best effort. Any and all help will be much appreciated!</p>
<p>One of my best friends was waitlisted to Tufts. He had already been accepted to UPENN at the time, but Tufts was his first choice. He made several calls and sent emails to the admissions office reaffirming his desire to attend. In the end, he was accepted off the waitlist!!</p>
<p>Tufts' admissions seem heavily weighted by interest and enthusiasm. Generally speaking, and this goes for any school: applicants who do their research and ask the right questions find themselves in a college they are well suited to and then contribute accordingly. You sound pumped to come to Tufts and I encourage you to get in contact with admissions directly. They'll love it!</p>
<p>Another thing. While colleges do love students with great stats and extracurriculars, they are also looking to build a functional community. What I mean is that they need to build a class that contains webmasters, graphic designers, public speakers, editorial writers, intramural team captains... people who play frisbee... Imagine the disaster that would occur if an entire class had no one capable of editing a news magazine, for example.</p>
<p>This has two implications for you. The first is that you can really boost your image by telling admissions how it is that you will contribute to the Tufts community using your unique skills. The second is that you should not feel bad about being waitlisted, they may not have had a clear idea yet about how your talents, however exceptional, would fit in.</p>
<p>Hope this helps!! Good luck!
If you'd like to talk about this more, leave a post and I'll give you my phone number.
- Nick (Liberal Arts, '07)</p>
<p>My friend Nick told my story in an earlier post. </p>
<p>Sooo yes, i was placed on the waiitlist for the entering class of '07 here at tufts. don't worry about your grades/stats right now, Tufts has seen them and they obviously are interested if you are on the waitlist. what is more important now is that you show that you REALLY want to come here. my best advice for this are to have several letters of recommendation from all types of people (teachers, leaders, captains, etc.) and send them in asap. This really helped me. also if you have won any awards since your application that tufts does not know about...TELL TUFTS ASAP! it'll help and it'll show them that you are still busting your butt in academics. best of luck!</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies, guys! I have always been a follower not a leader, so unfortunately I don't have much to show in the way of leadership. However, two of my teachers (the ones who wrote my reccomendations) believe that "my leadership skills are belied beneath my quiet demeanor" and that I do possess those qualities (a direct quote from an earlier National Honors Society reccomendation from one of them from earlier). I don't believe that anything worthy of note has happened to me over the course of the last few months. I am still working hard in school and hoping that between now and the end of the wait list period, I can show enough interest in the school. </p>
<p>I have already mailed a letter to Admissions and trying to find a suitable person's e-mail address to contact to show my heavy interest in the schol. I am a bit daunted by the task of emailing the head of admissions, although that is whom I address my letter to. I couldn't find a regional representative to my exact location. I never got an interview from Tufts either, I wonder if it's too late to get one now ? I talked to the parents of a girl who was admitted last year, and they said she never got interviewed, either. Apparently there aren't enough Tufts alums in our area. I am planning on visiting the campus in a couple weeks; however, my dad has spoken to someone at admissions and they claimed I could not have an official campus visit because I was not an "accepted student." That sounded fishy to me, so I'm wondering if my dad misinterpreted what was said. Regardless, do you guys think it will be worth the effort of visiting ? Hopefully I can convince my dad that it is so... </p>
<p>Pete, congratulations on your acceptance to Brown! One of my best friends is going there and is thrilled about it. I'm sure you will enjoy your college years there! I looked at your letters and I believe that the tone of mine (to Tufts was pretty similar) This is being selfish, but hopefully more people are like you and choose to turn down admission to Tufts for other schools -_-. </p>
<p>Bullwinkle23, sure, I would love to correspond some more! Any and all information about the college process, chances of getting accepted, and college life in general are much appreciated. I am pretty green when it comes to college and this is slowly starting to become a very stressful time for me. I really want to get out of this state, and right now, Tufts is my only feasible shot! I didn't apply to very many out of state schools to begin with. </p>
<p>So for now, I'll ponder over the valuable advice you guys have given me and will keep my fingers crossed!</p>
<p>Sorry for the double post, but I am just curious: If you accept a place on a wait-list at a college, do they notify you either way if you are accepted/rejected, or do they only notify you if you are accepted ?</p>
<p>I just receive the mail from Tufts today...</p>
<p>"My tentative plan is to enroll at the following college or university ______" ---> do i put the university's name that I am going to attend if I dont get into Tufts (the university that i am going to send the deposit before May 1)?</p>
<p>Yes, you act as if you're for sure going to that other college and nothing will change unless you hear from Tufts that you got in after all, at which point you notify that college that you won't be attending and notify your high school that you're attending Tufts because you got off of the waitlist.</p>
<p>Are people who get off the wait list at a disadvantage to get financial aid? Someone told me that they get less money because the school knows you want to go there. Can anyone confirm this?</p>
<p>While there may be some truth to that, Tufts is among schools that guarantee to meet 100% of your need (or course by need they mean THEIR perception of your need, which may or may not be what your actual need is). Based on this, given that your need would have been the same had you gotten in right off the bat, the amount of money will probably be equal to what they would have originally given you. I hope that makes sense.</p>
<p>I have another question. If I do get off the waitlist for Tufts, I would really really like to play on the volleyball team. I contacted the coach, and she said that I should contact her only after I'm admitted and that she has no say in admissions. Should I still mention in my letter to Tufts of my interest in playing for their team?</p>
<p>i'll be over at tufts tomorrow, just to re-emphasize my desire to be adimitted off the wiatlist. i'll be handing in my waitlist reply form to the admissions office as well. </p>
<p>any specific tips, or things you guys think i should do?</p>
<p>Good luck, Aldeya. I hope you get someone pleasant to speak with! Sunkist, anything that help makes you stand out is definetly worth mentioning more than once, especially if a special emphasis is placed on it. Good luck to you as well! I am contemplating writing in and stating that I'm immeresed in Japanese culture and that Tufts requirement of 6 semester of language would be a boon for me, not a burden. Japanese is offered at far fewer schools then I had initially imagined, and I think it's inclusion makes me want to attend even more. To any and everyone else wait listed, I feel your pain. Hopefully, fate will be kind to us all.</p>
<p>monkeydluffy123, i played up the language aspect in my application too... got me on the waitlist so i suppose i did something at least half right ;)</p>
<p>lol we'll see what happens after may 2... let's hope for the best</p>
<p>Well, I guess I've done all I can. I've spoken to my counselor, sent in an additional teacher and peer reccomendation (In my original app, I had two teacher reccs), visited the campus, emailed admissions, called admissions, visited admissions but the people I needed were busy all day because of open house but the receptionist noted my visit. I visited the student regional representative who I've been in contact with and he gave me an unofficial tour around the campus, including into his dorm which was really nice. The visit was a bit messed up, they lumped me with prospective JUNIORS who were visiting. I also went on the official campus tour as well. I really loved the campus and am praying that I can get in at this point. I wish Tufts released wait list stats from years past so I could have some realistic idea of what my (slim) chances of getting in are. <em>Keeps fingers crossed</em> </p>
<p>Oh yea, I saw someone else who did this on this board, but maybe I'll write an essay about why I want to go to Tufts and mail it in mid may.</p>
<p>If I have sent back the letter indicating that I still want to be in the waitlist through fax.. Do i still need to send the letter through mail?</p>