<p>I feel my GPA, ec's, course rigor, personal essays and supplemental essays are great. However, my act composite is a 28, super scored is a 29. I'm from the Midwest and am Jewish. I know my scores are below the 25th percentile but do you think my regional inhabitance may partially offset my ACT score? I hope Tufts will understand I can bring diversity to the campus. Do I have even the slightest chance?</p>
<p>Does anyone have any comments?</p>
<p>the standardized tests score are usually really important as it shows the relative rigor of your school. maybe try to retake the act? you still have a chance to get in though, i think. my friend had a low gpa but high sat scores (the opposite of you & she got in) so maybe if one is high, tufts likes that?</p>
<p>You certainly have a chance. I’m not sure how much being from the Midwest will help, but remember that your ACT is only one part of your application. Just sit back and hold tight. April is only a few short months away. And don’t stress too much. Senior year was probably the best time of high school for me, so don’t forget to enjoy it.</p>
<p>Thanks Tuftsstudent. It’s refreshing to hear positive, constructive advice from the CC community when it typically is negative and disheartening.</p>
<p>Anyone?Bump</p>
<p>Frankly, I don’t think being from the midwest and/or being jewish is going to be considered as “bringing diversity”, as you put it. So I think your hopes in this respect are misplaced.</p>
<p>Now, if you were applying to a school where there were few midwesterners and few jews, then it might be different (i.e., some small college in some parts of the south).</p>
<p>I am sure that Tufts has plenty of midwesterners and plenty of jews applying. Further, they get applicants from all over the world. So in my view you wouldn’t be considered as being particularly “diverse”. Perhaps where you live in the midwest, there are few jews, so you feel like a minority, but in the Boston area, there are plenty of jews, especially at the top universities. I am jewish myself, but find your claims that you can offer “diversity” because you are from the midwest and/or jewish to be somewhat far fetched.</p>
<p>In any case, I would want to get into a school based on the merits of my application, and not be given “extra points” for being jewish and/or from Iowa.</p>
<p>If you get in to Tufts, it will be based upon the merits of your application. I would think about the things I like about Tufts, and also apply to some lower ranked schools that are similar to Tufts.</p>
<p>Hopefully my essay will help demonstrate the “unique” type of adversity I have faced from growing up as a Jew with virtually no Jewish community in my area. That’s what I mean when I say I can bring diversity to campus.</p>
<p>And Flordadad, did you grow up in a community with a substantial number of Jews?</p>
<p>Being Jewish is not diverse at all at Tufts. They have a million Jews. I don’t think being from the Midwest will really help either.
However, I completely disagree with pologirl. I think especially at a school like Tufts, your standardized testing is one of the least important things. They put a lot of emphasis on the essays and on fit. Your grade will definitely matter too because that’s reflective of how hard you worked over four years, but the ACT is reflective of one day. That’s not the thing I would worry about as much. Good luck :)</p>
<p>First, i agree with Floridadad55 - being Jewish and from the midwest will not be considered as offering any type of “diversity.” But it sounds like what you really meant is that your personal experience as a Jewish person in your particular community gives you an interesting personal experience, so make your essays sing (e.g., the “let your life speak” one), and yiu can work it into a positive.
Second, that said, contrary to what was said above, standardized test scores are not among the least important things in your app. They are important; it’s just that Tufts, in trying to assemble an interesting entering class, also gives serious consideration to other elements of your app - the things that the Dean of Admissions describes as your “voice.”</p>
<p>Correct WCASParent. That is what I was meaning. It’s more so my experiences that have made me diverse, not just the fact that I’m Jewish and live in the Midwest. Essentially, this is the conveyed meaning in my essay.</p>