Tufts Gets Creative With College Apps

Roger_Dooley · 07-06-2006, 01:26 PM

From the Boston Globe: Tufts gets creative on admissions

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.

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."

Thread in Parents Forum

lspf72 · 07-06-2006, 04:10 PM

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

travelgirl18 · 07-06-2006, 05:13 PM

That sounds so fun! I wish that had been an option for us!

nickdechile · 07-07-2006, 04:15 AM

I'm excited. Why am I liking this idea so much?

wrathofachilles · 07-08-2006, 02:09 AM

hmm sounds interesting. I like it :-)

Papa Chicken · 02-23-2007, 07:45 AM

NPR story this morning featuring Tufts quirky essays:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...toryId=7384490

rightbackatyou · 02-23-2007, 12:04 PM

Wow, what a waste of time!

kelsmom · 02-23-2007, 07:51 PM

^^^ 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!

precocious · 02-24-2007, 11:46 AM

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 ...

setemstraight · 02-25-2007, 11:53 AM

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

cough 2000 cough :\

gianscolere1 · 03-10-2007, 11:19 AM

I have another article to go along with this:

http://milton.edu/news/pages/magazine_2006fall_fs.html

Quote:

The Tufts Plan:
Admission process seeks evidence of leadership skills

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.

tennisjump · 08-09-2007, 02:00 AM

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

Jumbosox · 08-09-2007, 02:53 AM

^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.

tetrisfan · 08-09-2007, 05:22 AM

Ooh it sounds fun! I hope it's still there in a couple of years' time

kelsmom · 08-09-2007, 09:09 AM

My daughter applied this past year & skipped the optional essay. She was accepted.