<p>I’m currently a junior in high school and interested in knowing how I might do at Tufts when I apply next year; intended major: Economics.</p>
<ul>
<li>My GPA’s probably going to be around 3.81 to 3.92 unweighted (depending on my probable grades this year), and about 4.1 weighted.</li>
<li>SAT score’s are about 1450 (around 2150/2400 on new SAT) and 750-800 for SAT ii’s.</li>
<li>EC’s: I have about 4 solid EC’s with long-term commitment, a few solid awards (NMS Commended, Honor Roll, Debate Excellence Award), internships with banks, ~500 hours of community service, and there’s another EC which I believe is my strong point, explained in the next subpoint.</li>
<li>Started an organization (internationally recognized) which helps needy children in my homeland. The organization’s helped ~50-100 needy kids with college scholarships, #4, 10, 11 biggest cities in the country helped, 5 colleges and high schools helped. I started the non-profit organization by myself, and many have recognized it. I’m hoping it gains some recognition/award(s) by distinguished institutions. (It takes up about 20-25 hours/week and occassional trips to the country since there’s about 10 part-time employees in the organization) </li>
</ul>
<p>Any comments would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>Cash’d: there really is no such thing as a “lock” for highly competitive schools, which accounts for the “toss-up” disclaimer. To give a percentage, when neither snuffles or I are adcoms, would be absurd.</p>
<p>There are so many variables that could impact your chances. How many other kids from your school are applying and how do you compare? How are your essays? Recommendations? Difficulty of course load? Is Tufts looking for another kid with your EC interests when perhaps they would admit a bassoonist for their wind ensemble or an anchor for their swimming relay team with stats the same as yours?</p>
<p>Translation: It looks like you have a very good chance of admission if you apply ED. However, there are never guarantees.</p>
<p>1) There’s only about 2 students who apply from my school per year, and typically, one gets in.
2) One recommendation is “one of the few of career” and other is “top 10%” - both solid A’s in challenging classes.
3) Course load - toughest possible at school - by graduation, 9 AP’s and 5 honors classes out of a possible 20 to take.
4) In my school, I’ve been ranked by the English department as one of the best 10 writers for the junior class (which is out of 350 kids), so I’m guessing the essays should be excellent as well (I love writing, lol).</p>
<p>Does this change anyone’s opinion? By the way, thanks for the input, jjsmom. I guess I appreciate your realistic outlook, b/c I don’t want to get disappointed like anyone else out there by getting rejected from a school I thought I would get into easily.</p>
<p>Cash’d: Because Tufts takes only 27% of the kids who apply, there’s no such thing as it being a safety FOR ANYONE, even the kids with 1600 SATs, perfect GPAs, valedictorians, and so on. Tufts, like most of the most competitive schools in the US, builds a class based upon their needs. Say Tufts takes a kid with great stats like yours ED, and this kid happens to have been devoted to community service, perhaps even starting his own philanthropic organization. Now its RD, and you apply. Another kid who is also applying RD with slightly lower SAT scores and GPA/class rank as you is a well regarded coxswain in his high school’s crew team. Tufts just graduated its best coxswain and didn’t get a coxswain during the ED round. This guy may take your slot.</p>
<p>Now, say this guy has visited Tufts twice, has been in contact with the captain of the crew team and wrote a great essay about what he learned about the Tufts crew team from his correspondence, how much he loved visiting, and so on. This guy will definitely take your slot.</p>
<p>Also: You’ve heard the expression “Tufts Syndrome.” That means colleges rejecting kids who you would think would easily get accepted, based upon the published SAT, GPA, and class rank for the school. I don’t think there really is a Tufts Syndrome, but what I do think happens is (a) Tufts builds a class around its needs and (b) Tufts wants kids who want them. If they already have 20 french horn players and you play french horn, you may be rejected for the kid who plays oboe. If they sense you are using them as a safety, they will take a more enthusiastic kid who has lesser SATs. That may surprise kids who had expected a fat envelope based upon stats.</p>
<p>FWIW, my son’s stats surpassed yours, yet knowing a school as difficult to get into as Tufts could never be a “lock” he used his ED round 2 option to improve his chances of acceptance. No one gets into Tufts easily. But your stats are definitely in the ball park. Showing real interest by visiting, asking questions of faculty, and writing thoughtful and enthusiastic essays about how you can contribute to the Tufts community and/or ESPECIALLY applying ED will improve your chances. That’s what Snuffles and I were referring to in our original posts.</p>
<p>I am not saying you won’t get accepted. I’m saying you look like a great candidate, but who knows what the other great candidates are bringing to the table?</p>
<p>Based purely on your Stats, I’d say you have better than a 50% chance of getting in. But other things are important too, for example your recs and your essay.</p>
<p>nope, tufts syndrome definitely exists. don’t let your own personal biases prevent you from seeing that. however, i think they generally wait-list those who they consider "over"qualified instead of rejecting them.</p>
<p>i got wait-listed at tufts and i got into brown (which has what, 1/3 the acceptance rate of tufts?). my friend got wait-listed at tufts and got into johns hopkins.</p>
<p>my other friend got rejected from UCSD and got into tufts.</p>
<p>if this doesn’t tell you anything, i dont know what does. the “tufts syndrome” exists. and by the way, 27% is not so ridiculously low that “no one can apply there as a back-up.”</p>
<p>i think tufts is a really great school (hence the reason i applied), but i do have a problem with that policy. but it has nothing to do with the school as a whole.</p>
<p>I think you’d make a great candidate I never applied ED to anywhere, and to be honest my #'s are lower than yours - 1390 on the old SAT, 2130 on the new; 3.81 at the end of junior year, but 2 C’s in Calculus BC shot it down. I was rather <em>surprised</em> I got waitlisted, not because of tufts syndrome but because I was somewhat expecting a rejection, since this year is the most brutal in terms of competition, and I had ugly marks. I think going ED will of course boost your chances, but again nobody can tell for sure, this year has been so unpredictable at my school.</p>
<p>I got into NYU and I think I’m going there, though I liked Tufts for their focus on undergraduate education and their emphasis on cultural understanding. NYU is mighty diverse too, in one of the most dynamic cities in the country, but the class size is so large and they focus on fields that I’m not pursuing.</p>
<p>I don’t think that tufts syndrome still exists. Tufts has gotten to be very selective. Also different schools do tend to look for different sorts of stuff, so it’s possible to be accepted at a slightly more selective school and then waitlisted or rejected at another. While I don’t know your specific stats, unless you have like a 2400, 4.0, and 100+ hours of community service I don’t see how you could be “overqualified”.</p>
<p>holy smokes. I caught the date-thing in a previous thread but not this one…it sounded like a discussion that someone would have posted in 2008… ha. </p>
<p>well he/she should have followed up and told us where he/she’s going D:</p>
<p>i dont know if ill get in at all!!!
my sisters at tufts right now, and she loves it. her alumni interviewer was the same for me.
the thing is, my interview went amazing, the guy even picked up the tab for me, whihc he didnt do for my sister.
but my scores arent that competitive!!
IB predicted: 37/42
SAT 1: 2030
SAT 2: biology :570 Math: 680
im not sure i stand a chance at all, :(</p>
<p>“but my scores arent that competitive!!
IB predicted: 37/42”</p>
<p>IBscrewed91; … wow, that’s actually really good… and you know, your school grades are more indicative of what sort of student you are, rather than SAT scores ( considering that’s a score you get during a 3.75 hour test early on a saturday morning 0<em>o ). Also, a predicted 37 is amazing, that means on average you got at least 6 in all of your courses. o</em>o</p>
<p>dunno about you, but in my book that’s pretty amazing.</p>
<p>and you know, tufts places a lot of emphasis on the non-quantitative portions of your application, ie interviews, essays, recommendations, that lot… so your semi-poor scores on your SATs are easily made up for if you had such an amazing interview. :)</p>
I never applied ED to anywhere, and to be honest my #'s are lower than yours - 1390 on the old SAT, 2130 on the new; 3.81 at the end of junior year, but 2 C’s in Calculus BC shot it down. I was rather <em>surprised</em> I got waitlisted, not because of tufts syndrome but because I was somewhat expecting a rejection, since this year is the most brutal in terms of competition, and I had ugly marks. I think going ED will of course boost your chances, but again nobody can tell for sure, this year has been so unpredictable at my school.</p>