Risk it?

[apparently22]

@jazzing

Um, the EA pool at Harvard is not “weaker,” at least in Harvard’s eyes. They take 80% of the athletic recruits because it fulfills an institutional priority, and 13-14% overall. The RD pool is weaker, hence they take only 2-3%. And those who are deferred or denied by other top schools are not the strongest candidates; they’re middling or relatively weak; otherwise, those schools would have taken them.

OP’s profile is not exceptional for Tufts, and ED2 might be advantageous. Midrange stats are don’t lead to a high likelihood of admission in RD, as only 15% overall are admitted. Accepted Student Profile | Tufts Admissions

Um? Not a very polite way to start off a post. And I stand by my statement. Folks deferred from other top schools in the EA rounds are not middling or relatively weak applicants. Not every qualified person gains admission to the one school they apply to. I’m sure you are aware that applicants deferred, and even some who are rejected from T10 schools early are accepted in the RD round of the other T10 schools. The point of the post is that the RD round at HPYSM is not the easy road into any of those schools. There is no easy road. Obviously there are many more students applying during RD so the admission numbers will be down because nearly 900 applicants have already been offered admission and with more applying in that batch of applicants there will be those that are not well qualified. However, being deferred from any of those other top schools is not equal to being middling just as a deferment from Harvard during the SCEA round does not make one middling. It’s the OP’s choice whether or not to take the risk. If Tufts is a clear 2nd choice and the OP wants the process over and feels like the deferral was a soft rejection and believes there is an advantage to applying EDII then they can apply EDII to Tufts. If they want to hang on to hope then they can apply RD to Tufts and as far as I’m concerned the OP would be a strong candidate for Tufts in the RD round. If the OP thinks they will be admitted into Harvard during the RD after their deferral because it’s the weaker group or the easiest way in I disagree.