<p>I just wanted to look at the Tufts application online, but before I opened it, the website said that you only have 3 hours to complete it. </p>
<p>Quote:
“Once you enter the Tufts Online Supplemental Application through the link below you will have three hours to complete it.”
<a href=“Tufts University”>Tufts University;
<p>Why do they only give you 3 hours to complete the application. I mean I know you can write the essays beforehand, but still the 3 hour limit just seems unnecessary. Is a time limit on applications common at other schools? I don’t know, I’m kind of confused.</p>
<p>You have three hours because the online system will time out and you will loose your progress. This is purely a technical concern. If you write your essays out beforehand, it should be easy to complete the supplement in three hours. The form itself isn’t long. This isn’t like a time limit on a test, it’s an internet thing. </p>
<p>But this is a good opportunity to make clear that you should write your essays out ahead of time. We are not trying to get you to write in the space of three hours, you can take as much time as you’d like.</p>
<p>My Common App Online account says that the Tufts Supplement is not yet available. Will it be available on the Common App sometimes or do we have to submit it through tufts.edu?</p>
<p>When you use the Common App website, there is no mention of a 3 hour time limit for the Tufts supplement. Is there only a time limit when you do the Tufts supplement through the Tufts website or is there also a time limit when you use the Common App website?</p>
<p>We have no desire for a time limit on the supplement. Take as much time as you need to do the supplemental form, regardless of where you fill it out and how you submit it. </p>
<p>However, if you fill out the supplement online on our website, you have three hours to do so or the system will time out and it won’t be able to submit your progress. If you write your essays beforehand, you should have no difficulty filling in the form in that space of time. We are not trying to impose a time limit on you; this is simply a matter of how the technology works.</p>
<p>Dan, I understand everything you wrote. But I’m still not sure whether the 3 hour technology problem also applies to the Common App website or just to the Tufts website. My son wants to do his application online but has been doing everything through the Common App website.</p>
<p>Its not a difficult technical problem to solve by any stretch of the imagination.</p>
<p>So I’m not hardy-har-har joking here. </p>
<p>Then again, this 3 hour limit might very well be intentional by Tuft’s design and thus the “this is a technical problem” dismissal is even more disturbing.</p>
<p>I really don’t see what the problem is - if you draft your essays and paste them in 3 hours seems more than sufficient. Many applicants are excited by the unique educational community that is Tufts. Applifcations are up, the yield is way up, and admitted freshmen in the class of 2011 - including my son - are absolutely thrilled to be there. Parents I have spoken with have not only been impressed, but truly inspired, by our brief interactions with President Bacow and other administrators and teachers.</p>
<p>As a Jumbo parent my advice is this: Tufts is worth it. If you are seriously interested in the school (and you should be) don’t waste time questionning the 3 hour limit. Every school will reveal its own idiosyncracies in time. Get to work, craft the finest essays you can detailing why you are interested in Tufts, get the application in and then cross your fingers that Dean Coffin and his staff see the unique individual behind the GPA, the SATs, and 10 AP 5s. </p>
<p>Frankly, if they had given my son 45 minutes to file the application I would have encouraged him to apply. Good luck!</p>