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Heres my basic information:

GPA: 3.783
SAT Verbal: 700
SAT Math: 690
My school does not calculate rank.

Activities:
4 years of Marching Band

5 years of Model United Nations--2 years as president of the club

9 years of Odyssey of the Mind--in the last 3 years my team has placed 3rd at the regional level twice, won at the regional level once, and placed second at the state level once.

Between Junior and senior year I Interned at the district outreach office of my local U.S. Representative. I also am also doing volunteer work for his re-election campaign.


I am considering applying to Tufts ED, and I wanted to see what my chances might be.

By Thecaptain (Thecaptain) on Tuesday, September 28, 2004 - 06:09 pm: Edit

I forgot to include my SAT II's, so here they are:

Writing: 750
Biology E: 760
U.S. History: 660

By Ohio_Mom (Ohio_Mom) on Tuesday, September 28, 2004 - 06:15 pm: Edit

If you are in the top decile at your school and your essays are good, I think you have quite a good shot ED. What is the application deadline?

By Thecaptain (Thecaptain) on Wednesday, September 29, 2004 - 06:48 am: Edit

The ED 1 deadline is November 15.

Unfortunately, my school does not calculate percentile rank, so i don't know my standing compared to other students. I've been working on my essays for a couple of weeks, and they should turn out pretty well.

By Ohio_Mom (Ohio_Mom) on Wednesday, September 29, 2004 - 10:00 am: Edit

Thecaptain,
the reason I asked about the ED deadline is that the only part of your application that could be a bit better is your third SAT - US History. Have you thought about a retake on that - or another SAT II? Your other SAT II's are very strong - it would just be nice to have three > 700 if possible. Also - make sure they don't want one of the math tests for your major.

By Snuffles (Snuffles) on Wednesday, September 29, 2004 - 11:42 am: Edit

You might want to search the Tufts board for more reference of others who are also applying early. But from what I see, it's reasonable to say you have a fairly good shot. But without essays and seeing the "whole picture" that an adcom would see, it's impossible to tell. Tufts also loves you telling them how much you'd like to go there. If you can profess that love (even though you're already applying ED) some more on your application, they're thrilled to accept enthusiastic students. Also, do not be afraid to sell yourself and show what you can bring to the campus. The community here is diverse for a reason

By Thecaptain (Thecaptain) on Wednesday, September 29, 2004 - 08:57 pm: Edit

Thanks for the input. I have considered an SAT II retake, because a 660 is sub-satisfactory, but it really came to either that or working on boosting my SAT I scores, and I chose to focus on the SAT I's. I know my forecasted major doesn't require a math test (I want to study International Relations). Snuffles, I have read many of your posts on the Tufts section of CC about how Tufts likes to know that you love them. I figured that appkying ED is the ultimate demonstration of such love, and i have a paragraph to explain why i love them on the ED form. Where else on the Application can i profess my passionate desire to attend Tufts?

By Snuffles (Snuffles) on Wednesday, September 29, 2004 - 10:50 pm: Edit

You can talk about the extracurriculars in which you wish to complete while in college, or contacting specific professors of departments in where you'd be interested in learning more about certain subjects or doing research, there are many ways! You could also get in contact with certain clubs to see what it's like in the atmosphere. Basically write on your application all the things you have done to seek out the university, thus explaining what you can bring to the Tufts community.

By Jjsmom (Jjsmom) on Saturday, October 02, 2004 - 09:16 am: Edit

Hi, coming in late to this conversation. My son is a Tufts freshman, and had applied ED round 2.

The number one thing you can do to show interest is visit. Do an overnight with a student there if possible. Shadow them as they go to classes.

And, as Snuffles has pointed out, you should contact the departments to which you hope to major/minor/participate in ECs/clubs and the like. For example, my son, who is also into music, stopped in at the music department and chatted with profs and students about ensemble and private lesson opportunities for him with his instrument; he visited the chem department and discussed opportunities for research with the department chair, and so on.

Then you can refer to all this in your "Why Tufts" essay which is required for the ED candidates. As Snuffles advised, the essay should describe how you see yourself as an active citizen of Tufts, based upon what you personally experienced during your visit.

Also, my son's school didn't "officially" rank, but persistant parents who ask for class standing and/or rank in writing can have it included on the student's record anyway. I pressed, because in a vacuum GPA is meaningless and I knew he was one of the strongest kids in the school, at least in the top 5%. See what the policy is at your high school. You'd be amazed what a pushy parent can accomplish.

Tufts tracks the number of kids admitted and enrolled in Top 10%, so it must be important to them. If you think you are within the top 10% of your class, I say you *must* press the school to fax this information to Tufts admissions.

This website might be of interest to you; it's the admissions statistics for the Class of 2008:
http://admissions.tufts.edu/admstat.htm

Also, I suggest you stop by the Tufts forum, where a lot of "chances" and other interesting discussion takes place.

Good luck!