Dear Seniors,
Congratulations! You have made it through exams (or you are just about to be finished with them), and you can now take a break and enjoy the time away from school. As you think about the final touches on your application, I wanted to give you some advice before you submit your materials on January 1st.
Trust yourself: Know that you have worked hard to get to this point in your life. Trust what you have learned and accomplished inside and outside the classroom and in your community. There is little you can change about your high school experience at this point. And as much as you’d like to change the grade in your biology class from your second semester sophomore year or add a few more extracurricular activities, we all know that is not possible. However, what remains a possibility is that can still tell us your story and most importantly, you can control how you tell us.
Make sure your voice comes through: It can be easy to get carried away editing an essay multiple times after you have already written it. If that’s the case, it is even easier to lose your voice in the midst of so many edits. Be careful! When reviewing your essay and short-answer questions, whether it is your first time or tenth time, ask yourself, “Does this sound like me?”
Speaking of your Tufts-specific short-answer questions: This is your main opportunity to let us know just how excited you are about Tufts. I advise you to avoid writing out every general area of interest that has drawn your attention. Instead, narrow down your interests and focus on just a few examples. The more specific you get, the more you will also be able to demonstrate how much research you have done on that topic in particular.
Making a list, checking it twice: When looking at your list of extracurricular activities, make sure that you have listed your full involvement. We encourage students to utilize the space describing the activity in order for us to gauge a better understanding of what exactly you were doing. Although we understand that it can be hard to explain everything you did in that role in a small space, do your best to give us an overall idea.
Finally, do your due diligence by making final edits and correcting minor typos. But ultimately go back to where we started – trust yourself. Rest assured that you have done everything in your power to put your best foot forward. We can’t wait to learn more about you!
Happy Holidays!
Photo Credit: Forest Service, USDA