So you ranked Tufts and weren’t matched
Hi Friends!
So you ranked Tufts and weren’t matched. As someone who was in your position two years ago, I know exactly how you feel and it sucks…
If you’re anything like me, you probably found this post because you literally googled “how to get into college”, in a last-resort, desperate attempt to crack the college-application-code. Believe me, been there done that.
I know that right now especially is a crazy, hectic time for high school students, with application deadlines looming and ED1 decisions being announced. Tufts just released their ED1 decisions for the class of 2020, which, A) makes me feel weirdly old and B) reminds me of all the wonderfully horrible memories I have from December of 2013.
I remember my college application process well, and the only words I have to describe it is “sh*t show.” Excuse the language, but wow! Was I ever confused!
My whole junior and senior year of high school, I never understood how people just knew where they wanted to go to school. Everyone around me seemed to have life all planned out, and there I was, barely able to plan out when I was going to do my homework, let alone apply to college.
I ended up applying to FOURTEEN (?!?!?!?!?!!!?!?) different schools that were about as different as could possibly be. I did nearly every single application over winter break, and barely proof-read my essays before submitting them. I also used my old middle school email—“violin.chica.” 0/10, would not recommend.
Did I have a top school? Nah. Did I research the schools I applied to before I wrote my essays? Hardly. Truth be told, some schools on my list I only considered because my mom told me they would be good fits for me. Tufts was one of those schools. HA!
Well, I’m here now, somehow, and I guess I liked it enough to stick around, so I want to give some advice to everyone out there applying to colleges right now—especially the people who are like me, and really have no clue what’s going on.
1) Ivy leagues are NOT the only good schools in the nation
Yeah, Ivy Leagues have their reputation for a reason, but they aren’t the only good schools in the whole world. There are so many colleges that offer an excellent education—you don’t have to go to an Ivy League school to get that. So don’t feel bad if you get rejected from Stanford, or Harvard, or whatever—it doesn’t mean you aren’t going to get into a good school, and it does not mean you are dumb. Got it?
2) DO YOUR RESEARCH!!!!!!
Don’t be like me and blindly apply to places because your mom tells you to! Where you go to college is kind of a big deal, if you couldn’t tell—it’s the place you literally move to (in most cases), and spend the next four years of your life at. Make sure you research some schools to find the ones that appeal to you (location-wise, major-wise, size-wise, etc. etc.) Not only this, but applications are pretty much always going to have some sort of “why ______” question, and you want to be able to answer those in a meaningful way.
3) Apply Sincerely
By this I mean you don’t need to apply to 14 schools (*ahem*, past me). You can if you really want to, but I personally wouldn’t recommend it. If I had just done some research on the schools I was applying to, and had really taken a moment to sit down and think about where I wanted to go, I probably could have cut some colleges off my list, and saved money from the application fees. Do your research, think it over, and compile a nice list with safety schools and “reach” school and everything in the middle.
4) Be yo-self
When you write your essays, let your personality show. Its so easy to feel like you need to be overly formal, but try to avoid being stiff and unoriginal. Colleges want to get to know you, so show them yourself through your writing. You have a unique voice, whether you know that or not, so find it and let it shine! It’s OK if you don’t have some clichéd essay about saving puppies in Africa—you have your own unique perspective on the world, and your own unique story to tell.
5) Keep track of your usernames/passwords!!
Colleges often have online portals you need to access in order to check your application status. When you make a username/password, write it down and keep track of it!! You don’t want to be frantically trying to retrieve your password when admissions decisions are released (again, *ahem* past me)
6) You can find a niche most anywhere
At the end of the day, everyone is trying to find their “dream school”—the place where they truly belong and fit in. Yes, these exist in some cases, but I’ve found that most people make a school their dream school, by finding their niche and looking for the positives around them. Perfection doesn’t exist, so if you don’t have a top choice, don’t be stressed—more likely than not you’ll be able to be happy at any college you get into, particularly if you did your research and applied to schools in a meaningful way.
7) Don’t procrastinate!
Save yourself the stress and just don’t. Do a little every day and enjoy your Christmas break!
I hope this list helped at least one person! If you end up applying to Tufts, I wish you the best of luck, and I hope I get to meet you as part of the Class of 2020!
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