Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. For those not from MA, think suburbs of Boston. With a higher than usual amount of applicants for the class of 2025, Tufts has lowered its admission rate to 11%.
This year their supplement only has 2 questions and they are both short. You might be thinking, “sweet, short means easy!” but be careful, just because they have short word counts doesn’t mean you don’t need to put some thought into them.
1. Which aspects of the Tufts undergraduate experience prompt your application? In short, "Why Tufts?" (100-150 words)
This is a version of the question we see the most on supplements, “why this school?” However, this is one of the shortest. Given the word count, you will most likely only have room for three sentences. Use them well. 2 of your sentences should be academic, the third should be extracurricular.
You aren’t going to have time to wax poetic on the beauty of their institution, so the only way to show you are serious about the school is research. Give yourself some time to choose a likely major. Don’t worry, we aren’t asking you to declare, but you should have some idea of what you might want to study. You can always change it when you get to campus, but for this essay, you should act like it’s set in stone.
Once you have selected your major look at the major’s offerings. We often send people to the full course catalog when researching classes, but Tufts' course catalog is very difficult to use. Instead, google “[department name] Tufts courses.” That should get you to the right place. Find a couple of courses that look good to you. We aren’t talking about psychology 101, every school has that. Choose a high-level class. This shows that you are interested in a class that is far more Tufts-specific. Tufts numbering of classes is a little confusing. While other schools label their higher-level classes 300-400, Tufts has a slightly different system. Their courses can go up to 700, but most higher-level courses will be in the 200s range. Instead of psych 101, think PSY 251 Cognitive Science of Language or PSY 243 Structure and Process in Cognitive Theory.
On the department’s site, you can also find a professor to mention. Naming these classes/professors will be your first 2 sentences. For your third, turn your attention to their club directory. Find a club that fits in with your interests and something you are already doing. Once you get on campus, you can do anything, but choosing a club that fits with the rest of your application helps.
You should have something that looks like this,
At Tufts, I am excited to pursue Psychology with classes like Cognitive Science of Language and Structure and Process in Cognitive Theory. I hope to work with Professor Ruiter and his research into the cognitive foundations of human communication. Once on campus, I am also looking forward to continuing my passion for dance by auditioning for the Sarabande Dance Ensemble.
This is 60 words. Remember you are shooting for 100-150. If you have a little space you can add a tiny bit of the why, you should have something like:
Ever since I volunteered at my local hospital with patients with brain damage, I have been fascinated by the mind. At Tufts, I am excited to pursue Psychology with classes like Cognitive Science of Language and Structure and Process in Cognitive Theory. I am fascinated by the intersection of language and psychology which is why I hope to work with Professor Ruiter and his research into the cognitive foundations of human communication. Once on campus, I am also looking forward to continuing my extracurricular passion for dance by auditioning for the Sarabande Dance Ensemble. I think Tufts will be the perfect environment to pursue my passions.
This is now 106 words. Don’t feel like you have to hit 150 words, that is a limit and not a goal.
The second question is far more creative.
2. Now we'd like to know a little more about you. Please respond to one of the following three questions. (200-250 words):
A) It’s cool to love learning. What excites your intellectual curiosity?
B) How have the environments or experiences of your upbringing – your family, home, neighborhood, or community – shaped the person you are today?
C) Where are you on your journey of engaging with or fighting for social justice?
You can choose any of the 3, but we have a way of approaching each.
It’s cool to love learning. What excites your intellectual curiosity?
This needs to be a story and it needs to be a cool one. If you write, “I have loved history ever since I can remember…” you have already done with question wrong. Take us on a journey with you. Tell us about researching a question you had all night online because you can’t let it go, tell us about rustling through old documents at your local library or museum. Showing and not telling is so important in this. This one is a hard one to write, and if it feels daunting we suggest skipping to B.
How have the environments or experiences of your upbringing – your family, home, neighborhood, or community – shaped the person you are today?
This is probably the easiest one to write. Starting with a story is also helpful here, but it’s easier to come up with a story about weekly Sunday night dinners or how you know everyone on your block. For example, if you live with a multigenerational family in Brooklyn that will feel very different than a single mother in Michigan. Give us a window into your world and who is in it. You have been going to the same at your all Thai Buddhist temple in suburban Chicago since you were a kid with your grandmother? This is the time to talk about it and tell us about the sites, the smells, the characters who occupy the space with you. After you have set the scene, drive home a point. What have you learned from your community? Maybe it’s the importance of keeping culture alive or making time for communication. It doesn’t have to be dramatic, but it should feel real and personal.
Where are you on your journey of engaging with or fighting for social justice?
A note about C: we always say that a college’s questions tell you more about the college than anything else. More than the tour, more than their IG. They came up with this question last year in the wake of the George Floyd/BLM protests. If you feel drawn to this question, then go for it, but we feel it is a virtue-signaling on Tufts part. 71% of Tufts’ faculty is white and only around 3% is black. It seems unfair that they expect students who have been locked inside for over a year to be at the forefront of fighting for equality when they are a multibillion-dollar university that could put in a lot more work internally.
That being said, while this prompt isn’t our favorite, it may be the right choice for the right type of student. If what you are planning to write has anything with posting a black square, sit this one out. This is for people who are really doing the work. Attending a protest is great, but it’s not enough to answer this question right. The point of supplements is to show how you stand out. Hundreds of thousands of people marched last summer, you need to be able to say why your experience is unique. Think starting a community fridge, planning an action, doing a weekly mutual-aid project. These are the things that will make an impression. Only chose this option if you have an interesting story.
Tufts questions are short, but you still need to pack in some info to stand out. While the first one is a little bit of a get-in and get-out situation, the second should show your storytelling chops. Don’t skimp on these prompts. You need to set time aside to answer them. Sometimes it is harder to write something short than to write something long.
Still need help? Reach out here.