Tufts is a unique place — quirky but urban, intimate but well-resourced for research opportunities, nerdy but friendly. Like almost everywhere else, it’s gotten more competitive as the years have gone by, with last year’s common data set reporting 3,444 admitted students from an applicant pool of 34,002 (an acceptance rate of 10.1%).
If you’re here, you likely landed on the waitlist and need to know what to do next. For most schools like Tufts, there is a lot of fluctuation year to year when it comes to accepting students off the waitlist. Last year, 1,328 of 2,664 waitlisted students accepted their spot on the waitlist, and 183 (or nearly 7%) eventually received offers of admission. The year before, however, incoming Fall 2021, saw zero students of the 1,264 who accepted their spots accepted off the waitlist.
You’re likely feeling a lot of emotion, and the truth is that no one — not even the professionals — can say what’s going to happen. Whether or not the waitlist moves depends entirely on Tufts’ yield; if they get an overenrolled class from the acceptances they sent out at regular decision, they won’t let anyone off the waitlist. If they get fewer enrollments than they were expecting, they might let in over 10% of the waitlist after the May 1st commitment deadline.
That’s the problem — there’s simply no telling, and that is understandably very hard for prospective students trying to plan their freshman fall. We’ve been doing this for a long time, so we’ve put together a guide for what to do if you’ve been waitlisted by Tufts for the 2024-2025 school year.
GET ON THE WAITLIST
If you think we’re being sarcastic, put that out of your mind — we’re dead serious. It sounds silly on the face of it (like “circles are circular”), but you aren’t actually on the waitlist until you inform Tufts that you are accepting a spot on the waitlist. Otherwise, the notice that you’ve been waitlisted is actually just “an offer,” and if admissions doesn’t hear from you they’ll assume you’re uninterested and remove you from consideration entirely.
For Tufts, you’ll need to accept your spot from the portal, and you’ll also see an optional text box for submitting “additional information” (but more on that later).
LINE UP A BACKUP
No one likes to hear this, but practicality will make your undergraduate journey easier and less stressful — we promise. Because there is no guarantee that Tufts will admit anyone off the waitlist, you need to commit to another school. This might feel hard if you’re holding out hope to be a Jumbo, but we would never want a bright, talented student to end up having no options in the event that they missed May 1st commitment deadlines waiting to hear from Tufts but never did.
This is important for several reasons. The first is that you are incredibly unlikely to hear from Tufts before May 1st. Schools make their choices based on the yield they get from regular decision by May 1st, so you won’t see movement from the waitlist before then because admissions, too, are still in the dark at that point. To guarantee you have somewhere to go in the fall, you need to accept an offer from another college. You’ll also need to be honest with yourself at this stage: you could get in from the waitlist, but the vast majority don’t. So it’s okay (good, even!) to be hopeful, but you can’t build your plans around this hypothetical. You need to proceed at this stage with the assumption that it won’t happen.
That can feel sad, definitely, but it’s also a new opportunity to get excited about your other options. There are so many wonderful colleges, and the truth is you have no idea what it’s actually like to be on campus as a full-time, matriculated undergraduate student. Everything so far has been a bit imaginary; it hurts, sometimes badly, to not have your dreams pan out, but we promise the reality of college life will be fuller, and more surprising, than expected. There’s no shame in going somewhere that wasn’t originally your top choice; we have heard so often over the years that students ended up at the place that was best for them without realizing it because it wasn’t their “dream” school. Sometimes, the back-up is even better.
REINFORCE YOUR INTEREST
Now that you’ve taken care of that, you can relax and focus on what is in your control when it comes to Tufts: expressing your continued interest. As we mentioned, there’s an optional additional information box in the portal, and it’s highly recommended that you use that when accepting your waitlist spot to confirm again your desire to go to Tufts and let them know of any major changes to your profile since you applied.
However, you’ll also want to email them an unofficial Letter of Continued Interest. You should never cross the line and repeatedly reach out to admissions, pester them for answers, or send them emotional emails, but sending ONE friendly yet professional email shows that you take initiative and your interest in Tufts isn’t superficial. Remember, Tufts doesn’t rank their waitlist, so every time they have a spot they are hand-picking their next admit. The more likely they think you are to attend, the more likely they are to offer that spot to you. If you’re on the waitlist at all, they have already determined that you are qualified to go to Tufts in the event that a space becomes available.
Your message to the admissions email address (or your admissions counselor if you have been in touch with a specific representative in the past) should contain four key pieces, sound personable but tactful, and be respectful of admissions’ time and limited manpower by remaining at or below 400 words.
Formal Opening: Reach out to Tufts here and begin your letter with the appropriate honorific: “Dear Tufts Office of Undergraduate Admissions” or “Dear “Mr./Ms./Mx. [Last Name.”
Reinforce Interest: Briefly re-introduce yourself here. In between 1 to 3 sentences, confirm your sincere passion for Tufts (ideally conveying that you absolutely would go if you were admitted) and specify why you think Tufts would be the ideal college for you. You’re trying to show that you want to go to Tufts because of particular goals it would help you achieve; that makes you a more compelling and successful prospect, which is in turn good for them. You don’t want to sound like you want to go because it’s a good school. That reeks of ego and sounds aimless. So, we’ll say it again: be specific.
Short Update: Now you should give them any information that strengthens your academic and extracurricular profile. You’ve been waitlisted because they deemed you qualified but gave acceptances to other students; this is the place where you want to fortify the impression you’re making, showing that you’re consistent in your interests and work ethic so that you seem like the most qualified applicant from the waiting pool.
Do not waste their time re-litigating your original application or restating information they will already have if it hasn’t changed; they won’t appreciate that, and you don’t want to be remembered for the wrong reasons. Be brief and composed here. Simply tell them anything that has transpired since you applied that they would not otherwise know — any honors or awards you’ve received, a significant improvement in grades, an extracurricular achievement, an independent study or project you’ve undertaken, etc. We’ve been guiding students through LOCIs and off waitlists for a long time, so contact us for personalized help if you’re stumped by the tone and composition of this letter.
Professional Closing: End your message as you began it — with a single sentence thanking them for their time, summarizing your specific reason for wanting to attend, and then signing off with a fitting valediction like “sincerely,” “respectfully,” “gratefully,” “best regards,” etc.
TAKE A DEEP BREATH
Now what? Well, actually, that’s it. The hardest part is what we have to insist on now: that you do nothing. Don’t hound admissions for answers they can’t give you, or they’ll note that you’re too persistent and ignore instructions. Do what you can to relax, enjoy your senior spring, and start getting excited about next year. We hope you hear good news from Tufts, but if you’ve followed our guide you’ll be stellar no matter where you are in September.
If you want to increase your odds of getting into Tufts off the waitlist, we’re here to help. Contact us today for support in the final step of your college application process!