ADVICE
DEMYSTIFYING VOICE IN THE Would you believe me if I told you I read every. single. word. that you send me as part of your college application? I do. (And yes, my eyeglasses prescription is upward trending.) Your voice is that important in this process.
Extracurriculars You might think extracurriculars are the most straightforward, least voicey part of your application. But I’m here to say that the extracurricular section is the most underutilized section of a student’s application to college. Here’s why. Many (many, many) students use this section purely to define the groups they’re part of. While it is helpful to note your leadership and depth of involvement, it’s less helpful to spend valuable words defining NHS. Or JCL. JROTC. BSU. FIRST. GSA… I could go on. Admissions officers have a good grasp on the wide variety of extracurriculars that exist at high schools. We are way more interested in your specific experiences in those extracurriculars. You have been purposeful in how you dedicate your time (and have some level of excitement regarding your involvements…I hope), so share that excitement with us. Infuse your voice and personality into how you write about your extracurriculars. I mean, which would you rather read… Assistant Counselor, Camp Walden CPR certified. Supervisor for a bunk of 20 campers. Co-taught art classes every day. OR Assistant Counselor, Camp Walden Excellent spooky storyteller (just ask any of the 20 campers in the bunk I supervised) and slowly became an expert macaroni artist while co-teaching daily art classes.
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Recommendation Letters I see your eyes glaring at the “recommendation letters” header as you silently think, “But I have no control over what my teachers write!” While that is true, you do have control over which teachers you ask to write your recommendations. If you’re an engineer, think about sending a letter from a math or science teacher (in fact, I’d highly recommend it…wink wink). If you don’t want to use up valuable essay real estate discussing the grand time you had writing about religious conformity in The Scarlet Letter, but you know your English teacher would gladly gush about it, ask that teacher to write a recommendation. Think about what you’ll be covering in your essays, what you want to include but can’t fit into any of those essays, and which teachers could best fill in those gaps. Essays Essays are the main stage for your voice. Similar to my advice on extracurriculars, embrace your authentic and honest voice in your essays. I expect that a more logically-minded electrical engineer will write differently from a history buff with a penchant for describing (in great detail) pivotal battles from the past century. When I open your essays, I want to know what fascinates you. What angers, saddens, inspires, or humors you. What you believe in and what you don’t believe in. What makes you laugh. You will have to write a personal statement as part of your application, and some schools may require supplemental essay questions (Tufts has two!). Make the most of each essay by focusing on a different topic in each. Don’t feel like you need to squish five very different ideas into one essay because you don’t want to miss anything. The college application isn’t your extended biography (with equally extensive appendices); it’s a snapshot of who you are and of your potential to thrive in a college community. Capture the information that you believe is core to your identity. Narrow and deep essays work better than wide and shallow ones. When you go specific, you can really explore complex ideas and give the reader of your application a better understanding of how you think about the world around you. While this is just a glimpse of the process to come, I hope you now feel (at least a little bit) more empowered to take it on. Remember that your voice is important and worthy. I can’t wait to meet you (through your application!) this fall. —BEKY STILES ’12, Associate Director of Undergraduate Admissions
ILLUSTRATION BY LINN FRITZ
When I say “voice” in the context of college admissions, I mean everything outside of your academics. Of course your high school transcript and testing are important, but let’s chat about why academics aren’t the only thing that matters. Last year, 21,501 students applied to Tufts. Our office determined 77% of those 21,501 students to be academically qualified. Meaning that students applying to Tufts (and schools like Tufts) know they can do the work. Since the majority of our applicants are academically competitive, the bulk of our time reading your application is spent getting to know you as a person. Cue “voice.” While it would be wild to suggest that you can capture your entire 16 or 17 years of existence in your college application, you can use the different parts of the application to showcase different aspects of yourself, giving the admissions officer on the other side the most complete view of who you are (even with a limited word count). Let’s break down this “strategery” (am I aging myself with an SNL reference from 2000?).
