Tufts is a highly-respected university minutes outside of Boston, Massachusetts. They offer more than 90 majors, and have strong research focus. Over 1,500 students work in over 370,000 square feet of research labs across . Tufts students are known for being curious, globally minded, and engaged with their communities. And, while being a research institution, Tufts for students to explore and try new things, building intellectual bridges across subjects. 6,600 undergraduates take courses through : the School of Arts and Sciences, the School of Engineering, and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts. There are also four campuses, each with its own personality.
If Tufts is high on your list, you should also know that the university is currently test optional when it comes to the SAT and ACT — at least through fall 2026. This isn’t necessarily permanent, but they are testing out what a long-term test optional process would look like and how it would impact their admissions outcomes. If you are interested in whether you should submit your scores, start by against the test score ranges of admitted students for the class of 2027.
Tufts has always been well-respected, but it has become especially competitive from an admissions perspective over the past 10 years. For the class of 2027, they received 34,000 applications and accepted only 10.1% of applicants. The acceptance rate stayed steady for the class of 2028, marking the that 10% of applicants received offers of admission.
One of the crucial pieces of your Tufts application will be , or the essays and prompts specific to Tufts. These supplemental questions are required, but even if they weren’t we would say that you have to do them. In this post, we’re going to break down how to answer the supplemental questions so that they become powerful tools in increasing your chances of admission.
If you’re considering applying to Tufts, or even already working on your application, contact us. Every year, we help motivated students get into Tufts.
We really appreciate that Tufts releases early, and makes it easy to find on their website. This also means that you have zero excuse not to start early. So, here it is — and how to approach each prompt.
Applicants to the School of Arts & Sciences or the School of Engineering:
Please respond to one of the following three prompts in 200-250 words:
It’s cool to love learning. What excites your intellectual curiosity and why?
How have the environments or experiences of your upbringing – your family, home, neighborhood, or community – shaped the person you are today?
Using a specific example or two, tell us about a way that you contributed to building a collaborative and/or inclusive community.
Before picking one of these three prompts to run with, we want you to fully consider each one. The best way to do this is to actually try each one. You don’t need to put a ton of effort in, though, just try drafting a few ideas for each of the three prompts. If you were to do the first, what would you write about? Then do the same for the second, and the third.
Ultimately, selecting one of the three is all about finding your ideal match. The perfect prompt for you needs to be one that you are genuinely interested in exploring, and one that for which you have a story to tell. We have to admit, though, that we tend to immediately rule out option #2 unless you have a very important story to tell that won’t fit anywhere else in the application.
This is your college application, and with only 250 words it can be easy for a supplement like prompt #2 to become more about the person, area, or community you’re writing about than it is about you. Because of this, we tend to rule it out.
That leaves you with supplement prompt 1 or 3 to pick from. If you decide to go with #1, you need to answer this prompt in a narrative way. Don’t try to explain a complex concept to the application reader; they don’t really care about that. What they care about is feeling your enthusiasm for learning, so show them what intellectual curiosity looks and feels like for you through a story of discovery and exploration.
Using a strong narrative story for prompt #3 should be obvious. They ask you for a story! Don’t give two, though. You only have 250 words.
Applicants to the School of the Museum of Fine Arts (SMFA) at Tufts:
Please respond to the following prompt in 200-250 words:
Art has the power to disrupt our preconceptions, shape public discourse, and imagine new ways of being in the world. What are the ideas you’d like to explore in your work?
This prompt is amazing, and we actually wish it was required for every student. Not because every student has art to write about, but because most students toward the end of high school have a vision, even if they embarrassed to admit it, of how they want to impact the world.
Since this prompt is just for SMFA applicants, though, we’ll focus in on you. We encourage students to pick one or two core themes that should relate to your portfolio of work. If you say you’re interested in climate change issues but that isn’t evident in your portfolio, that’s a problem. There needs to be a clear line between the work you do and what you’re saying you care about.
The second most important thing is conveying this as a story. Simply writing “I care about X” doesn’t rise to the occasion. You need to use narrative to convey your passions that are spotlighted in your portfolio. It’s as simple as that, but we know it’s not that simple. This is where drafting helps.
In addition, we will ask all applicants to complete this sentence in 100 words or less:
“I am applying to Tufts because…”
You don’t have a lot of space for this supplement. 100 words add up really quickly. So, we encourage you to be earnest, succinct, and really specific. Tufts knows that the campus is pretty. They know that their landscaping is on point. They know they have top professors and exceptional programs. They aren’t looking for compliments. What they want to see is that you know Tufts, and you can envision yourself there in specific ways related to academics and community. Bonus points if you can include a way you’ll contribute back, too.
The Tufts supplements aren’t long or strenuous, but they do require planning and strategy if you want to truly make them assets in your application. Begin drafting now, so you have time to do your best work.
If you’re looking to do your best work on your college applications, email us. We help strong students show their full selves in the admissions process.