- Tufts University
Tufts University (ED) — Biotechnology
An A-Level student from a Shenzhen international division, BBO gold and iGEM second worldwide, whose main essay traced an arc from arrogance to growth through “how I was helped by children with disabilities”.
- Major
- Biotechnology
- Round
- ED
- School
- International division in Shenzhen (nationality: Taiwan, China)
- GPA
- 3.99 (a single B; roughly top 10–15%)
- TOEFL
- 116
- SAT
- 1570
- A-Level subjects
- Biology, Chemistry, Further Mathematics, History, English Language (predicted A* in Biology and Chemistry, A in the rest)
Main awards
- BBO gold
- USABO silver
- UKChO gold
- iGEM, second worldwide
Main activities
- Collaborative research on applying AI to cell identification in molecular biology (project with an associate professor at National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, with a recommendation letter)
- A method using AlphaFold and machine learning to predict viral protein structures for vaccine development (customised research with a published paper)
- Tufts Mini Med School summer program (emergency-medicine skills and cancer biology)
- President of the iGEM and art-therapy societies; House Captain
- Volunteer at a children’s hospital interaction centre; published articles on Xiaohongshu about healthy eating and preventing seasonal infectious diseases
Why it worked
- Tufts admits only a little over 10% of applicants, on a par with the “little Ivies”; medicine is one of its flagship strengths, with a medical school of world-class resources.
- A profound main-essay theme and arc: the core was not “I helped children with disabilities” but “how I was helped by children with disabilities, and had to take apart and relearn what help and inclusion really mean”. A complete, powerful arc from ignorance and arrogance through self-doubt to insight and growth: exactly the inward-looking reflection that top admissions officers value.
- The Why Tufts essay argued from three angles, values fit, practice and career development, and academic and research interest, each tied to the pre-med goal.
- A precisely matched school list: no blind chase of rankings, but attention to the student’s genuine love of biomedicine and what she needed from a university.