<p>Did this happen to anyone? It this pretty likely. I believe it could happen if someone put a lot of effort into their reach school app, but had a slipshod app for their match and safety schools.</p>
<p>I’m sure anything can happen, but I’m sure it would be MUCH MUCH MUCH more likely for one to be rejected from their reach and accepted to their match/safety.</p>
<p>Yes, that can certainly occur, particularly if a university feels that it is being used as a safety net. (Tufts is notable for denying admission to well-achieved students for that very reason.)</p>
<p>^ Oh yeah. Tufts and WUSTL.</p>
<p>Yet it is not difficult to empathize with their decisions. The most pragmatic approach is to simply waitlist the high-achieving individual. The student would most likely contact the college in the rare event that he or she desires the less reputable university.</p>
<p>I’ve always wondered why less reputable schools waitlist superstars. Wouldn’t waitlisting a student who knows he is more than qualified for your university anger him/her and cause them to look elsewhere?</p>
<p>I doubt that. Admissions at highly selective universities is a crapshoot. I’m sure a Harvard reject would be willing to look at Tufts/WUSTL/whatever school (if those were interests to said applicant).</p>
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<p>That’s what the waitlist is for. It determines who really wants to go to the school and who just applied for the heck of it. </p>
<p>For schools that want to increase yield, waitlists are a valuable tool for weeding out the qualified yet disinterested students.</p>
<p>This happened to my son two years ago. It really shocked us! I guess we didn’t really know the schools. That’s the only explanation we can find. The essay was optional at the safety school, so S didn’t send one. When the reach’s admission rep came to town, she went to another high school. S called the other high school’s gudance counselor to see if it was o.k. for him to come over to meet with her. They allowed it. I think it showed the reach he was really interested.</p>
<p>I have a friend who was waitlisted at W&M after not completing the optional essay. She’s a happy freshman at Cornell.</p>
<p>Our val was deferred at Wake Forest earlier this year, while kids with much lower scores/grades were accepted. But I imagine, especially since Wake’s test-optional, that his lack of enthusiasm came across in the interview, essays, etc. Should end up at Emory with gobs of merit aid (unless he gets accepted at the reachiest reach schools).</p>
<p>“Tuft’s Syndrome” is a fairly common phenomenon, especially since USNWR rankings are based partially on yield. Moral of the story: Be interested!</p>
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My comment below doesn’t have anything to do with college admissions, but I couldn’t resist with all this talk of Tufts.<br>
DD2 applied for a summer vet camp at Tufts, and if it were anywhere else, I would have just let if go. However being a CC dad, and hence aware of all the discussions about “Tufts Syndrome” - whether it actually exists, and if Tufts in fact practices it, I went a bit overboard and had DD2 call several times after her application was in to “demonstrate interest”, and add new items to her resume - yes, just for a summer camp. I’m awaiting for a piece of paper inscribed: “certified CC dad” to arrive.</p>
<p>My friend, very happy at his Ivy League school, got rejected from Lehigh. Same deal…it was obvious he was only going to go if he didn’t get in anywhere else, and it was obvious he was going to get in other places.</p>
<p>My eldest daughter was accepted to her reach (Colgate) and wait-listed by one of her matches (Elmira). </p>
<p>Go figure.</p>
<p>She went to Colgate.</p>