<p>It’s been a number of years since I have seen anyone make a credible accusation of Tufts Syndrome at Tufts, or really anywhere else. The phrase got coined a decade or more ago - eons in college-admission time.</p>
<p>One thing that may have led to its demise – besides being called on it: I think 10-15 years ago it was much easier for experienced admissions officers at a place like Tufts to tell who was going to get accepted at Harvard, Yale, or Brown, and who wasn’t. Sure, they made mistakes, but by and large they were probably pretty accurate in scoping out who was really a candidate to attend Tufts and who was putting in a safety application. But now, there’s almost no way they could do that with any confidence, beyond maybe a few hundred kids, most of whom aren’t applying to Tufts anyway. And if you can’t figure out which ones Harvard is going to admit, “Tufts Syndrome” would be a losing strategy for Tufts (or anyone else) to play.</p>
<p>(Cross-posted with fireandrain, obviously)</p>