Avoiding "Tuft's Syndrome" at Kenyon

Colleges and Universities A-Z Kenyon College
1

<p>Tuft's Syndrome--the tendency of a school to wait-list and reject its overqualified applicants--is real. I know this because in addition to earning an acceptance from Princeton, I was praised by another Ivy League for being among the top 86 of their 36,000 applicants. But Kenyon and Grinnell both wait-listed me.</p>

<p>I knew that Kenyon considers interest "very important" in their decision, so I drove 500 miles to Ohio in order to visit, interview, and make my interest clear as crystal. I fell in love with the campus and told them that it was my top choice. At the time, this was true. Perhaps the only reason I didn't apply ED is that I wanted to try for schools that could offer better financial aid. However, I did complete Kenyon's optional online portfolio and apply separately for scholarships. This, I thought, would underscore my interest. I was wrong. The wait-list letter still came in the mail.</p>

<p>Use this information however you like. Here are my personal recommendations:</p>

<ol>
<li>Don't apply ED unless you are 100.00% sure you want to go to Kenyon.</li>
<li>Don't feel obligated to visit if you live more than 100 miles from campus. There are other ways to demonstrate interest, and this one is neither cost effective nor time effective. Do visit if you want to know more about what makes Kenyon extraordinary, but this can wait until after decisions come out in April.</li>
<li>Do write letters of interest to the admissions office. Go beyond simply submitting your Common App.</li>
<li>Don't even apply to Kenyon if your test scores are in the top 1% of the nation (33+ ACT, 2300+ SAT).</li>
</ol>

<p>I'm sure number 4 will spark some controversy, and even I would have argued against it a year ago. Sadly, I now understand it to be true. Having a 32 on the ACT puts you on the 75th percentile of Kenyon's class, and anything above it is a red flag that you are overqualified. Even if you demonstrate considerable interest, you are a prime candidate for rejection. Don't think that they will see your strengths if only you spend enough time on your application--the harder you try, the more polished your application and the more likely rejection is.</p>

<p>Don't despair. If your scores are in the top 1% of the nation, you're very competitive for schools academically superior to Kenyon. This caution is meant to save you the money and hassle of visiting, applying, sending your test scores, and filing for financial aid. After spending $700 between the visit and application, I was completely snubbed by Kenyon. If Kenyon doesn't respect its top applicants, potential top applicants should not respect it. Don't be a pawn in its selectivity game.</p>

<p>Make no mistake, I think that Kenyon is lovely and magical. If your ACT score falls in the range between 28 and 32, Kenyon might be the perfect place for you. In this case, go for it! Kenyon has produced a president of the United States and contemporary geniuses like John Green of TFiOS fame. That they reject their top applicants is dreadfully unfortunate, but it should not take away from the greatness of what is otherwise an ideal college. Tips 1, 2, and especially 3 above are intended to encourage students to apply to Kenyon and follow healthy practices while doing so.</p>

<p>Stay frosty guys! I know you're stressed now, but everything will fall into place for you this next year. I promise.</p>

2

<p>I agree with number 1 for applying to any school. For number 2, I think a lot of people really value a campus visit in their college decision, and if they’re gonna make the effort to visit, an interview can’t hurt as well (though I agree that there are certainly other ways to show interest). Number 3 is certainly very important, but I disagree completely with number 4. I interviewed and had a 33+ ACT and a 2300+ SAT score, and I was accepted with a scholarship. To say that Kenyon denies their top applicants based only on your experience is frankly kind of insulting–by saying “the harder you try, the more polished your application and the more likely the rejection is” seems to insinuate that those who do get in aren’t as good or as polished as those “top applicants” who are rejected or wait listed. It’s true that some students are wait listed because of their scores, but I don’t think it’s right to say that Kenyon doesn’t respect its top applicants. Maybe you were disrespected, but you might also consider that the admissions committee didn’t think you were a good fit for the school or that you would be happier at a different school. Kenyon has a pretty high percentage of National Merit Scholars, people who definitionally rank in the top 1%, so I think it’s dangerous to say that students in the top 1% need not apply. </p>

<p>Just my thoughts. I know your advice is well intentioned (and I think your first three tips are great) but I didn’t want any prospective applicants to read this and get discouraged. </p>

<p>Also, Kenyon’s app is free, and there are no supplemental essays, so it’s worth a shot if there’s interest. </p>

3

<p>Another presumptuous post, like the Grinnel one that has plenty of counter examples of your BS rules. I wonder why you got so butthurt over your rejections.</p>

4

<p>I realize you (first poster) are trying to give good advice, but I will say I read somewhere that Kenyon is really good at sniffing out the kind of kid they want, who will add to the big thought pool on the hill, and bring new and interesting things and ideas to the pool. I don’t think that " thing" is measurable by tests. My S, (yes a NMF, but not anywhere near the top of the top grades) believe it or not, had not visited or talked with admissions or interviewed (I don’t recommend this.) He was admitted with flying colors, and I still maintain it had a lot to do with what he had done in high school, odyssey of the mind, invisible children, volunteer stuff, and just making things happen…starting his schools literary journal. I think the biggest thing was his letter of recommendation, Kenyon mentioned in his acceptance letter that, the writer of that letter, “described him to be the exact kind of student that Kenyon looks for.” So do exactly as brownparent says, send in an app. Funny, the night before the app was due, I told my son to apply as it was free for him…and voila, it is the perfect fit for him. Your perfect fit will find you. </p>

5

<p>Thanks everyone for all your responses. I see that I am not entirely correct and that students with very high scores do get into Kenyon. If it really is your top pick and you can show that to them, go for it. What we all agree on in this forum is that Kenyon is an amazing school. Thanks especially to @purplepizza for providing a balanced and tempered counterweight to my advice.</p>

<p>To address @BrownParent’s assertion that I am “presumptuous” and “butthurt,” know that I try to be humble, and I feel unworthy to be on the path that I am on. I did not deserve to rise from poverty to Princeton, but I ran into lots of luck and extraordinary souls at many turns in my life. I was fortunate to have a loving extended family took me in when I needed to escape domestic abuse, and I’m painfully aware that many others do not have those same opportunities.</p>

<p>What I’m trying to do now is help other students, particularly those who come from backgrounds like mine and whose only resources are forums like these. I could only apply to a limited number of schools with the money I had saved up personally, and even with Kenyon’s free application, I had to spend money sending my test scores, applying for financial aid, and traveling five hundred miles to visit. I thought this money was well spent because I had worked hard my entire life to prepare myself for this moment when I would apply to schools offering world-class educations.</p>

<p>I did all I knew to do at the time. No alumni lived in my area, so I embarked on an expensive road trip that allowed me to visit and interview. Kenyon didn’t give the option of writing a supplementary essay, so I filled out the online portfolio and let myself and my interest shine through in optional scholarship essays. I trusted they would understand my passion, the obstacles I had overcome, and the sincerity of the work I had done. I can understand that posters here feel that I am presumptuous, but I promise that my essay about an inspirational moment in my 250th hour of service to special needs children would not have struck anyone that way.</p>

<p>What quality I lacked–that ineffable attribute that makes student a good fit–I really can’t say. I considered Kenyon to be perfect for me, and in turn I considered myself a perfect fit for Kenyon. My achievement and volunteer work seems to be of the very same type as @elle232’s son. Kenyon has a strong tradition of producing great writers, and my dream is to be a novelist. My high school engagement reflected this. Through my passion, I had won several important essay contests, and one such essay had been published in a magazine. Further, I honestly fell in love with Kenyon. I made it overwhelmingly clear that I was interested in Kenyon, and I even stressed a couple of times that it was my top choice. It stayed my top choice until late March when I visited six more colleges, and even then I kept it as my second choice.</p>

<p>Receiving two wait-list letters from the two least selective colleges I applied to after a slew of unexpected acceptances from far more selective schools has made me suspicious that this talk of “fit” is an excuse to reject the hardest working applicants and drive down acceptance rates. I could be wrong, and I often am. But I hope you can understand why I feel this way, and that my post is an honest attempt to help other students so that they do not use up their valuable resources only to be used as a tool in a game.</p>

<p>Clearly, excellent students like @purplepizza do gain acceptance to Kenyon, and their achievements are not any less than those students who are wait-listed. For seeming to insinuate that no accepted student can display extraordinary qualifications, I am truly sorry. I know that this is not the case. Because I was wait-listed even after displaying extraordinary interest, I assumed that those who displayed less interest than I did would suffer the same fate. This feels true to me, and since my interest in Kenyon was great, I feel that this fate is suffered by a significant number of students. Some of these students might genuinely lack interest, but many may not. I wanted, in the end, to expose the myth that the highly qualified students rejected from Kenyon were all “just bad fits” or people who “weren’t really interested.” At least some highly qualified students are great fits, very interested, and are rejected simply for the sin of their qualifications. This speaks to the fact that some students are disrespected by Kenyon, and that is all I meant to convey with the fourth point in my original post.</p>

<p>I can see that my frank recommendations have understandably ruffled feathers, and although it hurts that some members of these forums are judging me in perhaps the same way Kenyon judged me, I cannot blame anyone for their defense of a remarkable school. I will do my best to avoid posting here again because it’s clear to me that I am not providing the help that I intended. I do want students reading this thread to take my story into account, but also consider the counterexamples to my advice that wonderful volunteer writers like @purplepizza and @elle232‌ have provided. A full picture is the best way to learn how to achieve what all of us here want for you, to go to the best college for you and lead the happiest life.</p>

<p>Take care everyone, best wishes to you all and to your families.</p>

6

<p>It isn’t all about test scores. My ACT was a 35, and while I was accepted to Kenyon with merit aid, I was rejected and accepted by other top schools, it’s all part of the game. You should also consider that maybe admissions didn’t consider you a good fit for Kenyon. </p>

7

<p>Wow, you posted EXACTLY the same post about Grinnell. Get over being waitlisted… you aren’t the be-all and end-all to every college you applied to.</p>