<p>Thanks for the kind words. I didn't treat U of C as a safety, I just said that it had the highest acceptance rate in terms of percentage from all the places that I applied to, so I expected I'd have a pretty good chance at U of C compared to my other colleges. Well, I guess I just wasn't the right type for them and, as I said, my application was weaker than my other applications so I'm confident I'll get into at least one of the other great colleges that I applied to :)</p>
<p>MLeigh: Did the person that got deferred from Yale get accepted?</p>
<p>I think its called the "Tufts syndrome" because many people have been rejected/deferred from Tufts and while being accepted by schools that are perceived as harder to get into. I guess Tufts (also heard this about Wash U and even Cornell among the Ivys) doesn't want to be anyone's safety and has a clear sense of applicants who view it as such.</p>
<p>Ivyboy -- Neither Kenyon nor Denison should be considered safeties. I really hope that you get good news from other schools. I'm mainly responding to this to say to juniors who are now figuring out where to apply -- make sure that you have some real safeties on your list.</p>
<p>As for Tufts syndrome -- many years ago, rumor has it, students who wanted to go to Harvard would apply to Tufts as a "safety" school. Tufts didn't want to be second choice, so it would deny students who it thought were doing this. Today, since Tufts is so hard to get into, and is the first choice of many students, the so-called syndrome really doesn't apply here. </p>
<p>However, there are plenty of stories today of students not getting into their safety or match school because they showed no interest. Schools would rather accept students who really want to go, and make that clear in their application and communication with the school.</p>
<p>In hindsight I realize that they were bad choices because I was applying to them for all the wrongs reasons. I'm ok now...and I think that they realized that because Kenyon and Denison both asked me what college I was applying to on their supplements! So, yeah. I'm not sweating it so much anymore and am also awaiting good news from the other colleges I applied to. Thanks to everyone for the suport, advice, and discussion. Others feel free to post on here if you have similiar problems!</p>
<p>you know, i just went through the same thing all you guys have gone through. i got deferred from Brown, my 1st choice coll which i ABSOLUTELY LOVE! and got rejected from uchicago and smith. i was pretty convinced i would get into smith and now im just freaking because ive applied to 11 other schools, most of which are REALLY tough to get into! im really worried i won't get in anywhere!</p>