<p>I've seen both used on CC. Is there any difference between them?</p>
<p>Tufts Syndrome describes a specific practice that attempts to protect yield.</p>
<p>I think that there are two motivations for Tufts Syndrome:</p>
<ol>
<li>Protecting yield rate, as you pointed out.</li>
<li>Not wanting to have a campus full of students who really didn’t want to be there in the first place.</li>
</ol>
<p>These are related but not exactly the same.
Of course the biggest thing schools could do to eliminate #2 would be to get rid of merit aid, but that’s a different discussion.</p>
<p>Tufts Syndrome is one method of protecting yield for students admitted RD. Typically the yield for students admitted RD is lower than for students admitted ED (duh), EA, or taken from the wait list. Increasing the number of students admitted ED is far more effective at increasing yield since the yield for students admitted ED is about 99%.</p>
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<p>If this is the schools’ mentality, it’s a weak rationalization at best. Schools cannot exactly tell whether a student wants to attend.</p>
<p>I can’t answer the question posed in the original post.</p>
<p>However, I think the cure to Tufts syndrome would be an excellent candidate for the igNobel Award in Medicine.</p>
<p>Every college cares about yield. Tufts Syndrome refers to the practice of Wait Listing/Rejecting high stat applicants, (say, the top 25% of the applicant pool) under the belief that they will be accepted to a higher ranked college and prefer and actually attend that college instead. </p>
<p>But yield protection is broader and could include "fit.’ Chicago does it with its essays – test scores are not as important. Urban/rural schools may look to an application to see if the student is a good fit for their locale – it may have nothing to do with stats per se.</p>
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<p>I would say that the group is more selective than 25%.</p>