Are you aware how many students dream of getting into a school like Tufts? Tufts is absolutely well-known, and I do not at all believe that top companies do not recruit there. Also, a recent study (if you need a citation, I can find it) shows that when Ivy-quality/Williams-or-Amherst-quality students choose to attend a less selective school (and “less selective” here would mean a school like UConn or Skidmore or maybe even NYU, not Tufts!!!), those students earn the same amount over the course of their lives as those who attended Ivies/Ivy-equivalents (Stanford, Duke).
All of this reinforces what we already know using common sense: the name of the school does not do the work; the person does. And yet, because of rankings, because of brand obsession, because of competition, many have (and I don’t mean to insult) a skewed sense of reality, especially here on CC.
I wrote something similar in another thread, but somewhere there’s a student dancing in joy that she got accepted to Whitman; meanwhile, there’s another student depressed that she has to “put up with” Whitman. Somewhere, there’s a student whose dream has been realized: he got into Wesleyan! Meanwhile, another student is frustrated that he must go to Wesleyan, a school that “no one has heard of” (sigh). Somewhere (hint: right here!), a student is regretting getting accepted ED to Tufts, a school with a 14% acceptance rate (!), and yet there are lurkers reading this thread right now who will read your post and think, “I would chop off my right hand to get into Tufts!”
Go to Tufts. Do not look back.
Kick butt there and destroy.
Be sure to give back to your school and promote it to future generations of students who, like you, doubted whether or not Tufts was good enough. Wake them up to reality.
Who pressured OP into applying ED to Tufts? OP was looking for an advantage in the application process and capitalized by gaining admission to Tufts. The process worked.
Hey OP, regret is a common thing not just for college but for pretty much all of life. Accepting a job, buying a house, marrying, choosing a hotel for a vacation, etc etc etc–once we as humans make a choice we often start second guessing ourselves into thinking we could have done better. This will pass, and you’ll soon be convinced that you’ve made the best possible decision.
My older daughter went to Tufts (ED). I do not know that her college experience could’ve been any more challenging and productive…well, I suppose it could have, but really, she squeezed all of the juice out of the orange. She took every possible opportunity that was presented during her four years at Tufts. She’s now working as a software engineer for one of the big tech firms. When she applied to Tufts, doing computer science was the furthest thing from her mind. You do not need to worry that Tufts will not serve you well as an undeclared major who’s not sure what they want to do in life.
If all schools were to have EA or RD only, there would be no pressure on any student to apply ED. I assumed the OP applied ED to Tufts out of fear that he/she wouldn’t get into Tufts without it,
@rjkofnovi Oh, I agree with you, but there was no pressure to do that. In this case, OP feels he could have done better. His problem is the only way he done so would be to apply to other schools with ED. The RD rounds eliminate many of these ED kids. If that is the pressure - to gain admission to prestige schools - I suppose I would agree with you. However, this tier of school does not want to be a dumping ground for Ivy League rejects who will jump at an opportunity to transfer out the first chance they get. There is something to be said for admitting students who really want to go to your school. As long as everyone knows the rules, the process works. I just have less compassion for the OP because he and his parents knew the rules going in. It’s too bad for Tufts that they might have admitted a kid who applied ED “just for the prestige”.
“However, this tier of school does not want to be a dumping ground for Ivy League rejects who will jump at an opportunity to transfer out the first chance they get.”
So what? Either the student is qualified to attend Tufts, Duke, Washington U, etc., or he/she is not. We have to remember that this is more than likely a child under the age of 18. Is it really fair to make a child attend your school if he/she changes his/her mind? Tufts students who are admitted are not average students. Tufts is not going to accept average students. The very top schools are not going to be poaching too many Tufts admitted students simply because they don’t have room for them. If Tufts loses out on a few top students to HYPSM etc…then it’s just the way it is. Unfortunately, schools like Tufts, Duke, Washington U, etc., appear to be more concerned about maintaining their yields than their concerns for the student . There is never a shortage of excellent students for top schools, it’s just that their image/ratings may suffer at USNWR when the admit rate goes up or yield goes down.
“There is something to be said for admitting students who really want to go to your school.”
I agree. Read admission essays carefully and make a determination if the student is really interested in your school. Admit them EA or RD. If they go elsewhere, then wish them well and admit the next student…
@jumbo2022 To be honest I was in your shoes last year with slightly higher stats and a higher GPA (sry to stalk you a little but just curious) and good ECs. My other two ED choices were Ivies and I just didn’t think I had a chance at them until I was admitted to Tufts and regretted it. Now looking back, I’ve had a great first semester, made lots of friends, received an excellent GPA, and do not regret my decision at all. It’s a great place so consider yourself lucky and enjoy your senior year!
“Is it really fair to make a child attend your school if he/she changes his/her mind?” I don’t know. The parent also signs the contract and, at the very least, there should be some recession penalty. I do think deans of admissions would and do make exceptions for any changes to family financial situations or other life changes involving the applicant or his/her immediate family, but “prestige”???
I don’t think it’s about maintaining yields as much as it is building an engaged student body and that should be a goal for those schools and others like them. The use of ED allows Tufts, Emory, Wash U, JHU, and the others to build. I believe it’s a worthy goal. All of these schools could wait and fill their classes with 3.8 UW / 1500+ SATs, but don’t for different and very good reasons.
If you look at ED results threads for Tufts and similar schools (WUSTL, Emory) on CC for the past years (Class of 2019-2021). You will see there are people with Ivy caliber stats (1500, 34) getting DENIED ED. There are people who are saying that this is yield protection (Tufts syndrome), but these schools are denying these applicants ED (not RD), so they are not protecting their yield and are really just looking for students who fit the institution. By the way, my friend was just denied ED at Tufts with a 33-34 and good GPA. OP should consider him/herself lucky.
I meant rescission penalty to back out and not recession (auto spell killed me that time). The parent co-signs the ED contract and should be somewhat responsible. In any case, I like ED because I don’t believe the schools are just using them to drive a yield. The really outstanding universities and admissions committees are beyond that.
ED shifts the power totally to the college at the expense of the student. Anything that limits choice is bad for the consumer, in this case the applicant. At least HYPS have SCEA so the applicant is not locked in and MIT/Cal Tech/Georgetown are EA. ED is pure yield protection and lower acceptance rates, since they are linked.
Furthermore, so far as I can tell, all of the schools that use ED have also risen in the rankings over the past few years at USNWR. They are just playing the ratings game…
I really don’t think this is about ratings. Way back in the 70s, when we were still typing applications, lots of kids - me included - applied ED to have a decision sooner and to save time (and correction tape.)
It didn’t eliminate choice. I simply chose before I applied. And had I not gotten into my first choice, there would have been more choosing to do.
@gardenstategal Its all about ratings now, you can google ED and gaming and get some good articles on universities doing it. ED was always used to limit choice, it started I believe with some NE LACS that didn’t want to lose applicants to HYP.
ED and EA give the same benefit - a spot in the upcoming class
ED locks in and EA doesn’t. - hence it being bad for consumers.
But not bad if I know what I want. I don’t expect to return most purchases after I have made them. And the school can’t back out if they get better RD candidates. Willing seller, willing buyer. As I said, YMMV.