I have read some places that it is possible for an exceptional applicant to get rejected by an average college, such as one they were using as their back-up. Does anyone know if this is true or not?, and if so why?
<p>It can be.</p>
<p>This is known as Tufts Syndrome.</p>
<p>Colleges consider their rankings by US News to be very important. The higher their ranking, the more their alumni tend to donate. One of the factors in determining the US News rank is yield - how many students they accept which actually end up attending their school. If yield goes down because they are accepting students that end up going elsewhere, the ranking will go down. Thus, schools which get the impression you're just using them as a safety school and won't attend may in fact reject or waitlist you so that they can keep their yield rate as high as possible.</p>
<p>does this generally happen with Tufts U?</p>
<p>No more so then anywhere else. They want the good applicants and will take a chance on them</p>
<p>Tufts is famous for it. They no longer want to be the Ivy Safety or Reject school. Lots of other schools do it too.</p>
<p>If you are applying to a school and it asks you which other schools you are applying to, is it best to list schools in the same range as the school you are applying to?</p>
<p>I think that's a judgement call. I never felt comfortable listing all the schools, so I just listed a handful that were less competitive than the school asking.</p>
<p>Kenyon College does something to circumvent that... on their app they ask you what other schools you are applying to. What a nasty question.</p>
<p>I'd be selective what colleges I wrote down if I were asked that question -It's simply not a fair question to ask.</p>
<p>Pomona College is said to do it too, but I haven't personally heard of any examples. Princeton does this too. Their admissions stats , publihed in an academic paper, show a corresponding increasing rate of acceptance as the students' stats climb. But at the high end the acceptance rate actually dips a bit, suggesting that they are rejecting these some of these kids thinking that they will likely choose Harvard or Yale. Then as the stats climb to the very top, the acceptance rate climbs again.</p>
<p>lol, but Tufts is every Ivy-applicant's backup.
And I think it's very possible to get rejected because you're overqualified...they can just say that you weren't a good match for their school.
I'm glad none of my schools ask what others I'm applying to. That's a nasty question to ask I think.</p>
<p>zantedeschia...i beg to differ that tufts is every ivy-applicant's backup...i consider myself an ivy applicant and have spent a week at tufts and fallen in love with the school, but i'm not even applying there...
i'm sure you were just generalizing, though :)</p>
<p>you just made the case</p>
<p>sorry, bettina...i don't understand</p>
<p>That would suck, good thing i don't have problem like that.</p>
<p>Hehe, I'm applying to 6 Ivies and not Tufts. I hated it when I visited.</p>
<p>Oh gosh...I didn't think about that when I just sent in my supplement to Boston University (my safety)....I listed all the schools I'm applying to other than BU (NYU, GWU, Tufts, Northwestern, Georgetown, Columbia, Barnard). Is this going to get me rejected there? I am applying for two scholarships and wrote essays for them, so will that show them that I have interest in actually going there? I feel like I really screwed up.</p>
<p>PS. Northwester, Georgetown and Columbia are all reaches, NYU and Barnard matches, GWU and BU safeties. Oh gosh I'm so scared I'll get rejected now, I was really counting on BU, I'm a legacy will that help?</p>
<p>You're fine.</p>