<p>Rankings aside, I think there is a legitimate administrative reason for colleges to reject students who are highly unlikely to matriculate there because they are probably going to another school. The fact is, there are only a finite number of admissions slots a school can hand out, and keeping an admissions slot open for somebody who isn't going to attend anyway is not costless. By keeping that slot open for student A who is not likely to attend, the school then has to either put on the waiting list student B who would have gotten that slot otherwise (and who would have then matriculated), or outright reject student B. So let's say that in the best case scenario, student B is put on the waitlist. Then eventually, the school determines that A isn't coming, so they offer admission to B. By that time, B may have already accepted an offer and paid the deposit at some other school, and so now may not be coming. So the school has just lost A (who they weren't going to get anyway) and also B (who they should have gotten, had they not kept the slot open for A). </p>
<p>Even in the absolute base case scenario, where B is admitted off the wait-list and then chooses to come, the situation has resulted in unnecessary stress and heartache for B. Everybody would be better off if A had simply been rejected in the first place in favor of B. At the end of the day, what does A care? A isn't coming anyway. It's not just about yield management, it's also about basic fairness to all applicants. You want to be fair to A, but you want to be fair to B too. </p>
<p>The problem, I agree, arises where an exceptional student A really does want to matriculate at a certain school at which that student is clearly overqualified. In that case, then A should try to demonstrate true commitment to that school so that the school doesn't think that they are just the safety.</p>
<p>Ugh this topic makes me so nervous...any other opinions on how badly I messed up with BU? It is realistic that I will end up there because they give good financial aid, but are they going to know that? Nervous nervous......</p>
<p>Okay, thanks Lindsey, I guess it's just the fact that I won't know for 4 more months, but we're all going through that. Could this process be any more stressful???!!!</p>
<p>YES! Now I have my reasoning for not getting into the school of my choice. It won't be because I wasn't good enough for them, it will be because I was too good for them.</p>
<p>lol...collegeconfusion...i like that!
sakky, i agree completely with what you're saying...
question for all: the reason why anyone even has a safety school is to insure that he/she will have some place to go to college in case the reach/good match schools fall through, right? but if all the safeties reject for this reason, how does any applicant find a safety school other than the state school?</p>
<p>Kiki81ny, I wouldn't worry. The average SAT for Trustee Scholarship winners was 1517 (ACT 33) and SAT Writing II 770. Only 36 students were selected. Obviously BU is expecting top-notch applicants for a scholarship worth $40K a year. When do you hear if you're selected?</p>
<p>Kinshasa, I don't hear until April decisions are mailed if I'm selected. My SAT is 1520 and SAT II Writing is 790 but I know it's a very competitive scholarship so I'm not counting on getting it. Keep your fingers crossed for me!</p>
<p>zant--my college list is too long already; and i did love tufts, but there's a lot of other schools that i have loved...if i applied to them all, i wouldn't get any sleep from now until january</p>
<p>At small independent schools college counselors frequently inform the admissions committees of third/fourth choice schools to reject an applicant when it becomes clear that the applicant has a definite chance of making it in to a top choice. College counselors usually know admissions decisions way before they are sent out, as they keep in touch with the adcoms. Nothing ever gets leaked out, however, because the basis of their relationship is confidentiality. Only until decisions arrive do students see the effects of such calls: people getting into HY (princeton adcom won't accept these calls) are often rejected from Duke, Columbia, etc along with their safety schools. It increases the other college's yield and lets them admit someone who is more likely to attend.</p>
<p>US News no longer considers "yield" a part of its rankings systems, but I'm not sure it's really a rejection of overqualified individuals anymore. It's easy to stereotype based off of a biased viewpoint for those who expected an instant letter of gratification. Instead, Tufts accepts students that demonstrate a great deal of interest, not necessarily because their statistics are high but not too high. The admissions office adamantly rejects the idea that they practice the notorious "Tufts Syndrome" - though many applicants with high stats have been rejected based on their lack of demonstrated interests, it is also fair to say that the same number of not so stellar applicants were rejected through the same rationalization. Tufts is no longer an Ivy League safety school for it now actively competes with the lower Ivy League universities. Applicants with every passing year realize this.</p>
<p>This comes up every year, because every year a kid who is accepted to a college that is more selective than one that rejects him, heralds the point. In my opinion,when this happens, there are many more explanations than the applicant being too good for the school. I say this because for every kid that falls into that category, there are many more who are accepted to both of such schools or accepted to the less selective school and not to the more selective school. We ignore the many kids accepted to Harvard AND Tufts, the many more kids accepted to Tufts but not Harvard and point to the very few kids who are rejected by Tufts but accepted by Harvard. Typical "man bites dog" reporting. </p>
<p>In my opinion, the kids who are not accepted to some of these schools did not show the enthusiasm and demonstrated interest which are factors in the admissions process. HPY are not interested in demonstrated interest because they have too many kids panting to get in. Schools that are not so selective and have to make decisions with yield strongly in the picture count it heavily. Most kids make the mistake of visiting their first choice dream schools many times and giving their all to those school and ignore schools where the chances are more realistic. Don't think these schools do not notice this.</p>