<h2>What’s with the elitist attitude? It’s sickening.</h2>
<p>Where have you been, man? If you don’t go to HYPS, you are going to fail at life, work in some crappy job, hate your life.</p>
<p>I think that when a school that is known to be a safety reviews a really good application, I think that the addmissions people get the hint that that person will never actually attend. On some level they must know that for some people they are only a fall back choice. But if you know you were never going to go, find a school that you absolutely know you could get into and LIKE. And for the whole “taking the spot of someone who wants it” issue I think that that person was probably waitlisted and will end up getting a spot with all the “not attending” letters that come in</p>
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<p>Yes, it’s like Lou Gehrig’s disease. You don’t have to be Lou Gehrig to get it, but the disease was named after the guy.</p>
<p>Tufts syndrome was obviously named after Tufts, but many top tier schools succumb to the syndrome.</p>
<p>I would hope colleges for the next couple of years don’t outright reject “overqualified” applicants. In this economy, many people will pick pocketbook over prestige.</p>
<p>“I don’t mean to get all philosophical, but seriously, I’d say chances are that the happier you are <em>at</em> school, the better you’ll do <em>in</em> school. And with that in mind, remember that your objective is not to <em>get in</em> to college, your objective is to <em>graduate from</em> college.”</p>
<p>This is so incredibly true and a valuable piece of advice that I hope some kids here will heed</p>
<p>Can someone explain Tufts syndrome to me? I’ve been surfing these boards for a while now (and just recently got an account), and have read a number of posts that said that Tufts admissions are screwy/a bit odd. However, no one has bothered to explain or justify why they think this. Can someone help me out? I know someone asked something similar to this earlier in this thread as well.</p>
<p>We know of kids who did not get get the top pickings of merit $$ at their “safety” schools because they didn’t bother to complete forms, show love, etc. – and then come late April, they realized that was the school they truly WANTED to attend, over the Big Name Pricey Schools. Opportunities lost! </p>
<p>One thing we stressed to S last year was “Love Thy Safety” and do everything you can to make it as attractive (financially, academically, etc.) an option as possible for yourself. Had he chosen to attend, he knew how to make it a challenging and terrific experience. (Had we known the economy was going to tank this badly, we might have advocated more strongly for it, too…)</p>
<p>My daughter did not have the heart the turn down her safety, the one that gave her Regents scholarship. This year the school still sends my daughter some information about the kind of careers she can expect for her major.</p>
<p>This isn’t necessarily about my safety, but I did feel bad since I would go to interviews after the tour, and by the end of the tour I could tell whether or not I wanted to go to a school. We had scheduled everything ahead of time and didn’t even think about doing all the interviews and stuff before we got an impression of the school.</p>
<p>It was really hard to look an admissions counselor or professor in the eye when I knew I wasn’t even going to send in the application.</p>
<p>Tufts pays very little attention to academics and focuses more on personality. The Dean of Admission reviews your application, then a board asks him questions about you. If the board is satisfied with how the Dean can support your case, you get accepted. However, even if you have great ECs and academics, if you write a lousy application you’re screwed.</p>
<p>Yeah I know what the OP means. I felt bad when I got JHU BME because I knew I would never go there and yet I took the opportunity away from someone who might have used it. :(</p>
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[QUOTE=soxfan2048]
Can someone explain Tufts syndrome to me?
[/quote]
[Yield</a> protection - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yield_protection]Yield”>Yield protection - Wikipedia)
Bottom line, “Tufts syndrome” refers to a less-than-tippy-top college rejecting overqualified applicants because it believes the applicants are using it as a safety and will never enroll. Admitted applicants who don’t enroll are a drag on the college’s “yield” and “selectivity” rankings. Tufts has a reputation for rejecting highly qualified applicants, ostensibly in order to protect its yield.</p>
<p>I forgot my S also got a bunch of scholarship offers from one safety (not the other). He was NMF so already had a free ride, but also got 2 letters giving various engineering scholarships! (He could not have collected on those; evidently the right hand did not know what the left hand was doing.)</p>
<p>I presume when he turned them down, other students were the recipients.</p>
<p>I think that it’s great that you selected a few colleges to bounce back to if you don’t get selected into your college of choice. That’s the smartest thing to do. But like others said, if you’re certain you won’t be going then there’s no reason in applying as you would essentially be “Stealing” someone else’s spot.</p>
<p>Everyone naturally picks a saftey or two, but it’s best to make sure that these saftey schools are only that you actually intend on going to if you’re top picks reject you.</p>
<p>That’s just my two cents at least. I’ve enjoyed reading the discussion. <em>lol</em></p>
<p>~ Theos</p>
<p>My early action acceptance to my safety got put on my fridge. I feel slightly bad because I’m still applying for their merit scholarships (and received one so far), but I could end up going there anyways. I’m only applying to four schools.
What makes me feel bad is that I only sent in my 1900 SAT score to them, rather than my 31 ACT. I have no idea why because honestly it’s to my disadvantage, but… I feel bad.</p>
<p>i felt bad…
until i got rejected from one of my top schools. now i feel pretty ****ing good about my safety :)</p>
<p>I’m fine with my safety; I wouldn’t really mind going there.</p>
<p>As for others, if you don’t want to go there, don’t even bother applying. As Theos said, you’re just stealing a place that should have gone to another student.</p>
<p>One of my safeties is actually looking pretty decent. Sure, it’s cold there, but it’s a great school. Some of the others I applied to because people told me to (which is a horrid reason), was accepted to one and am sending out my “no, thank you” pretty soon.</p>
<p>I can relate to the OP’s feeling. My son got into his first choice school EA, and then about a week later got accepted (rolling) to his safety, quickly followed by an offer to be in its honors college. Even though he has now sent in a letter withdrawing, we are still getting mail from the safety (i.e., inviting us to an admitted student day). Even though I don’t think he’s taking anybody’s space, because of the timing, it still feels a little bad. You feel a bit guilty turning down somebody who really wants you in favor of somebody who has deigned to accept you.</p>
<p>My D originally applied to only 2-Oneonta and Plattsburgh-her safety was Plattsburgh, They gave her a yes-in their highly sought after masters/teachers program-oneonta wants more grades, another SAT etc etc… she has a 4.0 and a ton of extracurriculars, volunteers etc…Then we went and applied to 5 more over christmas…just to be sure, but you know what, she will most likely go to Platts-they are not making her jump thru hoops and it’s an excellent school. We did the five more because Oneonta was her first and real only choice,now she realizes that looking around might be a good idea. Your right Duper-deposit probably by may!</p>