<p>I just posted this question elsewhere but thought I would get more input if I started a new thread.
So, is Tufts a school for Ivy League rejects? Is it considered a safety?</p>
<p>Generally, yes, Tufts would be considered a safety for someone applying to Ivy League schools (it's not in the top 15).</p>
<p>Oh, hi tore, you get around! Shouldn't you be studying or something? :D
You're the one that's going to Brown, right? Congrats, again. Great school! I hope my D gets in too!</p>
<p>Thanks. I am really looking forward to attending.</p>
<p>I am taking a break lol</p>
<p>BTW, what are the top 15 schools?</p>
<p>In my opinion? Or in US News and World Report's?</p>
<p>Both.(ten character minimum)</p>
<p>the thing is, damom, is that there really isn't much of a difference between ivy admits and ivy rejects. </p>
<p>i'm sure everyone knows at least 10 <strong>ULTRA</strong> qualified people who didn't get into the ivy of their choice for whatever unknown reasons. all these schools even claim that they reject 2 or 3 classfuls of students equal in caliber to the students they accept. so if so many awesome kids are getting rejected from ivies, they have to go somewhere. why not tufts?</p>
<p>In order to answer that question, one would need to know how many of the kids accepted to Tufts applied and were not accepted to an ivy league school. I don't know how one would get accurate data for that as kids get funny about answering that question. Looking at the number of kids accepted ED, nearly 40%,of their applicant pool and knowing a number of kids for whom Tufts is their top reach school, I have some doubts. What percentage of kids do you have to have from a class that have applied and been rejected from an Ivy in order for a school to be classified as an Ivy League Reject school? Who draws those parameters and with what reasoning? Is Tufts more of an Ivy Reject School than Johns Hopkins or the state schools? I know kids who have accepted Tufts over Cornell or Dartmouth because they want to be in a city and Boston, of course trumps those outlying areas for city type kids.</p>
<p>For US News and World Report's ranking: <a href="http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/brief/natudoc/tier1/t1natudoc_brief.php%5B/url%5D">http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/brief/natudoc/tier1/t1natudoc_brief.php</a></p>
<p>In my opinion (in no particular order): The Ancient Eight, Stanford, MIT, CalTech, Georgetown, Duke, U Chicago, UC Berkeley</p>
<p>Keep in mind none of these two lists are LAC's.</p>
<p>"i'm sure everyone knows at least 10 <strong>ULTRA</strong> qualified people who didn't get into the ivy of their choice for whatever unknown reasons."</p>
<p>I see your point, but I actually don't know anyone for whom that is the case.</p>
<p>I know of ultra-qualified students who don't get into HYP and ones who don't get into the Ivy of their choice, but I don't know of any ultra-qualified student who couldn't get into any Ivy at all.</p>
<p>If one does any research into Tufts at all, you'll see that Tufts is not a safety school for anyone, and that includes those kids who you'd think might qualify for the ivies. As I've posted previously, Tufts is one of the very competitive schools that tends to skew admissions toward kids who have demonstrated high interest in Tufts. For that reason, kids who apply ED are given a definite edge in admissions, so much so that 40% of the entering class was admitted ED last year. One can hardly can Tufts an "Ivy Reject School" when so many high caliber kids are choosing Tufts as their first choice school. </p>
<p>My son fell in love with Tufts and applied early decision, knowing full well that he would never know if he would have gotten accepted to the other schools to which he was applying, including some of the Ivies. He simply preferred Tufts. His stats were definitely ivy caliber: SATs 1530, SAT2s all over 700, 5's on his AP exams, class rank top 3%, dedicated and highly competitive ECs in music, summer medical research at Columbia (he hopes to become a doctor), phenomenal essays, yadda yadda. He chose Tufts as his perfect match school and let Tufts know it. He danced around the house for DAYS when he was accepted. Does this sound like a bitter ivy reject to you?</p>
<p>So, to answer the original question, for the kid applying RD then the applicant should make sure that Tufts admissions knows that they are a serious applicant, and not using it as a safety school. That's why the kid with 1500+ SATs applying RD might be passed over for the kid with lower SATs who, as Julia so aptly described it in another post, has sent Tufts "love letters," cover letters, essays, supplemental materials and the like that specifically spell out why the applicant is a great match and what they will contribute to the Tufts community. Because Tufts is very much "global community" centered, another type of applicant who might trump the ivy caliber applicant is the international student or the kid from outside the northeast.</p>
<p>I don't think one can pigeonhole Tufts as the choice of "Ivy rejects" any more than you can Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, Washington U at St. Louis, and many other schools of this ilk. They are all great schools with wonderful reputations, none of which could be considered safeties for anyone, and are the first choice of many kids with Ivy caliber stats.</p>
<p>jjsmom, first of all, congratulations to your son! That's so wonderful that he got into his school of choice! I wholeheartedly agree with you. It's definitely the 'fit' that matters the most. I know that, yet I get caught up with what I hear and then question it. Thanks for bringing me back into the light!</p>
<p>Just a thought. When you are looking at admissions, it's important to look at the median SATs of ADMITTED students, not enrolled - because the "admitted" portion tells you how hard it is to get in. That median has been over 1400 for at least six years running. Furthermore, roughly 30% of the students at Tufts have English as their second language, and that tends to correlate to much lower SAT scores (esp. verbal).</p>
<p>It is (reportedly) easier to get into Northwestern than it is to get into Tufts. I know people who were accepted at UPenn and rejected at Tufts, but never the reverse. So would you call Penn the "Tufts reject school?" </p>
<p>Yes, a lot of people at Tufts were turned down from Ivies. However, Harvard rejects 18,000 students per year. You could fill the Tufts, Georgetown, Northwestern, and Wellesley classes about 5 times over with Harvard rejects. </p>
<p>This year, I believe that over 500 students were accepted early decision I out of 2,000 applicants (so a 25% ED acceptance rate!). Median SAT was 1390. ED II results, I haven't heard. There are, between ED II and RD, another 14,000 students applying. I think that Tufts has something going for it. ;) </p>
<p>Tufts used to be a safety for people - but that all changed around 1998, when it started to get really tough to get into. Honestly, with median SATs around 1400-1450, with 14,000 applications (after ED I) for the remaining 650 slots, with (for years running now) 1/2 of the valedictorians being rejected, I don't think it's a safety for anyone... unless you are a perfect student/minority/perfect SAT person from South Dakota who was born in a foreign country and has competed on several different Olympic squads. Tufts also really tries to build a class: they want the bright students, but they also want internationals and people from differnet backgrounds; they want people with interests outside of school; they want kids who contribute to their commuities; and they need a certain amount of oboe and bassoon players every year, and they can't fill the class with French majors. So no, it's not a safety. Would you call Northwestern or Georgetown a safety? Rice? UC Berkeley? Does Tufts only get a bad rep because it's next to two giants - Harvard and MIT?</p>
<p>"If one does any research into Tufts at all, you'll see that Tufts is not a safety school for anyone, and that includes those kids who you'd think might qualify for the ivies."</p>
<p>Need I quote Elaine Benes?</p>
<p>"Hey, I went to Tufts! That was my safety school! So don't talk to me about hardship." -- From The Puerto Rican Day, <a href="http://www.seinology.com/scripts/script-176.shtml%5B/url%5D">http://www.seinology.com/scripts/script-176.shtml</a></p>
<p>LOL we ROARED when we saw that episode in repeats!!!!</p>
<p>Much as i like it here...I have to say you're right.</p>
<p>I've met maybe three people for whom Tufts was their first choice. Everyone else is here because they couldn't get into Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Columbia, Stanford, Georgetown, or Duke.
That said, I'm mostly happy I wound up here. It really is a pretty good place to be.</p>
<p>Mostly what Tufts is looking for is smart kids who can pay full tutition because its endowment sucks. Especially compared to the big dogs it wants to run with. That is why 40% of class is filled ED.</p>
<p>If I were the board of trustees I'd move the school to Kansas City or Denver so I could get out of the shadow of Harvard and away from the applicants who want to be near Harvard even if they can't get into Harvard.</p>
<p>The luckiest thing that ever happened to Hopkins and Georgetown was that they were far away from Boston, Hartford, and Princeton.</p>
<p>there is a well known phenomenon known as 'tufts syndrome' basically what it means is that a few years back tufts got tired as being referred to as an ivy safety school and started rejecting its top applicants (applicants they knew were just using tufts as a safety) this helped increase their selectivity and raise word of mouth. their selectivity went down, and applications soon started to build up.</p>
<p>i dont think there is anything wrong with making the general statement that tufts, while a great school, is NOT on par with many elite universities such as Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford and the like. I have friends who can get into Ivy League schools but chose (or are considering) Tufts because they like it more, but just because you like a school doesn't mean that you should make exagerated claims about the relative 'greatness' of the school.(i'm talking in general here, not specific) It doesn't quite measure up, but it shouldnt have to. I think that once people stop comparing other schools to the Ivy League, they schools will be able to stand out for the exceptional institutions that they are.</p>