<p>I find it amusing how some refer to Tufts. "It's the school for Ivy rejects." If this statement were true (although obviously not), isn't it really just a compliment? Is it so bad to be considered on some people's "charts" as the school just below the Ivys; the place (according to some) where people go if they couldn't get in to an Ivy? Now I know all this is foolish because plenty of people get accepted to many of the Ivys AND Tufts (and those who decided to go to Tufts can't, therefor, be considered an Ivy reject). I also know this is ridiculous because many people prefer Tufts over some of the other Ivys because Tufts is just a much better fit for that person. My son is one example. With his 2300 SAT, 34 ACT, very high gpa and lots of other great stuff, he definitely could have been admitted to a few of the Ivys if he had applied. But for numerous very good reasons, he applied ED to Tufts and fortunately was accepted. Going to an Ivy unquestionably gets a certain amount of respect (warranted or not) just because it's an Ivy. But are they the first 8 of every list which ranks schools? Of course not. Actually, I don't think there's any "list" that ranks all of the Ivys in the top ten (and they shouldn't be). Nevertheless, Tufts is the school "selected" to receive the honor of being labeled the "Ivy Reject" school out of the thousands of other Universities, colleges, etc. in the United States. To those who think Tufts is the place where people go if you can't get accepted to an Ivy, there are certainly worse groups to be lumped together with...
And then there's the "Tufts Syndrome." Another compliment. First, when I see on many posts that people were accepted to schools such as Harvard, Yale, Duke, etc. AND Tufts, seems like the "disease" was either cured or never really existed in the first place. Usually when you hear someone mention Tufts Syndrome, it's from the person who was rejected from Tufts and just can't figure out why. They just don't want to acknowledge that Tufts is extremely selective and they may have been rejected even with their top credentials because they just didn't meet Tufts criteria. If that person then gets accepted to an Ivy or two, you think they'd ever admit being rejected from Tufts? If it leaked out, "The Syndrome" exists to supply the "Tufts Rejects" with an excuse. Without "The Syndrome" it would be hard to explain how you were accepted to an Ivy but rejected from the place considered the "Ivy Reject" school...</p>
<p>I had a friend who had applied to Tufts. But he got rejected and I got accepted. He had 6 As and good SAT score. (I am not saying that he was better than me. ) But he got accepted into Cornell</p>
<p>Firstly, if you head over to one of the Tufts RD threads, you will see many ppl who were ideal candidates for Tufts Syndrome yet who were admitted.</p>
<p>Secondly, if a person is applying to Tufts as their 4th or 5th choice school (as many ppl who complain of Tufts Syndrome no doubt are) then they'll invest less time and effort in the application, and thus the application will reflect less intrest in the school than someone with weaker stats who put more effort into the application, sent follow-up letters, and had good essays and interviews.</p>
<p>Very good points - </p>
<p>Tufts is consistently viewed as being one of the top schools in the US precisely because it is in direct competition with the Ivy's, and they will select their students with the same demanding rigor and ultra-high standards that other Top-schools/Ivy's will. </p>
<p>"They just don't want to acknowledge that Tufts is extremely selective and they may have been rejected even with their top credentials because they just didn't meet Tufts criteria" - Courtesy Gr8fldad</p>
<pre><code> - Of course. Tufts IS highly selective (15,400 apps for 1,500 spots - that's more selective than JHU, for example) and they'll reject you if your just another top student with the same credentials that many others who apply to Tufts and other top schools have.
</code></pre>
<p>Also, Tufts' app was not an easy one, considering that there were multiple short essays involved, the CA essay(s), and then, of course the optional (plus any art/music to send in for "special talents"). So, WrathofAchilles, you're right - they want you to spend considerable time and thought on their app, or they'll see right through you.</p>
<p>Hypothetically speaking, if a random state college rejected every student with a 1200+, it would be considered "highly selective" right?</p>
<p>There's really no such thing as a "Tufts Syndrome". It's just that Tufts values interest level REALLY HIGHLY yet it does not list that as an admissions criteria, which is why the concept of a "Tufts Syndrome" was developed. Highly qualified students are wait listed and rejected because they either did not show any interest or they did something to make Tufts think that they would not matriculate. In my opinion, Tufts should list "interest" as an "important admissions factor" at collegeboard. Don't take the "Tufts Syndrome" as a compliment, because it's not. But if Tufts make clear that they would consider interest as one of their top admissions factors, then the whole "Tufts Syndrome" thing would go away.</p>
<p>Just my 2 cents...</p>
<p>If a random state college rejected every student with a 1200+, I don't think it would make the school "highly selective," but rather a school (forgetting for the moment any other criteria) that has an "average" student body with possibly less intellectually stimulating conversation in and out of the classroom.
I also do take the "Tufts Syndrome" (assuming it even exists) as a compliment as it usually surfaces when someone has been rejected from Tufts but admitted to an Ivy (or some other highly ranked school) as the reason for the rejection. Does anyone really believe that the admissions crew reviews an application and rejects the individual because that person will also clearly be accepted to a higher ranked school? Could you imagine one of their meetings where they agree someone is highly qualified and an excellent match with Tufts, but the person will also be accepted to Duke, Stanford or Dartmouth, so the Ad Com hits the reject buzzer? Just because it might hurt Tufts stats? No way. Harvard has its reputation no doubt, but maybe someone doesn't want to attend a massive campus spread out all over the place with graduate students also throughout the campus. Maybe an 18 or 19 year old would rather be on a campus with a more close knit feel with 99% of the students his or her age, doesn't want to deal with an airport to travel south or to the west coast everytime he/she wants to travel home, etc. I think showing interest is very important to every top school, not just Tufts. U Penn, Brown, Cornell etc. all place a huge emphasis on interest. All the Ivys and every other school wants to show a highly selective percentage with regard to admissions. No school wants to waste its time accepting someone if they know that person won't attend. But the school can never be sure and I don't think any school including Tufts makes its decision on this factor. At what point does the TS syndrome not apply? Accepted to Cornell, but rejected from Tufts? Or does it have to be an acceptance from one of the top ten ranked schools for the TS diagnosis to be accurate?</p>
<p>When most people talk about the "rankings", I think that they are talking about US News. One thing that goes against Tufts is the size of the endowment. Though money is important, I wonder how the rankings would be if they left this factor out. My guess is that Tufts would rank much higher. Oh well. just an observation.</p>
<p>Seriously, the endowment is negligible when creating the rankings, it makes up like 5 percent of the total score. I love it how everyone complains about how massively yield skews the rankings too. Yield makes up for exactly 1.5 percent of the total score in USN...too many people ignore like the two pages before the rankings that explain how they score colleges..</p>
<p>It is a bit sad how much weight various rankings can have. Some people study/analyze the USNews rankings and decide which schools they should apply to soley based on the contents of these lists. Some need to go to an Ivy to say they're going to an Ivy, when Duke or MIT is a much better fit.
With the growing popularity of CollegeConfidential, the day may be soon approaching when people start making decisions about schools after noting which schools make CC's Top University or Top LAC lists.
Although I'm sure CC's Top School Lists are not meant to have any direct impact as to which school someone should apply to, some may wonder why certain schools (e.g., Tufts) are not listed at the top with other Top Universities (according to CC). No doubt when some high school students start researching schools, they'll go to CC's Top Univ/LAC schools and not look at others. Pretty soon, it might be a better practice for CC not to list any "top" schools to avoid any (unintentional) impact their lists could have. Could you imagine the conversation-"Hey, I heard Joey wasn't accepted to any of the Ivies and he also wasn't even accepted to any of CC's Top Univ/LAC schools"...</p>
<p>isn't yield not a factor in rankings anymore?</p>
<p>Dude, whatever about our endowment. Everything that we seem to need, we're getting. New music department? check. New dorms? check. Wireless campus? Check. We're not DESTITUTE, and pretty much every thing I thought was lacking is already being covered.</p>
<p>bluirinka, you're right. Tufts may not have as much $$$$$$$ as some other schools, but I really don't think it's bad enough to affect the quality of education.</p>
<p>though I've never actually met a Tufts reject come to think of it</p>
<p>It depends what your opinion of "affecting education" is. Most schools, including the state schools, have enough money to provide the basics for their students as to not "affect education". But schools with a higher endowment could build a better looking campus, construct new dorms, refurbish dorms, provide students with more financial aid, have need blind admissions, or provide students with higher paying work studies and other jobs. I noticed a significant differance between the campuses and classrooms of Cornell and Tufts when I visited both schools.</p>
<p>^ Really? I didn't feel Cornell is that spectacular at all...</p>