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<p>That is interesting. My daughter has 4 friends who got waitlisted at Tufts. Their SAT scores are similar to OP’s kid score (ranging from 2350 to 2390 - single sitting). Two went to Yale and the other two went to Stanford (two of them were also accepted by Princeton). I don’t know - perhaps they dialed in their applications or my kid’s school has bad reputation with Tufts?</p>
<p>@fireandrain</p>
<p>Correction: Tufts’ acceptance rate this year was just over 16%</p>
<p>furrydog, there are hundreds of stories about kids who got into an Ivy but didn’t get into some other school perceived as being of “lesser” quality. When there is holistic admissions and very low acceptance rates, you can’t assume that because a kid gets into Yale or Princeton or Stanford s/he will automatically get into every other school.</p>
<p>Northeastern typically has good merit scholarships for high stats kids, especially NMF. </p>
<p>My musically inclined engineering son enjoyed a variety of music opportunities while there - pep band, concert band, jazz band (sax), pit orchestra for school musical, use of piano practice rooms, permission to play piano in student union. </p>
<p>Tufts is gaming US News, which loves low acceptance rates. It doesn’t mean their faculty/academic quality is any better than it was, say, ten years ago. They simply get so many apps as the “safety” for Ivies and other top northeast schools, and they are using the high volume to their advantage.</p>
<p>@prezbucky </p>
<p>Not quite sure how Tufts would be using its increased app numbers to its “advantage” any more or differently than every other top 50 school has since apps to the most competitive schools have gone up in the last decade plus. At least Tufts doesn’t pull the stunts of U Chicago and Wash U with their endless application materials flooding mailboxes and inboxes. In the year before my D applied to Tufts, she received maybe 2-3 pieces of mail from the school, none of which touted application numbers or acceptance rates. And Tufts was the only school which hosted an interactive program (“Why Tufts?”) that allowed potential applicants to “act out” the admissions process with actual Tufts adcoms. </p>
<p>As has been discussed and parsed ad infinitum on CC, a school’s acceptance rate is too small a factor in the USNWR ratings to really say any college can exactly “game” the ratings in such a way.</p>
<p>And discussion of academic quality really is a separate matter, and pertains to any college, regardless of whether it moves up or down the scale. Are any of the top 20-30 colleges that have improved in the ratings “better” in terms of academic quality then they were ten years ago? </p>
<p>I corrected the previously posted Tufts’ acceptance rate for data purposes, period, as the OP is hoping to put together a timely, realistic list of safeties/ matches.</p>
<p>If Tufts is such a “safety”, why did their numbers of binding ED applicants increase 10% percent this year? And why is their yield consistently in the range of (and often higher than) that of UCBerkeley, JHU, Rice, Emory, CMU, Vanderbilt, U Michigan, and Wash U? All Ivy back-ups, you might say. But then why point it out so dismissively with respect to Tufts?</p>
<p>Fair response. I guess kids are increasingly liking Tufts. Hopefully they are getting top-notch educations.</p>
<p>Getting back to OP’s original mention of her/ his son’s wanting an intellectual environment, Tufts isn’t too shabby on that score, as well:</p>
<p><a href=“Lumosity Smartest Colleges”>Lumosity Smartest Colleges;
<p>If you’re considering Tulane, you might check out Emory (same acceptance rate) since they have merit aid if you apply early and their orchestra is similar in quality to Tufts. Tulane awards more merit aid early on but Emory also allows students to apply for Dean’s merit scholarships of $10K as freshmen and sophomores. Depending on what your son’s instrument is and his stats, he may be able to get merit at a safety with programs near the standards similar to Yale, U. Michigan, etc. U. Maryland College Park and Stony Brook have strong music programs, but both prefer grad students. </p>
<p>I haven’t heard any Northeastern ensembles lately, but my intern (a freshman last spring) played in the band: he said they were ok but he wasn’t a strong clarinetist. Northeastern’s music program isn’t considered at the same level as Tufts or BU.</p>
<p>U. Rochester is a good suggestion for a safety and you can apply Early Priority in December (it was one of my D’s first acceptances.) Pitt has rolling admissions and the earlier you apply, the better the merit aid package.</p>
<p>In case anyone reads this thread in the future, here is an update. My son stuck with the original plan and applied EA to Yale, Michigan and UVA. He also applied early to Rutgers and Arizona Sate and was accepted to those in October. He was deferred from Yale but was then accepted to Michigan three days later. Definitely disappointed about Yale but knew it was a long shot all along. But I am so happy that he has Michigan and he is excited about that option, even as he finishes the rest of his apps. Apparently Michigan deferred a lot of high stats kids so that was a nice boost for him. I think his essays really showed sincere interest which probably helped. Also we did pick a few other schools between Michigan and Rutgers in competitiveness, but he won’t hear from those for a while. </p>
<p>Good luck to everyone in this process! For us the wait continues . . .</p>
<p>Congrats on Michigan and good luck with the rest!</p>
<p>Thank you for the update and congratulations on Michigan!</p>
<p>Please keep us posted 
My D has similar stats and similar schools on her list! Congrats on the acceptances!</p>
It’s me, the OP. Well, this part of the process is over for us!! I am grateful for cc and all of the advice I received when I was trying to help S come up with his final list, particularly the “safer” schools. For those in a similar position, here is my recap. I have not had a chance to post in all of the results threads, so here it goes!
Final application list:
Yale (EA)
U of MIchigan(EA)
UVA (EA)
Rutgers (did in September)
Arizona State (did in September)
Princeton
Stanford
Penn
Duke
Cornell
Vanderbilt
Wash U
USC
Boston University
Outcomes:
Accepted by October to Rutgers and ASU, which were the true safeties. He was later notified of large merit money at ASU and full-ride Presidential at Rutgers and admission to the new honors college. In December, he was deferred from Yale, so obviously disappointed. In December he was admitted to Michigan. At the end of January, he found out he was selected for the Shipman Scholarship of $35k/yr. Also accepted to UVA in January. So far, the “strategy” was going well. He was into some very good programs, even while he had to wait it out til March for he rest.
Ultimately, in March, he was accepted to Yale, Penn, Duke, Cornell, Vanderbilt, Washu, USC and BU! He was rejected from Stanford and waitlisted at Princeton. (Merit $$ from USC and BU)
WE ARE THRILLED!!! This was a very long road and a lot of work on my son’s part to do all of these applications. But, he will be attending his original dream school, YALE!
So, while some of these schools now seemed unnecessary, our plan was for him to have choices at each “tier” of school, to help with the randomness of all of this.
In hindsight, the school were probably
Safeties: Rutgers, ASU, BU
Safety/match: Michigan, UVA, USC
Match/low reach: Cornell, Vanderbilt, WashU
Reach: Yale, Princeton, Penn, Duke, Stanford
We are extremely proud of him for his hard work throughout HS that brought him to this point. Any questions, feel free to ask. I’m sure the next crop of kids is going through this now! Good luck!!
OP, that’s remarkable! Before I came here to CC, I didn’t really understand that few kids have their college plans work out…doesn’t mean the new path isn’t great…but it wasn’t what they imagined…in any case, it’s refreshing to see that a junior in high school wanted to go to Yale. He applied. And he got in at the end of his senior year. congratulations!
Congratulations, I am a big, big fan of EA for safeties, especially when they come with merit offers to sweeten the deal. Everyone I’ve ever known to attend Yale loved it.
You don’t really know what is too many until the end, do you? I think you were wise to make sure you had depth at each tier.
Congrats on the outstanding opportunities offered your son and best wishes on the next leg of his journey!
Congratulations to your son for his achievements and his acceptances. Congratulations to Yale for getting such a great student 
and congratulations to you for helping craft such a thoughtful list - i TOTALLY agree with your “choices at each tier” strategy. And thank you so much for the update. Enjoy Spring and celebrate summer!
You Done Good - congrats to you for all your research and encouragement. It’s nice that you cam back to share your summary.
Thanks everyone! And good luck to the juniors and beyond! It can feel like an endless road, but it really does come to an end. Then we have to be ready for them to leave - not easy either!