<p>Can you be rejected and use the Tufts Syndrome as an explanation, or do you have to be wait listed to be considered fallout from this admission philosophy? I'm asking because I was just rejected from Northwestern and wait listed at WashU, but am still waiting for Tufts as well as other schools.</p>
<p>Um... if you were rejected/waitlisted you don't need to have any explanation. Saying it was Tufts Syndrome just makes you sound arrogant. Admissions are random. You don't need an excuse for it.</p>
<p>I wasn't trying to make an excuse or sound arrogant. I apologize if I came off that way. I don't think I deserved to get into WashU or Northwestern, I was just wondering if my not getting in means that I won't get into the other "better" schools that I applied to. Once again I'm sorry if I sounded conceded in any way.</p>
<p>It's okay. The connotation of Tufts Syndrome is just irritating. And I seriously would not worry about a connection between those schools and other schools you're waiting on. Admissions at the top 20 level is SO random. I've heard of people accepted to Stanford and rejected at a "safety" school. You'll just have to wait and see :)</p>
<p>thanks for the reply. It's just hard to stay positive after getting a rejection letter, but your post helped.</p>
<p>I so relate. I was deferred from Georgetown EA and felt really down about my chances at ANY school. I just found out I got into my number one choice, a school even more selective than Georgetown. Admissions is so random and overall ridiculous. Just have a safety school you love and cross your fingers!</p>
<p>I'm really glad I decided to apply to the UC's because without UCLA or UCSD I may have nothing...</p>
<p>I know this is a stupid question thats probably answered on another thread, but what's tufts syndrome?</p>
<p>I can't speak for practices at other institutions, but I can be certain that (ironically) Tufts Syndrome does not apply to Tufts.</p>
<p>sorry but as dan is online here, i just want to ask when r decisions going to be out this year? friday or monday?</p>
<p>The "Tufts Syndrome" was a name given to schools who seemed to have wait listed "overly qualified" students in fear of them not going to their school and instead choosing to go to a "better" school. At Tufts, as Dan had just said, this is actually not the case. People, however, seem to think this is the case at WashU as the Wait list an estimated 50% of their applicants. No one can be sure if this philosophy is actually used by any college, and as salpert said above, many times applicants will use this as an excuse.</p>
<p>Sometimes people are denied job offers because they are simply too qualified for the position. Why is it so hard to believe this wouldn't exist in the college admissions process?</p>
<p>That's a nice comparison. But it has nothing to do with how we conduct admissions at Tufts.</p>
<p>I'd like to offer a new definition for Tufts Syndrome. I stopped off at Tufts on my way home from a conference in Boston this past weekend, and met my son for dinner in Davis Square.</p>
<p>At one point during dinner, I said - "Wow - do you realize that your first year at Tufts ends in about six weeks?" My son said "I don't want to discuss it". "Why?" I asked paternally - "too much work to do? Things not going well?"</p>
<p>"No..no not that" my son said "I just don't want it to end. I love it here".</p>
<p>That, my friends, is the new Tufts syndrome. Cede no ground to the other schools and their reputations. As it said on my son's T-shirt: "Fear The Jumbo"</p>
<p>Love the t-shirt, especially if it had a fluffy smiling elephant painted on it.</p>
<p>Employers may not hire an over qualified person because that person will end up not being happy with a job that is below their talent level. Not because they think the employee will get an offer from an employer that they like better. When you look at a school, what do you look for first...the average SAT/ACT of admitted students, or the schools "yield". I don't know anyone who looks at yield. So schools have very bit as much incentive to accept high caliber students to increase their USNWR profile as they do to try to increase their yield of students who choose to attend. Frankly, at Tufts and most other quality schools, they have so many quality students apply that they can admit student based on certain "demographic" qulities they are looking for...artsie...musical...techy...well rounded...east coast, west coast etc... Students with great "stats" get denied every year and seem to rely on the "over qualified" thing to heal their pain and surprise. Glad to see Dan be clear that Tufts does NOT play this game.</p>
<p>If Tufts does not and never did reject overqualified applicants, then why is "Tufts Syndrome" named after Tufts?</p>
<p>I never said never. Go back a number years (before the current administration) and Tufts had admissions practices that were, frankly speaking, opaque and frustrating. To be perfectly honest that's before my time, and I'm not sure if waitlisting highly qualified applicants on the virtue of their qualifications was actually employed, but I'm certain that it's an explanation to which many applicants gravitated in lieu of a clearer reason.</p>
<p>I can see by your name that you go to Havard. This is great!!! It is absurd to still use this term "Tufts Syndrome" in the 21 century when Tufts is no longer a safety school. Please post more interesting questions so we can address them properly.</p>
<p>I applied to Tufts ED almost 40 years ago. When I got there, I was disappointed to meet a lot of Harvard rejects. But there were also a lot of us who had rejected Harvard by applying only to Tufts. We wanted the closer contacts with professors and greater emphasis on undergrads.</p>
<p>Since then, I've learned that there are a lot of Princeton rejects at Harvard. And Yale rejects at Princeton...you get the picture.</p>
<p>And the truth is that despite my ongoing association with Tufts, I never heard the term "Tufts syndrome" until I read it on CC.</p>