<p>Rensselaer was my top choice, but they chose to wait-list me. Here are my stats:</p>
<p>International Student and wanted large scholarship.</p>
<p>GPA:
Junior 4.0, Senior 3.5 (Unweighted) SAT I: **
M: 780 W: 610 CR: 670
*SAT II: *
Physics, Chemistry, Maths II: 800
**AP (My school doesn't offer AP):
Physics C(E&M): 5, Physics C (Mechanics), Calculus BC, Chemistry: 4 Rank: 18/80 (maybe), Most selective school in my country.</p>
<p>Extra-curricular:
President of Science Club
Personal research projects like, made a robot that sorted books in library, made a transliteration software and more.
Won an award for physics presentation in International Student Science Fair, India. (I'm not from India)
Won first prize in Inter-school Environment quiz.
And so on...</p>
<p>Essays and Recommendation:Not very bad, I liked my essay.</p>
<p>Ok, I'm sure that I am going to regret this but I'm going to take the bait and respond.</p>
<p>Google Tuft syndrome and you get an explanation:</p>
<p>
[quote]
Yield protection is an admissions practice where a university or academic institution rejects or wait-lists highly qualified students on the grounds that such students are bound to be accepted by more prestigious universities or programs and thus almost certainly would not enroll, thus increasing the yield rate and lowering the acceptance rate.[citation needed] Yield rate refers to the proportion of students who matriculate (i.e. accept an admissions offer and attend the college) after acceptance to a college.[citation needed] Yield and admitted rates are of concern to academic institutions because they are sometimes considered as factors in annual school rankings.[citation needed]</p>
<p>Yield protection is sometimes called Tufts Syndrome,[1], though Tufts University is certainly not the only school accused of implementing yield protection.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I am assuming that since you brought this topic up that you feel that you are an example of yield protection at RPI. </p>
<p>Your scores are very nice but to break them down. Your cr is above the mean but below the 75%, math is above both the mean and 75%, and your writing is below both mean and 75%. Though these are all scores that could get you in, they certainly don't fit your "tufts syndrome" concern of rejected overqualified applicants. </p>
<p>If you looked at the profiles of many of this year's accepted students on the other thread, there are very strong accepted profiles over there. Again, if your tufts syndrome claim held water, those students should have been denied because there is a strong possibility that these students could be receiving acceptances from "more prestigious universities".</p>
<p>All and all, I am sorry that you are disappointed with being waitlisted, but I don't see your case for yield protection.</p>
<p>And since RPI is/was your top choice, write them a letter telling them so, and telling them that if you are ultimately accepted, you will attend.</p>
<p>Putting international and financial aid in same sentence may shift the situation.</p>
<p>Internationals statistically have a poor alumni giving rate. Private schools need to rebuild their endowments; they may be looking more for the student who does not stress "I Need" but rather stresses "I have to offer." I think that schools will be paying a wee bit more attention to applicants who have a greater cultural likelihood of giving in the future.</p>
<p>Your listed stats have nothing about giving back to your community or school. Its all ME, MY PRIZE, etc.</p>
<p>Joshua
I doubt he would interview from another country (unless he's from Canada)</p>
<p>I think most colleges are waitlisting more highly qualified students this year - not so much as Tufts Syndrome - as hedging their bets in this economy. There is a likely chance that many of their accepted students will go elsewhere, not because a more prestigious college welcomes them, but because they can go cheaper (and must) somewhere else. I also think there have been record applications almost everywhere and this too would add to that pool of highly qualified.</p>
<p>My S too was waitlisted with very high stats - including an 800 in math and a 34 ACT composite. There is no way from the outside to decipher the code that accepts one student with the same or lesser stats, and rejects the other. It is all just guessing. But good luck to all who are waitlisted and were counting on RPI. S has remained on the waitlist but we will be making plans to visit WPI soon, so if he gets to take someone's place, I hope they make that decision sooner rather than later before the wheels are set in motion for another college.</p>
<p>Maybe its financial matters for me and not Tufts syndrome.</p>
<p>@smoda61
[quote]
Though these are all scores that could get you in, they certainly don't fit your "tufts syndrome" concern of rejected overqualified applicants.
[/quote]
Hopefully, my SAT II scores are above 75% for all colleges and universities. And for the SAT I, aren't Tech's supposed to be all Maths and Science?</p>
<p>@VeryHappy
And since at the end of day I'm only wait listed and RPI is still my top choice, that is what I will probably do.</p>
<p>@JoshuaGuit</p>
<h1>theorymom is right, internationals have no interviews.</h1>
<p>@toadstool
[quote]
Internationals statistically have a poor alumni giving rate. Private schools need to rebuild their endowments; they may be looking more for the student who does not stress "I Need" but rather stresses "I have to offer." I think that schools will be paying a wee bit more attention to applicants who have a greater cultural likelihood of giving in the future.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>This is RPI's mission statement: "educate the leaders of tomorrow for technologically based careers. We celebrate discovery, and the responsible application of technology, to create knowledge and global prosperity."</p>
<p>I don't see a word about alumni giving here. I thought Rensselaer was about science, discovery, innovation and changing the world. Your words indicate that RPI is an 'I Need" institution where there is no cultural likelihood of giving, I hope that's incorrect. ;)</p>
<p>I think for those of you who WILL go to RPI if admitted from the waitlist SHOULD go ahead and let the college know this, and at that point also maybe sed in supplementary materials - another rec, a research paper, an award received since sending the app in. Even if they don't use it, it shows an interest.
Guys LOTS of high stats were waitlisted and I wonder if they fill their open spots from the list based on profile. Maybe if an international drops off, you will have another chance. Or if an EE student drop off, they will look to replace it with another EE student with a similar profile. Since they claim they are not ranked, I don't know how else they can narrow things down from a waitlist of over 3000 students (from their own stats from last year) It boggles my mind how they can go again through all these applicants each time a space opens - but they say they have not ranked them so....</p>
<p>admission seemed very odd this year at rpi....i was almost positive that i would get some form of scholarship (i am way above some current recipients) but i was just accepted - the scholarship may come in the mail i hope b/c w/o it it makes my decision even harder</p>
<p>it does seem like there is something weird with your case (along with many others that i have read)...i would call and find out details from the source</p>
<p>Congratulations to those of you who were accepted. Hang in there for those waitlisted because I'm sure there will be places opening up from accepted students that chose other schools. </p>
<p>I'm not sure if it was this forum that I mentioned we received our financial aid notice a few days after the acceptance last year so if you don't have it yet I wouldn't take that to mean you aren't getting anything. Also- we went back to the school twice to ask them to review our financial aid and each time they were responsive and increased it so it is worth a try :)</p>
<p>As far as admissions go. Some of you seem to be forgetting that admission is not decided solely on your SAT scores and GPA. There are a lot of other factors that are looked at. Many colleges are looking for "well rounded" students that have participated in different activities, as well as having the grades and scores and as well as other things. How they view your entire application packet then would be the key to who gets accepted, waitlisted, etc.</p>
<p>I've never heard of Tuft's syndrome, but I know that a lot of the big 10 schools here in the Midwest have been waitlisting many qualified applicants because they're waiting for more instate students to apply. I got waitlisted by the U of Minnesota and got my acceptance last week. I'm not sure if that's similar or different than Tuft's syndrome.</p>
<p>Hmmm. Who knows what schools look for in their applicants? Yield protection is of course a factor in many schools' decisions, but don't be too hasty to call "Tufts syndrome." Schools also want a diverse student body, and honestly, a lot of that depends on luck: perhaps they had just reviewed a similar applicant and didn't see anything unique about you. </p>
<p>Also, most private schools (although I'm not sure about RPI in particular) are not need-blind for international applicants; if you needed financial aid (which was hinted at in your first post), this may have decreased your chance of getting in. </p>
<p>Orinox: I was accepted (and got into the Presidential Scholars program), but you may find it helpful to know that I did list the other schools to which I was applying, which included two Ivy Leagues and ~four top 20 schools (I don't know offhand what exact schools are top 20, but you know what I mean). Also, I did not interview -- not because I wasn't interested but because I only interviewed at the schools that contacted me, since I was too slow/ignorant about contacting schools. XD My qualifications stats-wise are an SAT of 2390 and an unweighted GPA of 4.0 (weighted 4.81, rank 2) as well as some subject tests in the 700s, six completed APs, and six more this year. </p>
<p>HOWEVER, I'm legacy -- my mom went there -- so maybe that pushed me over the edge and into the "accepted" pile, despite my lack of demonstrated interest (my parents put their alma maters at the bottom of our priority list for touring, 'cause they were like, "Uh, I can just tell you about it...")</p>
<p>I never considered the fact that telling them what other colleges the applicant applied to might affect their decision...I said I was applying to schools like U.Rochester, Lehigh, and USC....do you think that would change anything?</p>
<p>Son was priority waitlisted - no interview, listed MIT and Caltech and WPI as schools he was applying to.
I think what got him waitlisted and not accepted was his GPA - 3.2 despite his 800 SAT score in math and his 34 ACT composite. (School does not weight). His ECs were very good but that GPA and class rank really sunk him on this case I think</p>
<p>I don't know if telling them what schools you applied to will affect your chances of being admitted. It really shouldn't but I thought it might because of the large number of qualified applicants being waitlisted. I listed all other schools I applied to and was still admitted. My list: RIT, U of Minnesota, U of Illinois - Chicago, & Iowa State.</p>