<p>I hear a lot about tufts syndrome, not letting in overqualified kids in order to increase yield. Does it sound like something made up by disgruntled rejectees with great numbers to anyone else?
Tufts seems like the kind of place to focus on your essays and your extracurriculars given a reasonable amount of academic quality. Just because they rejected a kid with a 4.0 and a 2390 who doesn't have an original thought in their head doesn't mean it's because they are worried about whether they will actually go there- it's probably because they don't have an original thought in their head.
Just a thought.</p>
<p>That’s certainly the impression we got from the Tufts “How we decide” event we went to today: they presented 6 profiles of actual applications for class of 2015. On the first look, most of the room voted for the girl with the really high scores; after they added extra-curriculars she lost about half of those votes, and when they added essays and recommendations only 1 or 2 people voted for her- because other kids with strong but not fabulous numbers had more to say for themselves, and all the pieces of the application made sense together.</p>
<p>I sat through the same presentation and came up with similar result. However, you have to wonder a bit about how hard it would be to portray an applicant badly.</p>
<p>The syndrome does exist though. I know someone who got into Harvard this year but turned down by Tufts. Does it mean Harvard screwed up?</p>
<p>Or tufts is looking for a different sort of person. Ivy league schools might weigh traditional factors more in their pool than tufts would. Tufts might respond to the goofy kid where Harvard looks down their nose at them (let’s be real, stereotypes exist for a reason, and ivy league elitism is no exception).
I’m not an admissions counselor or anything I’m just throwing out food for thought considering the personality of the institution.</p>
<p>You asked for evidence and I gave you one example. </p>
<p>Does not matter how Tufts picks their students except for those applying. If they want to pick goofy vs someone who is ivy caliber, no one is stopping them.</p>
<p>I think Tufts is far more likely to take a diamond in the rough - it’s not so much that they are picking goofy, but they are less risk averse. </p>
<p>That said, if you look at the stats, most kids at Tufts are Ivy caliber. Tufts SAT scores (25th/75th percentile) 670/740 CR and 680/760 math. Compare that to Harvard’s 690/700 CR and 700/790 math. It looks like Tufts students actually are slightly stronger verbally (if the SAT actually measures anything.)</p>
<p>I also think that many Ivy wannabes don’t treat the Tufts application with respect. The Tufts supplement is there for a reason.</p>
<p>That’s a silly argument. Tufts doesn’t practice Tufts syndrome. One instance doesn’t prove anything. Plus, you premise that if someone gets into Harvard but not Tufts = Tufts syndrome. That’s pretty faulty logic (FYI, I know people who REJECTED Harvard for Tufts.)</p>
<p>Here’s why:</p>
<p>If someone gets into Upenn but not Tufts, is that tufts syndrome? What about Columbia? Yale? Of course not. As the above poster said, Tufts is ivy caliber. They have the stats to prove it–smart kids (SAT’s in the ivy league range, the average kid in the top 5% of their class, they actually accept LESS kids than Upenn (Upenn’s acceptance rate is higher because more kids apply), and they attract people who are out of the box thinkers). What if someone got into Yale but not Harvard? Upenn but not Columbia? The problem is that you need to realize that Tufts is a top notch school that is really super selective. That’s why top firms recruit here (Fidelity, Goldman Sachs, DE Shaw, Microsoft, Google, JP Morgan, Wellington, GE, Bain Capital, etc. etc.).</p>
<p>So no, there isn’t any tufts syndrome because there isn’t any point for it and the evidence says otherwise (after all, what does yield count for these days? Answer, nothing). </p>
<p>The reason I like Tufts is you get kids who are brilliant (the same brilliance you would find at other top schools, including ivy leagues) but with a personality of friendliness, quirkiness, and out of the box thinking. To me, those are the leaders and thinkers of tomorrow.</p>
<p>@mathmom: For what it is worth, one of the SAT numbers you quoted is not correct. Harvard’s interquartile range is 690 - 800 for CR (not 690 - 700).</p>
<p>^That seems more reasonable, must have been a typo! Doesn’t really change anything. The score difference are basically the margin of error of the test.</p>
<p>It’s also impossible to know whether that kid had additional pieces in play regarding Harvards institutional priorities that the applicant would not have with Tufts.</p>
<p>Also, Harvard doesn’t ask the same questions we do with our supplement. And when you consider how much we ask for with the supplement, that’s a significant difference between the applications that <em>any</em> two schools would receive - provided one of those two schools is Tufts. :)</p>
<p>And, just because I haven’t done so for a while, let me state without equivocation: we do not employ the practice of the ironically named “Tufts Syndrome.”</p>
<p>I believe that Tufts doesn’t practice this.</p>
<p>But I will say that when you look at scattergrams for my kids’ school (which has a lot of kids going to to selective schools) you see some patterns that do suggest that this could be happening at some schools–but not at Tufts. The pattern I’ve seen at a couple of selective schools is that there seem to be quite a few more waitlist decisions in that upper right quadrant of the scattergram than found at other similar schools. Does this mean that they are waitlisting super-qualified kids to protect yield? Not necessarily.</p>
<p>Tufts is not an Ivy…not even close…and btw there is no way someone would turn down Harvard for Tufts…except if there were financial considerations…</p>
<p>advertisinggal, I’m sure you’re absolutely right. Tufts isn’t an Ivy, and no one would ever turn down Harvard for Tufts unless they got better financial aid. Thank you for your insight! We wouldn’t have been able to figure that out on our own. </p>
<p>Now that we’ve got that all cleared up, you can go back to posting on the Ivy and multiple degree forums, though you might want to decide if you’re a parent or a student. You seem to have aged about 30 years between your earliest posts and your later ones. </p>
<p>Thanks again for your helpful and cogent comments here!</p>
<p>What’s funny is that I know someone who turned down Harvard for Tufts and it wasn’t because of financial aid. </p>
<p>And you are right, Tufts isn’t an ivy. Neither is Georgetown, Northwestern, Stanford, MIT and a host of other institutions. Congrats on your insight ;)</p>
<p>Actually, I’m applying to both Tufts and Columbia and I will pick Tufts over Columbia if I get into both. I’m not even applying to Harvard because I don’t like it. There you go- I’m already picking Tufts over Harvard and I would pick Tufts over Columbia too. It’s incredibly stupid and ignorant to say that nobody would pick Tufts over Harvard.</p>
<p>Tufts really values the essays. If you send them the same carbon copies (yes, I am dating myself) of your Harvard essays, you are probably not the right fit for Tufts. If you take the opportunity Tufts gives you to expose your soul, and bring the appropriate (even if imperfect) academic package to bear, you will get serious consideration.</p>
<p>My older S sent versions of his UChicago and MIT essays to Harvard. Clearly H saw where he really belonged and rejected him. 
</p>
<p>Both my kids focused their essays on the schools they wanted most. They got into 100% of those schools (including some reachy-for-all institutions). I believe the schools that waitlisted/rejected them saw those essays, knew my kids were a better fit elsewhere, and acted accordingly.</p>
<p>^If only it were so simple CD, my older son sent copies of his MIT essays to Harvard and Harvard accepted him and MIT turned him down!</p>
<p>That said, I think Tufts is one of the schools where the essays really can make a difference - and if you are a borderline candidate I recommend taking advantage of the optional essays even though AdmissionsDan has said many times that they really are optional. :)</p>
<p>And I’ll keep saying it, since it’s true. </p>
<p>I will say, though, that we try to make questions that can excite our applicants. And, if you find yourself excited by one of those optional prompts, I hope you’ll share that excitement with us.</p>
<p>Leave Tufts alone, it’s an amazing institution and it doesn’t need to prove itself to anyone. Tufts students are just as, if not as I would argue, more academically inclined and socially motivated than Ivy students. Nescac love.</p>
<p>Truth be told, I think that the “Tufts Syndrome” is just a result of highly intellectual slackers. Some students who are reaching for the ives don’t take Tufts as seriously, put minimal effort into the supplemental essays, and end up with a rejection to Tufts. It evidently happens in other schools as well. My high schools’ valedictorian two years ago was rejected to Tufts yet accepted to three ivy league schools. Laziness may have been the cause.</p>