Tufts syndrome

Applying to College
1

<p>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. - Wikipedia</p>

<p>Do colleges really do this? Maybe a naive question, I don't know.</p>

2

<p>Tufts probably doesn't do this anymore. But some other colleges perhaps still do. The very top colleges don't need to worry about this. They get the yield they need.</p>

3

<p>I heard Wash U does this.</p>

4

<p>It makes sense that top schools don't do this. I guess I'm just trying to console my Wesleyan waitlist :(... oh who knows</p>

5

<p>Actually, its coincidental you posted this. It is true. My friend was a very strong applicant who was rejected flat out by Tufts and accepted by Harvard. When I asked my other friend how on earth this could have happened, they explained that exact concept which the wiki article describes. haha ironic you posted that</p>

6

<p>@ duncan.. haha! thanks for that post...</p>

<p>i'm waiting for the big tuesday, the 31st...
we'll see if this concept is true</p>

7

<p>haha. when do they send them out, do you know?</p>

8

<p>send what out exactly? decisions?</p>

<p>5 pm online for most top schools i believe</p>

9

<p>Wash U still does that</p>

10

<p>Yup, very common for WUSTL to do this.</p>

11

<p>I don't see how the hell a college would get anything out of having a lower admit rate / higher yield. And if they do get something out of it, I don't see how that's considered ethical.</p>

12

<p>Colleges, even lower ones, wouldn't ever do this if one were to apply ED though right? It makes sense for RD admissions, but I don't see why this would ever happen ED</p>

13

<p>thats a good point. i applied to yale scea and got deferred. i keep wondering if maybe i had applied to wes ed, what would have happened? ya know?</p>

14

<p>
[quote]
wouldn't ever do this if one were to apply ED

[/quote]
Of course, since with ED there is a 0% chance that they would enroll to a different college. Tufts syndrome, as the wikipedia quote said, is when they "almost certainly" would enroll at a different college.</p>

15

<p>I've heard that the Tufts and WUSTL do practice this with many applicants.</p>

16

<p>oscarsaddict, dont worry. applying to yale ED and Wesleyan RD takes a lot of balls. You took the chance, but it wasn't to be. A LOT of students are so insecure they dont even bother with applying to such schools. Being a good risk taker like that will help you out much later in life.</p>

17

<p>oscarsaddict: While this does occasionally happen at some schools, I haven't heard of it happening much at Wes. What makes you think you were overqualified for Wes? Did you get into any significantly more selective schools? I find it more likely they just didn't see you as a good fit, since the less quantitative things matter a lot at schools like Wes. Also, remember, Wes's application pool went up 20% this year.</p>

<p>I'm sure you'll have a great time where ever you do go!</p>

18

<p>Again I would say that I don't think this is current practice at Tufts.</p>

19

<p>I know for sure CSU's do this. MY friend applied to a couple of Cal States for backups, including San Francisco State. He was rejected from SFSU with a 3.9 uw, and like a 4.4 wt with a 2100.</p>

20

<p>i think rice might do this</p>