<p>stny-
I had a similar experience with my kids. Neither cared about the "elite" appeal of the Ivy League (or the USNWR rankings, for that matter); they both went with schools where they thought the academic quality was first rate and which also just "felt right" to them.</p>
<p>Echoing WCASParent and stny--
S1 had 2200+ SAT I, 800, 800, 790 on SAT II's, and took all the AP's he could (one 4, the rest 5's), three-sport athlete/captain. Looked at Ivies and LAC's. Tufts was his first choice, as it was for most of his friends there. Very few from our HS have gotten into Tufts, and the ones that did have all been excellent students.<br>
As Dan in admissions mentioned on another thread, Tufts will not turn down applicants for being overqualified. However, if you write half-a**ed essays that make it clear you're not partaicularly interested or haven't done your research, they'll probably see right through it. I get the impression that Tufts places a lot of weight on the essays, though I could be mistaken.
Also, I think a lot of people automatically see things through the Business/Wall Street lens. If that's what a student has in mind, there might well be better choices out there. For IR and public service, though, Tufts is a great choice, and as such it seems to attract a really interesting, outward-reaching student body. Short of perhaps being in DC for gov't internship opportunities, Tufts has been an ideal fit for him.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I get the impression that Tufts places a lot of weight on the essays, though I could be mistaken.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I've gotten that impression too. I slaved for weeks over my essays (I wrote five, yes for the past month, I haven't really had a life).</p>
<p>I hope it pays off...</p>
<p>Good Luck!</p>
<p>Thank you! :)</p>
<p>In my family
one H
one P</p>
<p>both rejected by Tufts</p>
<p>A different thread with information completely relevant to this one:
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/tufts-university/448654-question-dan-do-you-ever-reject-applications-because-they-too-qualified.html?highlight=waitlist#post5242585%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/tufts-university/448654-question-dan-do-you-ever-reject-applications-because-they-too-qualified.html?highlight=waitlist#post5242585</a>. </p>
<p>I highly recommend reading this post, as I can offer no clarification more unequivocal than the one there.</p>
<p>The admit rate is causally linked with academics for every band of academic performance. The stronger your academics are, the better chance you stand of being admitted in every instance. But no one gets a free pass on the personal piece. They essays matter; they matter a lot. Will will not admit anyone without compelling personal qualities - regardless of academics. An applicant who sees Tufts as a 'safe bet' and puts less thought into their Tufts supplement is likely to read as less compelling than a student a notch below who presents a more interesting application. And that's how it should be. Admitted applicants who can demonstrate interesting perspectives makes for a more interesting class.</p>
<p>I will say, however, that I've heard enough stories about the past to know that the way Tufts practices admissions now is wildly different than it was a decade ago. So flip back the calendar far enough, and there may be merit to this discussion. But as some high school students will know from their own experiences, certain labels can be hard to shake.</p>
<p>In my own experience over the last three years, the 'overqualified' students (not a term I would use) that we tend to turn down most frequently are the ones who seem more concerned with "Prestige" than with "Fit." And frankly, it doesn't surprise me that those students are the ones who, despite getting into their first choice schools, still have a hard time accepting a denial at other places. My time at Tufts has taught me that our community tends to populate itself with students who tend to be unpretentious, grounded, and at ease with their lives.</p>
<p>Dan</p>
<p>A phrase from my daughter's recommendation letters from last year:</p>
<p>"with all her accomplishments, she is neither haughty nor arrogant. She is dependable, grounded and balanced."</p>
<p>Dan speaks the truth. And she is a very happy Tufts freshman.</p>
<p>kshul4444 --- uhhh I chose Tufts over Columbia, an ivy league school. It really isn't apart of the discussion here at Tufts, me and my peers at Tufts never talk about SAT scores. Over the past semester there have been 2 ocassions in which I've found myself in a casual discussion about what other colleges we were thinking of going to.</p>
<p>Some of these posts are ridiculous. People trying to prove t.s. exists are noting two or three friends they know who got into ivies and rejected/waitlisted at tufts, and people trying to prove against it are doing likewise. With over 20,000+ applications at tufts, you cannot simply pick two or three examples you know of and deduce that it is a fact. Even if you knew 10 super qualified kids who got rejected, that’s 0.05% of the total applicants to tufts. Can’t really make an entire policy claim over a number so low. </p>
<p>For my part I agree with Dan from Tufts admissions. My reason for this is a clear fact that no one can deny. With ivy league admission so competitive, how many applicants are “guaranteed” to get into an ivy league school. Not much, I’ll say 2000 total kids out of the 2.5 million or so kids that apply to college. Now I expect that most of these kids know they are almost guaranteed to get into ivies by sheer deduction, and increased by “likely letters”. So if an ivy league school is your top choice and you know you will get in, why apply to tufts? But let’s say that half these kids are so oblivious (and ironically so smart at the same time) that they don’t realize they are shoo-ins at ivies. So that leaves 1,000 kids. Now how many of these kids will apply to tufts? I’ll be very generous and say 25% do, even though the real percentage would be much lower. That leaves 250 kids. Out of 20,000 applicants at tufts, or less than 1.5%. </p>
<p>So, if t.s. exists, it is sadly hurting 250 kids. But oh wait, these kids are “shoo-ins” at Ivies remember. So these 250 kids after wondering why they got rejected from tufts, get an acceptance from brown, princeton, dartmouth etc. etc. Think they care about their tufts rejection now? Not likely. They certainly are so thrilled at having got into an ivy league school(because remember these are the “dumb” smart kids who don’t know they are shoo-ins at ivies) that they no longer care about a tufts rejection, and they certainly don’t vent about being rejected by tufts on cc. </p>
<p>So three points in conclusion:</p>
<ol>
<li>With so few kids guaranteed to get into ivy schools, it is unlikely t.s. exists.</li>
<li>If it does, it effects less than 250 kids who apply to tufts.</li>
<li>If you are complaining about it on cc, then you are not a victim, or else you would have an acceptance to an ivy league school in hand and subsequently forget your tufts rejection.</li>
</ol>
<p>seems like some people are just taking too few examples… so 2 of your friends had that experience… thats like saying:</p>
<p>this cat is black
that cat is black
this third cat is also black
so all cats are black</p>
<p>I actually got into Duke, Johns Hopkins, Boston College, Boston University, waitlisted by MIT, rejected by Harvard and Tufts.…</p>
<p>My admissions letter actually had a massive black X written by a sharpie marker on top of the envelope.</p>
<p>Still have no idea why I was rejected…</p>
<p>I don’t see how acceptance at all those places guarantees acceptance at Tufts, especially given your rejection from Harvard and WL at MIT. I honestly have no idea why you were rejected either, though, as you didn’t give us any other information.</p>
<p>lol Ricky… still trolliscious as always</p>
<p>How are you doing these days?</p>
<p>^ Is Ricky phead? lol cuz I was just going to comment on this: “My admissions letter actually had a massive black X written by a sharpie marker on top of the envelope.”</p>
<p>Yes ricky is phaed. I know him IRL from high school.</p>
<p>I was just at Lehigh and they said that they reject “overqualified” candidates.</p>
<p>thats because u wanna think that cuz u go to that school</p>
<p>I think that Tufts’ reputation in many ways is divorced from its reality! I was told by someone who is a college admissions counselor (we did not use her; I was just having a conversation with her) that Tufts is filled with “Type A, really aggressive kids.” Hmmm…</p>
<p>I was so impressed with Tufts’ application questions. To me, it showed that they really cared about who the kids are and it had latitude for a wide range of expression. </p>
<p>That description of “unpretentious, grounded and at ease with their lives” fits my S to a T.</p>
<p>I’ve looked at our Naviance scattergrams which have six years of data for a very large school. It’s quite clear that Tufts syndrome does not exist at our school. Top students are much more likely to get in than less qualified ones. </p>
<p>My son was definitely in iffy territory. SAT scores were at the school average, but grades in the bottom quarter of those admitted. His circle is surrounded by red x’s. He didn’t let that discourage him. He wrote a succinct (exactly 50 words as requested) “Why Tufts” statement, which was I thought charming and picked up on something he’d seen on a tour that I doubt most kids would have even noticed much less talked about. He put serious work into his optional Tufts essay - which was the rewrite US History as though the British had won at Yorktown, looking up primary sources that he could adapt to his purposes.</p>