Tufts Syndrome

[buzzers]

<p>Best of luck to your S. I assume if he feels it’s a good fit then his essays will reveal that. Good luck!</p>

[CountingDown]

<p>Tufts, like UChicago, has a series of supplemental essays that are fairly unique among college applications. The essay prompts pretty much demand that one spends serious time thinking and writing beyond the requirements of the Common App. </p>

<p>Show those apps some respect, write some terrific, honest essays, and the results can be quite pleasant!</p>

[WCASParent]

<p>FYI: First, this thread was started by a ■■■■■.
Second, here it is from the horse’s mouth (aka Dan): <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/tufts-university/900861-my-friend-really-wants-go-tufts-but.html?highlight=Tufts+Syndrome#post1064541003[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/tufts-university/900861-my-friend-really-wants-go-tufts-but.html?highlight=Tufts+Syndrome#post1064541003&lt;/a&gt;
Tufts Syndrome does not exist at Tufts.
Every school rejects applicants whose numbers are simply extraordinary. That’s not because of “Tufts Syndrome,” “yield protection” or whatever else it might be denominated. It’s because spectacular GPAs and SATs are only a part of the picture, and Tufts (and other top schools) are looking at a much larger picture - not just with respect to the individual application at issue, but also with respect to the overall class they are trying to put together.</p>

[hebrewhammer]

<p>

The problem is that high schools rank differently, some utilizing number of AP classes/weighted GPA’s, others don’t. This is why test scores are included. Yet even beyond that, these are just numbers. What I think makes Tufts unique is that they go beyond being hardworking in the classroom. Anyone can just memorize things in high school and work hard and study tricks for the SAT. But by emphasizing the essays, a different kind of intelligence comes forth. High school academics is infinitely different from college academics. Many people can do well in high school but horrible in college.

I feel like college is a larger adjustment for the kids who get by in HS without doing any work than for the ones who work really hard. While the college workload is usually more than in HS, the students who worked hard through high school are usually ready for that extra step in work difficulty/volume. It seems to me that problems occur more frequently for the kids who had good grades in high school but got by only on their own innate intelligence, doing minimal work. Those are the ones who really aren’t ready for the increase in intensity when they get to college and are surprised that they can’t keep half-assing.</p>

[CountingDown]

<p>^^^S2 is definitely seeing that the difficulty of his work in HS (intense work, decent but not stellar grades) has payoffs in college. So far, so good. Of course, it may mean that he’ll hit the wall later rather than sooner. OTOH, he knows what it’s like to buckle down and conquer a difficult assignment.</p>

[tuftsfan]

<p>Here is some evidence that Tufts syndrome no, longer applies to tufts…(if it ever did)</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1032430-how-does-tufts-syndrome-play-into-calibur-students-accepted-ed.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1032430-how-does-tufts-syndrome-play-into-calibur-students-accepted-ed.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;