<p>I think of “Tufts Syndrome” as not admitting an overqualified student primarily because he has little chance of attending. If a college does apply “Tufts Syndrome,” then one would expect chance of acceptance to go up as stats increase to a certain point, but once reaching a certain threshold of overqualification, then chance of acceptance decreases. So the acceptance rate for 3.7/2000 applicants might be far higher than 4.0/2350 applicants. This differs from colleges with holistic admissions that focus on non-stat qualities. They almost always show a higher rate of acceptance as stats increase. For example Brown may reject most 2400/4.0 applicants, but the acceptance rate for 4.0/2400 applicants is far higher than 3.8/2100 applicants. </p>
<p>Earlier in the thread I mentioned that GWU showed this “Tufts Syndrome” pattern among Parchment applicants, with a ~50% acceptance rate for near perfect stat applicants and acceptance rates as high as ~95% for certain lower stat groups. Parchment stats do not show this pattern for Tulane. Instead chance of acceptance increases as stats increase. The acceptance rate for applicants with a 3.9+/2250+ was ~96%; The acceptance rates for applicants with a 3.5-3.7 and 1900-2100 was 88%; And the acceptance rate for a 3.3-3.5 with a 1700-1900 was ~55%. They do reject a very small portion of applicants with near perfect stats, so there will be some unlikely rejection stories, but that does not mean “Tufts Syndrome.”</p>
<p>Class president, 4 year multi-sport varsity athlete, NHS, 4.3+ GPA, AP Scholar, top 5%, 1700+ SAT, rejected at University of Maryland College Park Priority Action (in state).</p>
It’s generally self-reported among members. Some highschools use Parchment as an alternative to Naviance. This leads to some biased sample issues. For example, students who are less interested in selective colleges are less likely to choose to use Parchment (similar bias to members of this forum), and lower income HSs are more likely to choose to use Parchment over Naviance than higher income HSs. So I’d take the specific acceptance percentages with a grain of salt and instead focus on the general trends.</p>
<p>This is not that surprising.
A 1700 is really not that great an SAT score and the fact that your at the top of the class and could only pull a 1700 might be a red flag that your HS is not that rigorous. </p>
<p>@soze
Indeed.
In Texas, that scenario wouldn’t have happened as the person in question would have been automatically admitted into the flagship due to Texas law.</p>
<p>Not me…I got in, but am going to Georgetown; it was just someone I know. I don’t know the exact SAT but it was 1700-1800 range. It’s just surprising to me that someone with those stats can’t get into their state flagship, it’s not even like UMD is that good of a school compared to a flagship like Berkeley or Michigan. What else could that person have done besides answering 4 or 5 more questions right on the SAT?</p>
<p>I know a kid who got into a HYPS but got waitlisted at Rice. Maybe she forgot to mention she was interested in engineering? Her SAT was 2350, top ranked (like top 0.3% of her graduating class) and state-level ECs.</p>
<p>This thread caught my eye from the forum homepage.</p>
<p>I have a 2320 SAT, one of the highest GPAs at my school (~4.5 using various methods of calculation), and many extracurricular activities including holding an international position in my youth group and developing a mobile application for my school. I was rejected from UCLA when my school regularly sends about 15 kids each year. I will be attending the University of Chicago.</p>
<p>I had a 2280 SAT, a 4.9 GPA (#3 in my school), had written a novella, had won a award in one of the most competitive Model UN Conferences in the world, and had created an SAT tutoring company and website. I was rejected from Hampton University (Virginia), University of Michigan, and Cornell University. I ended up going to UC Berkeley. I’m still confused about what happened lol…</p>
<p>At Berkeley, the CS major in the College of Letters and Science does not have higher frosh admission standards, since all College of Letters and Science applicants are admitted undeclared (to declare CS later, you must make a 3.0 GPA in the prerequisite courses).</p>
<p>At UCI, the CS major is in its own division that presumably has higher admission selectivity than some other divisions in the school. At UCSD, the CS major is an impacted major that presumably has higher admission selectivity than non-impacted majors.</p>
<p>It isn’t news that UM-CP can be picky. At Happykid’s old high school there were “surprises” every year. Got in at UM-BC but not UM-CP. Got in at UM-CP but not UM-BC. Many ended up at Montgomery College-Rockville for their first two years and then tried again.</p>
<p>My D was accepted into the Honors program at Michigan (and other similar ones), but turned down for the honors program at Rutgers, where she was instate. (1470 (of 1600), 4.0 UW, all the rest.)</p>
<p>I know a kid who had a 36 act, all state cross country, national merit, and various other extra curriculars who was rejected by University of Michigan…everyone was shocked including the kid lol. He ended up going to UC Berkeley though</p>
<p>Not sure what’s shocking about rejection from UCLA, Berkeley and Michigan even if the kid seems to have the “stat” to be accepted. These are public Ivy for a reason.</p>