<p>I was talking to my guidance counselor and she said that she had heard that Tufts will not consider the application of a waitlisted student unless that student sends a letter stating that Tufts is their number one choice. Tufts is not my number one choice, but I was waitlisted to the two schools that I prefer, and they're both extremely competitive with hardly any chance of WL acceptances (ivy). Should I even bother writing a letter to Tufts to tell them that I would rather go there than my current options? or would it be wasted words? </p>
<p>If this is really true that they're only reconsidering 1st choice applicants, doesn't this just emphasizes the ivy-inferiority complex that Tufts is known for?</p>
<p>Lastly, how is it fair that we can be second choice students for Tufts [waitlisted], but we're not allowed to have Tufts as our second choice?</p>
<p>Sorry for the rant, but this really doesn't make me happy.</p>
<p>You will be considering if you stay on the waitlist regardless of those other considerations. If it was our intent to ignore students like yourself, we would move to a 'single choice' waitlist offer like several other schools have. </p>
<p>However, if you are waitlisted and you know that you will attend if offered a space, it does not hurt to notify us. </p>
<p>A significant portion of this is about our ability to to act expeditiously. I've said in other places on this board that the students we waitlist are individuals we really liked but did not have room to take. We would be happy to have any of our waitlisted students here next year (whether or not that's possible is a different topic). But because of the planning involved for Tufts and for students, we want to be able to finalize the class as soon as possible. There comes a time in the summer where you need to have the class settled. In the unlikely event that there's a lot of movement and we need to go to our waitlist late in the summer, we need to have a sense of timing. Taking a student off the waitlist only to potentially loose that student to another school's waitlist a couple weeks later is immensely counterproductive and makes our lives really difficult. It's a pragmatic consideration.</p>
<p>I can understand your frustration with that aspect of the waitlist, and so I will reiterate a point that I made in another thread: you need to move forward with you college matriculation assuming you will not be taken off the waitlist. If you are taken, that's great, but it isn't healthy to tie yourself up in your waitlist prospects. You are, of course, allowed to have Tufts as your second choice school, but be aware of how the process works and why all schools tend to seek this information from their waitlisted students.</p>
<p>Dan- (or any other Tufts expert)
About the waitlist...Will we be notified if we're rejected? I don't know the correct terminology for that...but basically will we know if we don't get off the waitlist? Or will we only be notified if we are accepted? And does Tufts have an approximate time when we will be notified? It seems like from your previous post that Tufts does several rounds of admitting students from the waitlist, can you explain why this is? Lots of questions, I know, but I would really appreciate if you could answer them!</p>
<p>Not sure about Tufts, but I was notified by Dartmouth and Columbia when they decided not to take me in off the waitlist.</p>
<p>I'm assuming that the "multiple rounds of taking people off the waitlist" is because they can't overadmit. Imagine they're short 100 kids for the class of 2012, so they notify 100 students that there are spots for them at Tufts. But then only 50 write back that they'll matriculate, because the other 50 have decided to go elsewhere. Then 5 of the original 50 call and say Oh wait, I just got into Brown off the waitlist! So now they have to go to the next 55 students and offer them spots. Of these, only 25 take a spot. And so on.</p>
<p>So if a student makes it clear that they will matriculate at Tufts when offered a spot, it saves time and lets them finalize the class earlier. Since the summer is spent sending students health forms and housing questionnaires, which need to be processed before Orientation, the sooner they have a full class, the better.</p>
<p>Tufts is my first choice, and I am wondering if two letters is too many. I also visited and absolutely loved the school.</p>
<p>Actually, Emily, the purpose of my post was to illustrate why we strive to waitlist admits to just one round (if we need to take from the waitlist at all). It is in our interests to have the class finalized as early as possible - I was illustrating why that ties into the complaint laid out in the original post. </p>
<p>bluirinka correctly identifies a frustration we seek to avoid. My apologies for being opaque in my earlier explanation.</p>