<p>I just got waitlisted today! I thought I was in for sure and Bard is my #1 school. Does anyone know WHY? I mean I know Bard is a great school but I thought I was qualified:</p>
<p>GPA UW: 3.9
GPA W: 5.2
SAT: 780 CR/800 M/760 W
SAT II: Math level 2 800/ French 760/ Chemistry 780/ Physics 800</p>
<p>Took the hardest course load at my HS: all honors freshman and sophomore year (no AP’s allowed until junior year); junior year APUSH (5), AP English Lang (5), AP Chemistry (5), AP Calc BC (5), AP Computer Science (5); senior year AP Econ, AP Euro, AP English Lit, AP Physics C, MV Calc/Linear Algebra, AP French.</p>
<p>ECs: Captain of the math team, co-captain of Science Olympiad, co-captain of the chess team, volunteer tutor, started own web design company.</p>
<p>Why on earth did they reject me? I know I must sound stuck-up but I really can’t figure out why, my stats are above their accepted averages, I’m a good student and I thought my ECs were good enough. What was missing?</p>
<p>I guess that makes sense (I looked up Tufts Syndrome) but I really was going to go! I didn't apply anywhere else besides my state school because I love Bard so much. I visited twice, interviewed (the interviewer TOLD me I was in for sure), looked at their science programs and senior project and knew it was the place for me. Are US News and World Report ratings all that colleges care about?</p>
<p>Now I just have to worry about getting off the wait list... what are my odds?</p>
<p>Getting off wait lists seems difficult. Try contacting the Admissions Office, maybe they'll tell you if you had any weaknesses in your application. Then, you can try to center your strategy around supporting that. Tell them it's your first choice. There's another thread about somebody on a wait list for WASHU, you may want to look at it.</p>
<p>i was wait-listed as well, but have a 3.2 GPA (w/ AP classes) and a 30 ACT...so i guess i have no chance of getting off of the wait list then. it was still impressive that i wasn't rejected with my stats. they must've liked something about my application.</p>
<p>wisenheimer2u - Definitely contact them. Here's a link to the Colby Admissions Blog on waitlist which may be helpful. I would think most colleges work their waitlist in a similar manner. Colby</a> College | News & Events | Read Blog Item</p>
<p>Are you top ten in your class? If so you would have qualified for a scholarship in which you get in-state equivalent tuition. Too late for that I think but, hmm, that is a puzzler.</p>
<p>My daughter applied to Bard last year Early Action and was turned down. She resubmitted RD with an essay on why she thought Bard was right for her, some photosw of artwork and additional teacher rec. and was accepted RD. I would definitely contact them, speak to someone personally. Bard seems interested in the more individuality in a student, not so much with the SAT. Good luck :)</p>
<p>I have similar stats (slightly lower SAT, slightly higher GPA and similarly strong ECs/recs) to the OP and was rejected... I'm guessing yield protection, too.</p>
<p>Who knows why? I was rejected from one school with a similar acceptance rate as Bard, with numbers way above their averages. I don't think you can write it off as yield protection, especially if you visited twice. There's an awful lot of waitlisting going on this year. There are a ton of stories on this site about weird acceptances/rejections.</p>
<p>Yield is the percent of accepted students who enroll in the school. So if Bard accepts, for easy math's sake, 1,000 students and 700 enroll, they have a 70% yield rate for that year.</p>
<p>Yield pretection is what creates Tufts Syndrome. If a school feels that a candidate is too qualified or too uninterested in them, they waitlist or reject them. This is because they want to protect their yield -- if they accept a student who is obviously using them as a saftey then their yield goes down. Tufts is famous for this, which is why it's called Tufts Syndrome.</p>
<p>Tufts syndrome sometimes called Yield protection is when a university rejects or wait-lists highly qualified students because they believe that such students are bound to be accepted by more prestigious universities or programs and will almost certainly would not enroll in their university. </p>
<p>I was accepted into Bard Early Action but I'm not going.. maybe i'll open up a spot for someone who really wants to go. BTW, i'm not sure why i was accepted: i made a 25 ACT score, 3.77 GPA weighted, some EC's, and i'm an African-american female. I was really shocked to find out i got in.</p>
<p>About yield protection and "Tufts syndrome." In an admissions year this competitive, I don't think yield protection is worrying too many colleges. Tufts, or Bard, or any top school, can assume that a lot of top applicants aren't going to get into HYPSM and will therefore be more rather than less likely to attend the safety or match. I think using these schools as safeties is over, at least for a few more years. Too many people are getting rejected from even their safeties. </p>
<p>Also -- I'm not going to Bard, so another slot is opening up for someone on the waitlist.</p>
<p>jocan,
Good point about yield protection. However, each school admits more than they think will actually accept -- so your not going to Bard has already been figured in in a broad sense, and does not open up a space for a waitlist student. If yield is below what they expected, then spaces would open up...</p>