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WAITLISTED with 2340 SAT, 3.9 GPA

wisenheimer2uwisenheimer2u Registered User Posts: 2 New Member
edited April 2008 in Bard College
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:

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

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.

ECs: Captain of the math team, co-captain of Science Olympiad, co-captain of the chess team, volunteer tutor, started own web design company.

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?
Post edited by wisenheimer2u on
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Replies to: WAITLISTED with 2340 SAT, 3.9 GPA

  • ReInventorReInventor Registered User Posts: 146 Junior Member
    Maybe contact the school and find out why? That does seem a bit odd.
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  • randomname25randomname25 Registered User Posts: 66 Junior Member
    Tufts syndrome?
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  • 20LEGEND20LEGEND Registered User Posts: 1,359 Senior Member
    Yield protection.
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  • wisenheimer2uwisenheimer2u Registered User Posts: 2 New Member
    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?

    Now I just have to worry about getting off the wait list... what are my odds?
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  • ivanadoeslimboivanadoeslimbo Registered User Posts: 211 Junior Member
    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.
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  • mtngoat1mtngoat1 Registered User Posts: 386 Member
    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.
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  • mountainsmountains Registered User Posts: 756 Member
    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 College | News & Events | Read Blog Item
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  • ctParent2006ctParent2006 Registered User Posts: 376 Member
    Certainly contact them and make it clear they are your number 1 choice. For some reason that must not have made it through to them.
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  • MeugenioMeugenio Registered User Posts: 199 Junior Member
    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.
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  • diminlovebidiminlovebi Registered User Posts: 2 New Member
    I think you should definitely contact AO...your GPA and SAT are sooo high...there is no reason that they rejected you...

    don't worry too much....
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  • vahevalavahevala Registered User Posts: 183 Junior Member
    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 :)
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  • froghornfroghorn Registered User Posts: 561 Member
    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.
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  • jocanjocan Registered User Posts: 165 Junior Member
    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.
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  • dealwithitdealwithit Registered User Posts: 8 New Member
    Can someone quickly explain yield protection and Tufts syndrome? Sorry to be so ignorant of these terms.
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  • sammielue21sammielue21 Registered User Posts: 382 Member
    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.

    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.



    Hope that helped.
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