<p>I know you guys can probably help me with this.</p>
<p>I applied EDI to Tufts and didn’t get in. I was somewhat surprised because I was academically qualified and so many kids from my HS applied ED so I basically got shafted. I contacted the admissions officer and he basically gave me some BS excuse about being unsure of the context of my EC’s something stupid like that. </p>
<p>Anyway, I sort of got over it but today an athlete from my school who applied ED II gets in with a lower GPA and basically the only EC is his sport. He even failed a course first semester this year and still gets in. And Tufts is D3 so I don’t really get the emphasis on athletics. </p>
<p>I can’t help but feel jealous and it’s just really frustrating because I really feel that I deserved to get in over him and that Tufts is willing to completely ignore their admission criteria just to accomodate athletes. </p>
<p>Can anyone give me some advice as to get over it?</p>
<p>sorry about that. it sad that our country is soo into sports that they’ll shaft a brighter student for an ahtlete…lol. but that’s life. Only advice i can give you is move on to the better college…a college that you deserve and it deserves you. Everything happens for a reasons. Thats want i told my Best Friend when she got reject from her ED school…don’t worry…be happy</p>
<p>Here’s my 2cents:
Go with the flow. Some people get in early, some people don’t–you weren’t one of the “lucky” ones who got in early–big deal! In the grand scheme of things, a few months of waiting is not a big price to pay for satisfaction. And you will end up satisfied! Most people end up happy in the end of the college game–even if you don’t end up Tufts, you will go somewhere good and you will be IN COLLEGE! Tufts may seem like the be-all and end-all right now, but it’s in your power to change your attitude about that: there are hundreds of great colleges out there, and you would probably be a good fit at quite a few of them. Maybe Tufts really wasn’t all that–you will never know. Things will work out, and you will end up happy, even if it’s not exactly the way you planned it.
Count your blessings, and be happy that you will have the chance to go to a great college with a great future waiting for you afterward. This sounds lame and cliched, but it really is true. If I were you I’d be hung up on this too, but it won’t do any good and there isn’t much sense to it. Go find something fun to take your mind off of this, and be happy that you’re just a few months away from graduating from high school!</p>
<p>I guess learning that life is not fair is a tough life lesson. Sometimes things in life just ‘suck’. (deep, i know)</p>
<p>Don’t feel guilty or bad for feeling jealous … it is a normal human emotion. Just keep it in check and make sure you dont get nasty (thats when the trouble starts). </p>
<p>Try to get excited about your other options… hopefully you will end up at Tufts anyway but its worth exploring your options just in case. Sometimes that can help when dealing with dissapointment. Try to replace the negative emotion with a positive, but there is no point in going into denial about it. </p>
<p>Maybe think of it as a life lesson and you may be suprised how much you can learn from rejection. It comes in all forms in life and it is a bitter blow to the ego and heart. However, if you can learn to roll with the punches it can be a great tool for later in life. </p>
<p>Good luck with it! Also know you are not the only one who is disappointed.</p>
<p>Well, they certainly wouldn’t be the only school doing that.</p>
<p>My advice is to stop focusing on others and comparing yourself to others. You can always find people more fortunate and less fortunate than yourself. Instead of looking at those more fortunate than you, look ahead to the RD results. Assuming you haven’t made a big mistake in drawing up your college list, you’ll very likely have some fine schools to choose from when the RD results are in. And when that happens, those less fortunate than you will be looking at <em>you</em> with disappointment and envy.</p>
And other students will think the same about you once regular decision comes around.</p>
<p>College admissions isn’t a one-on-one competition, and you really can’t compare yourself to the few people you know applying to the same schools. It’s not you over him or him over you. The game’s a lot bigger than that.</p>
<p>I was looking for a place to post this. Here is a local kid who turned down several D1 scholarships so his parents could pay for him to go to Princeton. Many Princeton rejects will cringe at this: </p>
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<p>His parents told him not to worry about the money. LOL</p>
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<p>btw, My kid has applied to Tufts rd, and doesn’t expect to get in.</p>
<p>First of all: Everyone has skills and talents. You get good grades. The athlete plays a good game. You didn’t deserve to get in over him. </p>
<p>If Tufts ultimately rejects you, that wasn’t the school for you. It doesn’t mean you aren’t smart enough to go there, or that the athlete is “better” than you, or that the admissions committee thought that. It just means they don’t want you.</p>
<p>Their loss?</p>
<p>Maybe.</p>
<p>Your loss?</p>
<p>NO. </p>
<p>You can get a great education at 100s of schools. If you feel you’re qualified for Tufts, chances are you will get into a relatively prestigious school and do well. Even if the school you attend is ultimately not prestigious, does it matter? Life isn’t about what name is on your degree. Learning is not about the name on your degree. As somebody said in another thread, we’ve had presidents with no formal education, and presidents who didn’t deserve the degree they got! Who was a better politician? A more educated, intelligent man? Abraham Lincoln or George Bush? </p>
<p>I know how it is to get into that “all or nothing” mode, but once I started investigating my other schools, I realized that I liked them a lot…almost /more/ than I liked my original first choice. Have an open mind, and chances are you’ll find that the college you end up going to is right for you. Things do happen for a reason.</p>
<p>I haven’t regretted anything I’ve done, or anything that’s happened to me. Your life is a journey, a learning process…if things seem dissapointing right now, remember that you are alive, healthy, and maybe in 10 yrs you’ll be amazingly, blissfully in love with the significant other of your dreams. You probably wouldn’t have met if you went to Tufts…;).</p>
<p>The ED process is a time when universities lock in the commitment of athletes that the coaches want for their team. Basically, any recruited athlete who meets admission requirements is highly likely to be admitted… IF that athlete applies ED. The athletic advantage dissipates somewhat in RD, when the college can no longer be assured that Joe Quarterback is actually going to attend. </p>
<p>It really has nothing to do with which student is better – the coaches are going to fill the spots on their teams. So – except for the wakeup call – you really should not feel slighted. You know what it is that the athlete offered the school – and in that respect there is nothing you could have done to compete.</p>
<p>Maybe what the admissions officer meant with the comment about being “unsure of the context” of your EC’s is simply that nothing about your application stood out as filling some important need that the adcom wanted filled – that is, they couldn’t peg you in some way – whereas the athlete with only one EC could easily be labeled. You know the old saw about the college looking for a kid who plays the oboe? If he applies the year that the orchestra needs an oboist, he’s in luck – but if they already have 3 oboists, then it’s no dice. So it helps to have one or two things you are really strong in, but its also a matter of luck because you never know whether that one or two thing happens to be what the college is looking for.</p>
<p>I’m sure you will fare better in the RD round with your other colleges. I think one of the real down sides of ED is that it forces you emotionally to rest all your hopes in one place – the blow of getting turned down from a top school is a lot softer if the bad news arrives the same week as you have received good news from 3 other colleges.</p>
<p>bb03–
Were you deferred, waitlisted or rejected?
I don’t blame you for feeling angry, I would too. How were your SAT scores? I only ask this because, no matter what schools say about focusing on the ‘whole student,’ EC’s, etc. I DO think those test scores still carry a lot of weight.
If you’re stil interested in Tufts, could your guidance counselor call and speak to YOUR admissions rep and basically put in some good words for you? If your mid-term grades are good, and you’re still interested in the school, I could only see this helping. Good luck!!</p>
<p>bb,
If you want to deal with a disappointment, I think you are right on track. The usual response to disappointment is to get angry, vent, and find someone to blame. Very few of us try to go beyond the level of emotional response and learn from the experience.</p>
<p>bb032002 - a very long time ago (more than 30 years), when I was dealing with a personal disappointment, my best friend said to me, “You’re always at the right place, at the right time, doing the right thing, even if at that moment you don’t realize it.”</p>
<p>All these years later I have come to realize that this is so very (VERY) true. Sometimes it takes longer to realize why certain things happen, but I have yet to be left wondering about most everything that at the time I felt disappointed or hurt over.</p>
<p>I’m a senior at Tufts. When I was applying to colleges, I applied to my first-choice, an EA school – and was deferred. A girl with lower grades, stats and ECs got in. I was devastated. I can still not understand what the adcom was thinking!</p>
<p>RD rolled around, and by then, I was actually GLAD I didn’t get into that school EA, because Tufts had become my first-choice and it’s likely I wouldn’t h ave applied anywhere else if I had already gotten into the EA school.</p>
<p>And guess what? I ended up getting into that EA school during the RD round. And I felt absolutely no regret saying “No, thanks.” </p>
<p>What I’m saying is that a lot can change over the next few months. And if you indeed feel you were qualified for Tufts, you will certainly go to a great school – whether that’s Tufts or elsewhere. And just FYI: the admissions dean at Tufts said that 75% of the people who apply to Tufts are “qualified” to get in. It’s the intangibles that make a difference. In the case of this athlete, his intangible was not so… intangible. It sucks, but Tufts is not the only school to do this.</p>
<p>MOVING ON: Were you deferred or rejected? Know that some extra effort on your part between now and RD decision time can help reverse your fortunes. Call theTufts admissions office, reiterate your interest in this school and send more supplementary materials; your updated 1st semester grades, etc. Don’t give up!</p>
<p>Good athletes = big money for schools. This will never go away. Whether you feel he was/wasn’t worthy of admissions isn’t relevant. He will likely be a positive attribute to that college based on his contributions on the field. As much as it hurts, try to be happy for those that did get in. If you do, you will see that good things will await you too. </p>
<p>I know how you feel. An athlete from my “d’s” school got into Yale and he did not have as high of a gpa nor ranked nearly as high as she was. She was livid! However, if you were to ask her today, she would tell you she is sooooo much happier at the university she chose and could not see herself anywhere else. She really feels it was a blessing that she did not get in. Things like this always seem to work themselves out. Try to relax and think positive about the RD decisions coming YOUR way soon. :)</p>
<p>“An athlete from my “d’s” school got into Yale and he did not have as high of a gpa nor ranked nearly as high as she was.”</p>
<p>Folks routinely underestimate the important of athletics in admissions, especially at the more prestigious schools. Yale can do without the all-state alto in the choir, but they can’t play without the all-state hockey goalie, or the football quarterback.</p>
<p>A"nd just FYI: the admissions dean at Tufts said that 75% of the people who apply to Tufts are “qualified” to get in." That’s the usual claptrap admissions people put out. Relative to the athlete, they are sending you a message that you aren’t qualified, given their needs. It is dressed up in all kinds of prettified language, but frankly they don’t particular care about individual applicants, but about building a class, and they decided they could build a better class without you.</p>
<p>Take away message? Whether looking for a college or a job, make sure you bring something to the table that the person on the other side really wants.</p>
<p>I think that it is also important to remember that you don’t know everthing about the other applicants application–their essays, their recommendations, even their numbers. I will certainly not deny that hooked candidates get a boost, but the fact that somebody has lower numbers in absolute terms is not necessarily an indictment of how unfair their admission was. A special talent will get you far, but having 25th percentile test scores and/or low top 10% grades still easily qualifies an athelte or other similarly hooked applicant for admission at a top school and doesn’t really constitute an unfair admission. The athlete who got into Princeton w/ a 3.75 (assumedly unweighted) GPA and 1370 on the old SAT was hardly an academic slouch with shockingly low numbers. If you want to be incensed, read about some of the children of celebrities/politicians/</p>