<p>So this is a purely hypothetical question. Do you think a school would reject an applicant because they are “too good”? For example, if someone was applying for HADES, in addition to Concord Academy, and they are an extremely strong applicant, would Concord Academy reject them because they would likely get accepted and matriculate at one of the HADES schools instead of their school? Wouldn’t they do this to protect their yield rate? Opinions?</p>
<p>I’ve wondered this as well. I’m very curious to know what others think of the situation you just described. My mother insists that the other schools you apply to, have little to no effect on their decision. However, some would argue that schools want guard their yield rate, therefore, the non-HADES school might not accept the “very qualified” student who is also applying to a HADES school… but who knows? I would hear anyone else’s take on it!</p>
<p>See [this</a> recent post](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/13918653-post37.html]this”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/13918653-post37.html) in the Parents’ forum. Otherwise, do a search for the “Tufts effect.” It’s been discussed here at length.</p>
<p>In general if you make a decent fit but they have questions about your level of interest the likely outcome is a waitlist. If you come back to them and express high interest, maybe you’ll get in off the wait list, but they’re taking a wait-and-see attitude. That said, even very qualified candidates who would be at the top of a school’s range might still be rejected; usually, because they already have someone else who brings to their school the same thing you offer (hockey goalie, trombone player, etc. etc.) In any case, DON’T take it personally, but it you are genuinely interested in a school that waitlists you, follow up with them after March 10. It <em>might</em> make a difference.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, I am going to have to answer that question with “I could see it (waitlist or rejection) happening.” I had a conversation with our placement director after my daughter dropped one of the very popular HADES schools. Placement commented that one school in particular was “going to really like hearing that decision, since it showed that status was less important than fit.” I didn’t think that dropping an app was something I would run out and call the other schools to announce. In any case, I don’t love that they all know what we are looking at anyway. It made me wonder about behind the scenes activity and how much was already being decided.</p>
<p>Last year I applied to 5 GLADCHEMMS schools and Concord Academy (same example as you used, wow o.o). I had thought that Concord would be my sort of “safety” school, considering its prestige being a bit lower than the other schools. This did not turn out the be the case - I was waitlisted at Concord just like I was at all the other ones. We did go back after I received the waitlist and expressed interest, but seeing as I’m still on CC right now as an applicant, that made no difference. :D</p>
<p>Last year, GMTson was rejected by less competitive school then the one he is attending. That was a head-scratcher for us.</p>
<p>Often schools use “demonstrated interest” as a factor in admissions. In college admissions, this is not a factor for the most competitive schools. They know you’re interested and they know that you’re going to have options if you’re otherwise appealing to their admission team. Other schools, including many highly competitive ones with 20% acceptance rates, do look at this. Especially smaller communities where it is critical that they’re admitting students that “get” the culture and vibe and understand how they will thrive in that setting. So at those colleges, a campus visit is important. As is the “Why _________?” essay. And if there’s an indication that it’s a safety, it’s not a “Tufts effect” or an insecurity that leads to the rejection letter – but the sense that, in an extremely limited freshman class, there are many other applicants who would be more suitable recipients of acceptance letters who would be fully invested and committed to that school.</p>
<p>As the school size goes down, the knowledge that some applicants are enthusiastic (in a highly informed way) about the school is an important feature of the application file that can overshadow more competitive grades and test scores of less informed or less enthusiastic applicants. By the numbers – admission rate, test scores, etc. – it may seem like some schools are “less competitive” but, in other ways, there are walls and obstacles that may be insurmountable, particularly for applicants who haven’t visited, or boasted of their interest in other, very different schools, or wrote an essay about interests that the school cannot meet given its smaller scope of offerings, etc.</p>
<p>Does “TUFTS effect” exist among Hades schools themselves? So can H.S. WL you because they think you will go to ADE? Prestige alone may not be the sole factor. Proximity may be another one. For example, if you live very close to A, E, and apply to H, D, S. HDS may WL you (my guess). HADES schools share the same application pool. Experienced AO can guess very well whether you will be accepted by competitive schools. Why yield rate is so important to them? They would rather lose good applicants to guard their yield.</p>
<p>I think some schools protect their yield. Some schools don’t. It doesn’t correlate with applicants’ perception of relative prestige. Thus, don’t expect that the more prestigious schools don’t protect their yields, nor that the other schools practice the Tufts effect. It’s related to each school’s own philosophy about yield–is it important to that school? Would they rather not accept a promising candidate to protect their yield? Will they accept the candidates they’re most enthusiastic about, even if that applicant might not accept the offer?</p>
<p>Tufts syndrome discussion thread:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/tufts-university/72457-tufts-syndrome.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/tufts-university/72457-tufts-syndrome.html</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/tufts-university/448654-question-dan-do-you-ever-reject-applications-because-they-too-qualified.html?highlight=waitlist#post5242585[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/tufts-university/448654-question-dan-do-you-ever-reject-applications-because-they-too-qualified.html?highlight=waitlist#post5242585</a></p>
<p>Tufts AO Responded to the Tufts Syndrome in another thread:</p>
<p>quote from DanAdmiss@Tufts: </p>
<p>My situation is pretty easy, actually. We don’t waitlist or deny students because they are so strong we know they’ll have other options. I recognize that people are entitled to believe what they want to, but Clevfry’s suspicions have no basis in the reality of admissions at Tufts.</p>
<p>We build an intentional community here at Tufts. There are times when we take the student with softer testing over the stronger testing (for instance) because that person feels more like they belong at Tufts, or they feel like they have greater potential, or they present more interesting personal qualities in their writing.</p>
<p>The essays matter. The recommendations matter. WHO YOU ARE matters. If admissions was only about GPA and testing, then I wouldn’t need to read applications. That is, to me, the most exciting thing about working in admissions. That is my job to identify and interact with young people who have the greatest potential to add to our community or to add to the world at large. Making that decision is much more complicated than looking at statistics and extra-curriculars. Doing admissions this way means will be a more interesting class, and helps us maintain the identity of the school.</p>
<p>You are MORE than your academic stats and extra-curriculars. I know you are more; you should know it, too. </p>
<p></p>
<p>I appreciate their clarification and I have no reason to not believe what they say…but the fact of the matter is that some admissions offices – in some cases – make decisions that protect their yield, denying strong applicants admission in favor of statistically/numerically inferior candidates who appeal to the admissions counselors in other ways. These are often competitive schools, so it’s not like the trade-off is between a Fields Prize medalist and an applicant who expects to be eligible in the fall for the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ work release program.</p>
<p>And whether this happens at Tufts is beside the point because, for better or for worse, the sticky name for this phenomenon is the “Tufts Effect” or “Tufts Syndrome” or whatever else you might call it with “Tufts” stuck in front.</p>
<p>As for whether this happens at schools where the applicant overlap is high, such as the ones you use in your example, I would suspect not. That would be crippling to the admissions office. If someone came right out and said that they’d go to Deerover and you’re making a decision at Hotcheter, you might scratch that one specific applicant. But if 40% of the applicants who apply to Hotcheter also apply to Deerover and 30% also apply to St. Choaton, you’d be sabotaging your entire applicant pool if you operated on the premise that the applicants you’d admit would have choices among those schools so, to protect your yield, you’ll have a standing rule that limits those cross-admits and focus on admitting more applicants where there is no apparent overlap. You wouldn’t raid your own applicant base like that. I think the idea is to identify exceptional cases where there is not much overlap. Indeed, the fact that there is overlap suggests that the applicant pool perceives a high level of appeal between those schools and it would suggest that they would not, as a rule, opt for the other academy over yours. So, no, I strongly doubt it happens among those schools you mentioned because of the high overlap.</p>
<p>I think what some often forget is while we tell students to look for fit, schools are looking at students for “fit” as well. So it is possible for a student with good stats to be rejected by one school but not another simply because they didn’t fit the desired makeup of that year’s incoming class in one way or another. It’s not a reflection on them as people or as students. Just is what it is.</p>
<p>“It’s not a reflection on them as people or as students. Just is what it is.”</p>
<p>To an extent, yes, the are some students who are not qualified who WILL get rejected. However, we students never know if we are indeed qualified but do not fit with the class, or if we are simply not qualified stats-wise, as people or as students. It does hurt to feel we are the latter - as it hurts to face defeat.</p>
<p>So don’t think that. For instance, at MIT there are 13,000 applications for about 1,000 spots. If you weed out the students who aren’t qualified or won’t be able to keep up with the workload, you’d still have 12,000+ students. Even if that was more like 10,000 qualified applicants - it’s still 9,000 that have to be declined. It sucks - I know. It’s hard not to be envious of the students who do get spots - but if it helps - there just aren’t enough chairs for all the kids who are qualified and it’s not a reflection on them. In a different year, that same student might have had the right mix to fit the class profile the Adcoms were trying to build.</p>
<p>Think positive. In the face of adversity, belief in self is the best gift you can give yourself.</p>
<p>I will say that my first was rejected at one school, and the interviewer there expressed doubts as to whether she really would choose to go there over a closer choice and my Alma Mater. If it was her first choice I would have encouraged her to follow up with them more positively, but it wasn’t. My second got a similar inquisition at Choate this go around, actually in a less appropriate way (and even though multiple relatives went there) and he ended up not applying. </p>
<p>I think the bottom line is that if they get in their head that an applicant might not be truly interested then there is a chance that they will recalibrate this as “not a fit” and accept someone else who they see as more enthusiastic about them.</p>