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<p>Nonsense, NW has never engaged in “Tufts Syndrome.” And if they had decided to start this year, they surely would have waitlisted my son, who had academic stats as perfect as they can get (ACT 36.0, PSAT 2400, dual 800 SAT IIs, and a 1/400 class rank) and who did, in fact, get some very compelling alternate offers.</p>
<p>Perhaps you didn’t write a convincing “Why NU?” essay. Perhaps your ECs were weak. But it mostly certainly wasn’t because you were “overqualified.” You need to realize that this is no longer your Daddy’s Northwestern: With only an 18% acceptance rate, down from 27% two years ago, NW is now as hard to get into as Cornell. And intangibles matter more and more as the entire cohort’s academics alone get better and better.</p>