http://www.tier1athletics.org/2013/0...ufts-syndrome/
Again, doesn't it all come down to whether you are a "Buyer" or you are a "Seller". Even at the elite D3 level is a business.
You may have heard of “Tufts Syndrome”, it refers to the alleged practice of highly qualified students being rejected or waitlisted in order to protect a school’s yield rate. The theory being that the superstar applicants are bound to be accepted to other, more prestigious schools. I don’t know why Tufts was singled out. I don’t even know if ‘Tufts Syndrome” really exists or if it’s just a ‘sour grapes’ response to being denied admission.
But I think there is some truth behind the theory when it comes to a coach supporting an athlete through admissions. There are some outstanding academic schools with lower (< 40%) yield rates, and coaches at these schools are very careful about playing their support cards with athletes who may just be using them as a safety.
Here’s the US News Report on yield rates at national universities. One of the most respected universities in the country, The University of Chicago, has a yield just south of 40%. Washington University in St. Louis, another excellent university, only sees about 31% of the students they admit actually enroll. Compare that to yields of 60-70%+ at Penn, Yale, Stanford and Harvard and it’s easy to understand why a coach at a lower yield school might be a bit skeptical when a recruit tells him that his school is his top choice.
I recently had a conversation with the parent of a recruit at one of the lower yielding, top academic schools. “He had strong coach support and applied Early Action, only to get deferred. He was pretty devastated.” she said.
Two weeks passed and he received a Likely Letter for the Regular Decision round – basically giving him written assurance that he would get in as an RD applicant.
So what do we make of that? Did the coach want to see if the recruit could get in without support during the EA round, thereby saving one of his supported slots? Or did he want to see if the kid was still available after the EA round – greatly increasing the chances that he would enroll if supported and accepted?
Either way, if you want to get coach support at one of the lower yielding schools, you better make it very clear to the coach that his school is your top choice and you will accept if supported.
But I think there is some truth behind the theory when it comes to a coach supporting an athlete through admissions. There are some outstanding academic schools with lower (< 40%) yield rates, and coaches at these schools are very careful about playing their support cards with athletes who may just be using them as a safety.
Here’s the US News Report on yield rates at national universities. One of the most respected universities in the country, The University of Chicago, has a yield just south of 40%. Washington University in St. Louis, another excellent university, only sees about 31% of the students they admit actually enroll. Compare that to yields of 60-70%+ at Penn, Yale, Stanford and Harvard and it’s easy to understand why a coach at a lower yield school might be a bit skeptical when a recruit tells him that his school is his top choice.
I recently had a conversation with the parent of a recruit at one of the lower yielding, top academic schools. “He had strong coach support and applied Early Action, only to get deferred. He was pretty devastated.” she said.
Two weeks passed and he received a Likely Letter for the Regular Decision round – basically giving him written assurance that he would get in as an RD applicant.
So what do we make of that? Did the coach want to see if the recruit could get in without support during the EA round, thereby saving one of his supported slots? Or did he want to see if the kid was still available after the EA round – greatly increasing the chances that he would enroll if supported and accepted?
Either way, if you want to get coach support at one of the lower yielding schools, you better make it very clear to the coach that his school is your top choice and you will accept if supported.
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