<p>^^ what he said!! (I’m really finding myself agreeing with Detail a lot tonight!)</p>
<p>If you want an extremely large and well endowed academic research program go with MIT. If you’d like a more of a liberal arts experience, go with Tufts. They’re two ***completely ***different schools. But frankly, there is no reason not to go to MIT if you think you’ll be able to handle the courseload. Even if you have to get a graduate degree, if you’re good at what you do you can go into industry and pay off your debts within a decent period of time.</p>
<p>Um, OP already said that MIT is a “fiscal impossibility.”</p>
<p>I’m confused why is MIT even listed as an option then. I’m surprised that their FA department has less money to give out than Tufts, considering their endowment is about ten times that of Tufts. Considering the options, however, Tufts Biochemistry is excellent.</p>
<p>
If he’s an international applicant, then it’s possible. There are some wacky merit scholarships for highly qualified international applicants at Tufts. A friend of mine from Nepal actually got a near full ride, despite coming from a very well off family. Private scholarships that are tied to specific schools may also explain the discrepancy.</p>
<p>FYI endowment has nothing to do with UGrad financial aid, as UGrad commands a very small part of the total endowment. It all depends on what the individual school’s policies are.</p>
<p>I’m a biochem major at tufts, about to graduate, so I can give a little bit of insight into the program. </p>
<p>The program is rigorous, you’ll have to work hard to get As, etc etc. It’s a very chemistry heavy major, which can be good, but depending on your interests, it might be a little frustrating. For example, the major requires analytical chemistry, a course that nobody wants to take, and most other schools don’t seem to require. As a biochem major you’re part of both departments, though, and can pick an advisor in either, which can be helpful (especially if you’re like me and you’re more interested in the biological side of biochem).</p>
<p>In terms of internship opportunities, there are a lot. This semester I’ve gotten a ton of emails about summer opportunities at different companies/schools in the area. Also, you are not limited to just the bio and chem departments here in terms of research, which a lot of people don’t realize. There’s a lot of biomedical and chemical engineering stuff you can get involved in, and a lot of the researchers at the medical school in boston will take on undergrads in their labs. So there are a LOT more research opportunities than just those in the bio and chem departments in medford. </p>
<p>This is also nice because the faculty in medford are not necessarily as focused on research, so students are definitely their first priority, which means you get a lot of attention and help when you need it. So you can learn from people who can give you a lot of time, and then work with people who are more focused on research.</p>
<p>In terms of post-grad, I’m going to a fantastic graduate program next year, and I know of at least two other people going to top grad programs in biomedical science, and a bunch of people going to med school next year. I don’t really know many (any?) biology, chem or biochem majors who don’t have plans yet for next year, which I think is a pretty good reflection of their ability to get jobs/get into grad school.</p>
<p>It’s a good program. It certainly won’t be as rigorous as MIT, but you will learn a lot.</p>
<p>
Thought maybe you might want an answer.
We’re majority white, upper-class liberals. We’re making some progress on financial aid pretty rapidly, so for the past couple years each class has been considerably more diverse than the one before it. Fairly geographically diverse, though California, the Northeast, and oddly, Minnesota are over-represented.<br>
In terms of the social milieu available here: we’re basically all nerds, and proud of it. Every type of nerd is well-represented: techies, engineering geeks (they’re my favorite), pre-med gunners, artsy types, politics aficionados, philosophy dorks: you name a nerd sub-variety, we got it. Our athletic department is small, and the only people who ignore it more than the outside world are Tufts students. Due to the lack of athletic scholarships and the relatively small number of legacy students, most of us are here because we’re smart. Also, Tufts is a relatively obscure school for how difficult it is to get into, so most of us got into much better-known schools but chose not to go. That tilts the student body sharply away from the crazed competitiveness you’ll find at equally selective institutions. Kids here enjoy learning, and enjoy discussing heady subjects. We don’t sit around in smoking jackets with pipes in the library all day, I would imagine Anchorman would be on most people’s list of favorite movies, it just doesn’t surprise anyone when the conversation shifts from cool music clubs in Boston to the nature of consciousness, from Family Guy to American politics, or from smoking hookah to the latest breakthrough the Large Hadron Collider is expected to make. </p>
<p>I’m not a bio major and I’ve only taken one class in that department, so I can’t say too much about it. I know our med-school acceptance rate is very high, and I know the bio department has a great reputation- better than any other natural science department. I know a disproportionately large number of pre-med kids, and they all seem to do more work than the average student, but none of them have ever complained about the department.</p>
<p>
I strongly disagree with that statement. Only about half of Tufts is Caucasian, and only the very rare exception is “upper-class”.</p>
<p>I don’t know what the political demographics are, but it certainly does lean toward the left.</p>
<p>Thank you very much Snarf and lajkfdgi for you takes on Tufts social and academic life!
verry helpful</p>
<p>yep, MIT will put me at about 200k in debt…not…looking forward to that.
but thanks anyways</p>
<p>I’m in the wrong place…but anyone know enough about RPI for post ugrad opps and social life comparisons?</p>
<p>Disagree all you want, but my class, 2010 was reported as having 25% “Americans of color”.</p>
<p>As for RPI: my brother in law went there, and he loved it. Very different atmosphere, as you’d expect from a male-heavy engineering school. He was part of a frat, so he had a very active social life, and they had mixers with sororities from nearby schools, so it wasn’t one continuous sausage fest. Very much a work hard/play hard mentality. It seems like one of the biggest differences (besides the lack of girls in your classes at RPI) was that even though RPI kids are crazy smart, they’re into science & engineering, not humanities, so outside of classes they don’t really come of as intellectual. Also, my bro in law, after visiting me here, claimed RPI kids weren’t as outgoing.</p>
<p>Having 25% “Americans of color” doesn’t mean that the other 75% are all upper-class whites…</p>
<p>. . . it means they’re white.</p>
<p>As far as upper-class: median income for an American household is $48,000. In other words, less than the full cost of a year at Tufts. Tufts is making a lot of progress in terms of financial aid, but we’re not need-blind, and all you have to do is look at threads on this board to see that the cost of attendance keeps some lower and middle class families from attending.</p>
<p>My interpretation of “Americans of color” is that it would be another term for “African-American” or “Black”; there are certainly plenty of students at Tufts who are neither white nor black… or even American.</p>
<p>
Tufts, as of last year.</p>
<p>“What is the percentage of Asian American, Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino, and Native American students in the undergraduate student body?”
More than 28% of the undergraduate student body are Asian-American, Black/African-American, Hispanic/Latino, and Native American students.</p>
<ul>
<li>[Orientation</a> for New Students - Student Services - Tufts University](<a href=“Homepage | AS&E Students”>Homepage | AS&E Students)</li>
</ul>
<p>The discrepancy between ~50% white and ~25% non-white is the quarter of people who responded “other” or “prefer not to respond” on surveys. So my contention is that the majority of these people are white. In fact, many students who did check a non-white category could fairly be considered white. I know a handful of students who checked Hispanic/Latino because of their ancestry, but they are indistinguishable from white students (blonde hair, blue eyes, etc.), do not speak Spanish, were not raised by parents who speak Spanish, and grew up in white middle class neighborhoods.</p>
<p>I don’t know why people are getting so riled up over this. I’m not saying it’s a GOOD THING that we’re predominantly white, just that it’s a TRUE THING. Just taking a stroll through campus should pretty quickly tell a casual observer that Tufts’ racial diversity is pretty akin to that of a country club. It’s regrettable, but pretending that there is no diversity problem will not help us solve that problem.</p>
<p>Agreed. Not as intensely white as BC though! Also, there’s white as in skin color, and then there’s “white” as in attitude. Tufts is more diverse in ethnicities represented, but it also didn’t feel as “white” as BC in other respects, and by that I mean as in: separatist mindset, insular thinking, narrow worldview, sheltered upbringing.</p>
<p>^ I wouldn’t say BC is “intensely white”. I hear that all the time. People think BC is extremely white. When I visited BC (three times) I found that it is a lot more diverse than people claim it to be. This is true that if you stay on upper/main campus, you won’t notice that diversity very often, but if you visit newton campus, there are a lot of students of color. </p>
<p>But I will admit that Tufts is a bit more diverse than BC, not by far though. And one thing I observed, at Tufts students are always competitive (than BC students) and they are more than willing to go to a student pf color for help. In that respect, BC students are narrow minded and from what I observed they would rather get a C in a class than ask a colored student for help.That shows how broad minded Tufts students are. But again that’s what I think.</p>
<p>Now usually I’d take any opportunity to make Tufts seems more positive, but that doesn’t seem to give BC students a lot of credit. You’re making them sound like racists. I nearly went to BC, and though I did get the distinct impression that the students there were insular, I don’t think they were racist.</p>
<p>No, I didn’t say racist- I was talking more about how much they’ve been exposed to people who live different lives from them. And I’m not saying all of BC is like that, just that it seems, proportionally, to be more like that than Tufts. My D’s high school sends lots of kids to BC every year- it’s practically a “feeder” school (she was admitted there as well), and her high school is much the same. Not racist necessarily, just somewhat oblivious.</p>
<p>the tufts student body seems like its comprised of at least 50% students from private schools…thus a white-dominated feel</p>