Brandeis or Tufts? Please help!

Colleges and Universities A-Z Brandeis University
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<p>Help!</p>

<p>I can’t decide if I want to go to Brandeis or Tufts! I’ve visited both of the campuses twice already, and I did an overnight at Brandeis. I’m not a big drinker, but I do like to party and have fun. And I hate for this to be a factor, but it would be nice to have a couple cute guys on campus. Also, I like to be with people who are driven, but not competitive with each other. Also not completely focused on academics and studying all the time. I’m planning on majoring in biology, but I’m still kind of on the edge so I definitely want a school where I can explore classes outside of my major. I like smaller classes, and I’m not a big fan of lectures, even though there is probably no way I can avoid them. I know that Brandeis and Tufts are both relatively small, so I imagine class sizes are too. I like diversity, and the thing I liked about my overnight at Brandeis is that I felt really comfortable and I found I could talk to most anyone I met without facing judgement (I’m not really a fan of the whole clique environment). I’m kind of a shy person until you get to know me, but I felt like I could talk to most of the people at Brandeis. I can’t really say anything about Tufts since I didn’t actually talk to any students there since it wasn’t official visit. I definitely want to get involved with clubs and intramural as well. I love the Tufts campus, a lot of the things I’ve heard about it seem really cool. Also, it seems like this is the school more people have heard of. Could that be a factor when applying for Grad school? Would saying I’m a graduate of Tufts be better than being a graduate of Brandeis? </p>

<p>Please give me your thoughts and opinions!!! Thanks!</p>

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<p>i’m a brandeis senior who never visited Tufts so I can’t speak to Tufts at all. in the academic world, Brandeis is very respected so any more prestige coming from being a Tufts alum is negligible. bio is very strong at Brandeis; i don’t know how it is at Tufts. if you’re interested in med school, Brandeis has an early assurance program that will allow you to be accepeted to Tufts Medical at the end of sophomore year. (does tufts also offer early assurance to its med school? i don’t know.) so, if you think you prefer the Brandeis atmosphere but want the Tufts name, you can go to Brandeis for undergrad and Tufts for med school. brandeis is quite strong in the liberal arts including the creative arts as well so there’s a lot of room to take a broad range of classes. if your gut tells you that you would be happier socially at Brandeis, then you are probably right. tufts and brandeis are both great schools. good luck with the decision!</p>

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<p>sunshine360, I’m a Brandeis alum who chose Brandeis over Tufts. I feel passionately about Brandeis and have shared my views with others on CC.</p>

<p>In terms of education and prestige, I believe Brandeis is the easy choice overall.
Brandeis is truly an amazing school. It’s a special combination of small liberal arts college and world-class research university-with the smallest student body I believe (less than 800 in a class) of any top tier national research university matched with high-powered professors who actually teach in small classes. So, the research opportunities are tremendous. While not huge, I believe Tufts’ undergrad enrollment is at least 50% larger than Brandeis’.</p>

<p>Brandeis’ intellectual environment is comparable in many ways to its University Athletic Association sister school, U Chicago (perhaps no coincidence that the President of U Chicago is a Brandeis alum). Yet its students are down-to-earth, friendly and non-competitive with one another. FYI in a recent Forbes national college rankings survey, Brandeis was ranked 15th among research universities and 30th overall among all private universities and LAC’s–a testament to its focus on undergraduate education. Larger schools, including some Ivies, were ranked much lower. With respect to prestige as it affects success rates in admissions to the best graduate schools, including med school and law school, it would be hard to beat Brandeis. </p>

<p>The kind of person who would feel comfortable at Brandeis is an intellecutal and/or creative sort who is friendly and comfortable with himself or herself and not competitive or pretentious. Intellectual but down-to-earth and friendly I think is an apt description of the student body. Unlike some preppy place or frat-oriented environments where social interraction is based on the “exclusivity” of the frat system, Brandeis has a welcoming, relatively-nonjudgmental environment–yet there are some off-campus frats for those who like what they have to offer. There is no pressure to party, but parties are there if you want them. Often social interaction centers around the numerous clubs and other terrific extracuriculars like theater and music. Tufts is a good school as well, but my impression is that it is much more preppy/frat oriented.</p>

<p>Despite Brandeis’ small size and relative youth, its alumni are very distinguished–to name just a few: Nobel Prize winner for chemistry Rod Mackinnon, Fields Medal winning physicist Edward Witten (often called “Einstein’s successor”), 3-time Pulitzer Prize winner Tom Friedman of the NY Times, The Earth is Flat etc; Mitch Albom of Tuesday’s with Morrie (about his Brandeis professor), the Creators/Producers of Friends; actress Debra Messing; Robert FX Sillerman (billionaire businessman–currently owner of American Idol and Graceland) and Christy Hefner, former CEO of Playboy). Also, if you’re into social justice (FYI Angela Davis and Abbie Hoffman are alums) or theater/music/art, Brandeis is a very active and exciting place to be.</p>

<p>Finally, the school is very diverse both among undergraduate and graduate students, with a strong international flavor (in fact the majority of The Brandeis International Business School is international students). With respect to the issue for some of the school’s Jewish population, you should understand that less than 50% of its student body is Jewish. Brandeis is a non-sectarian school that embraces students from all types of backgrounds based on merit. The school has no religious affiliation, although it was founded and is funded signigicantly by the Jewish community. </p>

<p>Good luck with your decision!.</p>

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<p>It sounds like you would be a really good fit for Brandeis in terms of the social atmosphere you are looking for. It’s also a good school if you’re not really sure what you want to major in. While both academics and social life are important, I think you should go with your gut instinct as to where you would feel happier socially, because that is an important component of college life. I’m not an expert on prestige or anything and I don’t know that much about tufts, but I think both Brandeis and Tufts are pretty much equally well-regarded and I don’t think there would be a downside with grad applications. From my unscientific observation, a lot of students face this specific choice and I imagine a fairly equal amount of students choose each choice.</p>

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<p>Brandeis and Tufts are peer schools–they are viewed similarly in both the academic and professional worlds. Having a degree from one or the other won’t make the slightest difference in graduate admissions, respect, or anything else from an academic point of view. </p>

<p>The cultures are different, however. Brandeis is dedicated to social justice, has stronger arts and theater programs than Tufts, and tends to be more politically active. It is also more Jewish–but not by much–the percentages are now pretty similar. I find the quickest way to get a sense of a school’s culture is to see how people dress. My observation of the two campuses is that you won’t see much difference among the guys–but the girls at Brandeis seem to dress more casually while, at Tufts, there are decidedly more girls “dressed to the hilt.” Fraternities and sororities are strong at Tufts; at Brandeis they are unofficial and, in fact, officially frowned upon because they are not all inclusive. Tufts seems more “preppy” than Brandeis. Brandeis is somewhat more “artsy.” This is all just a matter of degree since both schools send similar percentages of their graduates to professional schools. </p>

<p>I’m trying not to be judgmental because its not a question of right or wrong, or good or bad. The cultures are just different. Choose the one which seems right for you.</p>

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<p>I’m chuckling here because I faced this very same choice–40 years ago! But then it was Brandeis versus Jackson, the female college within Tufts University back when Tufts undergrad was male. I chose Brandeis and never looked back. Don’t agonize too much–you’ll find your niche at either.</p>

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<p>Same exact position here. I haven’t visited Tufts, but I’ll give you my perspective.</p>

<p>I chose Brandeis for what it’s worth. I was really drawn to the relaxed, noncompetitive atmosphere, student-teacher interaction, and the attention towards social justice. In all descriptions of Brandeis students I’ve heard, the overwhelming majority place special emphasis on their friendliness, and I think that’s worth a lot.</p>