<p>Most people are telling me that Carnegie Mellon is definitely a better engineering/science school... however i was wondering how Tufts actually compares.</p>
<p>Lol Tufts doesnt come close. CMU is excellent overall for engineering. For Computer Science and ECE (electrical and computer engineering) it rivals MIT and Berkeley.</p>
<p>For engineering definitely go to CMU.</p>
<p>Depends on what you want. CMU definitely has a good reputation with anyone; most people don't realize that Tufts has a very strong reputation with engineers. Even in the really crummy economy of 2003, all of my classmates got great jobs in Boston. If you are looking for grad school, Tufts will help out a lot - those who do well there end up at places like MIT, Caltech, Berkeley, etc. </p>
<p>I've heard that CMU is one of the few happy engineering places - as in, people actually help each other out instead of sabotaging their work. Tufts is the same way... so you have two great schools in that regards. </p>
<p>Most Tufts students who want to end up doing research for their professors. I've also never had a TA teach a class. There are two large engineering classes (out of 30 or so), but those are broken down into recitations. All of my classes were 30 or under in engin. </p>
<p>CMU is a bigger engin. school, which is good if you want to take more specialized courses. Down side is that it's a larger school. I did have a bit of trouble finding the materials science courses I wanted at Tufts (did nanotechnology for a while and wanted a better background). </p>
<p>Not sure about CMU, but Tufts has a really good relationship between liberal arts and engineering. I really liked that... some people might want to live and breathe engineering and would not like that. </p>
<p>Final thoughts... check out the male/female ratio. Tufts is about 33% female; engineering, nationally, is about 15% female. See if you would be comfortable with the CMU ration.</p>
<p>If there is ANY way you can visit the campuses, do it.</p>
<p>thanks aries for the excellent advice and insight on tufts. that's exactly what i needed to hear to make my decision. i was balancing the scale between the two.... and that just tipped it to 95% for Tufts. Thanks.</p>
<p>This is an interesting thread. My son is a rising junior and thinks he wants to go into engineering (EE or comp sci). We just visited Tufts and he had a great feel about -- the friendliness, the campus, the academics. It has a great reputation generally, but it doesn't seem as strong in engineering. I went to CMU (fine arts major), and frankly, most engineering students I knew pretty much hated it there. (And look at all the negative reviews on studentsreview.com)</p>
<p>He wants to go to a good school that has strong liberal arts courses as well, and a regular college feel -- a normal percentage of women, school spirit, clubs, activities, etc., and not just a school for engineering. Any thoughts as to how Tufts is viewed in terms of reputation for it engineering? BTW we also visited Brown and he really liked that too.</p>
<p>blackeyedsusan, Tufts doesn't have a terrific engineering school, but it seems like the school is trying to develop it a lot. I spoke to a Tufts representative back in September and she was talking a lot about how Tufts engineering program was improving a lot and in general she was really trying to promote the engineering school at Tufts. It still has a way to go to recognized as a great engineering school, but it's not terrible.</p>
<p>Also, has you son seen Cornell? Good male/female balance, top engineering school, great liberal arts.</p>
<p>CMU is a leader in engineering and science by a long shot. Certainly one of the best in the nation.</p>
<p>The reason you will find bad reviews about CMU on studentreviews.com is because people who are happy with the program will not go out of there way to post good reviews on such sites. It is those students who are trapping themselves in their dorm rooms, surfing the internet for a site where they can complain about the student life who will post on those sites. Don't give too much credibility to those sites or people who post on such sites.</p>
<p>The best way to find out about social life is to visit the campus and ask students what they think. Almost every university you go to will stand by the "it is what you make of it" point of view about social life.</p>
<p>I'm about a month late responding to you blackeyedsusan. You can't compare the CMU of a generation ago with the school of today. In the past 15 years I can't imagine a school that's done more to improve the quality of life of its undergrads, which it apparently needed to do. Much of the campus is new since 1990 including the University Center. Advising/help are abundant and the Career Center does a great job helping with internships and job search. I think you'll find a lot of happy people there today, although engineering students in general at any school complain because of the workload.</p>
<p>btw we visited Tufts and S decided not to apply; if I recall he thought the campus was too quiet and suburban. We both expected it to be more "Boston-y". Of course that could be a plus for some.</p>
<p>Thanks for your responses. It's reassuring to know that not everyone there is miserable (as it's made out to seem on studentsreview.com). I know that CMU is a very well respected school for engineering (especially electrical engineering and computer engineering) -- both of interest to my son.</p>
<p>I guess we'll have to visit to see how he likes the campus and overall feel. He liked the fact that at Tufts it seemed easy to change majors; I'm not so sure it's that easy at CMU. (It didn't used to be.) If not, he'll also need to figure out if he's committed to engineering.</p>