<p>I know that Tufts is a hard school to get in, but it seems quite focused on humanities. Does anyone have experience as to how highly the physics and chem programs compare? I want my school to be recognized in the field :)</p>
<p>No clue as to how the departments are regarded, but it’s not going to be a cakewalk, that’s for sure. Chemical physics (kind of like biochemistry in terms of the style of the major) is 21 credits (minimum to graduate for Arts and Sciences is 34) once you include the math requirements. It basically builds in most of the math minor.</p>
<p>I know, I don’t expect it to be easy, but there are other schools that I can get into that seem to have more reputable programs. After all, it’s not what you learn that matters, it’s what people think you learn 
I’m not saying I don’t want to learn anything, because I definitely do; I just want to get my deserved respect for my rigor of curriculum.</p>
<p>I think, at the undergraduate level, subject rankings do not matter as much as the overall ranking of a school experience. For example, would you really prefer Arizona State in Tempe, AZ over an Ivy league school, such as, Brown U? Would you really prefer TX A&M over Harvard, Columbia or U Penn for undergrad Engineering? At the graduate school level, I think it matters more if you work with a star professor or not. I bring this up because my son, who wants to study engineering, will most likely get a full tuition merit scholarship for TX A&M (as well as Arizona State), but we are still considering other schools such as Tufts for the overall experience.</p>