<p>I heard that although tufts is not an ivy and has more relaxed tendencies, it's a lot more competitive than a lot of similar, smaller liberal arts schools. Is that true?</p>
<p>No. Tufts is as varied as any comparable school.<br>
It is clearly more “competitive” in terms of admission than many liberal arts colleges (and less “competitive” than others), but I suspect that those schools which are comparable in terms of admissions selectivity have the same range of “types” that Tufts has - there will be some (e.g., some premeds) whose academic objectives might make them seem “competitive” and then there will be those who like working and studying cooperatively, without the edginess of feeling in competition with the student next to you (e.g., many engineering classes require the students to work cooperatively, rather than competitively).</p>