Cornell vs. Tufts

I am planning to major in sociology, who knows if that is what I’ll end up doing (definitely will be in social sciences and/or humanities) and I want to go to law school so my GPA is a top priority. A lot of my pros and cons overlap for both schools (ex: con: frats are a big aspect of the social scene at both, pro: both have good food and good housing possibilities post freshman year) so I’ll highlight the ones that don’t overlap.

I honestly don’t know how to gauge how good or lackluster the social sciences and humanities programs that I am interested in are at both of the schools, because they both seem fine to me. (Like I said, I want to major in sociology but I’m also interested in art history, history, classics, and anthropology)

If anyone has any insight into ANYTHING about Tufts or Cornell, please share. I am interested in other people’s experiences with these schools and how they feel the programs and overall school experiences vary. I have visited both, liked both enough, and was ready to commit to Tufts after leaving, but…

concerns for tufts:

  • I have chronic illness that effects my joints, accessibility+ disability services @ are terrible and not going to improve as per an article recently published @ the daily
  • socioeconomic and racial diversity is a big yikes
  • housing crisis, bad freshman housing
  • everyone there seems like an extrovert and as an introvert I feel like I’d have a difficult time making friends first year, and that I might get overwhelmed with the social scene ?
  • not a lot of people at Tufts go (or want to go?) to law school ? (only 17% of the class of 2017 went to grad school after graduating, whereas 1/3 of Cornell alum go to grad school after graduating)

good things about tufts:

  • experimental college
  • nice community
  • it has the ~liberal arts college~ vibe going for it…
  • I got selected for a really cool Tufts scholarship program with $$$ to support research
  • really liked the students that I met there, they seemed interested and engaged but then again who knows ???
  • access to Boston
  • smaller undergraduate study body (5,541 vs Cornell’s 14,907)
  • more collaborative ? (so I’m assuming less student to student competition than cornell? but this is only anecdotal)
  • I got more of an “intellectual/learn for the sake of learning” vibe at Tufts than Cornell but I’m positive I’d be able to find that at Cornell if I sought it out LOL

concerns for cornell:

  • in the middle of nowhere, ithaca cannot offer me what medford/boston can
  • competitive ? among students
  • isolated & depressing
  • the winters feel like they are worse in ithaca but what do i know
  • student culture seemed questionable
  • lacks some of the student culture things that felt present at tufts (but again, what do I know haha)

good things about cornell:

  • good disability services
  • I have good friends there
  • more traditional college experience (see: lots of traditions, idyllic campus, sports → hockey!!!, etc)
  • cornell dairy
  • nice freshman dorms and I already have a roommate
  • name/ivy league prestige (something my family is more concerned about than I am)
  • feeds into T15 law schools (?) and I can cross enroll at Cornell Law School