help me choose: BC, Tufts, Penn, Northwestern

College Search & Selection
41

<p>and id rather go to Penn than Northwestern for sports...at least youre gonna be in the NCAA tournament basically every year now that Princeton's program is down slightly. Northwestern is only good at womens soccer (well until that whole scandal thing) and womens lax (won the national championship in 2005)..while theyre in the big ten, they hardly ever field upper division football or basketball teams (football won the big ten in 1997 or so, basketball well i like their team because they run the princeton offense, but Penn would beat them by 10 this season and most).</p>

<p>overall I would rank them as (including everything_</p>

<ol>
<li>Penn</li>
<li>Northwestern</li>
<li>Tufts</li>
<li>BC (yea i go here, but it cant compare to Penn and Northwestern, its closer to Tufts than the Jumbos would like to admit though)</li>
</ol>

42

<p>Kofi, the point I was making is there is nothing distinctive about Tufts...it's a watered-down Ivy: medium-sized, crappy sports, private, non-sectarian. BC is a whole different animal that has its own identity. There's no monastery there, by the way. And you're IN Boston when you get on the Green Line at the BC terminal; whereas you forgot to mention the 15-minute bus ride from Tufts TO the Red Line...from which you start the subway ride to Boston.</p>

43

<p>yup thats what that sign that says Welcome To Brighton- City of Boston means</p>

44

<p>Tufts compared to NU and Penn lags for one reason: Its long-term reputation is not as strong. This effects its grad placement, overall reputation, and recruiting (much like Wash U and other schools with recent increases in selectivity lag their peers).</p>

45

<p>There have been entire threads in which Northwestern and Tufts have been compared. The big problem with Northwestern is it's still a bit mysterious to some people in the East. The fact that it's NOT where you'd think it is (i.e., in the Northwest) and it's one of the ELEVEN schools in the Big 10, make it a bit tough to swallow for some people who like their geography and their arithmatic neat and tidy. Throw in the fact that it has nothing to do with NorthEASTERN University, and you've got yourself a full-fledged East-Coast conundrum.</p>

46

<p>"There have been entire threads in which Northwestern and Tufts have been compared."</p>

<p>-Ahh the summer... :rolleyes:</p>

<p>"and it's one of the ELEVEN schools in the Big 10"</p>

<p>Darn Penn state...</p>

47

<p>At least the creators of CC obviously didn't intend to include Tufts in the "top college" catagory...</p>

48

<p>TourGuide,</p>

<p>Despite the "full-fledged East-Coast conundrum" you described, Northwestern still:</p>

<p>1) placed 21st in the WSJ feeder ranking even though the ranking's methodology has east coast bias [the % doesn't include those that went to NU's business/law schools ("feeding itself")].
<a href="http://wsjclassroom.com/pdfs/wsj_college_092503.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://wsjclassroom.com/pdfs/wsj_college_092503.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>2) placed 2nd in % of law school grads getting hired by top law firms
<a href="http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1126256708738%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1126256708738&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>3) considered one of the "core schools" by 4 of the 6 top consulting firms
<a href="http://www.vault.com/nr/newsmain.jsp?nr_page=3&ch_id=252&article_id=14364421&cat_id=1223%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.vault.com/nr/newsmain.jsp?nr_page=3&ch_id=252&article_id=14364421&cat_id=1223&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

49

<p>If you're looking for a suburban campus, Penn's is right in Philly...not suburban. Northwestern has the best campus environment, IMO. Evanston is great, and Chicago is an excellent city.</p>

<p>My least favorite of the ones you listed is Tufts, but I couldn't figure out why I didn't like it.</p>

50

<p>Sam, I love Northwestern, and think it's a wonderful place (although nobody in his right mind would prefer its campus to BC's for beautiful-safe-suburban-with-access-to-big-city). I appreciate your efforts, but as I said in another thread (and I think even my summertime buddy KK is with me on this one), I'm boycotting any evidence that's based on the hiring practices of NYC firms (consulting, financial, whatever--too arbitrary). And throw in that ridiculous WSJ feeder ranking, too (anybody here take a stats course?). But congrats on the law school hiring thing. Also, what's with the re-naming of your football stadium? Political Correctness Police give NU a ticket for improper use of lesbian slang?</p>

51

<p>Kimfuge, that's a stupid argument, especially since this is what the CC administrators had to say about how they compiled the Top Universities list (copied & pasted from my Gmail):</p>

<p>
[quote]
College Confidential <a href="mailto:collegeconfidential@collegeconfidential.com">collegeconfidential@collegeconfidential.com</a>
to me
10:00 am (2 hours ago)</p>

<p>Selections are arbitrary and inexplicable, and haven't changed in a few years. We'll add Tufts if we update them.</p>

<p>Admin"

[/quote]
</p>

52

<p>Anyway, this is why I think Northwestern and Tufts are comparable schools:</p>

<p>TUFTS, Class of 2010 (from Tufts' admissions website:
Applications
15,294
Acceptances
4,095
Acceptance Rate
26.6%</p>

<p>NU, Class of 2009 (most recent info on their admissions website):
Applications
16,221
Acceptances
4,819
Acceptance Rate
29%</p>

<hr>

<p>TUFTS, (from Princeton Review & Tufts Admissions):</p>

<p>Average SAT: 1433
SAT - Verbal Range (25-75%): 660-740
SAT - Math Range (25-75%): 670-740
TPR Projected Range SAT Writing: 690-750
Average Verbal SAT: 715
Average Math SAT: 718
ACT Composite Range (25-75%): 28-32
Average ACT: 31
Students in top 10% of HS class: 80%
Students in top 50% of HS class: 100%</p>

<p>NU, (from Princeton Review):</p>

<p>Freshmen Academic Profile
Average SAT: 1401
SAT - Verbal Range (25-75%): 650-740
SAT - Math Range (25-75%): 670-760
TPR Projected Range SAT Writing: 690-750
Average Verbal SAT: 691
Average Math SAT: 710
ACT Composite Range (25-75%): 29-33
Average ACT: 31
Students in top 10% of HS class: 82%
Students in top 50% of HS class: 100%</p>

<p>The students who get into both these schools are VERY SIMILARLY qualified. Yes, Northwestern has an older reputation, while Tufts is a school, like WUSTL, that has exploded recently. That doesn't change the fact that the kids that go to either school are just as smart as their peers at the other.</p>

<p>BIBLIOGRAPHY:</p>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.princetonreview.com/college/research/profiles/admissions.asp?listing=1023956&ltid=1&intbucketid=%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.princetonreview.com/college/research/profiles/admissions.asp?listing=1023956&ltid=1&intbucketid=&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li>
<li><a href="http://admissions.tufts.edu/?pid=121%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://admissions.tufts.edu/?pid=121&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li>
<li><a href="http://www.ugadm.northwestern.edu/freshman/facts/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.ugadm.northwestern.edu/freshman/facts/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li>
<li><a href="http://www.princetonreview.com/college/research/profiles/admissions.asp?listing=1023909&ltid=1&intbucketid=%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.princetonreview.com/college/research/profiles/admissions.asp?listing=1023909&ltid=1&intbucketid=&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li>
</ul>

53

<p>Somehow I get the feeling that this post will turn into one of the numerous Tufts vs NU...</p>

54

<p>I agree with Lolabelle--Tufts is a very good school, with very bright students.
When choosing between these schools, let 'fit' decide. You can't go too far astray with any of them.
I chose NU because they had the best progs in my fields of interest, and I wanted to get away from Boston. If you want to go to Boston and study IR, you should apply to Tufts.
Let's not debate the merits of the two schools again.</p>

55

<p>^ ^ ^ Agreed, except that Tufts isn't just good for IR, of course. Good luck to the OP!</p>

<p>(PS: I didn't know that there had been several NU vs. Tufts schools; must've been B.CC --- "before I joined CC". Sorry to be redundant in that case!)</p>

56

<p>Sorry, in reference to my post #51, a fellow CCer noted a discrepancy becuase I'd posted this e-mail from the CC admin before. I want to apologize for what may seem like dishonesty on my behalf before I get called on it on this forum. When I copied & pasted it this second time here it was very oddly formatted so I re-typed it. I mistakenly re-typed "We'll ADD Tufts if we update them." They, in fact, wrote "We'll CONSIDER Tufts if we update them." Sorry!</p>

57

<p>
[quote]
Georgetown is pretty good in hoops, NU isn't good in anything, nor is Tufts.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>What? The majority of NU sports teams have been nationally ranked or made the postseason the past 2-3 years.</p>

<p>
[quote]
and id rather go to Penn than Northwestern for sports...at least youre gonna be in the NCAA tournament basically every year now that Princeton's program is down slightly. Northwestern is only good at womens soccer (well until that whole scandal thing) and womens lax (won the national championship in 2005).while theyre in the big ten, they hardly ever field upper division football or basketball teams (football won the big ten in 1997 or so, basketball well i like their team because they run the princeton offense, but Penn would beat them by 10 this season and most).

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Stick to what you know (hint -NU sports, or sports in general, is not one of them).</p>

<p>NU football has won 3 Big10 championships since 1995 (that's more than any other B10 school other than Mich and dOSU) and certainly more than what Stanford or Duke have done in football.</p>

<p>After a "rebuilding" year, NU FB should win 8-9 games next season and will be in the running for a conf. championship in 2008 (minus any major injuries).</p>

<p>Plus, they already have a talented recruiting class coming in.</p>

<p>As for the other sports - wresting is ranked no. 10; men's soccer made the Elite Eight; the lax team REPEATED as national champs; softball team were runners-up to the national champs; the swimming, tennis and fencing teams are nationally ranked; volleyball made NCAA tourney last year; etc. </p>

<p>As for BB - the women's team has gone thru a low-period since the mid-1990s. But the new women's coach has a young team this year and has one of the top recruiting classes coming in next year.</p>

<p>On the men's side - Carmody has yet to break thru, but the team has been competitive (going about .500 in the B10 the past 4-5 seasons).</p>

<p>This season, he is basically playing scrubs with 1 soph and 2 frosh who are B10talent. While he has 2 more good players coming in next year, he is a big man (or top 50 blue-chip player) away from making the tourney - and no (sorry), in most years, Princeton would lose in a match-up.</p>

<p>So basically -this is probably the best time for students at NU (sports-wise).</p>

<p>As for a comparison bwtn the ACC and Big10 - ACC has the edge in BB and the B10 has the edge in FB (which is THE college sport) - BC, btw, just lost their head FB coach.</p>

<p>As for weather - it does get cold in Evanston/Chicago - but only really bitter cold in Jan/Feb.</p>

58

<p>Haha i didn't think I would cause a big argument...</p>

<p>Don't worry, we all know Northwestern and Tufts are great schools, and I'm sorry if one of my recent posts ranked Tufts higher academically than Northwestern...guess I'm one of those East Coast misconception people...</p>

<p>But who are you kidding? Northwestern is no way near comparable to BC fo sports. Granted, it does kick Penn's butt. But I am trying no tto base my decision on my beloved college sports lol... </p>

<p>And, sorry to all the Northwestern fans out there, but the weather is just really bugging me out... snow ocassionally is nice, but I prefer warm weather type things : the beach, running, chilling in the grass haha. especially if i am going to be at college walking around half the time. and yes, I realize it gets pretty darn cold in boston, too...</p>

59

<p>lolabelle,</p>

<p>Do you know there can be a substantial difference between the average of the admitted and the enrolled? The actual mean for the class of 2010 is 1405, not 1433.

[quote]

The Class of ’10 earned the distinction of being the first class to enroll at Tufts with a combined SAT score greater than 1400 (using the two-part exam). With mean SAT scores of 702 Critical Reasoning (Verbal) and 703 Math, the combined mean of 1405 represents an all-time high for the University.

[/quote]
</p>

<p><a href="http://admissions.tufts.edu/?pid=172%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://admissions.tufts.edu/?pid=172&lt;/a> This should be the link you should start using. ;)</p>

<p>Tufts has only schools of engineering and arts & sciences, NU has both plus four others. The average SAT for NU is deflated because of specialty schools like communication, music, and education where special talents/ECs like acting and music are valued much more than test scores. The actual mean of the engineering/arts&sci students is higher than listed.</p>

60

<p>Penn is amazing, but business school is hardest to get into in the country</p>