help me choose: BC, Tufts, Penn, Northwestern

College Search & Selection
61

<p>All right, average SAT 1405, apparently. Still really matches (even closer) NU's average SAT of 1401. </p>

<p>[BTW: The 1433 I took from adding the average Math and average Verbal scores of the CLASS OF 2010 (/not/ all admitted) -- I realize now that's incorrect, because that doesn't mean that the average person got both of those average scores.]</p>

<p>I don't think your "specialty schools" should make that significant a difference. Tufts has a five-year education program; a five-year music conservatory program; a five-year fine arts program (the fifth year earns you either a Master's (ie MEd) or a different type of BA (ie BFA or BMus), the first four are your regular BA/BS in that subject). In addition to communications being the biggest minor on campus.</p>

<p>Regardless, I don't really think that journalism, education, and music students have lower SAT scores than regular liberal arts students, especially since those are disciplines that are normally taught at liberal arts schools at most other universities (Tufts, for one). In fact, music students, for one, tend to do very well on SATs because they are generally quite good at math (mathematical understanding in music).</p>

62

<p>
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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...

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<p>Uhh - no one has compared NU to BC in sports (esp. since BC doesn't have the admissions hurdle NU has for recruits).</p>

<p>Having said that - for those who really like college FB (tailgating, etc.), the Big10 is the way to go, while the ACC is more of a BB conference.</p>

63

<p>lolabelle,</p>

<p>The average SAT for music/education students at NU were around 1350 and 1310, respectively, noticeably lower than the overall average. There's a huge difference between NU's music school and a music department at Tufts. NU's music school is among the best but mostly performance based. It looks for top musical talents with decent (but not necessarily top) test scores, not the other way around. It's NOT a liberal arts major (hence a "school" of music, not music department within arts and sciences). The music major at Tufts is a liberal arts major and open to anybody within the school. It's not performance based and technically, you don't even need to know how to play any instrument to major in it. If it were performance based, it wouldn't need to have a joint program with NEC. But I doubt each year, more than couple are in the 5-yr program with NEC while NU's music school has around 100 freshmen each year. The education program at Tufts is very much a master program and I again doubt there are more than couple undergrads staying for the 5-yr for that each year.</p>

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<p>Either way, the fact that we're focusing on SATs is probably not a good thing. The fact that ~80% of the student body at both schools was in the top 10% of their high school classes shows that musician, engineer, or otherwise: they're all great students.</p>

<p>(And don't say that the education program at Tufts is very much just a "master's" program -- say that to all my education major friends who've been studying it just as much as I have been studying IR since I arrived at Tufts four years ago.)</p>

65

<p>Sorry, I am not sure what you mean by "education major". According to Tufts' education website, there's no bachelor degree program. <a href="http://ase.tufts.edu/education/programs/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://ase.tufts.edu/education/programs/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

66

<p>It's called Child Development. You choose to focus on either Early Childhood Teacher Preparation (preschool, kindergarten) or Elementary Teacher Preparation (Grades 1-6). There are even two laboratory schools on the Tufts campus: one for pre-K and one for kindergarten. The major is preparation for licensature in education. Many do their MA in Education here at Tufts' Education School (Eliot-Pearson); others go do it elsewhere. But it is an education major; even though it's not called that.</p>

<p>Department website: <a href="http://ase.tufts.edu/epcd/programs.asp%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://ase.tufts.edu/epcd/programs.asp&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Courses here: <a href="http://ase.tufts.edu/epcd/courses.asp%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://ase.tufts.edu/epcd/courses.asp&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

67

<p>Uhh - no one has compared NU to BC in sports (esp. since BC doesn't have the admissions hurdle NU has for recruits).</p>

<p>Having said that - for those who really like college FB (tailgating, etc.), the Big10 is the way to go, while the ACC is more of a BB conference. </p>

<p>Yeah, anybody can get in BC, whereas NU's football players are all brilliant. And what do schools like Florida State, BC, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, Miami, and Maryland know about football?</p>

68

<p>ACC knew they were terrible in football and that's why they stole BC, Miami, and VTech from the Big East. Funny thing is since the move, BC, Miami, and VTech FB had gone downhill. ;)</p>

69

<p>I live in the middle of Big 10/11 country, and outside of Michigan and OSU, the football out here is nothing to get excited about. Wisconsin is often good, but even at 11-1 it got little respect this year. Northwestern, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Michigan State, and Purdue have occasional blips of competence, but in general they are a dreary bore. Duke and UNC are usually terrible, but outside of that, the rest of the ACC is often ok to good.</p>

70

<p>
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Yeah, anybody can get in BC, whereas NU's football players are all brilliant. And what do schools like Florida State, BC, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, Miami, and Maryland know about football?

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<p>Sheeze!!! </p>

<p>No one is saying that, but anyone who know a lot about college FB knows that schools like Stanford and Northwestern have a tougher time recruiting due to their higher academic standards for recruits (they have the 2 toughest).</p>

<p>BC gets some fine student-athletes, but there are a good no. of players on BC that NU coaches would never recruit (before a recruit gets an offer, he has to pass admissions first).</p>

<p>As for BC, Ga Tech, MD - they are hardly collegiate FB powers - and none of the other schools have the tradition that Mich, dOSU and PSU have.</p>

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I live in the middle of Big 10/11 country, and outside of Michigan and OSU, the football out here is nothing to get excited about. Wisconsin is often good, but even at 11-1 it got little respect this year. Northwestern, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Michigan State, and Purdue have occasional blips of competence, but in general they are a dreary bore. Duke and UNC are usually terrible, but outside of that, the rest of the ACC is often ok to good.

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<p>LOL!!!!! Shows what you know.</p>

<p>In the 1990's Wisconsin won 3 Rose Bowl championships. </p>

<p>Prior to this year, Iowa had one of the highest winning percentages in a 4 year stretch and made it to a New Year's Day bowl (or better) for 4 years straight (something only a few schools can claim).</p>

<p>PSU is a traditional power that has gotten back to its winning ways (btw, Paterno has ravaged Maryland of its top recruits the past couple of years).</p>

<p>Unlike some other conferences, a high no. of different B10 schools have won conference titles - in the past 10 years, NU, PSU, Wisconsin, Iowa, Purdue and Illinois have all won B10 titles.</p>

<p>How many schools other than FSU won the ACC during that stretch?</p>

<p>Plus, when you look at tradition and attendance - it's not even close.</p>

<p>The B10 is second in average attendance (just behind the SEC), the ACC is a distant fifth.</p>

<p>Face it - the ACC is a BB conference (as well as the Big East).</p>

<p>There's definitely no shame in that.</p>

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<p>I love how this became a conversation about football.</p>

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<p>Better than school X vs school Y that has been dealt with repeatedly. :)</p>

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<p>As for BC, Ga Tech, MD - they are hardly collegiate FB powers - and none of the other schools have the tradition that Mich, dOSU and PSU have.</p>

<p>uh, hello? I do believe those 3 schools were consistently ranked in the top 25 this season. sure, they may not have the 'tradition' that some schools do, ut regardless they have been powerhouses the past few years, and slowly carving out a tradition...</p>

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<p>BDean, my frame of reference goes back to the 1960s. Yes, there have been blips...but nobody except Michigan and OSU has had anything resembling consistent success. Penn State was always excellent until they joined the Big 11--now they tend to be merely good. Wisconsin--nice streak in the 1990s; before that, what?</p>

<p>I'm not saying the ACC is great; I'm saying you're over-estimating the quality of the Big 10. How many football and basketball national championships has the Big 10 won in your lifetime compared to the other major conferences?</p>

<p>I've noticed that the Northwestern folks are very proud and protective of their balance of excellence in academics and sports (though the major-sports excellence was a short stretch in football). Seeing schools like Wake Forest, BC, Duke, Virginia, and Georgia Tech getting it together in the classrooms and on the playing fields seems to give you Wildcats the creeps.</p>