As I said in my previous post, my son thought the kids he met at NW were clearly bright, as smart as those he’s met at tufts–no question. His was just one anecdotal experience over a four day visit, albeit longer than one typically does as a visiting prospective or admitted student. Someone else could easily have a different experience. This is just a report of his. He does think that tufts seems to have a similar ethos to uchicago, and NW’s culture feels different. He wonders if it’s because NW has more pre-professional schools. Again, that’s just his opinion.
@ChaChaanTeng, he did find plenty of friendly students at NW who engaged in conversation with him. He stayed at a frat where his friend lives & also met kids outside of the frat in classes, at meals & a party. If anything, he came away with the impression that NW attacts a very outgoing student body. Again, this was just his impression.
I’d also love to hear @WCASParent answers to ormdad’s questions just out of curiosity. My oldest just graduated from brown, so I’ve seen the differences between these two schools in this past year but I think they share more similarities. From my prespective, my tufts kid had better academic advising (he opted for a class with a professor who would be his advisor & she’s been terrific) and the career office is more on the ball. But I think an open curriculum is hard to beat, and tufts has a lot of requirements. That said, son took a physics class for non-scientists to meet his science requirements (he got out of the second semester with AP credit) with a leading cosmologist that conceptually challenged him & he loved. Applied his new-found knowledge to literature in a cool way. Student bodies at both schools seem interchangeable.
Renaissance Mom, I think you made it very clear in your initial post that your son made some insightful observations about NW based on his stay there that led him to think the two colleges were not identical, and made him happy with his choice. Of course, “conclusions” based on a 4 day stay may not be worthy of a peer reviewed article, but I didn’t read them as conclusions, as another poster appeared to. They seemed to be personal opinions that were based on observation and experience, and were legitimately made. Others could have different opinions, but that doesn’t take away from the value of the one your son provided. One day someone will have the time to personally and scientifically survey each and every one of Northwester’s 8000 students to make sure that everyone knows what their opinion should be. Until that day, I am happy to hear from someone who has had an actual experience, whether it was four days long, four years long or 40 minutes long.
But, I think this is an interesting topic that has developed: what college gives “more bang for the buck?” My daughter will be starting at Tufts in the fall. It was her first choice, she’s thrilled to be going, really liked the student body and the academic structure and emphases, but I suppose there are other tangibles you don’t necessarily know about until you get there: strength of advisors, food quality, dorm quality, ease of getting the courses you want, accessibility of faculty and staff, quality of same. Weather we know about!! I would be interested in hearing how folks feel Tufts stacks up against its peers and/or other 4 year colleges in the area: Wesleyan, BC, Brown, Colby, Bates, etc
They’re an interesting group. Each one different than the other and yet they all share the same small New England college heritage. Each has had to address the demands of a modern, more specialized, curriculum, particularly in the area of STEM and the ways in which they did so illustrate the tension between traditional liberal arts as expressed by someone like Alfred North Whitehead in the early twentieth century and the modern research university of post-Sputnik America. Brown, for example, was already a university in name and self-regard by the time Henry Wriston became its president in the 1930s; he greatly expanded Brown’s graduate schools. Tufts did so more slowly and over a longer period of time. Wesleyan perhaps had the greatest struggle of all; it had to weigh its traditional place as one of the top liberal arts colleges against the needs of an increasingly professionalized faculty whose demands included increased research support as well as looser distribution requirements (the latter enabling students to specialize earlier.) As David B. Potts writes in the recently published, “Wesleyan University, 1910-1970: Academic Ambition and Middle-Class America” (Wesleyan;2015):
Boston College, nearly as large as Tufts, still calls itself a college. And, Bates and Colby, in common with many LACs, see themselves as potential feeder schools to graduate and professional schools at places like Brown and Tufts.
Hope this helps.
Well for starters the weather at Tufts is better than the weather at Colby or Bates - unless you love sub-freezing temperatures. All of these schools offer a tremendous UG education that opens doors to any grad school or job opportunity. All offer strong faculty, small classes, lots of opportunities. Primarily the differences are the feel of the experience. Colby, Bates and Wesleyan seem to be heavily invested in small classes and strong relationships with professors and a tight community. BC is bigger and offers a more traditional sports and greek life in a smaller setting than a traditional land grant university. Brown is all about no requirements and the opportunity to chart your own course.
For my DDs the primary appeal of Tufts is a unique combination of strong community with a more permeable “bubble” than most other schools. Part of it is that the location, in the city and close to other universities, makes it easy and common to venture off campus. Part of it is the heavy requirements which requires my non-STEM DDs to take science and math, and their STEM friends and roommates to take language and history. They need to step out of their comfort zone a little. Part of it is grad schools and academic links with SMFA and NEC where students take classes, attend events and do research. Finally part of it is the relentless global citizen culture of the university driven by the high number of IR and PJS majors, the events on campus, and high percentage of study abroad. YMMV.