<p>My D chose Tufts over Haverford, William & Mary, Skidmore, Smith, Conn College, Macalester, and rejected waitlists at Brown, Middlebury, Bowdoin and U Chicago.</p>
<p>Learned while visiting my D this weekend that her hall mate turned down Harvard for Tufts. She liked the community feel of Tufts better than the competitive feel of Harvard.</p>
<p>How prestigious is Tufts anyway?</p>
<p>Amazed by the poster who turned down Dartmouth & Amherst for Tufts. Turning down Northwestern & Cornell for Tufts must be based on financial considerations. And, to be clear, Iām a big fan of Tufts.</p>
<p>Thereās nothing strange about students turning down Northwestern or Cornell for Tufts. It happens pretty frequently, actually. </p>
<p>Though, itās a little disappointing to see this thread get resurrected. I doubt very much that any school is defined by the places students <em>didnāt</em> attend.</p>
<p>^^^agreed.</p>
<p>I understand selecting Tufts over Cornell based on location preference for Boston over Ithaca, but those selecting Tufts over Northwestern must be receiving better financial aid and/or have a strong preference for the East over the Mid-West.
Dan from Tufts admissions: Have any stats indicating preferences among certain universities & Tufts ? (Iāve seen similiar charts from some of the Ivies.)</p>
<p>With respect to the comment doubting that any school is defined by the places students didnāt attend: Donāt tell Yale Law School. In the undergraduate world that consideration is often expressed as āyieldā.</p>
<p>I think you missed my point.</p>
<p>S2 turned down Wesleyn, Middlebury, Bowdoin, and Amherst.</p>
<p>Actually, in a competitive culture/environment (such as sports tournaments) oneās standing is defined by who one beats. So, if a school has a competitive culture and is very interested in its standing , I could see it ādefiningā itself by who it beat (i.e. where itās students didnāt go). </p>
<p>In a non-competitive culture, who one beats does not factor into oneās self-definition. To put Dan at ease, I donāt get the feeling that this thread is about self-definition.</p>
<p>In any event, this actually is an area of academic study. Apparently, around the turn of the century, researchers at a couple of Ivy League schools were so concerned about the fact that the US News and World Report ranking system was compelling them to manipulate the admissions process, (Even though they didnāt want to) that they decided to spend a bunch of money on research to invent a new college ranking system that would make it harder for schools to ācheatā. I am really curious who funded this research. </p>
<p>The basic premise of the research is that college admissions is nothing more than a competitive tournament, so why not use the same method used in competitive tournaments to come up with a new college ranking system that would make it harder for schools to cheat. </p>
<p>One might find this interesting given the fact that it was the popularization of a ranking system that turned college admissions into a competition that compelled schools to cheat in the first place.</p>
<p>The ranking system revolves around the notion of ārevealed preferenceā (i.e. which school won the competition for a particular student). This is not the same as yield in that it is not a parameter that can be easily manipulated (i.e. no cheating).</p>
<p>Here is a paper describing the research:</p>
<p><a href=āhttp://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/papers/1287.pdf[/url]ā>http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/papers/1287.pdf</a></p>
<p>Here is an application of the research with the latest ranking - for universities only:</p>
<p>[Parchment</a> Student Choice College Rankings 2013 | Parchment - College admissions predictions.](<a href=āhttp://www.parchment.com/c/college/college-rankings.php?thisYear=2012&thisCategory=National]Parchmentā>Parchment Student Choice College Rankings 2013 | Parchment - College admissions predictions.) </p>
<p>Note that Tufts is ranked higher than it is in US News and it is ranked higher than both Northwestern and Dartmouth.</p>
<p>One interesting attribute of this method is that it can generate a combined University/LAC ranking. Here it is:</p>
<p>[Parchment</a> Student Choice College Rankings 2013 | Parchment - College admissions predictions.](<a href=āhttp://www.parchment.com/c/college/college-rankings.php]Parchmentā>http://www.parchment.com/c/college/college-rankings.php) </p>
<p>Looking at the results of head to head competition, a majority of students choose Tufts over Northwestern and a minority chose Tufts over Dartmouth (I believe this is the data you were looking for, Axelrod)</p>
<p>[Compare</a> Colleges: Side-by-side college comparisons | Parchment - College admissions predictions.](<a href=āCompare Colleges: Side-by-side college comparisons | Parchment - College admissions predictions.ā>Compare Colleges: Side-by-side college comparisons | Parchment - College admissions predictions.) </p>
<p>[Compare</a> Colleges: Side-by-side college comparisons | Parchment - College admissions predictions.](<a href=āCompare Colleges: Side-by-side college comparisons | Parchment - College admissions predictions.ā>Compare Colleges: Side-by-side college comparisons | Parchment - College admissions predictions.)</p>
<p>The results are kind of interesting as long as one doesnāt try to make it into anything more than it is (which is a popularity contest) and as long as one doesnāt ignore the statistical uncertainties.</p>
<p>Thatās certainly an interesting take but there should be a lot more to college rankings than the decisions made by high school seniors.</p>
<p>Obviously itās incredibly important for a school to be able to entice bright students to attend, but itās arguably more important what opportunities the school provides to those students once theyāre there.</p>
<p>Ha, the 2nd totally fascinating post Iāve read from Mastadon today! Really cool.</p>
<p>My daughter turned down Tufts (and other schools) for The George Washington University. Money was not a factor. She didnāt like the vibe at Tufts. Go figure. We are a Tufts legacy family (undergrad and TUSM) so I was disappointed at the time. But now 3 years later she couldnāt be happier and I know she made the right choice.</p>
<p>I am a Duke student. Turned down Tufts,Vassar, BU and WUSTL. I found something I liked a lot about each of these schools or I would not have applied. I just felt better fitted for Duke. Most people apply to several schools. in the end you need to narrow it down. So very many really good choices out there! Find your comfortable fit.</p>
<p>My son preferred Tufts over Bucknell and Case Western (for engineering) but ultimately chose WPI over Tufts 
He preferred the geekier vibe there.
The good news is that he is really happy there and it saves us over $20,000 per year since he gets merit aid which Tufts does not have :)</p>
<p>Axelrod, I am a bit miffed about your total bias of northwestern over Tuftsā¦ Tufts is very hot right now and itās not like Northwestern is Harvardā¦</p>
Turned down USC with a 25% merit scholarship.
My nephew chose Tufts over Cornell, BC, among others. He is graduating and has loved his time there!
D chose Tufts over Northwestern and Duke (among others). All great schools, but came down to fit and where she felt she thought she would be most happy and successful - it was the right choice for her. But no matter stats and fit for everyone else - this is your opportunity to chose for YOU.