I was admitted to Arts and Sciences, but I’m interested in later transfering to the School of Engineering for computer science. Do you know the acceptance rate for internal transfers? Also, how stressful is the atmosphere at Tufts?
I have tons of friends who got into the school and transferred into engineering (it’s honestly a joke to transfer in; they let essentially anyone in as long as you choose classes correctly and do it early enough). I would say you have no reason to worry if you got into the school. I don’t know a single person who was rejected by the engineering school after being admitted.
I am pretty busy with finals so I can answer in more depth if you PM me in about a week or so, but I think Tufts isn’t too stressful in any way that other engineering programs won’t be. Don’t get me wrong, some of the classes are extremely difficult (in my opinion), but Tufts isn’t a cutthroat environment or competitive in any way. I have lots of friends who are willing to help out if there’s something I don’t understand, and people in general are extremely collaborative and supportive. It feels like the only person I’m competing with is myself, and it’s just because I have my own personal expectations that I would like to meet, and hopefully exceed.
I’d say your stress level will depend on you as an individual and how seriously you take academics. College can be as stressful, or stress-free, as you want it to be. I have friends who skate by taking the minimum to graduate, and I have friends who are pushing themselves and couldn’t possibly be doing more with their time. I try to push myself as hard as possible, but I still have time to go to the gym 5-6 times a week, I do research/work in a major chemistry lab at Tufts for 6 hours each week, and I’m studying one of the hardest majors at Tufts with a relatively good GPA. I think my GPA will definitely be going down this semester, but there are a lot of things that contributed to that.
Don’t come into college expecting all of the classes to be easy. Tufts has an extremely rigorous engineering program and it’s as demanding as other top programs. Engineering classes tend to have more grade deflation than A&S classes, but that’s kind of par for the course.
Also notable: I don’t have any AP credits, so I am starting off with basically no prior knowledge in a lot of classes and having to take every single requirement instead of having a credit in place of them. For specific information about majors/classes and stuff like that, I’d be happy to answer any questions you have.
Thanks loads for taking time to write such a thoughtful response. It’s great to hear from someone actually attending the school, instead of speculation. Good luck on those finals!
@BambooForest for a discussion on the reverse switch and the pro/con of CS in A&S vs Engineering you can read this:
My Daughter is switching out to A&S this fall and I’m a bit concerned that she’ll be behind on distribution requirements in A&S having spent 2 credits on intro ES courses and 2 on intro Phys/Chem (she only needs one). I can’t imaging switching in to Engineering from A&S- you’d probably be looking at a couple summer courses or 6-course semesters to complete the degree in 4 years (Eng requires 38 credits vs 34 for A&S).
If you took and received 5’s on AP Chem and Physics you’ll be in better shape. If you did not take AP Chem or Physics I would recommend you do some serious prep before you take Chem 1 and Phys 11, they are very difficult classes. Also I think you need to take Phys 11 for the Engineering degree vs Phys 1 in A&S.
A 5 on AP Calc BC wouldn’t hurt either, although she tells me that many students choose to repeat Calc because it is slightly different (Applied vs whatever they teach in high school).
Regardless, my strong recommendation would be to discuss this with someone as soon as possible in September. If this is something you want to do, you need to plan for it so you are not repeating classes sophomore year or looking at taking 11-12 classes senior year just to graduate on time.
My Daughter was never a good match for Engineering, so probably not the best measure, but she says everyone is very stressed out in her Engineering classes. And COMP15 when Mark Sheldon teaches it.
Transferring between the schools is easy.
If you really want to do Comp Sci in Engineering, i would transfer now for a couple of reasons.
First, it’s easier to transfer from Engineering to A&S, because engineers need a few more credits and the curriculum has lots of requirements, many of which need to be done in a specific order. It’s harder to catch up transferring into Engineering.
Second, engineers get to register for courses before A&S, which can be a big advantage.
Third, the Comp Sci major in engineering gets more respect in the marketplace than one in A&S.
Fourth, engineers’ track record for having jobs waiting when they graduate is really good.
My kid went to Tufts Engineering (I’m an A&S alum) and had a job in place very early, which made for a much more enjoyable senior year.