Last year it wasn’t on the list for US News top universities, but this year tufts is…I am confused!!
Also, b/c LACs admissions tend to be a bit more unpredictable than typical universities (thats what many people have said), does Tufts follow this “rule” as well?
I would not put Tufts in the LAC category. More accurate to say it is a small-to-midsize private university with pre-professional and graduate programs not found at “true” LACs. Its admissions aren’t as predictable as large publics that admit 20k applicants, but it isn’t constrained in the same way as Amherst, Williams, and other LACs.
It is a mid-sized research university, not a LAC.
As for admissions, any school that is very selective and chooses its class (rather than guarantees admissions based on stats) is unpredictable because it will have the ability to create its class to meet its institutional needs. That means, from a practical point of view, that if you meet their threshold for admission and have something they want, you’ll be offered a spot. It also means that while you can think that you meet all the “criteria” for admission, you may be rejected because whatever it is that you offer, they already have. This year, Tufts accepted only 14.3% of its applicants. I believe that they said that something like only 25% of the people who applied were people who would not have done well there (i.e., were clear denials). Again, to translate, for everyone accepted, roughly 4 candidates of equal quality were not offered admission.
At many of the LACs, the unpredictability feels amplified because the incoming classes are small (around 500, for example) and the number of people that are needed to fill sports teams, play instruments in the orchestra, meet diversity needs may eat up roughly half of that when added to legacies. You’re then looking at about 250 spots for regular joes. Tufts is bigger and may need proportionately fewer applicants for some of those needs, but they are still getting to be choosy to the point that it’d be hard to say upfront if an applicant would be a sure thing or not.
Where did you find the 14.3% statistic?
There is a table around with this year’s numbers on it – I recall that Bowdoin had the same number. Pretty sure that the school released this number itself in at least venue. With decisions maybe?
The dean mentioned 14% in one of his blog posts, below:
http://admissions.tufts.edu/blogs/inside-admissions/post/decision-time/
Engineering is 11%, but I do not think it has been announced yet.
I just visited Emory a few days ago. Now I am deciding between it and Tufts. It’s gonna be a hard one. Yeah, Tufts this year as well as Emory were very competitive.
Where did you find the 11% statistic?
OP, I’m pretty sure Tufts has been on the “Universities” list for a very long time.
At an alumni dinner presentation the other day.
Tufts has always been a top 30 university on US News Ranking for Universities