Johns Hopkins or Tufts?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Johns Hopkins University
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<p>Johns Hopkins or Tufts for econ and why?</p>

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<p>While I don’t like to overemphasize rankings, it is a place to start. USNWR undergraduate rankings for national universities has Hopkins at 13 and Tufts at 29. In economics, Hopkins is in the top 25 while Tufts is unranked. Hopkins has a business school (Carey), Tufts does not.</p>

<p>Now for the more important stuff. While I like Tufts a lot, it really doesn’t compare very well to Hopkins on any measure I can think of. Hopkins’ faculty is more distinguished (use any methodology you want–Nobel prizes, NSF Fellows, McArthur Fellows, publications, or otherwise), the student body is stronger, and the facilities are much nicer. Hopkins’ campus is spectacular (it filled in for Harvard in the film “The Social Network”). Tufts has one top ranked professional program–Fletcher. Hopkins can match and raise in that field (SAIS is #1 or 2, depending on which list you look at). But Hopkins has Medicine (#2), Public Health (#1), Nursing (#1), Education (#6). You get the idea.</p>

<p>I know I’m biased but I can’t imagine anyone visiting both schools and preferring Tufts. Yes, I’m sure it probably has happened sometime–it’s just hard to imagine outside of having a girlfriend/boyfriend there.</p>

<p>The one thing I give Tufts is that Boston is a better city than Baltimore (although they are about identical in size). But Baltimore is not a bad city–just not as much fun as Boston. But that hardly outweighs everything else.</p>

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<p>I can see yiour biased. I visited both campuses and like Tufts better. I also liked the Fiske description of Tufts…</p>

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<p>Have you read anything about the econ departments on their websites and see what extracurricular and academic opportunities you get from each college?</p>

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<p>“I can see yiour biased. I visited both campuses and like Tufts better. I also liked the Fiske description of Tufts…”</p>

<p>Don’t you have your answer then? Of course people will be biased on a specific forum. Hopkins is a more renowned school for economics (based on any metric) and as a whole. that doesn’t make it wrong to choose Tufts if that’s your preference. From coast to coast, people know the Hopkins brand (they automatically assume you are intelligent whether warranted or not). Tufts has a harder time away from the east coast. You’ll also have a harder time competing with other Bostonians should you decide to stay (the colleges in Boston are then a double edged sword as you will have fun in a college town but must compete against Harvard, MIT, BU, BC, and Northeastern graduates for jobs). Additionally, the social life of Medford is suburban while Hopkins is urban. For industry, Hopkins econ grads often go on to top graduate schools or into consulting (Deloitte, Accenture, BCG, Bain). less grads are in finance. For grad school, the econ placement of students int top Ph.D.s is pretty good (Berkeley, Stanford, Princeton are not uncommon destinations). The differences between the two schools are pretty distinct.</p>

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<p>I would venture to say that Tufts, in general, provides a better, fuller undergraduate experience than Hopkins. It has only been in recent years that Hopkins has placed greater emphasis on the undergraduate experience–academically, socially, etc. Hopkins was founded as a graduate institution, and its focus has always been on its graduate and professional schools. There is no doubt that Hopkins is more prestigious, within academia and probably the broader public as well, but Tufts probably beats Hopkins in terms of undergraduate quality of life.</p>

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<p>I have been hearing recently that alot of students at JH focus on pre-med and it has a somewhat cutthroat atmosphere. Can someone at JH chime in on this?</p>

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<p>“I would venture to say that Tufts, in general, provides a better, fuller undergraduate experience than Hopkins. It has only been in recent years that Hopkins has placed greater emphasis on the undergraduate experience–academically, socially, etc. Hopkins was founded as a graduate institution, and its focus has always been on its graduate and professional schools. There is no doubt that Hopkins is more prestigious, within academia and probably the broader public as well, but Tufts probably beats Hopkins in terms of undergraduate quality of life.”</p>

<p>I don’t see how you can compare the experiences at Tufts and Hopkins unless you’ve attended both as an undergrad. Anything more is pure conjecture.</p>

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<p>“I have been hearing recently that alot of students at JH focus on pre-med and it has a somewhat cutthroat atmosphere. Can someone at JH chime in on this?”</p>

<p>That’s a rumor that’s been perpetuated by JHU rejects and non-affiliates ad-hominem. I’ve yet to find a SINGLE post by a JHU student on this forum that claims JHU is cut throat or insanely competitive. I’ve also yet to meet a single JHU student in real life that would agree to this.</p>

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<p>As for grad school placement, see here:</p>

<p><a href=“http://provost.tufts.edu/institutionalresearch/files/GradSchoolsbyMajor.pdf[/url]”>http://provost.tufts.edu/institutionalresearch/files/GradSchoolsbyMajor.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>vs:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.jhu.edu/careers/Employers/PGShighlightsClassof08.pdf[/url]”>http://www.jhu.edu/careers/Employers/PGShighlightsClassof08.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://www.jhu.edu/careers/Employers/PGShighlightsClassof09%20(3).pdf[/url]”>http://www.jhu.edu/careers/Employers/PGShighlightsClassof09%20(3).pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://www.jhu.edu/careers/Parents/PGShighlightsClassof2010%20(3).pdf[/url]”>http://www.jhu.edu/careers/Parents/PGShighlightsClassof2010%20(3).pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>As a freshman econ major at JHU, from what I gather it is a better place to be (for econ) than Tufts. However, that is not to say that Tufts is not a great school and will place you fine if you do well. Visit both and see what you like.</p>

<p>Hopkins is not competitive (against peers) in the slightest. You work hard, but no one is out to get you whatsoever. In fact, professors are glad to help out and will guide you along the way. They are always open to talk, particularly in smaller courses (such as freshman seminars, etc.)</p>

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<p>classclown is a Tufts booster who has been going around to different forums and promoting Tufts.</p>

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<p>Outside of “Chances” threads, it is these kind of discussions on CC that I truly can’t stand and find completely useless. When there are such posts it turns into a war between the students who support/attend/attended one university versus students who support/attend/attended the other university. In my opinion, when comparing great schools it comes down to personal preference not arbitrary assessments made by others. </p>

<p>Every year I link to what I wrote on this post (second entry):
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/johns-hopkins-university/704698-admissionsdaniel-returns-johns-hopkins-versus-college-x-university-y-institution-z.html?highlight=versus[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/johns-hopkins-university/704698-admissionsdaniel-returns-johns-hopkins-versus-college-x-university-y-institution-z.html?highlight=versus&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Just my $0.02, whether this was a legit post or not.</p>