<p>Oh god everyone please give it a rest. Emory, Tufts and Nortwestern are all nationally prestigious. They each have their advantages and disadvantages. Yes, Tufts has in the past been shadowed by Harvard & MIT. That's why the school has strived to make a name for itself as a highly selective International Studies, Humanities, and pre-med university that can stand on its own next to its' Cambridge neighbours, as well as other top institutions. Northwestern is highly regarded as having some of the best communications and engineering programmes in the US, and Emory also nationally renowned. We are literally arguing over trivialties. Not transferable - why would you post another comment, one that is highly illogical anyway, just to get the argument going again? NONE of these schools are "regional" schools - I'd understand if we were arguing between BU and Yale - but this is truly absurd. Stand back for a sec: Arguing over 3 of the finest schools in the US? Belittling each of them in turn? this thread needs to be brought to a close.</p>
<p>hey, chris. i know who you are! :)</p>
<p>I also am transferring out of Tufts. My experience at the school has been a very mixed one. Ultimately, I found my passion while at Tufts. But Tufts does not have the resources I need.</p>
<p>I have mixed feelings about leaving. But I will still be close to my Jumbos, so I'm not too upset. And I am excited to finally have the opportunity to study exactly what I want.</p>
<p>I honestly found Tufts to be a mixed bag across the board.</p>
<p>Well good luck to you confetti! I read your post history - going to 2 stops down the T? Traitor! :)</p>
<p>snuffles-- i know, i know. ;) but thank you! :)</p>
<p>i've told most of my friends, but i'm afraid to tell a few of my professors.</p>
<p>ClutchBaller,</p>
<p>You are pretty funny. You made claims you couldn't back up with credible source and links! Funny thing is you then asked me to provide them. You also don't understand the WSJ ranking and how it relates to my arguements. I am not gonna elaborate as that would create yet another stir here.</p>
<p>from collegeboard.com</p>
<p>Northwestern: 1320-1500, from Peterson's Guide: 1401 SAT average</p>
<p>Tufts: 1330-1480, gee: who has higher sats, they look very similar, with Northwestern having an edge</p>
<p>Profile of Class of 2010 Acceptances:
SAT-Verbal (mean): 715
SAT-Math (mean): 718
SAT-composite: 1433
SAT-Writing (mean): 710
ACT (mean): 31
mid-50% verbal: 680-760
mid-50% math 680-760
mid-50% writing: 670-760</p>
<p>Also note that this is for those accepted, not matriculated (same with the northwestern statistics you cited above).</p>
<p>snuffles,</p>
<p>The statistics that bball87 posted is for matriculated, not admitted. <a href="http://www.northwestern.edu/about/facts/%5B/url%5D">http://www.northwestern.edu/about/facts/</a>
<a href="http://www.ugadm.northwestern.edu/intl/facts/%5B/url%5D">http://www.ugadm.northwestern.edu/intl/facts/</a>
Average for Northwestern class of 2009 (enrolled): 1402
Now look at Tufts:
<a href="http://www.tufts.edu/ir/Fast%20Facts%200506.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.tufts.edu/ir/Fast%20Facts%200506.pdf</a>
Average for Tufts class of 2009 (enrolled): 1399</p>
<p>It's a very small difference but it does prove Tufts is definitely not more selective as some people here claimed. Northwestern's average would be even higher if we are talking about only their arts and sciences/engineering students (the only types that Tufts has).</p>
<p>Your stats for admitted is not very meaningful since the difference between those for admitted and matriculated can be quite large for schools with relatively low yield. One thing I do know is this: the size of Tufts' applicant pool is about the same as last year whereas Northwestern's just hit all-time high with 13% increase.</p>
<p>I am aware of the admitted versus matriculation disparity. However, the point of the argument (for the sake of arguing) is the admission range, regardless of how meaningful they are in comparison to matriculate data.</p>
<p>Students looking at schools the Northeast have numerous other nearby schools to consider: Harvard, Princeton, MIT, Wellesley, BC, BU, Amherst, Williams, Olin.... In the Midwest, there's much less competition: UChicago, UIll, UMich, Case Western, WUSTL (even taking schools in surrounding states into account). Therefore, it's only logical that more people would apply to Northwestern, that the people who did would be better-qualified, and that the people who got in would be more likely to enroll. My point? If you're only looking at schools in certain regions (which many people do), and if you're judging schools against others in their region, Northwestern is the only one (or one of only 2) for miles around, while Tufts is almost within walking distance of Harvard and MIT. I gauruntee you things would be different if Tufts were in Western Pennsylvania or Minnsesota, but it often gets overshadowed by its neighbors, which leads to the lack of knowledge of the school in some areas and the "lack" of applicants.</p>
<p>Also, Northwestern has numerous well-regarded Graduate schools, such as Kellogg and its Law and Medical Schools, whereas Tufts is undergraduate-focused. We don't have a law school, but then again neither does Princeton (at least not anymore: it folded back in the 1850s)</p>
<p>I am not sure how this plays into the discussion, but US News has the admission rate for Tufts at 26% and Northwestern at 33%.</p>
<p>ummm hasnt anyone ever taken a stats class before? do you really think there is a significant difference in average sat scores that are less than 10 points apart? if so, then you dont belong at either tufts are northwestern!</p>
<p>I didn't read all of this, but I think it's unfair to lynch chriswallace. Branding him as bitter is stupid. I think his thread title says it all - it's his personal, honest opinion of Tufts. And you know what? I'm glad he made this post.</p>
<p>CC is like ratemyprofessors. You're probably only getting the polarized points of view - people like me who love the school so much that they want to show its glory and help incoming freshmen, and people who were disappointed with the experience. These people probably wish that if someone had posted on CC a bad view of Tufts (rather than what I usually post, which are 'oh the pros totally outweigh the cons, and even so the cons are easily explained away' type things), then maybe they would have taken that into consideration and not gone there.</p>
<p>I remember being such a Dartmouth nut on CC. Now I realize that I would have been miserable there because of its isolation, that I really really need to be near a city the way Tufts is. But there wasn't a single post saying "I hate how far away Dartmouth is from everything", only "it's not a big deal at all and really lets you make really good friends on campus!" type things. Because few people who really dislike Dartmouth are inclined to go on the Dartmouth CC board and say what made them leave it.</p>
<p>I'm glad that chriswallace made this post because maybe there's a kid out there just like him that was considering Tufts, but, having read his post, will reconsider and end up at the place that really DOES suit him best.</p>
<p>That said, if there were factual inaccuracies in the post, whatever. But by definition an OPINION cannot be wrong. In his opinion the social life sucks. In someone else's, it doesn't. Who knows what circumstances made him dislike Tufts. It could be an inherent thing in his nature. It could be the ugly dorms like Haskell (lol!). It could be that he just so happened to not click with the people around him, or chose ****ty professors. The point is, it happened and he wanted out, and I think it's good because this forum probably provides a biased POV from people like me who are so Tufts-gushy. I bet there are way more people who like it, but aren't obsessed. And probably still others who are like, this is great...but after all, my first choice was Columbia, or whatever. It's nice to have some variety. I realized it when someone on the board told me that they were basing their decisions and expectations on my posts, and I got so horrified that I had raised the expectations so much that eventually Tufts would disappoint for some reason. So it's good to show the other side of the argument.</p>
<p>thanks, you are right blurinka. I felt like i needed to make people think about other angles of tufts and that not everyone is happy there. i wish I had thought more abuot the school before I went, and that is why i offered to answer any questions you all might have about the school (still havent gotten any haha). im not sure who labeled me "bitter" or why, i was very involved on campus and did fine with classes, i just really disliked it there. its not like i spent 2 years sulking around my dorm all mad that I was there. tufts was actually my first choice when i was a senior</p>