My thoughts on Tufts

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I signed up for CC just for this post, although I have been a browser of these forums for quite some time. Some things to note before you read: I am from the west coast, I am a freshman, and I am a guy.</p>

<p>I'm just going to start out by saying simply, I hate Tufts! To me, it feels like any other college would be a better place to go to school. Last year when I chose Tufts, I didn't get the chance to visit during the winter, which was a big mistake coming from sunny CA. I wish now more than anything that I had, but I'm not sure if that would have deterred me. So the reason I'm writing this post is that I told myself that I could write an essay about why I hate Tufts, so now I'm going to try.</p>

<p>Tufts was not my top choice for a school. Originally I wanted to stay on the west coast, but I didn't get into my dream school, and this became the only school I could attend financially, as Community College was not an option for me at the time (ironically, I'm pretty sure I'll end up there next year). </p>

<p>So lets just start with the setting. To me, there's nothing good about the setting. I had been to Boston a few times before coming here, but its nothing like I heard. Boston, to me it seems, is a collection of small towns, or that's how its residents would like it to be seen. Every part of Boston is a suburb, and the actual city itself is very small. The town of Somerville (which is where Tufts is) is not a good college town. Its really only Davis Square, which has a couple places to eat and a local movie theater. Medford is equally as boring, if not more so. For those of you that don't know, Tufts is built on a hill, dividing the residence halls to those located uphill and those located downhill. To me, all this does is cut the campus in half. Unless you know people living in the opposite place from you, you're probably not going to become close friends with them. One huge complaint of mine is that the Tufts campus just doesn't feel like a campus. There are streets throughout the campus, and it feels very integrated with the town. Some people might like this, but to me it just takes away from the experience. The campus is also TINY! I can easily walk to the farthest part of campus within campus, no sweat, and that's going uphill. Again, maybe some people like the small campus, but I hate it. Also, the dorms are very old, and feel like they were designed to maximize efficiency and fit as many students as possible into a small, confined space.</p>

<p>Now the people. Honestly, the stereotypes are true. Everyone here is someone who didn't get into an ivy. They try and mask this by saying things such as "everyone at Tufts is brilliant" and "Tufts is just as good as any ivy league," both of which simply aren't true. Tufts has nowhere near the same resources as Harvard. Its got a significantly smaller campus and less-renown faculty, unless of course you go to Tufts and you're from the northeast. Then Tufts is one of the best school in the country magically. Where I'm from, most people haven't heard of it, or if they have, there's no comparison with an ivy, which is definitely accurate. I've visited friends at Harvard and Yale, and their schools nearly put me into shock. Its obvious that they're the two best school in the country just from the beauty and gigantic campus, even though Yale has roughly the same number of undergraduates. The people think they're the coolest people on the planet from what I can tell, although all they do is study and drink a little. </p>

<p>Including this semester (my second), I'll have taken 10 classes, and only one teacher is in any way a better teacher than those I had in high school, and she's considered one of the very best teachers at Tufts. For comparison, I went to a 4000 plus student public high school with not enough desks for all the students in many classes. This might change in upper level classes, I have no idea. The academics could be considered challenging to some, although I didn't learn an exceptional amount, nor any more than I did in high school. The teachers seemed much more focused on research than teaching undergraduates.</p>

<p>And parties. Where do I start? Again, people think they're as cool as jesus here. The part scene is generally incredibly lame though. I've never had a problem getting into a frat, which would be cool except the parties aren't fun. On any weekend there's probably two frat parties to go to, that's it. At least one will be a dance party. Also, the people here are just generally unattractive, although they clearly have the opposite perception. I've been to some amazingly fun house parties though, I will say that, and again, as a freshman, no trouble getting in at all. </p>

<p>And then there's the weather. Its cold and snowy, which I expected, and I have no problem with surprisingly. The main thing that gets to me is that it gets dark so early!!! At the peak of winter, it would be dark by 4, maybe 4:40. Its pretty hard to deal with when you only get 4 hours of sunlight on the weekends from when you wake up, and to top it off it's cloudy more than half the year. Snow is beautiful though, I have to say that much.</p>

<p>That's all for now, I can't think of anything else to say, but I'm sure I will soon and add to this. Please feel free to comment and everything. Thanks for reading.</p>

2

<p>To restate your preferences for transfer:

  1. area gets more sunlight in winter.
  2. More stuff available to do in the immediate vicinity of the school.
  3. Accessible to a major city that is more useful to college students than Boston
  4. School’s campus is larger, yet less divided by hills or streets
  5. more focus on undergraduate teaching
  6. More socially oriented student body, with lower academic credentials, (so consequently did not apply to, and get rejected from, schools like Yale)
  7. Is extremely low cost or gives amazing financial aid.</p>

<p>Is that about it?
Maybe people can come up with some suggestions. though probably no place meets all your criteria, some of them are in conflict I think.</p>

3

<p>I’m curious what other schools you applied to or considered. Seems strange that Tufts, not known for stellar aid, was the only school you could afford. Did you consider any of Tufts’ peer schools (i.e WUSTL, Hopkins, Rice, Lehigh, Emory, etc.)? How about the Ivies themselves? What about your state schools? I think California might have one or two decent ones.</p>

4

<p>They are in conflict, which is kind of a problem I think. I’d like a big school with some school spirit that has a focus on undergrad education. Also, the UC system is great, but I didn’t get into the one I really wanted to, and I applied to JHU but didn’t get in, and I didn’t apply to the others. You think Emory or Rice would be a good fit?</p>

5

<p>As for sunlight, I found these, maybe somebody else has a better source:
[Sunshine</a> Hours Page<a href=“See%20chart%20near%20bottom%20of%20page,%22Average%20Daily%20Sunshine%20Hours%20in%20Winter,%20Continental%20United%20States%22”>/url</a></p>

<p>[url=&lt;a href=“http://www.sureguard.com.au/solar_how_does_it_work.html]Solar”&gt;http://www.sureguard.com.au/solar_how_does_it_work.html]Solar</a> Energy, Solar Power, FAQ](<a href=“http://web.archive.org/web/20080424080902/http://www.thewellers.com/weller43/sunshine.htm]Sunshine”>Sunshine Hours Page)</p>

6

<p>"Did you consider any of Tufts’ peer schools (i.e WUSTL, Hopkins, Rice, Lehigh, Emory, etc.)? "</p>

<p>I don’t think most of these schools will have the type of student body OP is looking for.
Maybe Vanderbilt might. But I think OP may be happier with peers & social environment by moving down in academic selectivity, not parallel or up.</p>

7

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<p>It doesn’t get dark early in California in the winter? I must have missed that fact when I learned about the earth’s seasonal rotation.</p>

8

<p>tomofboston, if you look at the chart I referenced in #5 above you will see that there are geographical differences in this regard, which IMO someone is allowed to care about, if it bothers them.</p>

9

<p>OP, some more possibilities in locations with more sunlight: Tulane, University of Arizona, American, Occidental.</p>

<p>You’ve given a long list of things that you are unhappy about. How about a list of things you really want? Also, why did you choose Tufts? If you’re going to transfer, it’s like a romantic breakup–you don’t want to repeat the same mistakes. :)</p>

10

<p>It has never gotten dark at 4:00 at home. Thanks for the post about sunlight, that’s really interesting. I would say that Vanderbilt is a step up from Tufts, not down though.</p>

11

<p>For the latest sunset, I think you want to be further south, but also further west in your time zone.</p>

<p>Nashville is all the way at the Eastern edge of the Central Time Zone, unfortunately.</p>

12

<p>I’m sorry to hear that you’re so unhappy. That sounds rough. I can’t pretend to be familiar with every school, but I can give you some suggestions. Your comments about the parties sound like you might prefer the party scene at a slightly bigger school - or else one that just isn’t populated mostly by New England kids (haha…and I say this as a lifelong CT resident, albeit one who’s currently in MN). The catch is that it’ll be hard to meet all of your criteria at once.</p>

<p>One place that immediately popped into mind was the College of William and Mary - beautiful campus, much warmer weather, bigger social scene, and probably less of an academic “inferiority complex.” That being said, Williamstown is very small - it’s really pretty and quaint, but small. Similarly, I’d suggest Davidson, but again - no city. Same for Wake Forest.</p>

<p>UVA is much larger, but Charlottesville is a great college town, and the atmosphere, attitudes, and general weather patterns seem to fit in much better with your exectations (students are known to be preppy, though). Vanderbilt also sounds like a good fit for you - Nashville is awesome, weather is great, and they actually give really good financial aid packages (although I don’t know what it is like for transfer students). Northwestern also sounds like it would fit you (although it is outside of Chicago, so in the winter it might get dark fairly early, and it is a peer school). I know that all of these are “peer schools,” but maybe you’ll feel more comfortable at a school where you don’t feel like you’re surrounded by New Englanders all the time. Ditto for Michigan - great college town, but bigger and somewhat cold.</p>

<p>Also - on the smaller side - but have you looked into any of the Claremont Colleges in Southern California? Specifically Claremont McKenna or Pomona - both are smaller, but the consortium means that there are plenty of people to meet, and the town is very different from Medford, Massachusetts. </p>

<p>On a final not, as a lifelong East Coaster - I understand being annoyed by the weather, but it doesn’t get dark THAT early! Maybe in December it gets dark around 4:30, but by now the sunset is around 5:15 (I googled it). Not a huge difference, but it doesn’t exactly get dark at 4 PM all winter long. :)</p>

13

<p>Sorry you are unhappy, that’s unfortunate. But it doesn’t get dark that early. And Harvard’s campus is more intertwined with streets than Tufts and Harvard has less impressive parties. ;)</p>

<p>I think you seem to be an outlier for Tufts, as most kids seem to be happy and to counter your point, I know plenty of kids that have turned down ivies for Tufts.</p>

<p>No offense, but you are a freshman with one semester experience. You can’t make broad generalizations about an institution.<br>
But you can make a statement about your feelings. And if it’s not a fit, you should transfer.</p>

<p>You clearly seem unhappy. But from your description, I don’t understand why you wouldn’t pick a school like Vandy or something that is warmer and bigger? It appears you like party scenes and bigger schools and warmer climates. If that’s the case, check out the southern schools or going back to California.</p>

<p>Lastly, you seem semi-■■■■■-esq from a user who several weeks ago was named lizzyisgreat but who has learned the flaws in their story. One common reason is that your name is nyc…but you are from cali and “go” to school in Boston. The other reason is that you and lizzyisgreat both happen to have a birthday of January 1st. That’s very…coincidental? Yet if the argument is that you just put a date, the year is pretty specific. If you are a ■■■■■, that’s pretty silly. Especially since it’s actually colder in Kansas than it is in Boston and Oklahoma is having worse weather than Boston is. And your description of things seems very distorted. </p>

<p>I also find it odd that you claim you have learned nothing new since high school. I severely doubt that. The teachers at Tufts are known to be more focused on students and more welcoming. And it’s way tougher (Tufts doesn’t accept Harvard’s organic chemistry for transfer credit because apparently it’s not hard enough). In contrast, schools like Harvard depend on a peer effect in which they have less teacher focus and more student-to-student learning. You could have a bad professor, like at every university, but it seems silly seeing how you have only had 5 classes (and at most, at introductory levels). You distort it by saying you have had 10. Tufts has not even had its second semester for 2 weeks. Plus, to have time to visit Yale and Harvard? </p>

<p>And you complain about party scenes yet say that those schools study a lot and drink a little? Or that you make a generalization that EVERYONE is an ivy reject or something? I also wonder how you can’t find Tufts uphill campus not a campus. I have visited the school, I know it pretty well. Then you complain about uphill and downhill and friend while saying the campus is really small? I don’t get that. </p>

<p>And a lot of schools or old. Reminds me of that scene in the Social Network where the two twin brothers break the door knob to Larry Summers/the President’s door. I don’t get that. Seems a little odd. But that’s just my two cents.</p>

14

<p>If the OP is really the ■■■■■ lizzyisgreat reincarnated, she needs to get counselling and therapy ASAP. </p>

<p>Most students would give anything to be in her position at Tufts and I see no need to cater to her whining about the fact that Tufts is not completely perfect for her and her neurotic preferences.</p>

15

<p>so transfer and stop whining like a baby.</p>

16

<p>among other things, I’ve never been to Kansas or Oklahoma. To be honest I couldn’t point them out on an unlabeled map of the united states. Also, I was born in NYC, lived there till I was 3, then moved out to CA. Its not that I learned nothing, but that the classes are nothing special. Yes I have visited both Harvard and Yale. I have a close friend at each. I visited each for a weekend last semester. Is that impossible somehow? In the 10 classes, I’m counting my second semester classes. Thanks anyways though, Im going to look into Vandy</p>

17

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<p>There is no need for further comment.</p>

18

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You certainly missed the part about how latitude affects the length of the day ;)</p>

<p>Check this out: <a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_length[/url]”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_length&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

19

<p>I am currently a junior year at Tufts and I created this account just to reply to this post. </p>

<p>A few of your points are valid, others are not. You’re point on the weather is true, and Boston/New England weather will always be fairly brutal. If this is a dealbreaker, then you need to go back to Cali. It’s that simple. However, there are always freshmen who for whatever reason just aren’t ready for college and to be away from home and would be fairly miserable at any college in general.</p>

<p>However, you’re rant on the “ivy league reject” sounds like something I’d hear from a true high school senior who sleeps with the US news ranking under his or her pillow. Sorry you didn’t get into Stanford and can’t brag to all of your high school friends, most of whom you will never talk to again, about it. </p>

<p>No one cares what school, ivy or state, you go to after about sophomore year. When you’re applying to things, I can promise you will never, EVER be asked “well…why didn’t you go to Dartmouth/ Cornell, etc?”. This is if your interviewer even cares where you went to undergrad…most don’t (yes, even if you went to Harvard). When you’re an upperclassman, you’ll be glad to didn’t go to a masochistic undergrad (eg. MIT) because life is too short and you’ll get tired sitting behind a textbook. Plus, it’s all about GPA anyway.</p>

<p>Some professors are better than others, but this is actually the best part of the school. I love the professors here. They really do care how you do, both inside and outside of the classroom. If you’re willing to make the effort, they are too. Hands down the best part of this school. I have NEVER, EVER, had a prof so busy with research that they didn’t care about the class and I am a chemistry major. In fact, I could see why someone would be upset that there isn’t more research here. </p>

<p>I really enjoyed the small campus because you could leave your dorm ten minutes before class and get there on time. Plus, you always get to see your friends on the way to class. </p>

<p>About the people, some are friendly, some aren’t. I did find it harder to make friends at Tufts than in high school and people here can definitely be more into their four or five person social webs and if you’re not in that web by the end of pre-orientation, forget about it. I have noticed run into more students this year who are stuck up, which is disapointing. You go to college to get a great education and a high paying job, if you have a ton of friends that’s just an added bonus. Having a good group of friends is more luck than anything else.</p>

20

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<p>Geesh, this coming from thesenior3849, a Tufts junior. Truly amazing!</p>

<p>actually, sad…very sad…</p>