<p>Tufts is a good fit for my D with respect to size, campus, academic and social diversity, lots of sports, etc. The only problem is that its in Boston, and she'd like to get away. Any thoughts on a comparable place for a physics/chem student with good but not HYPSM stats?</p>
<p>Maybe Rice?</p>
<p>Washington University in St. Louis?</p>
<p>Rice was my first thought, too. It is D1 rather than DIII, but has lots of intramural sports. It has access to lots of cultural offerings and has a great campus.</p>
<p>Second the WUSTL recommendation. Also, how about Northwestern? Somewhat bigger than Tufts, and maybe a bit more pre-professional and less undergraduate-focused, but still mid-sized and diverse, with excellent academics, great suburban Chicago location, and Big 10 athletics.</p>
<p>What about Georgetown?</p>
<p>University of Santa Clara. Fantastic location. Great sports - especially women's sports. Good sciences. Beautiful campus. Lots of opportunities in Silicon Valley. And pretty diverse,too (though, like Georgetown, lots of Catholics, but much less preppy.)</p>
<p>(Santa Clara is to Stanford as Tufts is to Harvard.)</p>
<p>If your daughter would like to try the South, how about Wake Forest?</p>
<p>(In line with mini's post -- although I suspect that Wake Forest alumni will disagree -- but in the minds of many applicants, Wake Forest is to Duke as Santa Clara is to Stanford as Tufts is to Harvard.)</p>
<p>Emory? It has great sciences.</p>
<p>My instincts may be a couple of decades out of date, but I have never heard Santa Clara described as Tufts to Stanford's Harvard. It's a decent regional Catholic school (with really good women's sports, yes). </p>
<p>I like some of the other suggestions better -- Northwestern, Wash U, Rice -- for the combination of size, market position (including attracting a decent number of strong students from outside the region), and location on the edges of an urban area. A couple of other ideas, using those criteria: Emory, Carnegie-Mellon, George Washington U, Johns Hopkins. Maybe Villanova. Maybe Oberlin. If you're willing to go a lot more urban, USC. Maybe she should think about Barnard, too. If she is willing to go farther from the bright city lights, maybe Colgate or Elon.</p>
<p>Univeristy of Rochester
Case Western
Syracuse
Tulane
Chicago
Dartmouth
Cornell
Brown
Johns Hopkins
Rice
Emory
Vanderbilt
Georgetown
U Virignia
UNC Chapel Hill
Wake Forest
William and Mary
NYU
Lehigh</p>
<p>Santa Clara University "flies under the radar screen". It is considered by USNews as a "masters school" meaning it is not a research university and it's not a LAC. The "ratings" (for what they are worth) usually focus on the universities and LACs, and don't give a mention to those schools in that "master school" category. Santa Clara University is ranked 2nd (and has been for a while) for schools in the west in that masters category. I would say it is not quite as competitive an admit as Rice or WashU...but the education is very good, the school is a nice size (10,000 overall, with about 4600 undergrads), and the location near San Jose is just terrific. The location smack in the middle of the Silicon Valley is pretty good for those interested in the technical fields and engineering. If you're going to look at Elon, look at SCU too. (Can you tell I have a child enrolled at the school?). It's a very accessible campus...three miles from the San Jose airport with a free shuttle that runs every 10 minutes. The train station is right across the street and from there you can go to San Francisco (about 45 minutes) or anywhere else in CA.</p>
<p>Northwestern, JHU, Georgetown, Dartmouth, WUSTL, Wesleyan all compete for the same applicants as Tufts. Too bad your D doesn't want to come here, I love it. :-)</p>
<p>Santa Clara would have been on my list as well. Along with Vanderbilt, Tulane, maybe Lehigh, Villanova, Emory, Northwestern, and whichever of the Claremont colleges might appeal (Pomona, Claremont-McKenna, Pitzer).</p>
<p>It also has a $450 million endowment for only 4,500 undergraduates, excellent financial aid, big on global studies, a first-rate business school, overall best women's sports programs in the country, and lots of internships in Silicon Valley. </p>
<p>(If my d. doesn't go Div I athletes, it is very high on the list - Thumper1 - if you ever want to e-mail me privately with more experience stuff, I'd love it.)</p>
<p>I second (third?) Wake Forest. I looked at Tufts during the selection process but didn't apply because Wake is so similar. </p>
<p>Colgate, Bucknell, Emory, U Richmond, Wesleyan, Northwestern, and possibly Oberlin seem similar.</p>
<p>I hear that Tufts shares a lot of cross applications with Brown - not sure why though.</p>
<p>Bucknell, Holy Cross, Davidson, and Colgate.</p>
<p>Twinmom- Brown and Tufts share many applicants because because they're both universities with a LAC feel. And they're geographically close -- people who wouldn't mind living in Boston, wouldn't mind living in Providence, and vice-versa.</p>
<p>Makes sense, Lolabelle. I think some Brown applicants are turned off by the extensive language requirement at Tufts - others obviously don't mind.</p>