<p>^^ northwestern is overall alot better than tufts, individual department rankings, even if they were accurate, would be a moot point.</p>
<p>Just think about this, university of rochester has one of the best poly sci programs in the country, would you choose to go there over either school? no, of course not, unless you had some personal reason for doing so</p>
<p>^what you say about UR is true, but there's no such thing as a reliable undergraduate program ranking. I reject your contention that NU is better than Tufts: one is better for some ppl and the other is better for some others. Also, if you plan to live and work in the Midwest, go with NU. If you plan to work in the northeast, go with Tufts. If you plan to live in the south or west, it likely won't matter. I go to Tufts and i have friends at NU, and I think the two are very close in academic quality, and anyone who matters will know this. NU may be better known to the general public, but that's really only because of sports. Any difference in overall quality between the two schools is statistically insignificant, as anyone smart enough to get into Tufts or NU should know.</p>
<p>
[quote]
undergrad programs available is Gourman, and tufts' undergrad polisci ranks higher.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Gourman's ranking is usually very similar to NRC. In NRC, Tufts is 49th whereas NU is 22nd. I haven't found Gourman's ranking at the moment. But you know what? Based on you posting false claim before, I am not gonna trust you.</p>
<p>Gourman rank:
Northwester=13
Tufts=20</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>lolabelle, looks like you got some explaining to do.</p>
<p>All right, well I stand corrected. I hadn't actually seen Gourman's polisci ranking, but I figured since Tufts was ranked #1 by Gourman for IR, that polisci would fare nearly as well. Nevertheless, I still think that IR/PoliSci is a bigger Tufts draw. Sam Lee, don't act so defensive. I applied to Northwestern too, it was one of my top choices. I got into NU and Tufts, and picked Tufts for my personal reasons. I still think NU is a great school, but I would certainly disagree that it's "overall a lot better" than Tufts, as Elsifjdl said. They're peer institutions along with JHU and Gtown.</p>
<p>tufts is ranked higher than georgetown for IR?</p>
<p>and no offense guys, i don't think tufts is a bad school, at all, i didn't apply out of high school but if i had and was accepted i would have happily gone there in a second, but you compare NU and Tufts as a similie to JHU and Georgetown as peer institutions.</p>
<p>In USNWR, JHU is ranked 16 and Georgetown is ranked 23, that's a difference of 7 spaces. NU, on the other hand, is ranked 14, while Tufts is ranked 27, that is a difference of 13 spaces, almost twice as far apart. Tufts, in the rankings, is tied with UNC-CH and USC. I would definitely not say USC or UNC-CH were "peer institutions" with northwestern (and i don't think many would disagree with me), and therefore by the transitive property, i would not say Tufts was, either.</p>
<p>They are different schools in different places that cater to difference preferences, and it is not unfathomable that one would choose Tufts over NU, however, if you look at the revealed preferences ranking here: <a href="http://papers.nber.org/papers/w10803.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://papers.nber.org/papers/w10803.pdf</a> although i disagree in some part with their results (ie: Notre Dame and several public schools being placed so high because of brand/regional loyalty rather than actual academic quality), you will see that NU places 21st, among schools such as Duke, Williams, and Pomona, while Tufts places 40th with the likes of NYU and Michigan.</p>
<p>Not saying Tufts is a bad school, however the rankings and revealed preference choice among <em>most</em> students says that Tufts and Northwestern are not, in fact, "peer institutions" but rather most will perceive Northwestern as being "overall alot better"</p>
<p>Yes, Gourman ranks Tufts over Gtown for IR. I believe Gtown is ranked 4th, behind Princeton and JHU, and right ahead of Harvard. I would say any of those schools are top-notch for undergraduate IR, interchangeably.</p>
<p>I believe your reasoning -- using rankings, esp. one like USNWR -- to compare schools is flawed, so my only comment will be to say that I agree that USC and UNC-CH are not peer institutions to NU, but I also don't think they're peer to Tufts either. Tufts' relatively low ranking is due to its poor "peer assessment" score, which is the only 100% subjective part of the USNWR ranking. This is due to the fact that Tufts, only a few decades ago, was a small New England liberal arts college (just ~15 years ago, Tufts was a Top 5 LAC -- its move into the National Research Universities list is therefore very recent) which has blossomed into an international research university relatively recently, in terms of university histories. If you were to take the "peer assessment" score out, Tufts would rank much higher. There is no doubt that in the next few years that score will rise. Acceptance rate, SAT/ACT scores, etc. are very close (some #s are slightly higher, some are slightly lower) than those of JHU, Gtown, and NU. That's why I say very honestly that they are all peer institutions. And they are all great schools. I applied to all, got into all, and again, picked Tufts because for ME it was the best/ideal school on many levels.</p>
<p>lolabelle,</p>
<p>You made false claim one after another. I exposed and corrected you and now you tell me not to "act defensive". </p>
<p>Speaking on that, you were the one to first bring out that whole IR/poli sci rankings even when the OP said she/he didn't need comments about academics; the OP didn't even mention IR! Looks like you are the one being insecure about your school. Understandable as pretty every ranking out there works against Tufts (IR is the ONLY exception).</p>
<p>You must be right about everything Sam Lee. My school sucks and I must be a TOTAL EXCEPTION TO THE RULE as someone who got into Northwestern and Tufts. Obviously, if I got into such a ****ty school like Tufts, guardian angels must've guided me to an acceptance at your school that's SO much better. Please.</p>
<p>lolabelle,</p>
<p>Now please don't act defensive. :) Nobody is saying Tufts isn't a great school here. You are entitled to your opinion. You could have discussed the relation of IR with poli sci and said how Tufts is underranked in poli sci and how it's actually a better place for it than NU despite the ranking suggesting otherwise..etc. If you really know about poli sci depts of both schools, you could have talked about the differences in course offering..etc between two schools. All we ask from you is getting the facts straight.</p>
<p>People usually relate northwestern to economics, engineering, journalism, business (grad), education . But i think tufts is more known for its international relations/poli sci department .. everyone who wanted to go for IR had Tufts and GW in their list in my school. ... im just talking about popularity, not necessarily quality...</p>