NYU vs Tufts

Trying to decide between NYU and Tufts, as a prospective political science major. I’ve been toying with the idea of a journalism double major/career path on and off for about 2 years now, but I’m sure about poli sci. I got $60k in scholarships from NYU, $66k from Tufts, which for me translates to NYU probably putting me in debt $16k at the end of 4 years and Tufts making me debt-free. I think I love the city, have loved and cherished each city experience I’ve ever had, but I’ve grown up in suburbia so it’s hard to be sure. I took one trip to NY when I was a sophomore, but only briefly walked in Greenwich Village/Washington Square Park. I toured Tufts over the summer and enjoyed it - was my favorite Boston area school (accepted to BU, waitlisted at BC). I live an extremely independent lifestyle due to family circumstances, so in that sense I don’t think city life would be too overwhelming/shocking for me. Definitely want to study abroad, and NYU was kind of a dream school for a period for me, even though during the actual college app process I was pretty good at not having favorites. Thoughts?

ALSO - Waitlisted at Columbia, but fully aware that coming off that waitlist is almost impossible. However, it’s basically the only option that would kick out both NYU and Tufts for me.

Wow talk about different schools. Do you want a contained campus and a traditional college experience or a very different city experience. Seems like they are two dramatically different experiences so which suits you better?

These are two VERY different schools. Tufts has a campus in a Boston suburb. NYU does not have a campus and is way larger than Tufts. NYU has more freshman than Tufts has total undergrads. Keep in mind that NYC is very expensive to live in. Food and entertainment are NYC prices. Only 82% of students who enter NYU graduate in four years, compared with 89% at Tufts. If it takes you more than four years it will cost you even more.

Regarding 4-year graduation rates, U.S. News has Tufts at 87% and NYU at 75%.

https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/highest-grad-rate

Well that’s interesting. I got the Tufts figure from the CDS and the NYU figure from its website. I think U.S. News is a year behind the most recent CDS. But that would not account for the huge discrepancy between the USNews and website rates for NYU. I did think 82% seemed a little high for four-year graduation from NYU. Just my gut.

I appreciate all of the comments so far, but most of those are things I’m already aware of. As I said, I toured Tufts and have been to NYU, albeit briefly. My siblings also have friends who went to NYU, so I’ve heard the ugly stories but both said they were overall happy to have gone. I’m more focused on their political science programs and how they’re different, as well as how my interest in journalism may affect my time at either school. I know NYU has a very good journalism program, but Tufts doesn’t even have a journalism major? Which would mean grad school, in my mind. Please let me know what you think in that regard too and whether or not you think grad school would be a necessity at Tufts if I decide on a journalism career. Thank you.

Anyone?

Hi, current student here at Tufts. Though I am a science major and do not know much about journalism or polisci, I know many friends who are polisci majors here who have gotten into many great internships for the summer and are all very politically active, often joining protests downtown. Tufts CIVIC is also a great organization for political discussion in which students challenge and motivate each others’ political thoughts/views and I know many people on my floor who are a part of that, so you will want to look into that. Moreover, the Tisch College of Civic life offers more than 100 paid summer internships (search Tisch Summer Fellows) only available for Tufts undergrads ranging from volunteering at the Boston Asian Historical society to being congressional support fellows and policy research interns at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.

Regarding journalism, although there is no journalism major and I do not know if grad school will be necessary as I am pre-med, the English department is definitely strong and has a lot of class discussion based on the classes I have taken. Also, our newspaper the Tufts Daily is one of the best in the nation. (Look into this https://admissions.tufts.edu/blogs/jumbo-talk/post/interested-in-journalism for more info). I also know many of my friends who are double or even triple majoring so its definitely possible to do polisci and something journalism related.

Also, study abroad is HUGE here. About half of the junior class studies abroad and you get Tufts credit for it with no extra cost or deduction in financial aid (I just got this checked with the study abroad office so that is great news for me). I think a even greater portion of the international relations and polisci majors go abroad. I am a sophomore and many of my friends and I will be studying abroad next year. My roommate and I are personally going to London. My lab partner is going to Paris, and I know a dozen more who are going to Oxford, Hong Kong, and Tokyo. It’s definitely possible that you can select a journalism track abroad and receive Tufts credit.

Anyways, NYU is great as well and I just don’t think you can go wrong with both. Hope this helps!

@Bjklw2a Thank you! Definitely very helpful & I appreciate the perspective.

I am a journalist. Most journalists have never taken a journalism course in their lives. To be a successful journalist you need to get a broad education, be curious about everything, and get as much experience as humanly possible. Go to a college that has a DAILY, INDEPENDENT campus newspaper. Walk into the newspaper office on day one and find out how to join as a trainee. Then work you way up the editorial ladder and take on progressively more responsibility. This will help you get summer internships. By the time you graduate you will have a bucket-load of clips.

What do I mean by an independent newspaper? One that has a budget independent of the university, that is not overseen by the university, that is not part of a course or that has a faculty adviser, and that is 100% student-run. The Tufts Daily and The Washington Square News both meet those criteria.

The film and media studies minor works really well bridging the the gap between a more “academic” liberal arts degree and the various media professions in the “working world”. The model of a more broad liberal arts degree coupled with a “pre -professional minor” can be more effective than a more narrow pre-professional major.

The FMS minor includes “practice courses” (there are two available in journalism FMS41&42) and a faculty supervised internship (FMS99 -where you write a paper and make a presentation) for academic credit. There is also the option for a senior honors thesis, which can be a piece of journalism. Study abroad courses can also be counted toward the minor.
https://as.tufts.edu/fms/programs/FMSminor
https://as.tufts.edu/fms/courses/practice

There can also be interesting courses available via Tufts’ Experimental College. These courses are taught by people from the Boston area. They vary each semester, but this fall, there is a course on global journalism, taught by an award winning journalist who also happens to be a Tufts alum:

https://excollege.tufts.edu/sites/default/files/courses2019fall.pdf

My daughter was able to combine a major in psychology with a minor in FMS (including a couple of internships and an Experimental College course) into a successful career in digital marketing/advertising in New York City.

@midwesternwannabe - Congratulations on those scholarships! And don’t give up on Columbia. They will definitely take some students off the waitlist, although you will probably have to commit to Tufts or NYU before you know for sure if Columbia does that.

As several people posted helpfully above, these are two very different schools. Tufts has a small, quirky, bright, intellectual, student body, while NYU’s undergrad population is huge, making it difficult to find one’s “people.” As admissions has become more competitive at NYU, the students have gotten better, but they are still not, on average, as good as the students at Tufts. However, the Political Science Dept at NYU is one of the best in the country. It is heavy into game theory and economics, so look carefully at the course catalogue at each school and at the prereqs for upper level courses.

The other, fundamental, difference between these two schools is that Tufts is undergrad focussed, while NYU is grad student-oriented. Classes tend to be very large at NYU, and even when they are not, students are not pushed to write well, if they are asked to write at all. On the other hand, if you are a gifted writer, you will stand out among your peers at NYU and find professors willing to mentor you.

And as @brantly helpfully advised above, attending a college with a daily, independent newspaper - and committing to writing for that paper for four years - is what will help you figure out if journalism is something you really want to pursue. If you are visiting each campus, drop in to the campus newspaper’s office and talk to reporters and editors about their internships and future professional plans. That will provide invaluable information about journalism opportunities both on and off campus. Best of luck!

I would like to make a correction to the above - I don’t agree at all with what @worriestoomuch says about NYU. The average class size is not huge… NYU is not “Big State U”. 60% of NYU classes have 20 students or less and only 10% have greater than 50 students. ALL Freshman are required to take a year long writing class and it’s seminar-style. My D (who is a freshman) says her writing class has dozen students in it and her teacher is wonderful. I don’t have a student in Poli Sci at either school but I do know that undergrads at Tufts have complained that the dept is too focused on their grad students and their research. I know this because I’m friends with one of the profs at the Fletcher School who has had to field the complaints, lol.

That said - both schools could be great fits for your interests but I can’t imagine them both being a great fit for the same student. The schools really do have a very different feeling. NYU has no campus to speak of, no sports culture, no built-in community. It’s a huge school and you are in the city from the moment you leave your dorm. I personally would say - you can get where you want to go either place. Focus on what you want from your college experience outside of academics and the decision should be pretty easy.

@CaMom13 - As someone who taught at NYU for 15 years, until two years ago , and at an ivy league school for 5 years prior, I think I know what I’m talking about when it comes to NYU. Over the course of those 15 years, my class size doubled each year - from 15, to 30, to 60, to 120, at which point I said no more students - and those were upper level, not introductory, courses. I also co-taught the honors thesis seminar in my dept and consistently encountered extremely bright, hard working students who had no idea how to write an outline, an argument, a topic sentence, let alone a research paper. I don’t think NYU is alone among colleges/universities that fail to teach its students how to write well. It is just the one that I’m familiar with and wanted to give the OP the benefit of my experience. But as I also said above, a student who is already a strong writer when they enter NYU will stand apart from his/her peers, and get a lot of support from faculty. I was fortunate to mentor students like this and have seen them successfully enter excellent med schools, law schools, and Ph.D programs. Best of luck to your daughter…

Not too worried about my daughter @worriestoomuch, thanks. Her background in academic writing is already substantial and she is thriving at NYU. Your experience teaching is your own and I won’t dispute it but you’re mistaken in thinking that it pertains to all NYU students. So glad you’ve found someplace where you can be a happier instructor.

@worriestoomuch @CaMom13 Thank you both so much for your responses! This has been a tough decision that I’m still mulling over. In regards to writing, I’ve been lucky enough to have a lot of college prep in terms of writing thanks to my high school English teachers. I think I’m a pretty good writer, but that factor is definitely something to consider. I also am concerned about class size, so thank you for your perspectives on that as well.

@midwesternwannabe - have you had a chance to visit both schools or will you have the chance? I really think you need to want the NYC life in order to be happy at NYU - it’s so different from the typical university. Tufts is a much more traditional campus and experience. If you can’t visit, honestly Tufts is probably the safer bet.

@camom13 -

The funny thing is that there are no Poly Sci grad students at Tufts (the Poly Sci department does not even offer any graduate degrees) so it would be pretty hard for the department to be too focused on them…

@Mastadon - my friend teaches at The Fletcher School, which is graduate IR so I don’t know whose complaints they were hearing. My point was that complaints that professors focus on graduate work and their own research to the detriment of undergraduate teaching is common to both schools and in fact, to many schools.