<p>By a long shot? That seems a bit extreme. Maybe I’m a little biased because I’m interested in IR, but Tufts has some top-notch undergrad programs.</p>
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<p>lol, this is exactly something my mom would say.</p>
<p>I do think there are differences beyond environment at between, say, Harvard and Wellesley, however. There are indisputable differences in resources, endowment-per-student, alumni networks, and inter/national draw.</p>
<p>And where do you get your source from?</p>
<p>I am sorry but you have made an assertion without any evidence. I am challenging that assertion. The burden of affirmation is on you to justify your claim. Especially if it’s to the extreme in regards to “a long shot.”</p>
<p>I am not saying Wellesley isn’t a great school. It’s one of the elite institutions in the country, but to say that it somehow overshadows another elite institution like Tufts boggles my mind. Especially when several posters, on their beliefs, have posted Tufts higher or Wellesley and Tufts being tied. Sort of belies your assertions.</p>
<p>Sigh, this is silly.</p>
<p>Don’t both responding to informative’s posts. He (I assume) is a well-known trollish provocateur with an apparent BC background who regularly attempts to bash BC “rivals” such as Tufts and Holy Cross, for example. And as soon as Northeastern gains even more acceptance and credibility as a high-level Boston destination, (mis)informative will probably denigrate that school as well. </p>
<p>For my own part, I agree (and have always agreed) with Pizzagirl’s pragmatic and common-sense take on college rankings and relative “prestige.” She is one of the very, very few posting on this site who “get it right.”</p>
<p>I agree with just<em>the</em>facts 100%. Very well put. Informative is a BC ■■■■■ and actually makes the school look bad.</p>
<p>How about Tufts engineering? Any opinions on that?</p>
<p>Sherlock, you are an international and you’ve said in other posts that you don’t really know the reputations of American colleges. Because of that, you may not be familiar with the prestige of the women’s colleges historically – as they were where the “better” classes went, and where smart girls went before the Ivies were open to women.</p>
<p>Amherst and Williams? LOL! Why not add Brown, Dartmouth and Yale while you are at it! Heck, even you might as well mention Columbia. None of those colleges or universities are within reasonable commuting distance of Boston.</p>
<p>The top 5 IN Boston (or within a 20 minute drive from city center):
Harvard
MIT
Tufts
Boston College
Boston University</p>
<p>I left Wellesley out because it is only open to women.</p>
<p>I’ll rank the ones worth ranking</p>
<p>Harvard
MIT
Amherst/Williams
Tufts
Boston College
Holy Cross/Brandeis
Emerson
BU
Northeastern</p>
<p>hey anyone! Any opinions on tufts engineering?</p>
<p>Tufts is good but not great in Engineering. Tufts’ strengths are in IR and the Liberal Arts.</p>
<p>@Alexandre: How would you compare tufts engineering against vanderbilt engineering. Vanderbilt ranks somewhat higher than tufts in engineering but vandy is also situated in nashville, TN as opposed to tufts’ location in boston. I suppose employment for engineers is more abundant in Boston than in Nashville (I am supposing so even after considering that a lot of jobs in boston will be filled by MIT and Harvard undergrads). Correct me if I am wrong.</p>
<p>I think Vanderbilt’s Engineering program is a little better than Tufts’, but neither is particularly strong. </p>
<p>I am not sure how accurate your assumption regarding job options. Boston engineering firms have access to several universities, including MIT, Olin, Harvard, Brown, BU and Northeastern, all of which are located within very close proximity. Should a firm not mind travelling a little but, Cornell, Columbia, Princeton, RPI, WPI and Penn (to name a few) are all reasonably close. </p>
<p>Vanderbilt on the other hand is not surrounded by quite so many local or regional options. Purdue could well be the closest Engineering powerhouse, and it is located almost 600 miles away. Georgia Tech is roughly the same distance the other way. Therefore, although Boston may have a larger market for Engineers, this market is served by far more university options.</p>
<p>Harvard, MIT,Williams,Amherst,Wellesley,Tufts, Holy Cross, Smith, Brandeis, Boston College, BU, Northeastern.</p>
<p>With your posting history, par72, where you placed Holy Cross is no surprise! :)</p>
<p>Wellesly higher than Tufts? You gotta be joking. And Tufts equals Amherst. (scale: if Tufts = 9, then Amherst = 9, Williams = 9.4)</p>
<p>As an international, what is your basis for making any judgment on how schools are perceived, Sherlock?</p>
<p>@Pizzagirl: Internationals ain’t dumb. DUH!!!</p>
<p>I guess you attend Wellesley or one of the colleges I or other users ranked lower than you think. That explains your aggression. Don’t even think of thinking about me the same way. I am NOT a current Tufts student, nor am I admitted there. I have been to Tufts and have lived in Boston. I completed my 8th and 9th grades in the Boston before moving back to my home country. And I know how much of a name Tufts has in and around Boston and that name is definitely better than what Wellesly or any other college (saving Harvard, MIT, Amherst and Williams, the latter 2 of which are Tufts’ equals) has.</p>
<p>I have no idea why Amherst, Williams, and Smith keep getting mentioned in this thread when they are in fact situated in the middle of nowhere. If you wanted to talk about colleges in Massachusetts, you should have said so.</p>
<p>Oh, ok. Yes, I can see that the perceptions that 8th and 9th graders pick up around college prestige are certainly something to be taken very seriously, based as it is on other important, worldly 8th and 9th graders with extensive life experience.</p>
<p>My D will be attending Wellesley, but I don’t really care whether you think it’s “prestigious” or not. My S (I have twins) seriously considered going there, but chose elsewhere. I’d be delighted to have him go to Tufts as well.</p>
<p>But here’s the thing. Things can be apples and oranges and yet all be great pieces of fruit. There’s no need to make a competition between them. They offer completely different experiences and likely have different prestige in different circles, both academic and social. So? Neither would be a bad choice. As I said, if given the choice of Harvard, MIT, Amherst, Williams, Wellesley, Tufts, and Smith (and all else was equal, such as finances), you couldn’t make a bad choice. They are all excellent choices that simply offer different “flavors” of experience. Trying to rank them is like trying to rank mint chocolate chip and pistachio ice cream. Different people like different things and want different types of experiences - whether that’s in the heart of Boston, in the suburbs, or in a small or rural area. It’s more important that a given student select the one that he or she prefers most, than it is to come up with some stupid one-size-fits-all-ranking and insist that mint chocolate chip is always superior to pistachio ice cream. It tells me a lot about critical thinking skills when people try to come up with one-size-fits-all-rankings narrowly differentiating between schools that are excellent.</p>