<p>Why isn't Tufts ranked higher than its "abysmal" spot in the upper twenties of US News Ranking. I actually have a collection of US News rankings since the early 1990s and saw that Tufts has never gone below 25 in the country. Why can't Tufts make the top 20??? It's a great school in my book.</p>
<p>Probably because it is full of status seeking, embittered, Ivy wannabes and rejects. If I were the wouldn't take another applicant from east of the Appalachians or north of the Potomac.</p>
<p>Just a guys opinion opinion. Don't take it personally.</p>
<p>Um, I don't think that's the primary reason (though to an extent every exaggeration comes with a gem of truth). Rather, I think it is/was because Tufts has no $$. Tufts almost went bankrupt in 1980ish? A relatively small endowment has prevented Tufts from reaching need-blind tuition, a luxury that only the most wealthy and elite schools have. Even schools like Georgetown cannot support this kind of financial burden. However, I think within the next 10-20 years need blind admissions will become a very realistic possibility.</p>
<p>I wouldn't count too heavily on those MA uber-liberals being able to grow that endowment too mightily. Shade grown free range chicken ranches don't have a great ROI. It is going to be full pay high SAT ED White and Asian kids for a long time with some full pay foreign nationals thrown in for good measure.</p>
<p>Actually that has become the newest fervor on campus - the Trustees have been hotly debating it and are actually outlining plans to somehow implement this plan in the future. Considering how much the endowment has grown within the past 10 years, I actually think it's a realistic possibility, uber-liberal or not. Currently, the 100% needs met policy has been the closest we've ever come to impartiality, I don't think it's too absurd to be considering the next step. If the prospects of failure were so great, I'd greatly doubt that the idea of need-blind admissions would even be considered (considering that the idea of financial aid in the 1960s was laughable, let alone being needblind).</p>
<p>Actually, 1996, Tufts was ranked 22.</p>
<p>Snuffles is correct: Tufts almost went bankrupt a few years back and is now re-building its endowment. It has a very low alumni giving rate (only 190 more people need to donate for my class to get 25% participation!), both of which nail Tufts in US News.</p>
<p>Some of it is that roughly 30% of the students don't speak English as a first language, when tends to correlate to a lower SAT score. Tufts will accept them and love them -but it makes us look bad compared with schools who accept the kids with the highest numbers, regardless of background (i.e. WUSTL). </p>
<p>Some of the things that make Tufts great aren't given much weight in USNews. For example, we have a higher percentage of faculty with a terminal degree in their fields (99%) than Williams (95%) - but that barely counts for anything in US News. Another one is size: we would perform a lot better next to the liberal arts schools (and Tufts really does straddle that line between liberal arts college and university). Our grad schools (straight up masters/Ph.D) are decent, but not great - and a lot of academic reputation is based on strength of grad programmes, not undergrad. Tufts does have great programmes for nutrition, medicine, vetrinary, dental, and, of course, Fletcher - but that doesn't really help us in US News. There also is tremendous success in placing students in grad schools - some 80% go on to grad school within five years, one of the highest rates in the nation - but US News doesn't account for that. Of course, as one of the top 5 research universities for study abroad makes Tufts very attractive to students but doesn't help the rankings.</p>
<p>Finally, as I love to say, US News assumes that kids with better numbers go to better schools. This is actually a little irrational. Here are my hypothetical two kids:
Kid 1: 1450 SAT, 3.9 GPA, no leadership, mediocre recommendations, just sits around and studies all day
Kid 2: 1420 SAT, 3.8 GPA, captain of athletic teams, student council, teachers love him, blah blah blah
Most schools (esp. Tufts, which really values extracurricular activities that have been done for a long time) would choose the second candidate. US News assumes that the first candidate is more attractive to schools and will reward the school that takes him instead of the second kid.</p>
<p>Is there any particular reason why you choose to spell certain words using the British spelling? (ie programs/programmes). Just curious....</p>
<p>"If I were the wouldn't take another applicant from east of the Appalachians or north of the Potomac."</p>
<p>Holy smokes!</p>
<p>One of the most ingenious things I've ever heard! Do you go here? You should hit me up and we could crash a few bars or something...I like that attitute.</p>
<p>I don't know if I'd call #28 Abyssmal...in fact thats a pretty stupid assertion. I think Tufts does very well for itself considering that it stands in the shaddows of Harvard and MIT, we're a good little school.</p>
<p>Be advised that those USNEWS rankings are based largely on retention and alumni giving...two things that Tufts is noticably lacking in.</p>
<p>Illmaticmidnstate: hey, I gave Tufts my $10 and got my little "thank you for your donation" card in the mail today and everything! :) Seriously though - it's my third annual donation (for alums who might be reading - just give $5 - the fact that you give, not the amount, is the important thing - just need to get you on the rolls as a donor to get that percentage up), but I don't think that many of my fellow Jumbos donate enough. They are really trying to improve alumni relations... some of it has been to have parties in every city - they'll rent out a bar and serve finger food, and they won't mention money - you just bond with alums. Great fun. Seriously though - I'm a poor law student who is $40,515 in debt, hence the reason for my really low donations.</p>
<p>We were impressed with the Mech Eng part of the website, program and statistics yet I don't see Mech Eng mentioned much at all in any of these posts. Sadly, no $$ to visit right now but I just keep hearing such wonderful things about Tufts. (I think the ranking is great!) My son felt comfortable at the interview and all <em>seems</em> well, yet no one posts of the Mech E. Is it a strong program? I know it's not ranked probably, right?</p>
<p>Engineering at Tufts is definately strong...either way I don't know if it matters where you go for Engineering because regardless of where you go, your going to be making alot of money. My mom got here B.S. from a no name state school for Chemical Engineering and she made crazy money</p>
<p>Well, my son just loves engineering, he doesn't even care about the money (at this point) but he was impressed with the wide variety of research that seemed to be going on at Tufts. Thanks for your answer.</p>