Wondering what your son ended up doing. Penn and NEU are city schools btw so if that’s an issue with JHU will be the same for those 2. Also the Eating Club scene at Princeton is very Frat-like and the center of the social scene at Princeton though of course there are plenty that don’t participate and have active social lives which I’m sure happens at Lehigh for those that aren’t into Greek life.
No worries @Momtothreegirls ! I realized it was a commentary on the type of student that goes to Tufts and not on my kid’s stats 
@Dolemite He did decide to ED Hopkins. I hope that it’s the right choice, but I have reservations because I honestly think he needed more time to revisit schools, etc. I’m not feeling too good about my parenting right about now…
I’m glad he decided to ED hopkins. That sounded like a great fit based on his profile. My son’s profile is so so similar and he decided to ED a non-IVY school even though everyone thought he should EA MIT or HYPSM. I think Hopkins engineering is as good or better than any of the Ivy’s engineering, and the kids we know who go there are very happy with their choice. Their facilities are beautiful.
@stemmmm Thanks so much for your comment. I agree- there are great schools that are non-Ivy and fit is so important. Do you mind if I ask where your son is applying? Feel free to message if you would prefer.
I’m going to PM you.
Hope it all works out! We all try so hard to get our kids into the best possible place I think we can forget that the measure of success is whether they end up somewhere they really, really like. (I know I can forget this.) It sounds like if he gets into Hopkins that could be great. And if he doesn’t, another really good choice could work out.
@4togo4 congrats on making a decision. good luck!
@Momtothreegirls if you noticed i said explicitly that if Tufts was his dream school then sure he should go ahead and do ED. however based on what OP had already shared this was not the case. Then i just made a very realistic statement that Tufts does not get many ED applicants with these kind of stats so if he applied ED most likely he would be in, which would not be ideal since Tufts wasn’t his dream school. Also i just said that for most (not all) high-stats kids Tufts is not their first choice. Not trying to put down Tufts at all, just telling it like it is.
No problem, Penn95. And I’m not a Tufts cheerleader for all, by any means. It has to be the right fit. My point was solely that my daughter has found that an awful lot of very high stats, very impressive students go there who did indeed apply ED. They realize that they might very well be rejected RD (we know some extremely high stats kids who were, and who really wanted to go), so many very high stats kids do indeed apply to Tufts ED. This is not the Tufts of decades past (not that there was anything wrong with it back then, but the applicant pool has gotten crazily competitive in recent years). Just telling it like it is.
Bottom line is I’m all for students applying based on fit and not perceived prestige. All of these places are fabulous schools. So focus on fit and where the student will be happiest.
4togo4, sounds like a great decision. And you’re a great parent for letting him take the lead. None of this sits well, this whole “hurry up and apply ED” thing. It all makes for great uneasiness. I look back fondly and nostalgically to the days of yore when the majority of students waited until April and then attended admitted students days before making their final decisions. I’m in the same boat as you are, with a current senior applying ED, and I wish we had more time. But she is set on her decision.
@4togo4 it sounds like your son is a really incredible student. I hope you were kidding when you said you weren’t proud of your parenting right now! You’ve raised two kids who are either attending or have a credible chance of attending some of the nation’s finest colleges. Whether its Princeton, JHU or Tufts, he’s going to be happy once he matriculates and starts having the educational experience of a lifetime! You’ve clearly put him on the path to success and empowered him to independently make choices that he feels will best serve his future. Sounds to me like you’re parent of the year!
I know this may be a little late, but is your son possibly good enough in track to be considered for tract recruitment? JHU is Div 3 and Princeton is Div 1. Since he is applying ED to Hopkins, and if you haven’t done so yet, perhaps he can even try contacting/emailing the coach right know and discuss the potential for his admission support as a tract athlete. Not sure about tract, but in my son’s sport, the coach was a tremendous help in getting my son in, despite his academic stats not quite as good as your son’s.
@Momtothreegirls My older daughter decided not to ED (two years ago) and she was one of the very few kids who were looking at these schools to do so. It was the right decision for her because she really wanted to be in love before she committed. Thankfully, it all worked out and she had a choice of some really great schools and is happy so I think the whole ED/RD thing is a personality matter too.
Thanks so much @PennCAS2014 . I guess I was second-guessing whether I/we did enough to give him the information to make a decision (and not the day before apps are due!). I really do appreciate your kind words. Hey, I have a current junior now so I get to do this all over again!
@noanswers I don’t think he’s at that level, but it couldn’t hurt to check out the stats of the team and see if he is in the mix at least. Thank you for the suggestion!
Here is the salary data that you say you have never seen. This particular report has been available each year for the past several years. This is a relatively low year for Tufts.
Tufts is ranked number 23, Penn is ranked number 28.
https://www.payscale.com/college-salary-report/best-schools-by-majors/engineering?page=22
Given your concern about the difficulty of measuring something as simple as salary, and given the fact that you are not an engineer, I would be really curious how you can credibly make a definitive statement about something as complex as the relative strength of various engineering programs?
Here are the rankings for participation in the Peace Corps
Tufts…9
Hopkins…30
Princeton…109
Penn…119
Harvard…128
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2017college-guide?ranking=2017-rankings-national-universities
Here are the latest admissions stats for Tufts Engineering
Acceptance Rate 11.7 %
SAT…75th…25th
Math… 800…740
CR…760…670
Percentage of women 44%
Impressive @Mastadon
@Mastadon payscale? so i was correct when I suspected that data was unreliable. http://aroundlearning.com/2013/09/8-problems-with-payscale-coms-college-rankings-and-one-solution/
Far from easy to measure well, especially mid-career outcomes and especially by specific major.
I ll stick with the data published by the universities themselves and the College Scorecard data https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/search/?name=University%20of%20Pennsylvania&sort=advantage:desc
Fyi I am an engineer by training, I studied engineering and business in college 
Never made any statement about relative strength and quality of engineering programs specifically but a quick look at multiple rankings, faculty publications/awards, research funding,research output etc will show where each school stands.
All I said was that Tufts is not the very top choice for most very high stats kids. what is so controversial about this?