<p>When people refer to tufts as a very "liberal arts" college, what exactly does that mean?</p>
<p>I was wondering if anyone could tell be how big (population-wise) tufts feels. I know that there are around 4,000 undergrads (something like that), but I was wondering what that feels like. I come from a high school that probably has a little more than 1,000 kids, and I definitely want something that feels bigger than high school. Does everyone end up knowing everyone? Will I know everyone in my grade?</p>
<p>Thanks..</p>
<p>I'm not sure what the "liberal arts" refers to, but to me that signifies that people are well-rounded. The distribution requirements kind of complement that as well. In that kids who are interested in history still have a decent math background. I've heard places like Carnegie Mellon are very polar - either you're an engineer or you're a performance artist or something.</p>
<p>I consider Tufts' size to be basically perfect. I had a graduating class of 140 kids and knew every single person, had at least one inside joke with virtually all of them, a group of kids from totally different cliques could sit around in the senior lounge and have a common conversation that everyone took part in. So I've done the whole, know-everyone thing, which is why I didn't like the idea of a tiny liberal arts school. But on the flip side, I definitely didn't want a huge school, where I wouldn't know anyone. Tufts is a place where pretty much any time you're walking around campus, you WILL run into people you know, that you can wave to and say hi to, but there are always people around that you don't know. It's a good balance because you feel like there are a lot of people you know, but you never feel like you've exhausted the population and there's no one left to meet. You could meet a new person every day, all the while maintaining lots of friendships, and I like that because there's always the promise of meeting another fascinating person tomorrow.</p>
<p>Also, it's not so much about knowing "everyone in your grade" - often the people you meet, in activities, classes, around the dorm, will be upperclassmen. You won't know all 1200 of the freshmen, but you'll know a lot of freshmen AND upperclassmen.</p>
<p>I went to a high school with about 1,000 people. Although I didn't know everyone (and didn't know everyone in my grade - the honours kids were isolated from everyone else), I thought that Tufts might be too big. </p>
<p>Turns out that it's a great size. It's big enough so that there are no "popular" groups or cliques. It's small enough so that, by the time senior year rolls around, when you meet someone new, they know someone that you know. Also, it's pretty easy to find a group that you like - sure, it might take a while, but you'll find people that you really like to socialize with. </p>
<p>One advantage of a larger school is a bigger alumni network. Now, some small schools have excellent networks, but it's nice to know that, wherever I am in the country, there's a Tufts Alliance somewhere around.</p>