<p>Hello all. Well I thought I was done with CC after getting into college... guess not. I am a freshman at Tufts University, currently on a track to double major in Polysci and Art History, the latter being my true passion. </p>
<p>Simply put, the student body and institution that its Tufts is not meshing with me. I have met one too many "bros" and frat-goers for my liking. I am in theatre and have met some nice kids there, but overall I am not fitting in. I consider myself an academic, odd fashion fanatic, bisexual, and an art lover as well as a political liberal and a bit of a stoner. I've yet to find more than one kindred soul and find myself quite different from my fellow student.</p>
<p>I am also fairly disappointed with the Art History program at Tufts, having encountered one too many bad profs for the money I'm paying to attend.</p>
<p>Basically, I need help. I am looking to possibly transfer to a more urban, private institution with a great Art History program and not-too-staunch distribution requirements and a progressive, artistically minded student body.</p>
<p>As a point of reference, I am an A- student here as I was in high school.</p>
<p>Any advice/schools I should look at? Should I just leave at the semester an start over? Should I stick it out and transfer? Please help.</p>
<p>First off, though Tufts is kind of “bro”, it is nothing compared to most schools. Do you want to go to an art school? SAIC is a really good school for that. It’s in Chicago.</p>
<p>Also, if you want to go to a university with a good art department, then I’d suggest Penn, NYU, Columbia, Brown, CMU, and a few others (other Ivies, Stanford). All have low transfer acceptance rates, though. And, I know you can find a niche at any school, but these schools (besides maybe Brown and NYU) are similar to Tufts socially. </p>
<p>You sound like you would fit in at a place like Brown.</p>
<p>I’m not sure if you care about school rank, but if not, as a “safety”, apply to Brandeis. It’s a little farther from Boston, but it’s very liberal. It has that museum they kept open, and from my knowledge, schools with museums usually have better art/art history departments. </p>
<p>There aren’t that many private LACs located in a city to my knowledge. Clark University is in Worcester, which is a city, but I’m not sure how there art department is. There’s Lesley College in Cambridge, which I’m pretty sure has a good art department, but I’m not sure about everything else there. From reading your post, NYU was the first thing that came to mind. And I don’t know if you are looking to study art or study art to the point of becoming an artist, but my aunt went to The Art Institute in Chicago. Lots of art going on there</p>
<p>I don’t know anything about Art History programs for most schools, so I’ll recommend based on your other criteria: Macalester, Reed and Lewis & Clark; Vassar, Carleton and Amherst might work, but aren’t urban.</p>
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<p>Since you’re doing well academically, I would advise you stick it out for the year. Start applying for transfers at the beginning of the New Year, you won’t get decisions until late spring, so you can give Tufts a full year and have time to be sure you want to transfer. Also, changing to an Art school is a big change from attending a regular UG college, so you need to give that a lot of thought too IMO.</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestions, all! I actually applied and got into Reed the first time around and was already considering giving it another shot. Here’s a list I’m currently researching:</p>
<p>Barnard College (applied last year, waitlisted)<br>
Carnegie Mellon University<br>
Macalester College<br>
Middlebury College
New York University
Oberlin College (applied last year, accepted)<br>
Pitzer College<br>
Pomona College<br>
Reed College (applied last year, accepted)<br>
School of the Art Institute of Chicago (not totally sold on art school)<br>
Scripps College<br>
Skidmore College<br>
University of Chicago (both parents are alums, mom has her PhD from there)</p>
<p>Anymore suggestions/thoughts are appreciated.</p>
<p>You sound like you would fit in very well at Oberlin…but it is not urban. Which factors are most important to you? And is financial aid a consideration for you and your family?</p>
<p>Oberlin is remote, but it has cities nearish to the campus doesn’t it? And fit in terms of student body is first, strength of Art History Department second, and proximity to city second.</p>
<p>Have you considered any of the women’s colleges, like Smith? You might fit in very well there too, and they are strong in your areas of interest.</p>
<p>I have considered women’s colleges (Scripps and Barnard this time around, and last year I was admitted to Wellesley) but Smith is pretty remote isn’t it? My best friend’s sister attends and she complains it’s kind of isolated.</p>
<p>But women’s colleges are definitely on my radar!</p>
<p>Yes, Smith is in western Mass. However, it is in a consortium with Amherst, UMass, Mt. Holyoke and Hampshire, so there is a relatively large student population in the area. That’s why I questioned Midd, as it is by far the most remote, small school on your list. Do take a look at the Five colleges consortium closely, the schools are accessible by shuttle rides, they are not on a contiguous campus like the Claremonts.</p>
<p>That’s fair, Midd is pretty remote. But I intend to shave down that schools list as it is. And I will definitely look at members of the consortium. One of my friends from Tufts is actually thinking about transferring to Hampshire and I’ve heard good things!</p>