<p>Hi, I know Tufts went through a big change from a LAC to a university in the 1970's. How well regarded was it as a LAC? Was it considered on par with Bowdoin? Hamilton? Trinity? I'm curious to know what kind of status it had before its massive change.</p>
<p>Tufts was what it is in the 1970s. A university, just a relatively small one, so it had (as it has) relatively few graduate students in comparison to the big ones. But it had some. Plus the professional schools. And that feeling of being somewhat small like an LAC, but still having some graduate students and the other schools, was one of the things that differentiated Tufts from true LACs. Still does.</p>
<p>BUT I didn’t address what’s maybe your real issue. Tufts did go through a big change in the 1970s, when it changed from a president whose main goal was to ensure financial stability to one whose was more creative. Since then, Tufts has had a history of appointing interesting, talented, and innovative presidents. They’ve kept the university much as it was but made it better and better. And better.</p>
<p>Thanks, good to know. How well regarded was it around 1970 in comparison with other schools?</p>
<p>nvm</p>
<p>10 char</p>
<p>anybody?
10 char</p>
<p>I considered applying to Tufts in 1973. It was well-regarded then, but things were also very different then. I applied to three schools - Harvard, Brown and U of Pennsylvania as my safety. If I’d liked Tufts better (I wanted a more urban campus) it would have been my safety.</p>
<p>I went there in the 70’s. It was highly respected and well-known in the New England area, but not as well-known outside the area, especially on the West Coast. I suspect it was well-known everywhere in the medical/dental professionals due to its medical and dental schools. The same probably holds true in the federal government, due to the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, which was the first school exclusively for graduate degrees in international studies.
I was there when Jean Mayer took over as president and remember the ambitious goals he set for the university in his speech at the ceremony. For example, he pledged to create a regional veterinary school, the first of its kind in New England. The region had been without a veterinary school and the states could never agree on how to create one that could serve the region. Most vet schools are public, and reserve most of their seats for in-state students. So this was big deal…
Also, whenever you saw some expert from Tufts being interviewed on tv, the newscaster or narrator would always say where Tufts is located, assuming people never heard of it, but we don’t see that anymore.
It’s really gratifying to see its rise.</p>
<p>In fact, a whole book was written on this subject! It is:
An Entrepreneurial University: The Transformation of Tufts, 1976-2002
by Sol Gittleman.</p>