Tufts in general...please help!

Colleges and Universities A-Z Tufts University
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<p>so pretty much i'm deciding between a few schools, and i have no idea what to do. I don't know more than a few kids at tufts and im afraid im not getting honest answers. So, if anyone could answer them for me, that would be great!! thanks sooo much</p>

<p>1-- how hard is it academically? I've heard its unmanageable and kids stay in working all the time
2-- are the kids nice/down to earth? do they have a lot of fun together and are they just all around good kids
3-- whats the nightlife/social life like?
4-- i keep hearing that kids at tufts are "unhappy". im really hoping someone can tell me this isnt true!! i think its partly because people say it has the rep of being an "ivy league reject" school....are they still stuck on that?</p>

<p>thanks so much everyone</p>

2

<p>Hey nyio, I don’t know about the others as I’m a prefrosh but I can comment on #4. I was also a bit worried about that because I didn’t want to go to a school where all my classmates were unhappy to attend. I can tell you now after a lot of research this is definitely not true. I’ve talked to a lot of people from the class of 2012 (thru facebook), have had great email conversations with several current students, and also have heard comments on here saying that the “ivy league reject” stereotype is completely untrue. For what it’s worth, I got into Penn but chose Tufts in a heartbeat. Sure, there may be one or two who didn’t have Tufts as their first choice but then again you’ll find people at Yale or at Michigan being sad that they didn’t get into Harvard. </p>

<p>The other things I can’t comment on but I hope that helped for #4.</p>

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<p>

I’m pretty sure we are ranked the 7th happiest student body on Princeton Review. I’ve actually never heard of Tufts being an “Ivy Reject” school my 3 years here. That is until I got onto these boards last month.</p>

<p>Also FYI outside of HYS I doubt that many (qualified) RD applicants apply as their first choice. It’s logical to assume that many pre-froshes intent on going to school on the east coast would choose Harvard or Yale over their current choice, whether it’s an Ivy or a state school. Though if you asked these kids again after their freshman year in college, they’ll probably tell you that they won’t even think about transferring.</p>

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<p>

It really depends on the individual and what classes you are taking. It is definitely not unmanageable and kids do not “stay in working all the time,” if they manage their time well.

Yes to all of them. I haven’t really met anyone I’ve disliked

I can’t really comment on this.

College Confidential is probably one of the only places that talks about Tufts being an “ivy league reject” school. After being on the campus for a year, I have never really sensed any sort of “ivy envy.” Everyone wants to be here, which is why we have such a high retention rate.</p>

5

<p>Nyio - If you are worried about Tufts being an Ivy Reject school, then take that fear out of your mind. Sure, there are students at Tufts that have been rejected by Ivy Leauges but that doesnt mean that they are unhappy there. At the same time, there are MANY tufts students that reject Ivy League schools/Other top Universities. To give you an idea of this, go to the facebook link I have attached below:</p>

<p><a href=“Redirecting...”>Redirecting...;

<p>I also heard from another student that about 38% of the Tufts Class of 2013 is ED students. That means ATLEAST 38% of the students of Class of 2013 want to be at Tufts and it was their top choice. I myself have been rejected from Brown ED but I am EXTREMELY excited to go to Tufts! There are alot of students like me at Tufts! </p>

<p>I hope you choose to attend Tufts!</p>

<p>All the very best!</p>

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<p>My daughter has been a very happy freshman at Tufts. She turned down Cornell, Northwestern, Michigan, Carnegie Mellon and a few other top schools-financial aid was not a deciding factor. If she was truly swayed by an Ivy name, Cornell would have been the place for her. Many students apply to Ivy schools and many don’t get in. I guess you could call any time these students go to a next tier school, a case of Ivy syndrome. Please pick the place that best fits you. Tufts definitely has a social life but if you’re looking for a big party atmosphere with D1 athletics and a strong Greek life, then I doubt Tufts is for you. My daughter has a large group of friends and they are all happy at Tufts. I have the impression that studies are manageable but some majors will always work harder than others. As with everything in life, there are pros and cons that you must weigh to make a final decision. There is absolutely no perfect school (which is the advice I gave my daughter!) but reflect on all that you have read and learned about Tufts to help you select the school that best fits your desired undergraduate experience.</p>

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<p>nyio-
If Tufts had a rival I’d think they’d been poisoning you about us. Literally nothing you said is true.
Well - work hard, that’s true. But we play hard, too. Such is life. We definitely don’t have a strong Greek life, and we don’t care about athletics, but if you’re worried about a social life you can A) make friends with all the freshman in your dorm and have dorm parties- unless you live in healthy living, RAs are lenient about alcohol so long as you’re safe or B) join an extracurricular, get to know upperclassmen, and go to house parties. Most students pursue both options as freshmen. Oh, and for your first couple months you’ll probably be going to the frats non-stop. Their primary purpose is entertaining freshman. Once you’re a sophomore, they become irrelevant unless you join one.</p>

<p>Every Tufts kid I’ve talked to who has any experience of other schools, myself included, considers Tufts kids to have far more school enthusiasm than other schools.</p>

<p>Ivy Reject? Meh. “Ivy League” doesn’t mean much any more- those eight schools don’t have a lot in common besides athletic ties. A lot of us got rejected from Dartmouth, Brown, and Columbia. A lot of us got into Cornell and UPenn and didn’t go. Most of us didn’t apply to Harvard, Yale or Princeton, because that’s not the kind of atmosphere we’re looking for. We’re better than some Ivies, worse than others, about even with yet others. I don’t think people dwell on it.</p>

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<p>

You’re basing this on what??</p>

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<p>What can you base that on other than anecdotal evidence? :)</p>

<p>To add to that, I am a Tufts alum who picked Tufts due to its strong IR progam, school size, great student to faculty ratio (9:1), and location over Cornell, Dartmouth, Brown, and Penn (in addition to a whole slew of excellent LACs). It’s just a matter of fit.</p>

<p>I was very happy while I was there and the close relationships I built with professors made all the difference for me. In fact, I’m going to DC next week for work and I’m staying at one of my mentors’ homes. None of my friends who went to big Ivies or other large universities has told me they have a comparable relationship with the people who taught them in school.</p>

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<p>

Obviously. But the claims toward specific schools are pretty out there.</p>

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<p>Clearly not as “out there” as you think :wink: Good luck with your choice</p>

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<p>

Umm I doubt you can even find anecdotal to support this claim. He’s clearly trying to project the results of one or two students onto an entire population, and subtly suggesting that Brown/Dartmouth/Columbia>Tufts>Cornell/Penn.</p>

<p>

What atmosphere? The “atmosphere” of HYP does not suddenly change just because they’re ranked 1, 2, and 3. In fact HYP has more in common with Tufts than some of the other schools mentioned.</p>

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<p>You’re right, it’s all anecdotal. They don’t exactly publish records. But the original question was “is there a sense amongst Tufts students that we’re Ivy League rejects?”, not a question about statistics.
Your “better than” statements are ridiculous. Different schools for different people. What I AM saying is that Cornell and UPenn are not in the same realm, in terms of selectivity, that the other six Ivies are.<br>
By “atmosphere”, I meant competitive atmosphere, the pressure and vying for the top. Most of us probably would not have gotten in to a Big Three school, I’ll readily admit that, my point was that most of us don’t CARE because we didn’t APPLY. If every school full of students who couldn’t get into the Big Three was called an “Ivy Reject School”. . . could you give me some examples of schools that wouldn’t be Ivy Reject schools? Maybe MIT and Stanford. That’s about it.
If there is any kind of sense of being a reject school, that sense would be most strongly directed towards Columbia and Dartmouth. I know a loooot of people who got rejected from one of those two schools, myself included (Columbia sent me the nicest rejection letter I’ve ever seen). However, if you ask anyone if they’d take the opportunity to transfer to one of them, I doubt more than one out of ten would take it.</p>

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<p>Hey, </p>

<p>I am abroad in London but will be a senior at Tufts this fall.</p>

<p>1-- how hard is it academically? I’ve heard its unmanageable and kids stay in working all the time</p>

<p>This is just wrong. Bio/Chem majors work very hard, but I know plenty of them (most) who have far-reaching outside interests, and it all comes down to time management, which takes some time to master, forever for others. </p>

<p>2-- are the kids nice/down to earth? do they have a lot of fun together and are they just all around good kids</p>

<p>This is essentially the biggest highlight of the school. Even the kids with a lot of money will be wearing like obscure indie band tees and just sort of take it easy, people have a lot of hilarious themed parties, and I’ve had a blast at Tufts, all around good kids we are. </p>

<p>3-- whats the nightlife/social life like?</p>

<p>This is not FSU. This is also NOT UChicago. We are a middle-ground type of crowd with a small but vibrant greek community and some great house parties, a lot of the time we just chill on campus because it’s so nice, but Boston is right there and there are PLENTY of things to do, I’ve spent a summer in Boston after Sophomore year and most people do not take advantage of it, which is sad, but now there is a late-night bus that runs from campus into downtown for free until like 3-4am, which is great! As a foodie, lots of great restaurants. Also, all on-campus performances/events will be free to students next year!</p>

<p>4-- i keep hearing that kids at tufts are “unhappy”. im really hoping someone can tell me this isnt true!! i think its partly because people say it has the rep of being an “ivy league reject” school…are they still stuck on that?</p>

<p>Almost no one is “unhappy” at Tufts. No school is perfect, of course, but I truly love Tufts and am incredibly happy there, I can’t even really think of any particular bad experience and the VERY few people who are unhappy are generally just suffering from either the guilt from their parents wishing they had gone to a name-brand ivy league or they put that pressure on themselves and they generally leave after first semester freshman year, and it’s less than 1 percent.</p>

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<p>Actually I think that late-night bus got canceled. The economy, and all.</p>

<p>Anyway, Detail’s right- I totally forgot we were ranked 7th happiest student body in the nation. So, if we’re unhappy, that means all but 6 other schools must be damn near suicidal.</p>