<p>im in! But im from the west coast and really know absolutely nothing about tufts. anyone want to fill me in on the basics?</p>
<p>tufts has about 5000 students, on a hill near boston, about 15 minutes from downtown driving. about 10 minutes from harvard. full of smart kids who were probably wait listed for a very hard school like harvard or yale.</p>
<p>a collection of very bright, easy going, friendly students from all walks of life, that enjoy the proximity to Boston, each others company, and a great education. Davis square, which is about an 8 minute walk from campus, has the T stop into Boston, as well as lots of great restaurants, a movie theater, and some fun shops. The surrounding area is a safe, well maitained, middle class to bluecollar residential area.The ride into Cambridge is about 10 minutes and an additional 10 into Boston. The campus is on a grassy hill overlooking Boston, it's easy to navagate, nothing is too far away. The buildings are a mixture of architectural styles, mostly brick around a tree lined quad. Tufts offers the benefit of being very near Boston, but it's also a pretty New England campus. The school mascot is Jumbo the Elephant, very unique, as is Tufts! Many students participate in either varsity or intramural sports, but there's not much rah rah school spirit for the varsity teams most of the year. There are always people you know, but the student body is large enough so that there are always new people to meet. If you can fly out and stay for the overnight, I would definately suggest doing so, it's a great way to see if it's the right place for you. Good luck.</p>
<p>so if you were going to compare its academic/social climate to one of the Ivy's (I know the Ivy's better), which one would you choose?</p>
<p>How does it compare to BC? Thanks</p>
<p>i know a ton of people end up transferring to Brown, but I think Brown is a little more liberal and lax, because of the whole no-core-requirements thing. It's kind of difficult...like, is it a suburban, more arts-centric Dartmouth? Or a less urban, smaller Penn with IR majors instead of business majors? Also there are lots of international students b/c of the IR program, except a lot of the internationals I know are engineers, actually, lol.</p>
<p>SP135 - Tufts is much smaller than BC, almost half as small, which, in MY opinion, is better for the reasons tuftsmom stated - you always see people you know around campus, but there are always new people to meet. Also I think BC is way more homogeneous. Tufts has a big Jewish population, lots of internationals, and a fair amount of minorities. Plus the academics are WAY better than BC's, in my opinion. But BC is more of a sports-centric party school, and lots of people would prefer that to Tufts, where academics and extracurriculars are stressed way more than school spirit.</p>
<p>Tufts > BC</p>
<p>Amen.</p>
<p>I ran into a BC friend at the greyhound terminal in South Station, and I was like "How do you like BC? Kevin wants to go there." And the guy was like, "Kevin?...No, he's not a big enough @sshole." lol</p>
<p>i'd say in general tufts is like any ivy league school in terms of the academic load and emphasis on school. everyone here works hard in general. BC is basically full of shallow suburbian kids who arent that smart, and most likely have family that have gone to BC</p>
<p>Which has a better reputation or are they similar? The only thing I am not crazy about is the numerous core requirements at Tufts especially language! I also think BC is in a very beautiful location. How is the location of Tufts.</p>
<p>Tufts clearly has the better reputation - and yes BC's campus is pretty. Tufts...can be considered beautiful to some but ugly to others. I'd say we have a mediocre campus in terms of aesthetics. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but thank god it's nowhere near as atrocious as Brandeis.
The language requirement can be circumvented in a few ways. You're required to take 6 semesters of language (in one language) OR take 3 semesters of language and 3 culture classes. The important thing to be aware of is that you only need to achieve 3 semesters worth of profiency; at the beginning of the year you take a placement exam. If you score well enough, you don't need to take any languages at all - you're done. You can also use SAT IIs to pass out of the requirement.</p>
<p>see <a href="http://ase.tufts.edu/romlang/Exam.htm%5B/url%5D">http://ase.tufts.edu/romlang/Exam.htm</a>.</p>
<p>"Since the language requirement at Tufts aims at mastery of a level of second language proficiency and not a set number of courses, it is to your advantage to enroll in the most advanced language course for which your high school studies have prepared you, unless you plan to start a new language at Tufts. For this reason, we urge you to prepare for the Placement Test by reviewing material from your last language course or by reading in the foreign language. "</p>
<p>APs in languages can exempt you from the requirement. If you manage to gain proficiency in one language, you don't need to take the culture courses.</p>
<p>I think Tufts has a really nice campus. It's on top of a hill, and it is really quite picturesque. And, from the library roof, you can see the a lot of the Boston skyline.</p>
<p>what about tufts vs. swat? er, sorry, did i just change the focus of this thread?</p>
<p>just a question, i don't mean to sound like an ass...but if you "really knew absolutely nothing" about tufts, then why did you apply?</p>
<p>Tufts is.....</p>
<p>overrated.</p>
<p>I applied because I fell in love with what the English major said in the "Tufts: Verbatim" viewbook. Which, I know, is a stupid reason to apply for a school (everyone knows the viewbooks are full of bull). But her piece stood out to me, more so than material I had read on any of the other colleges I considered applying to.</p>
<p>misspicaroon, that definitely stood out for me too. but i did more research and really fell in love. you should do some research....you'll love it too! i'm also a planned english major.</p>
<p>im a planned english major as well!</p>
<p>to numberone, *** MATE! i actually like my future college...but thanks for your genuine support (simper)</p>
<p>totally disagree! extremely UNDERrated, in my opinion as a current student.</p>