<p>Debating between these two schools. Which school has the stronger academics, better science department, higher medical school acceptance rate, and better post-grad opportunities? </p>
<p>I know Tufts has it's own medical school, it's a research university, and has that early-acceptance to medical school option. But does that necessarily mean it's the better school to go to for undergrad to get into a good medical school? Don't or can't Bowdoin students do the same if not better?</p>
<p>If you just had to say one school was better than the other, which would you choose?</p>
<p>What do you think Bowdoin's peer schools are?</p>
<p>What do you think Tufts' peer schools are?</p>
<p>I'm very unsure of which to choose.</p>
<p>Neither school is “better” than the other for pre-med, and that really shouldn’t be the basis of your choice.<br>
You should focus on the difference in the schools’ atmospheres. BOth are really terrific.
As you note, Tufts is a research university. It also has its own med school and offers the joys of Cambridge and Boston, including their cultural offerings. It is a smallish university, which feels a lot like a liberal arts college. The quality of students and academics are very high.
Bowdoin is a wonderful liberal arts college; much smaller than Tufts and in a comparatively remote, but beautiful, part of NEw England. Again, both students and academics are first tier.
Most students at each school love their school. You need to figure out which school fits your personality better; where you’d be more comfortable and productive. That’s where you should go.
Finally, keep in mind that a high percentage of kids who start college “pre-med” change course, so it’s a dubious basis for making this choice. But assuming that you stick to that course, rest assured that you will get a top notch “pre-med” education, and therefore have a great shot at med school admission, at whichever school you attend.
You are in a win-win situation, and you should be congratulated on being admitted to two such great schools. YOu are obviously a high achiever and will do well wherever you go.
Good luck!</p>
<p>I am answering on behalf of my neighbor, a Bowdoin alum who ended up living across from Tufts while working in Boston for a few years, before heading off to law school.</p>
<p>She said Bowdoin is a great school, academically, with a lot of support. She said that it is her impression that the students at Bowdoin are hard-working and, generally, dedicated to a sport, if not two or three. She said that the social culture revolves, largely, around drinking. She said that the downside of the size at Bowdoin was that everyone knew each other’s business–e.g. who had had a drunken “hook-up” the night before and that there was no shortage of gossip.</p>
<p>She attended a few parties at Tufts and worked with some Tufts alum, all of whom she said were very nice and more intellectual than a lot of her peers at Bowdoin. She said that she liked the Tufts parties better than at Bowdoin because of sheer size and because there were plenty of people at the Tufts parties (she attended the parties in homes around Tufts, not the dorms) not drinking whereas, it felt to her, most everyone drank at Bowdoin.</p>
<p>She thinks both campuses are beautiful, and she said that when her Bowdoin sports team (in two different sports) competed at Tufts, the Tufts teams were nice to them.</p>
<p>My own two cents is that I imagine that pre-med is pretty competitive at Tufts, but, in speaking as a physician, I can tell you that it is your performance, not your school, that ultimately decides your admission to med. school.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>