<p>My daughter is choosing between Tufts and Haverford. She is a very serious student and wants a challenging place, but also wants to have some fun. She thinks Haverford is too small, but is a little intimidated by the size of Tufts. She probably will study International Relations or Political Science and is very interested in languages.
Any insight/advice would be great!
Thanks.</p>
<p>Sounds like the curriculum at Tufts is right up her alley…</p>
<p>Wow- I could have written this! We have the identical issue! Haverford gave more FA, which makes it financially more appealing- but Tufts is awesome. Are you going to the Haverford accepted student days next week? We are flying out as we haven’t visited the school yet. We have seen Tufts and loved it. Difficult decision! We do notice that NO ONE here in San Diego- even east coast transplants- has ever heard of Haverford, but most have heard of Tufts.</p>
<p>tolstoy2 - yes, we are going to Haverford on the 22nd. It will be our 3rd visit! Decision making is not my daughter’s strong suit. She loved Haverford but she also loved Tufts. That’s funny that they have the same choice - they are really different places in a lot of ways! She is going for an overnight at Tufts next week and to Jumbo day. It’s a good thing there’s a deadline for this decision to be made!</p>
<p>I wish we could do Jumbo Day as well…but too far away to make it work. That should make it easier to compare, going to both around the same time, lucky! My d saw Tufts once 2 years ago and loved it! Please keep me updated on her thoughts of her Jumbo Day and overnight and any comparisons- it will help us! Thanks!</p>
<p>Will do - and maybe we will run into each other on the Haverford campus!</p>
<p>tolstoy2 & hobbes216: Wow–we are in the same boat! We’re going to one of the Jumbo days next week (Fri), and then down to Haverford for the accepted students’ day on the 22nd. It will be our second visit to Tufts and our third visit to Haverford (but first overnight at each school)–my daughter loves both schools and is finding the decision very difficult. She wants to study biology. We have family in Philadelphia, so if my daughter chooses Haverford she’d be able to see her uncle, aunt, and baby cousin frequently–we’re also from California so the idea of being close to some family is appealing. But Tufts seems fabulous, and I myself went to college in the Boston area so I know it’s a great place to be a student. Tough choice!</p>
<p>eeamama - Wow! It’s going to be a difficult decision, but I don’t think that you could go wrong with either place. I think it will just come down to a gut feeling after being on the campuses. Boston is a definite draw, though.</p>
<p>I don’t know any of your children, but here is a generic solution that may work for you.</p>
<p>Most people find it easier to face the unknown with a friend rather than alone. Tufts has a freshman pre-orientation program that I highly recommend. It is organized into groups based on a common outside interest (i.e. your potential social group). You go to campus about a week early and you participate in a bunch of activities that allow you to become familiar with the campus and the surrounding area (from a social standpoint) and make friends and find mentors (the group leaders). By the time the rest of the student body arrives on campus you already have a support network in place (i.e. friends/advisors) and know your way around campus. It is a tremendous confidence booster and makes it much easier to find friends with common interests than sorting through the entire class while simultaneously starting up coursework. Once you have a group of friends in place and know the portions of the campus that are most relevant for your social group, the school seems smaller and more manageable.
My D chose the FIT group, which is plugged into the sports/frat/sorority scene, so it is very socially active. She ended up joining a sorority. She liked FIT so much she applied to be a leader this summer and was thrilled when she was accepted. Here is some more info:</p>
<p>[Orientation</a> for New Students - Student Services - Tufts University](<a href=“http://studentservices.tufts.edu/orientation/preorientation/]Orientation”>http://studentservices.tufts.edu/orientation/preorientation/)</p>
<p>Best of luck in your decision and feel free to ask more questions</p>
<p>Hobbes216-
Both are wonderful schools. Yes, Haverford is tiny. But trust me, Tufts’ size is anything but intimidating. My son chose Tufts because he thought places like Cornell were too big, but Tufts was a perfect size for him. It has the “feel” of a New England LAC.</p>
<p>Haverford has a stronger academic reputation than Tufts.</p>
<p>^By whom? It’s really hard to compare LACs with research universities. If you just look at SAT scores and percentage admitted they are virtually identical in student body.</p>
<p>One thing that’s nice about Haverford is that you have the consortium available.</p>
<p>Tufts never seems very big to me, partly because a lot of its professional schools are far from the main campus.</p>
<p>I think the size thing has more to do with numbers of students in classes. I think that some of the intro classes at Tufts can get pretty big, especially in IR since it is such a popular major. Does anyone know if those big classes break down into smaller groups?</p>
<p>Posted from the Tufts website ([Orientation</a> for New Students - Student Services - Tufts University](<a href=“Undergraduate Orientation | AS&E Students”>Undergraduate Orientation | AS&E Students))
:</p>
<p>“How large are classes?
The average class size at Tufts is approximately 20 students. 70% of classes have 21 or fewer students and only 2% of the classes have over 100 students. Students in large classes usually meet twice a week for lecture and once a week in a small review session that provides a forum for questions and discussion.”</p>
<p>How big is the intro Physics or Psychology class at Haverford? All schools have some classes that a majority of all freshman take and the strategy is the same: large lectures supplemented by weekly break-out sessions in small groups. </p>
<p>You won’t get lost in the crowd at either school.</p>
<p>I asked my son about class sizes - I think most of them were around 30, Arabic classes were much smaller.</p>
<p>Thanks mathmom. What year is your son?</p>
<p>Tolstoy2 and eeamama - just came back from Jumbo Day and my daughter has decided that Tufts is the place for her. She loved it - got to go to 2 classes (IR and Chemistry), stayed overnight in the dorms with a first year, and just loved the whole vibe of the place. I am so relieved this long journey finally has an end!</p>
<p>Welcome to the Tufts community!</p>
<p>We are headed to Medford on Sunday so my son can have an overnight and then we will all do the Jumbo day on Monday. When we visited Vassar he was able to sit in on a class. But it looks like according to the description of the Jumbo Days instead of a “real” class, they talk to them about the class experience. Can anyone give me a more detailed account of Jumbo Days? His visit to Vassar was really fabulous and his host and the class he monitored were huge factors. </p>
<p>I know he will get a first class education at both schools so the focus right now is more on finding the right fit. Coming from a small HS with only 125 kids in his graduating class, Tufts is one of the bigger schools he was considering. But I have read so many posts about it feeling more like a LAC than a big university so that is comforting. I am very excited to go back! And I hope after the visit my son can make a decision.</p>
<p>twoboys2 - my daughter was very nervous about the size of Tufts, but when she did her overnight she said the size felt perfect. Her host was a freshman and still seemed to know most people, even if just by sight. She got to go to a “sample” Chemistry class, which was actually very helpful because the teacher (who was so excited by her subject) showed her teaching style as well as the curriculum. She also got to go to a real class with her overnight host which she enjoyed very much so if your son can do that he should. It was really the good energy on campus, and the fact that everyone was so nice and friendly, that won my daughter over, as well as the wealth of opportunity in terms of classes, research, internships, and study abroad. And Boston of course - Boston beats Poughkeepsie hands down (I live close to Poughkeepsie so I know it pretty well.)
Good luck and have fun at Jumbo Day!</p>