Tufts or Penn

Colleges & Universities A-Z Tufts University
1

<p>Right now I have 11 schools im applying to. I don't want to apply to too many schools and the last spot (in no way am I implying that these are safety schools) has come down to University of Penn. or Tufts. Based on my research, I think Tuft's size and environment will suit me better. I have not visited Tufts or Penn. I have visited several parts of Philly, which I liked, but i have not visited Penn. Both are great schools, but i don't have time to visit them right now. SHould I just apply to both? Is 13 schools too much? If i have to make a choice it comes down to academics:</p>

<p>~I'm applying as undecided. Which school would be better for someone entering in as undecided.</p>

<p>*I'm also posting in the Penn forum so I can get a balance of opinions. And on a side note I really enjoyed the questions posted on both Penn and Tuft's supplements. I think that both their prompts would be fun to write about/ do, and if this is any indication of the type of education I'll recieve at either of these places, then that makes my decision even harder.</p>

2

<p>They are both great schools. Both fine for someone who is undecided about a major.</p>

<p>You are applying to a lot of schools. But I don’t see a big difference between 12 and 13–how did you pick 12 as a target? Since you like the prompts at both places, why not do both?</p>

3

<p>So you’re essentially asking which school should be your 12th choice?</p>

4

<p>i would apply to both. You don’t have enough information to decide one over the other.
However, here are a few factors which may or may not affect your feelings about the two schools:
Penn has about 10,000 undergrads and is an urban school in Philly (not the nicest neighborhood in Philly). Tufts had 5000 undergrads and is a suburban campus outside of Boston, with easy access to public transportation into Boston or Cambridge. Tufts looks more like a liberal arts college; Penn like a great urban university.
Both have a wide range of academic offerings; it is impossible to say that one is better than the other for an undecided major.
Both are very well respected schools, but Penn is ranked higher (if that sort of stuff matters to you). Tufts is incredibly hard to get into; Penn is even harder.</p>

5

<p>Ooch, hebrewhammer. The list probably includes a few less-favored academic or financial safeties.</p>

6

<p>I would apply to both—13 is not an obscene number and, in the scheme of things, the investment of time and money of one additional application is just a drop in the bucket. Although our daughter didn’t heed this advice (she applied ED to Tufts feeling sure that it was “the one”—no that there is only one—and appears, as usual, to have known her mind because she is over-the-moon happy there) a parent who had already gone through the process advised that students should apply to a wide array of schools because they change a lot between fall and spring of senior year. And last spring I witnessed many cases of that—kids who had applied only to large schools now wanting a small one (and vice versa), or wanting to go someplace warm and only applied in the north, or a change of opinion between urban and rural, etc. I also think that it is much easier to make a good decision regarding actual options versus hypothetical possibilities. So, apply to both—both great schools in terrific locations with all the world to offer.</p>

7

<p>No hebrewhammer, I am not suggesting that I’m making my 12th choice. I have two safety schools, 4 matches, and 5 reaches right now. Because i value the environment of the college I choose, and because i have only been able to visit 3 colleges, my college choices are somewhat broad and reflect where i think I would be happy. After researching Penn and Tufts, I think, but by no means know, that i might enjoy going to school at either one of these places. Since my list is already fairly large, I thought it would be better to pick one. </p>

<p>~And in my original post, I mentioned that in no way do i consider either of these schools a safety school. They are both great schools, but I felt that i should only choose one to apply to.</p>

8

<p>I have a kid who went about the college selection process NOT paying heed to any sort of rankings. One of the things my kid gleaned about Penn (and I had heard, similarly, from friends’ kids who were at Penn, liked/loved it, but still found the following to be true) was that the spectre of Wharton looms large over the school and that there are enough kids, not even Wharton-affiliated/minded, who are very status/economically-conscious, and who talk about such things. Additionally, I think that Boston cannot be beat as a college town.</p>

<p>I think that Tufts is an amazing and nurturing place–in all of the ways that matter to my kid: the geography, the size, the (full) professor access, the admin. support, the collaborative learning (not ! true of all schools–some top-notch schools have a climate where students will share nothing), the foreign language requirement (my kid will be continuing with two languages and embarking on a third), and religion was a large part of my child’s priorities–it would not have worked for my kid to be in WASP central, which I consider a particular Ivy league to be a bastion of (sorry for ending with a preposition, there). As well, my kid paid particular attention to the posters around campuses–were they conservative, liberal, abundantly pre-professional (uh, Penn). My child felt that the clubs and activities said so much about who was attending each school. My child also commented on the fact that the Tufts kids were walking around with big “****-eating grins.” (I think that this is a good thing?) </p>

<p>I think that the most satisfied college customers are those who don’t pick schools with an eye to ranking and the quality of academics, exclusively. Academics are important, but so are a lot of other things.</p>

<p>I wish you the luxury of having to decide between the two schools.</p>

9

<p>if you only have time for one then definitely tufts
the kids at penn are way too pretentious and career-driven and will mock you for not know what you want to do with your life</p>

10

<p>“the kids at penn are way too pretentious and career-driven and will mock you for not know what you want to do with your life”</p>

<p><–“Funny,” the foregoing comment. The West Coast kids I know who have attended Penn (11 of 'em) have complained about the pretentiousness, status-consciousness, and lack of out-of-the-box thinking in the Penn undergrad population and that there is a lack of peer support/appreciation for anyone who veers from the straight and narrow–e.g. headed to med, law, MBA school, right after graduation. As well, Penn has had the reputation of a lot of inventory-taking between and among students ever since my college days (mid-80s).</p>

<p>The socio-intellectual experience, which I believe “it” comes down to, is very different between the schools. Or, put more symbolically, Tufts has (I’ve been told and read) one of the higher percentage pre-frosh populations who do a GAP year while Penn does not. At Tufts, there seems to be the willingness to take divergent roads en route to conventional paths (I think of my daughter who, at this point, wants to be a pediatric surgeon but who will do a GAP year that involves art, starting Arabic (she is fluent in Hebrew and Spanish) a stint with the Israeli paramedics, a program in So. America, and a kibbutz stay. As well, she seems to want to do a major that incorporates language, math, and art; I think of such instincts as not terribly iconoclastic for the Tufts student but not all too common for the Penn undergrad.</p>

<p>Truthfully, both Penn and Tufts are excellent academically (although Penn does not have the Tufts scenario of full professors, exclusively, teaching undergrads), so I would encourage you to look beyond the academics and try to assess what feels like a fit–e.g. does some portion of the student population speak to your values, your “style” of being? </p>

<p>Don’t know about Penn being harder to get into than Tufts. I know exceptional kids who did not get into Tufts who did get into Penn, and I am not referencing the oft-referenced “Tufts Syndrome,” either. I just think that Tufts is looking, once data has been achieved, for more abstract and iconoclastic qualities in its student population. The Tufts admission people seem to be cobbling together a class of kids who are not merely academic but intellectual, (authentically) socially-conscious, real citizens of the world (politically-charged and globally aware). And I believe that Tufts measures such qualities beyond grades and test performance–ergo, the seeming unpredictability of the Tufts acceptances. </p>

<p>Finally, the very conventional, albeit bright, student would probably find more familiarity and comfort at Penn. The academic but free thinker would likely find Tufts more to his/her liking.</p>

11

<p>I am a Tufts grad ('07) and my brother is a senior at Penn now ('10). Tufts was perfect for me as I think Penn has been great for him.</p>

<p>Academically and professionally, I am a more “change the world” kind of person, while my brother is more of a “I want to be a really successful businessman” kind of guy.</p>

<p>Socially, I am more into intimate house parties and dinners while my brother likes going clubbing.</p>

<p>I think that is the most succinct way to describe why Tufts worked for me and why Penn has worked my brother. I was more interested in an intimate, “indie” academic and social experience where I got to know my professors well (and never had a TA teach a class), while my brother thrives in a larger, more mainstream environment.</p>