Tufts or USC

College Search & Selection
21

@flravvv, no worries re the FA dept–Lord knows I had my own FA troubles at both my alma maters. FA departments can frankly be like any other bureaucracy–big, impersonal, and not always as helpful as we might like.

It’s my understanding (largely from CC), that FA appeals are difficult. Sorry to hear about your medical circumstances and best wishes there, and with FA, going forward.

I’m going to disagree with my fellow Trojans on this thread re debt, but only bc, IMO, the level you’d incur at USC would be very manageable. I graduated with more debt than that, and did just fine. Mind, I’m very anti-debt in general, and certainly taking on ANY amount of debt is an extremely personal decision. But speaking only for myself, my heart was at USC (and later Michigan, lol), and at both schools I took on some manageable debt. Never regretted it, but again, this is an extremely individual/personal/family decision.

I’ll get back to you more specifically re workstudy, but again just want to emphasize my on-campus work experiences didn’t only help my post-college/grad school resumes, they were unique experiences that helped shape me as a young person.

22

@USCwolverine -

Not sure which article you are referring to. The Princeton Review article is 2 years old and the one about USC mis-reporting data to US News (discovered by a College Confidential poster) is less than 9 years old.
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/06/08/usc

In any event, Joseph Aoun (former dean of USC and now president of Northeastern) was recruited and paid $3.1M a year (plus chauffeur and townhouse overlooking Boston Common) for his experience gaming the US News rankings.

Clearly this is a valuable skill, so I am not sure why you think I was trashing USC…

Here is an article from 4 years ago.

https://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/2014/08/26/how-northeastern-gamed-the-college-rankings/3/#gallery-2-4

23

Thank you for all your positive comments re USC. Fight On, Mastadon!

24

Student can work at either school, one does not need “work study” financial aid at Tufts to find a job, and in fact Tufts offers non work study positions so I would not call “work study” a positive for USC, its a burden, that may become tiring in fact.

https://students.tufts.edu/financial-services/student-employment

Go to Tufts where you have flexibility to work when you want, and not forced to work to pay your way.
You will get more interesting jobs perhaps when you apply because you want to work as well. Its better
to keep the flexibility. Its not easy to work freshman year, but its possible to do that. You may want
to adjust to freshman year without the need to work a lot of work study hours.

25

@Mastadon - Don’t kid yourself about Tufts not gaming the ranking syndrome – they practically invented yield protection!! (There’s a reason that it’s called “Tufts’ Syndrome”!!)

Also, your quote lambasting the Princeton Review did NOT come from USC – it came from The Tab, “a youth news site published by Tab Media Ltd. It was launched at the University of Cambridge and has since expanded to over 80 universities in the United Kingdom and United States.”

@flravvv - I would encourage you to try to appeal the USC FA offer in light of your medical expenses, etc. You’ve got nothing to lose, and you just might be able to get some additional money out of them. Were you National Merit Scholarship winner? You should have received a merit scholarship for for that.

It sounds like USC would be a great fit for you, but not if it means going into debt. It’s a great school, but then again, so is Tufts. They are, however, quite different. I think @prezbucky summed your choice up nicely. You can’t go wrong with either school.

Congrats on some great acceptances!!

26

Fletcher is a school of law and diplomacy (i.e. international relations/affairs) not a traditional law school. It was founded as a joint venture between Tufts and Harvard (which are two miles apart), but Tufts took over after a few years.

Fletcher’s IR focus complements Harvard’s law school and it’s school of government, so the combination of the three forms a complimentary cluster with cross enrollment between the three grad schools. MIT’s grad schools were added to the cluster sometime later. (MIT is about 4 miles from Tufts).

Tufts’ undergrads can take courses at Fletcher (IR is one of Tufts’ largest undergrad majors), so it is possible that a Tufts undergrad would be in classes with Harvard or MIT grad students, but you would not be able to enroll in classes at Harvard Law, Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, or MIT’s grad schools. There are other activities (conferences, seminars, hackathons…) that the three schools participate in outside of class time.that can be valuable learning experiences.

http://fletcher.tufts.edu/About/Fletcher-History

27

At Tufts, IR is taught as an interdisciplinary major that spans all these fields. At the undergrad level, it includes economics rather than business, but Fletcher has a masters in international business program. At the undergrad level there is also a minor in Entrepreneurial Leadership offered through the School of Engineering.

Tufts and Georgetown SFS are arguably the top two undergrad IR programs in the country.

The two law schools at the top of your list (along with Georgetown) are known for their international law programs, so I suspect that this is what makes them popular among Tufts applicants

28

Not sure why you would have FOMO…

Tufts is already considered one of the 18 “little ivies”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Ivies

as well as one of the 25 “new elite ivies”
http://www.newsweek.com/americas-25-new-elite-ivies-108771

and both Tufts and USC are listed as one of the 50 “Hidden Ivies”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hidden_Ivies

Which makes one think this whole Ivy thing is getting a little out of control. That could be why English Ivy has been named an invasive species… :slight_smile:

http://www.ecosystemgardening.com/english-ivy-most-hated-plants.html

29

I know it’s reputattion and how prestigious the degree is and the Boston benefit. I have a lot of friends who are grads and parents. I can’t fully articulate it. It didn’t do much for me when we visited four times over two kids. I can’t tell you why. If I could sum it up. Perhaps it seemed to lack a clear identity or vibe compared to other schools. Not sporty or preppy. Not hipster and not science geek cool. A little of each but not quite adding up to the whole. But it’s a fine school and great admission. Just my two cents. And we did love usc for being kind of decisively what it is. Like it or leave it. If that doesn’t make sense just ignore me completely. It won’t hurt my feelings.

30

@flravvv, I would choose Tufts in your shoes. You have no debt and that is going to be important down the road, whether for law school or other endeavors. USC has lost some of the “spoiled children” stigma but there are many wealthy students/families and Greek life is very popular. However, there are many clubs and organizations to get involved in at USC.

Costs are more than USC estimates. You will have transportation costs that are far higher than they estimate at $500, and it will likely be cheaper for you to visit family in Florida from Boston than flying across the country from Los Angeles. While school spirit is outstanding at USC, there are plenty of pro sports to follow in Boston. Boston is also expensive. The weather is definitely going to be a shock, going from FL to MA, as compared to sunny L.A., Where will you fit better socially? If you are extroverted, maybe you will do ok anywhere. USC has a very large international population, not sure about Tufts.

If your goal is to go to graduate school on the East Coast and/or an Ivy, I would lean towards Tufts.To answer your question, the debt and loans are NOT worth it in my view, if you can handle the cold. You have been given a great opportunity at Tufts and I would seriously consider it, especially if you do not see yourself staying in Southern California after you graduate. The Trojan network is good but generally more useful in Southern Cal.

31

@privatebanker-

Your observations are accurate. Tuft’s culture is very hard to articulate. It is not “typical of the Northeast”.

It has its roots in the Universalist religion which is now defunct (it merged with the Unitarian religion which is more wealthy but not quite as liberal). There was a Universalist seminary on the campus until the 1960’s.

The Calvinists (i.e.Harvard and Yale) founded New England. They believed in the notion of the “elect” and that the earthly indicators for the elect were social and economic success. Only the elect would go to heaven, all others would burn in hell.

The Universalists came later, (during The Enlightenment). They believed in universal salvation and they did not believe in hell (i.e. everbody is equal and everybody goes to heaven). As a result, they did not have to worry as much about social and economic success.

Compared to the Calvinists, it was a very liberal, laid back, and inclusive culture. Calvinists never understood the behavior of the Universalists (because they evaluated the behaviors in the context of their own belief system) and therefore saw them as a little eccentric.

So, I would say that Tufts’s culture tends to be “creative/nonconformist” (some would say “quirky”, but that word has gone out of style) , “intellectual/pacifist” (some would say “nerdy”, but that word has gone out of style) and “hands -on idealist”. The culture promotes the notion of “making the world a better place” by becoming an “active, global citiizen”.

The school’s motto is “Peace and Light” and there is a dove on the school seal.The school mascot is a circus elephant named Jumbo (from the Barnum and Bailey Circus) and PT Barnum was an early benefactor.

There is a replica of a cannon on campus. It is a school tradition to paint it in the middle of the night. The tradition started as an act of defiance against an implement of war.

https://tuftsdaily.com/features/2016/11/28/history-on-the-hill-the-cannon/

https://www.google.com/search?q=tufts+cannon&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS791US791&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiWicvHsdvaAh
UmneAKHdVmBS8QsAQINg&biw=1536&bih=759

There is also a large stairway that serves as a memorial to all the members of the Tufts community who have died in war. It is highly respected, and has been meticulously restored.

http://now.tufts.edu/articles/new-life-memorial-steps

The inclusive nature of the culture tends to support, encourage, and attract diversity, which makes it hard to categorize from external appearances.
.

32

@Mastadon

That explains a lot and is very interesting. Thanks for taking the time to write it up. Cheers!

33

@lovethebard -
The Tab hires local student reporters.
The author of the article was a USC student, so the quote did come from USC.
Here is an extract from the author’s Linkedin profile:

34

@Mastadon - A quote made by a USC student is NOT a quote from the university that they attend. The Tab piece was written while she was still a student at USC.

When someone expresses an opinion or writes an article, that person does not represent any organization unless they are expressly hired by that organization to represent it and speak on its behalf.

35

@lovethebard-

Now I think I understand your comments…

I switched context between my posts.

In the context of gaming the US News rankings, the term “USC” refers to the administration - because they are the ones involved in the activity.

In the context of evaluating the party culture, the term “USC” refers to the student body - because they are the ones involved in the activity.

The intent of the quote/link in the second post was to provide a student’s perspective on the party scene, not the administration’s.

In the context of evaluating the party culture, a prospective student is going to find the opinion of an actual student more relevant than the opinion of the administration or their paid spokesperson.

36

Tufts. USC is um, fine. The rise in rankings is befuddling to anyone over 20years old.

37

Update: the money is no longer an issue. I just received a general 40k scholarship over 4 years, 10k each year for any school. Think I am still set on Tufts because I spent so long convincing myself, especially bc of the money factor, but now I’m stuck.

Would now be paying only $754 a year for USC and maybe unexpected costs. They’ve factored in transportation and everything though.

Would be paying nothing for Tufts, at all. Haven’t gotten an answer on if I would receive a refund check yet.

At this point, money doesn’t matter. I need to figure out where I want to go and what college will be better for me both academically and personal-happiness wise.

I feel like I am going to make the wrong decision, and today is the day.

38

Like I said earlier, I never visited USC because the aid they had given me was not enough for me to consider it at the time, but now of course there’s no time to visit and I feel like I can’t commit my next 4 years somewhere without visiting … but lots of people do it.

Tufts has 4 seasons and would be less damageable to my super sun/heat-sensitive skin, plus it’s the perfect location to go to Ivy Law. But USC is a terrific school and I’m not sure if I would have given up a great opportunity for a California education.

39

Go to Tufts. More undergraduate focus with the smaller classes and terrific teaching. You’ve got Fletcher for IR and law in the background and you’ll find plenty of internships in the Boston area too.

40

Our daughter attended Tufts. She loved it.

She had a classmate/friend who transferred to USC because she decided she wanted to major in marketing, and Tufts did not offer that major. She was not really into sports and not the heavy partying type. She only attended one football game at USC and she said that she liked the social scene at Tufts better than at USC. It is all about fit…

Our daughter was quite social in high school. We live in a western suburb of Boston with a very competitive High School. My daughter could not believe how much more “nice” the people at Tufts were relative to high school. A friend whose child attended another NESCAC school went to Tufts to watch their child play against Tufts and saw our daughter at the game. She said that she had never seen our daughter so happy before.

When we went to Tufts’ homecoming game to visit with our daughter she had painted her face with Tufts colors! That is not typical at Tufts and she had never done it in high school. The crowds at sporting events are much smaller than D1 schools, but some of the fans really get into it, especially in the playoffs. Tufts has hosted the regional rounds of some of the NCAA championships the last few years.

She ended up joining a sorority (which seemed to be tamer at Tufts than the stereotype) but she had more than enough opportunities to party.