<p>Columbiahopeful: so, to you, the score someone gets on some 5 hour test one day during their junior year means more than how well they do in school compared to their classmates? in case you can't tell, I disagree.</p>
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<p>I'm also not sure how this matters or even how it's calculated, given that so many schools do not rank...but the Tufts Profile of the Class of 2011 says that 86% ranked in the top 10% of their graduating classes. The mean rank, where available, was 6%.</p>
<p>'rentof2</p>
<p>More an association than strong similarities</p>
<p>Small; strong undergraduate focus; 3/4 traditional and 1/4 innovative; beautiful campus; strong regional reputation; not in a nice town, but close to nice areas, etc.</p>
<p>The 3/4 traditional, 1/4 innovative is interesting. I know about the Johnston center at U of Redlands. What is the 1/4 innovative at Tufts? Is there a special program or school-within-a-school kind of thing?</p>
<p>There's the Experimental College (a.k.a., "Ex-college"); the Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service (a unique school in its own right).</p>
<p>I didn't know about the Ex college. I'll have to look that up and read a bit about it. Thanks.</p>
<p>Another school that comes to mind when I think of Tufts is Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas</p>
<p>DanofAdmiss@Tufts</p>
<p>You wrote: "I like that we're in between, and the majority of my fellow Jumbos will agree with that. (Tufts) offers something different culturally and academically because - in large part - of our size, but I'm glad we're "stuck" where we are and would be disappointed if there (sic) were to change.</p>
<p>Dan, This is an excellent point. Perhaps the issue is one of a sharper, harder-edged focus that results in true distinctiveness (both perceived and actual). Whether currrent and past Jumbos agree about what Tufts offers somewhat misses a larger point. What would be more interesting, especially for prospies to know, is this. In presence of admission offers from Tufts and one other school, what percentage of students would choose Tufts? The other schools are Brown, Dartmouth and Williams. Brown and Dartmouth being 'tweener schools, like Tufts; Williams a pure play LAC.</p>
<p>So the question to ask is this: In the presence of acceptances from your top two schools, which one would you choose and why?</p>
<p>Tufts or Brown
Tufts or Dartmouth
Tufts or Williams</p>
<p>Does the admissions office at Tufts track information like this? It would be very useful if you did. My hypotheses is that students would choose either Brown or Dartmouth over Tufts 3 to 1 and Williams 2 to 1. My sense is that Tufts is at a point where these three schools are among the top competitors for the better students you seek. If this is the case, what actions are in place for Tufts to sharpen its value proposition?</p>
<p>I think Tufts students are lucky that they aren't being recruited by Morgan Stanley. My nephew graduated from Brown last year and is now employed by Morgan Stanley. They basically treat him like he is some sort of slave. He works through the night frequently. His boss will call him at 5 am and demand that he deliver some report to the airport. He hates his job and would like to quit but Morgan Stanley made him sign a contract saying that he would work for them for two years. Working for some of these big prestigious companies is often not all it's cracked up to be.</p>
<p>Balletgirl-- just curious-- what made you choose Brown, Dartmouth and Williams for comparison? Are these schools you are interested in? I'm only asking because, except for Brown, the other two have very different reputations-- more conservative (NOT conservative, just more conservative) and definitely more jockish and athletics-oriented.</p>
<p>My S. did a ton of research, and a lot of visits. He had good grades and scores to work with-- 2200 SAT 1, two 800's and a 790 on SAT II's, all 5's but one 4 on APs, 3-sport varsity athlete/captain, editor, etc. He saw Williams, Amherst, Vassar, BC, Bowdoin, Cornell and Tufts. His interests were IR and History. Williams is a great school, but ended up one of his least favorites after visiting. He considered Brown initially, but ruled it out because it sounded a little bit too kooky and unstructured for him, Ivy league label or not. Cornell was probably his second choice, but he loved Tufts and applied early. Now that he's there, he's found that a good percentage of his friends applied early too. </p>
<p>When he was in 10th grade and just starting to look, he was interested in rankings. The next year, though, he was more focused on the specific academic departments. In this respect Tufts was definitely at the top of his list, and visiting just confirmed it. </p>
<p>I don't think choices based on percentage point comparisons can guarantee you a great career (nothing can) any more than they doom you to failure. The student body, the feel of the school, and the friends you'll make also deserve attention. </p>
<p>I'm writing all this assuming you are college-hunting. Hope it helps.</p>
<p>lspf72,</p>
<p>Thanks. Yes I am in the hunt for a few of these schools, including Tufts. I choose Dartmouth, Brown and Williams to compare Tufts with because I sense that there is a high degree of overlap for a large segment of Tufts' applicant pool. I could have as easily added Amherst, Wesleyan and JHU.</p>
<p>After doing a fair bit of research and visiting a number of schools, I have applied ED to Dartmouth. There were a number of reasons, including academic departments, athletic and artistic opportunities, campus "feel", the D-Plan, etc. where I found a really strong fit. </p>
<p>That said, I have also very much liked other aspects of schools like Brown, Williams and Tufts. These and others are on my list should I have to apply to schools RD. </p>
<p>Aside from Tufts' renowned IR program, I am trying to understand Tufts "distinctiveness". I feel I've got that for many of the schools I am interested in, but can't quite put my finger on it for Tufts.</p>
<p>Tufts IR program definitely was a big plus when S. was looking. The visit (two, actually) definitely sealed the decision, though. He really liked the mix of students. Liked the campus too, though probably would have preferred more of a rural setting. As a freshman he hasn't utilized Boston much. Think that will probably change as time goes on. </p>
<p>I thought the required curriculum at Tufts could be overwhelming, but he says it's not bad. Having a few AP credits helped, and he's pretty sure he'll be able to do a double major (IR and a language).</p>
<p>The prevalence of Greek life at Dartmouth was a bit of a dissuasion for him, though obviously plenty of people are happy with it. He enjoys some of the frat parties at Tufts, but it seems like a smaller part of the overall social scene. He's also been to some amazing lectures - said the Daniel Dennett/ Dinesh DeSouza (sp?) debate tonight was great.</p>
<p>Also, for him, participating on a NESCAC team in Div. III was preferable to spectating in Div. I. They actually have a meet coming up at Dartmouth soon... where hopefully you will be next year. Good luck!</p>
<p>I work for a boutique brokerage house on Wall Street and needed a new associate quickly, which is how many needs come up. In September, we posted a job description on the Careeer Service sites of Dartmouth, NYU, Columbia, Tufts, Lehigh and Wellesley. We only looked at responses that included both a resume and a letter that addressed our needs. We gave an assignment to those who sent the best resumes and letters and interviewed four applications who did the assignment well. Two were from Columbia, one from Dartmouth and one from Tufts. Once we were at the assignment stage, the college they came from made no difference whatsoever. Their work and their personalities (and personality is more important than they tell you in college) were all. We all liked the Tuft applicant best and he is now working for me. The job is a very good entree to Wall Street. The whole process took about a month. I don't know where about 90% of the people I work with went to college. Some of the responses in this thread made my stomach turn. My advice is to stop agonizing about the prestige of your college and focus on making your work stand out.</p>
<p>Thanks for sharing, Green-eyes.</p>
<p>Below is a tread posted recently on CC. </p>
<p>Among the top colleges and universities in the US, Tufts has one of the lowest yields at 31%, below that of USC, WUStL and JHU at 32%. This means that over 2 out of every 3 students accepted to Tufts choose to go elsewhere.</p>
<p>DanofADMISS@Tufts, it would be great to know what are the five or so schools, aside from Harvard and Brown, that Tufts looses students to. </p>
<p>I go to Tufts. I don't like it here. I came to the school on a 100% tuition waiver. Despite that I do not like Tufts, if I could choose a different school, I probably would not. Tufts is weak enough to displease me, but strong enough to attract me given the opportunity cost of the waived tuition. (In other words, I would choose free tuition at Tufts over full tuition at Harvard, but I'd consider [note* consider, not choose] UMass Amherst over full tuition at Tufts.) All else equal, I would choose a school such as JHU over Tufts.</p>
<p>To clarify earlier points:</p>
<p>-Columbiahopeful is just a kid and his opinion will probably mature as he gets older... there is more to a school than its SAT score.
-Microsoft recruits on campus. GE recruits on campus. Google, Pixar, and Facebook do not.
-JPMorgan recruits on campus. GS/MS do not. Lehman has special interview arrangements for Tufts students.</p>
<p>I didn't bother reading the majority of the posts, so excuse any omissions.</p>
<p>Not sure if Goldman recruits on campus, but they have trips for Tufts students to come down to Maiden Lane for the day.</p>
<p>Beny, I'm just curious...what is it about Tufts that you don't like?
Is it academic, social, geographic or other factors?</p>
<p>actually, i go to tufts as well and i hate it. im actually leaving. many people told me that if they were brave enough, they would leave too. im just saying this because i wish someone would have before i enrolled...</p>
<p>Well, OK, as a transfer I know what it feels like to not really love where you are. But just saying categorically that you wish someone had warned you how much School X sucks is not the right way to help someone else -- just because you don't like it doesn't mean everyone else will feel the same way, etc. etc.</p>
<p>Myself, I transferred from Georgetown SFS to Tufts. But I don't go say unhelpful things like this in the Gtown forum. I loved Tufts and it made my life and future, and everything I do today as a recent alum (LA'07) possible. </p>
<p>No school will have 100% happy students. No school. I guarantee it. Everything you love or hate about a school is exactly what makes someone else feel the exact opposite way about it. I also can tell in retrospect that your experience at a school depends almost 90% on what YOU make/take out of it. </p>
<p>My two cents.</p>