<p>Thirding what TheDukeofEarl said.</p>
<p>Fourth-ing what DukeofEarl said--
Several friendly students stopped to ask if we needed directions or help, pretty much out of the blue (maybe we looked confused). It wasn't a deciding factor but it definitely gave a nice vibe (which we've found holds true now that S is there).</p>
<p>fifthing what dukeofearl said. What's awesome is that now that I'm here, I get to be one of those people as well ;)</p>
<p>Tufts is a very happy place.</p>
<p>Brandybear, I grew up âdreamingâ of two schools: Tufts and Stanford. Didnât matter where I went as long as I went to one. My friends, on the other hand, made complete fun of me because no one in Texas had ever heard of Tufts and they all thought Stanny was a hippie school. I have enrolled at Tufts and Iâm on the Stanford waitlist and if I get off that it will be the most agonizing decision of my life. </p>
<p>Iâve never even visited Tufts but I know I would be happy there. The other schools where Iâve been accepted at are great but they all have something missing (in my eyes), even though they are âhigher rankedâ than Tufts. </p>
<p>The US News rankings are probably the worst thing that has happened to college admissions. If they had any sense of decency, they would get discontinued.</p>
<p>Bluebubbles: Congrats on your decision to enroll at Tufts! Like you, my D turned down more âhighly rankedâ schools for Tufts because of fit. Tufts had the exact size, programs, extra-curriculars, and location that she was looking for in a school. The people she has met and the excellent food are bonuses that she now talks about all the time!! Itâs a wonderful combination of a âlarge-ishâ liberal arts school and research university and there really arenât many schools that fall into that category. </p>
<p>Welcome to Tufts!</p>
<p>Iâm sorry but I donât understand the SAT score numbers everyone is referring toâŠ
Itâs my understanding a perfect SAT score is 2400 (combined) in current terms.
Yet the numbers referred to here are in the 1300âs and 1400âsâŠplease explain.
I am understanding that the majority of Tufts student body (83 to 85%) is in the top 10% of their HS graduating class.</p>
<p>^ The scores being spoken about are the Math+CR scores</p>
<p>Thanks, collegemom! Iâm very excited :)</p>
<p>When I was looking at colleges a few short months ago, I really wasnât too picky. I could see myself being happy at almost everyone I visited, always highlighting the good in schools. I think partially I was just so excited to soon join a collegiate environment. Therefore, when it came time to apply to schools I chose them mostly by department and program recognition and quality (interested in classics). I applied to Tufts, Brown, Princeton, Northwestern, UVa, and JHU.</p>
<p>However, Tufts was one of the only schools I applied to that I never toured (i dropped in the admission office and filled out a card). Both of my parents graduated 30+ years ago and my Grandfather 50+ years ago. Tufts was a school where I felt like I âhad to apply,â even though my family never pressured me, just because I wanted to continue a tradition. Yet, when I got my decision that I was waitlisted, I truly believe that it is the best thing that happened. I realize now that Tufts wasnât the school for me and that I applied for totally (or at least somewhat) the wrong reasons. I am very happy to be going to Brown next year though, as I feel that it does fit a lot of my indecisive choices about college. It is not too city or too suburban, boasts all sorts of people, and is not a too small LAC or sprawling University.</p>
<p>So I guess what I am trying to say is, like a lot of other people have reiterated, apply to schools for the right reasons for YOU, not because of your parents or prestige. Also, be sure to visit or somehow become acquainted with the college, because if something bugs you upon a cursory glance, then it will most likely continue to annoy you for the 4 years you would spend there.</p>
<p>I just joined CC and came across this tread. I am a sophomore who is very interested in Tufts. I would like to study International Relations and play hockey. </p>
<p>How does Tuftsâ academic reputation compare with Williams and Amherst?</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>To be perfectly honest, before I was applying to colleges no one in my family had ever heard of Williams, Amherst, OR Tufts. That being said, we ended up visiting all three, I applied to two (Williams and Tufts) and Iâll be going to Tufts as a freshman this fall. Looking at rankings alone, Williams and Amherst are tied for number one(and admit less people) while Tufts is lower in the rankings. Rankings donât tell the whole story though, and when I was looking at colleges I was surprised at some of the rankings after visiting colleges. Also, a lot of people (but NOT anyone I met at Tufts) have this mindset of Tufts being the Ivy reject school for kids who couoldnât get into UPenn or Cornell, which was probably true for some people at some time but I wouldnât say that is mostly true now. Personally, I turned down Cornell for Tufts and so far have been completely happy with that decision. Tuftsâ reputation from what I can tell and hear from different people has greatly risen in the past few years and is still on the rise. All three are great schools it just may depend on what you want to major in. For example, Tufts has an AMAZING reputation for International Relations. All of these schools have great all-around programs but each school will differ in the reputation of itâs different departments.</p>
<p>Williams and Amherst are ranked in a different grouping than Tufts, though.</p>
<p>Thatâs also true, sorry I didnât make that clear. Williams and Amherst are in the liberal arts colleges rankings while Tufts is in the national universities rankings. According to US News and World Report, I believe Tufts is 28th, with the Ivy League and others like WUSTL, University of Chicago, MIT, and Stanford above it. The national universities ranking list is more full of the schools that people know of because theyâre bigger while the liberal arts college rankings include schools that are generally less well known but also provide an amazing education.</p>
<p>Thanks all. </p>
<p>I am less interested in how various ranking agencies categorize Tufts (which seem forced and artificial, especially when looking at undergraduate programs). </p>
<p>For what I wish to study, Tufts is pretty much a liberal arts college (as I think it is for many students who go there). Academically, for a solid liberal arts education with a potential major in the social sciences, are Amherst, Williams and Tufts comparable? Do all three offer comparably rigorous programs with small classes and access to senior faculty?</p>
<p>Can only speak for Tufts, but S1 has found Tuft faculty helpful and accessible. FWIW, when he was a senior in HS, I had him pegged as a LAC type. He liked Amherst and Bowdoin, disliked Williams (mysterious gut reaction) and loved Tufts (and itâs IR program). He feels he would have âoutgrownâ the smaller LACâs and is extremely happy with his choice. For some students theyâre the perfect fit, though. Aside from great academics, they also had a much preppier vibe, and some kids are happier with that. Youâll probably get a good feeling of what fits you best. Have you been able to visit the campuses? Also, do you want to play team hockey or club hockey? That might make a difference as well.</p>
<p>Also - more advice - try not to get too wrapped up in rankings. Sophomore and junior year, when S first started looking, we were poring over US News and anything else we could get our hands on. Once he visited the schools he was interested in, sat in one some classes, etc. rankings and prestige went out the window. There is some good information there (average class size, student/professor ratio, freshman retention rates, etc), but the broad rankings are pretty pointless. With S2 weâve skipped that whole step. Heâs researching the schools that have the programs he wants, and doing his best to visit. Good luck!</p>
<p>LovelySources⊠is your post a joke? When you state that âTufts is equal to Temple,â are you referring to Temple University? The same school where the middle 25% of the SAT scores for the class entering in 2008 is between 500 and 600? Do you know anything about Tufts and its caliber of students/professors/programs?</p>
<p>BTW, I have nothing against Temple University. I know that it is a fine, well-respected institution that has produced some very talented actors, musicians, and entertainers, as well as a smattering of political and business leaders. Like any prominent national university, Temple has a good number of highly successful graduates. However, as separate institutions, Temple and Tufts are not at all comparable in any way.</p>
<p>And while weâre on this topic, compare Tufts 25-75% SAT scores for the class entering in 2008 with those of the same-class students from Williams, Amherst, Bowdoin, Brown, Cornell, and Wesleyan, for example. All of these numbers are available on the internet through the collegesâ published Common Data Sets and/or Institutional Research Fact Books. Tufts students have scores that are equal to or better than the schools listed above. The 2009 scores will not be available for a number of months from now but Tuftsâ numbers have experienced a rise over the past couple of years that - if the trend continues - will soon equal those of the enrolling students at Dartmouth and Columbia. </p>
<p>Hey - unless the schools are manipulating their published data - the numbers donât lie in this case.</p>
<p>HockeyKid-
As a general proposition, Williams and Amherst are definitely more prestigious than Tufts. They are the two best small liberal arts colleges in the country, and are correspondingly difficult to get into. They are both in small towns in Mass., although Amherst is arguably a little less remote. If you like the small LAC environment, you cannot do better than these two schools.
That being said, Tufts is better than both of them for IR. It is also just outside of Boston, which I personally consider to be one of the great college towns in the eastern U.S., and possibly THE best in the eastern U.S. Tufts is pretty intimate for a university (only 5000 undergrads), but still cannot offer the incredibly intimate atmosphere of Williams and Amherst. So itâs a trade-off, and you need to consider whatâs most important to you.
Finally, hockey is simply not something I think of when I think of Tufts.</p>
<p>just<em>the</em>facts:
LovelySources is a â â â â â ; ignore her.</p>
<p>HockeyKid:
When I was looking at colleges, I was accepted to Williams, visited several times (it was easy to do, as I have family who live right outside of Williamstown), and had the opportunity to sit in on classes. While Williams is definitely a top-notch academic institution, I was more impressed by the political science and IR programs at Tufts. I just donât think political science is really where they concentrate resources - itâs definitely not one of their most popular programs.
I donât really know anything about Amherst, except that in my three years as a political science student and research assistant for professors, I canât recall coming across any particularly impressive scholarly articles originating from Amherst. Of course, the two objections there are that 1) itâs entirely anecdotal and 2) popular research does not necessarily equal good undergraduate education.</p>
<p>All three are good schools. Visit, speak with current students, sit in on classes, talk to professors.
Come back here for any Tufts-specific questions.</p>