Tufts / Swarthmore

Colleges and Universities A-Z Tufts University
1

<p>I have already posted this on the Swarthmore forum but I figured it would make sense to also post it here so experts from both schools can give me some comments...</p>

<p>As you can see from the thread title, I am torn between Tufts and Swarthmore. Just to give a brief background of myself, I am from Hong Kong. While I do not entirely know what I want to do in the future (I don't think many 17/18 year old does) I am interested in the following, International Relations, Environmental Policy, Engineering (pretty much only the renewable energy aspect of it).</p>

<p>I like Swarthmore's intellectually passionate atmosphere. I like how students engage in intellectual conversations regarding world issues/politics very casually during free times and etc. However Swarthmore comes across to me way too social science or literature based. There seems to be a lot of emphasis on writing and while I recognize that it is an important skill to have, I think I will struggle with getting a high GPA. Also, because I have a scientific interest in engineering, I would like to be involved with some research opportunities which begs me to ask the question, how available are research opportunities in Swarthmore?</p>

<p>As for Tufts, based on what I primarily want to do (IR, Engineering), it makes sense to go there because Tufts is very renowned for its IR and has an engineering school. It also seems to be more diverse in what the school is based on; Swarthmore seems too writing based (social science/literature) but in Tufts, it seems as if there is larger balance between tech savvies and social science majors.</p>

<p>I am so torn between the two, I don't know what can be a deciding factor. I would assume both colleges are not very big with sports. Both colleges have a campus but is near to the city. Both colleges seems to be similar in its social life, etc...</p>

<p>Anybody who can lend his/her insight to my situation?</p>

2

<p>I think Tufts wins handily here. Did you visit Tufts? The intellectually passionate atmosphere you saw at Swarthmore is very, very much in evidence at Tufts. I would even say more so, due to the wider array of viewpoints available (having more technical and scientific people, as well as simply being larger, makes that possible). So if your favorite thing about Swarthmore is also present at Tufts, and you also like Tufts’ programs in IR and engineering (you might want to look into our Environmental Studies program, by the way) then it seems the scale is tipped in our favor.</p>

3

<p>@ Snarf, thank you very much for your reply.</p>

<p>Upon further research, it seems that Swarthmore is much stronger in Engineering and IR than I thought. Some posters on CC have shown me the percentage of graduate in Engineering and it is in fact higher than Tufts. Of course the fact that Swarthmore has a significantly smaller student body, will make it easier for it to have a higher percentage but percentage wise, it seems like there’s still a large amount of Swarthmore students who takes Engineering as a major. However what I am still unclear is how the education in quality of education for Engineering differs in Swarthmore than in Tufts. Just because there is a larger percentage of graduates in Engineering in Swarthmore compared to Tufts does not automatically lead to the conclusion that their Engineering department is good. But again, if the graduates are willing to keep pursuing Engineering, it might also suggest that Engineering was worth studying.</p>

<p>Regarding IR in Tufts as an undergraduate, how “good” is it actually? Would you say that Tufts is only worth going for IR if you are a graduate student and that the undergrad IR program will not differ much from let’s say Swarthmore?</p>

<p>How important would you say the student endowment is? As another CC poster said, things like student endowment really makes a difference to the quality of college experience and the larger the endowment, the better it can only be. In terms of endowment, Swarthmore’s is significantly higher than Tufts but how much emphasis should I put on that?</p>

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<p>Where did you see that statistic regarding Swarthmore? My impression when I visited there was that they had a fairly strong engineering program given the size, but that it was still very small. I seem to remember that they only required 16 classes for an engineering major, which is much fewer than you need for one elsewhere; I don’t know how exactly those are broken down, though. It didn’t seem like they could provide the depth or the breadth that you could get at a school with a larger engineering program.</p>

5

<p>Based on feedback I have heard, fromm kids who have gone to Tufts and kids who have to Swarthmore, I gather that the social climates are different at the two schools, that the students at Tufts are more social than those at Swarthmore. Ass well, at Tufts, to have done two, three, and four sports in high schools–my daughter is one of them–who will continue to participate in them in college.</p>

<p>And as far as intellectual gravitas, my experience of the Tufts students is that they have interests, which are not exclusively academic–they are musical, global in their outlook, have cultivated multiple languages, and have talents and interests across the academic spectrum.</p>

<p>My own Tufts-bound child is fluent in three languages, is very proficient in math and will likely major in math, an accomplished pianist and painter, is the exclusive fundraiser for a hospital in Central America, at which she assists 3-4 times, yearly, does two sports, did election protection during the last presidential campaign, and is having a paper published in a graduate level journal on physical decay mirroring mental decline in Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying. Oh, yes, she loves the “theater of the absurd,” says it mimics her homelife–LOL. And she ministered to the maimed on the front lines of Kosovo–not true, but you get the idea. And the discussion to which my daughter was privy, while visiting an ethics class at Tufts, was nothing short of scintillating and brilliant. </p>

<p>Another peer of my daughter’s, who picked Tufts over Penn, is one of the most active voices for renewable resources, of anyone his age, in the country, an nationally-ranked LaCrosse player and is mastering his third string instrument, after having built his own harpsichord or clavichord (I forget which) out of recycled parts.</p>

<p>Or how about _____, Tufts-bound, who is an amazing artist, math student, journalist (already published piecse in the Christian Science Monitor and the L.A. Times), and is a devotee of the French existentialists.</p>

<p>I don’t mean this to sound as horribly pretentious as it does, but the implication that Tufts is somehow an intellectual wasteland compared to Swarthmore is poppycock.</p>

<p>Boston, too, would have endless research opportunities–ranging from medical/scientific to engineering.</p>

<p>Good luck with your decision.</p>

6

<p>Would anyone mind if I cued up a slightly different discussion? </p>

<p>The single quality I appreciate the most about Tufts is the ability of our students to think across academic boundaries and the extent to which our curriculum supports and encourages this. You mentioned wanting to study engineering/environmental science/international relations, and I think Tufts is an amazing place to think of these fields not as separate, but as unified in possibility. The quite Engineers Without Borders chapter constantly joins together students studying community health, international development, engineering, and environmentalism. And the spirit of Engineers Without Boarders falls neatly within the broader culture of Tufts.</p>

<p>That interdisciplinary vibe has always struck me as a defining feature of what makes Tufts such an amazing place. Are you the sort of engineer who might be interested in policy work, the sort of IR students that wants to understand the growing role of technology in the developing world? Because if not, if you see Engineering and IR as mutually exclusive domains, it’s unlikely Tufts should be your home. </p>

<p>I’m sensitive to the challenge of making a decision as big as the one you have, but don’t look sight of the big picture - the intellectual culture or persistent world view of an institution - by focusing on things like percent of students studying IR or percent of engineers.</p>

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<p>^Once again, Dan’s the man. It’s more about fit than numbers.</p>

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<p>Just another reason Dan ROCKS. I am passing this on to a certain senior who is still wrestling with his choices. ;)</p>

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<p>Wow CountingDown, your family must all be counting down at this point!!</p>

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<p>Counting down the days, adding up the gray hairs… ;)</p>

11

<p>@ Dan, thank you very much for your response, it was very insightful.</p>

<p>I get where you’re coming from when you are giving me another dimension to look at things. Based on what you said, I AM the sort of student who likes to think across academic boundaries, in fact I LOVE bridging knowledge from different academic disciples together; it is something I find a lot of joy doing. Like what you mentioned about an engineer who might be interested in policy work or a diplomat wanting to learn the growing influence of technology, that’s exactly the sort of thing I want to do. However, the thing is I am choosing between two institutes - Tufts and Swarthmore. I just feel as if, everything listed here (diversity among students, etc) is also available at Swarthmore. I feel as if the reasons listed here completely neglects what Swarthmore has to offer (this might be because the posters know a lot more about Tufts than Swarthmore). So while I love all the interdisciplinary learning Tufts advocates, I feel that Swarthmore promotes the same type of education, in fact much better due to its elite undergraduate program. Regarding SWHarborFan’s post, I too am not trying to be pretentious but, the type of students you have mentioned are exactly the type of students I have been surrounded with in high school and are also people I think I will be surrounded in Swarthmore. From the posts above, I just don’t see something exceptionally special about Tufts that Swarthmore does not provide…</p>

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<p>It sounds like you’re leaning toward Swarthmore. Go with your gut!</p>

13

<p>Well, you hit the nail on the head. We all know a whole lot more about Tufts than Swarthmore. The vast majority of people only ever have ONE undergraduate experience, which is why I’m generally skeptical of direct comparisons between two schools. They’re both great schools, the best way to decide would be to visit, speak with some current students and professors, check out some of the extracurriculars you might be interested, and go to the one you think will make you happier.</p>