Tufts University

[367367]

Hey everyone! I am a Junior in High School this year and I am starting to visit a few colleges. I visited Tufts recently and I loved it! Everyone seemed really nice/funny and not too stressed out.

I was just wondering if someone could give me some insight on a few things:

-What are the undergrad international relations/economics programs like a tufts? Are they known nationally and taught by good professors?

-This is a loaded question but in general do you think Tufts is regarded as a school on par with the ivies and schools similar to those?

-Are students at Tufts generally friendly and funny and is it easy to make friends?

Thanks so much!

[Mastadon]

If we worried about whether or not others thought we were on par with ivies and ivy aspiriants then we would probably get as stressed out as they are, become less friendly, and lose our sense of humor…

[367367]

hah! @Mastadon good point!

[Naspy58]

In my opinion, Tufts is not on par with the top Ivies based on what is deemed “prestigious” in a school – loads of Nobel and other award winning scholars; writers, scientists, thinkers and retired politicians of national and international stature; profoundly accomplished students with near-perfect test scores, children of famous and vastly rich alumni, infinitesimal acceptance rate and high yield, international profile, etc. Probably also not considered the equivalent of Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore or U of Chicago either (though all of these also have reputations as overly rigorous sweatboxes). Tufts is often compared to Wesleyan, though I think in the general layperson’s mind, Wesleyan still has a bit more prestige. Probably “on par” with Northwestern, Carleton, Haverford, Hamilton, Davidson – Tufts is now considered a “very selective” and highly regarded school known for a very bright, interesting and unpretentious student body, that still may have more of a regional appeal than a national one (though California ranks 3rd among states who send kids to Tufts, most are from MA, NY and NJ). Few students will choose Tufts over a top Ivy, though probably many of them should-- However, having said that, a Tufts degree is getting more and more valuable and well-known and we are very happy that our daughter chose to go there, tuition notwithstanding!

[gardenstategal]

Tufts was one of the first schools to offer an IR major, then with ties to Fletcher. It remains very well known and highly regarded in that field. If that’s your interest, it could be an excellent choice.

[Boothie007]

@Naspy58 Northwestern is most likely a good step above Tufts. Tufts is great, but in terms of selectivity, endowment, rankings, research size, etc., Northwestern is quite ahead.

[Mastadon]

The people who do the hiring down in Washington (and typically don’t hire Phd’s) seem to like our IR program better than most of the Ivies. This is their ranking across all degree levels. It closely resembles the ranking of IR masters programs by peole within academia:

IR Ranking across all programs (by industry practitioners)

1 Harvard University
2 Georgetown University
3 Johns Hopkins University
4 Princeton University
5 Stanford University
6 Tufts University
7 Columbia University
8 Yale University
9 George Washington University
9 University of Chicago
11 U.S. Naval Academy
12 U.S. Military Academy at West Point
13 American University
14 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
15 University of Michigan/Ann Arbor
16 Syracuse University
16 Duke University
18 University of California/Berkeley
18 College of William and Mary

The people in academia (who don’t do much hiring) seem to like our IR masters program, which was originally joint administered with Harvard, but is now solely administered by Tufts with cross enrollment between Harvard Law, their Kennedy School of Government and MIT.

IR Masters program ranking (by people in academia)

1 Georgetown University
2 Johns Hopkins University
3 Harvard University
4 Princeton University
5 Tufts University
6 Columbia University
7 George Washington University
8 American University
9 London School of Economics
10 University of Chicago
11 University of Denver
12 Stanford University
12 Yale University
14 Syracuse University
15 University of California/San Diego
15 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
15 Oxford University
18 University of California/Berkeley
19 New York University
19 University of Michigan/Ann Arbor

But, go figure, the people in academia (who have Phd’s in Poly Science, but no industry experience) seem to rank IR undergrad programs almost identically with their rank of Poly Science Phd programs (which Tufts does not have), rather than their rank of IR masters programs.

So, I would advise that if you want to use somebody’s ranking, use the Industry or Masters ranking if you plan to work in Industry and use the IR undergrad ranking (from academia) if you plan to get a Phd in Poly Science and you want to try to find a job in academia.

IR undergrad rankings (by people in academia)

1 Harvard University
2 Princeton University
3 Stanford University
4 Columbia University
5 Georgetown University
6 Yale University
7 University of Chicago
8 Dartmouth College
9 George Washington University
10 American University
11 University of California/Berkeley
12 Cornell University
13 University of Michigan/Ann Arbor
14 Swarthmore College
14 Williams College
14 Johns Hopkins University
14 Tufts University
18 Duke University
18 Brown University
20 University of California/San Diego

https://www.wm.edu/offices/itpir/_documents/trip/ivory_tower_survey_2012.pdf

[Mastadon]

As far as Economics goes, Tufts does not have a Phd program in Economics either, but it was once ranked as the top program in the country among those that offerered masters degrees (but nobody seems to care about masters rankings).

In any event, the 2013 Nobel Prize in Economics was awarded to a Tufts undergrad who now teaches at U Chicago (Eugene Fama). Here is a quote from him after winning the award:

In my last two years at Tufts, I went heavy on economics. The professors, as teachers, were as inspiring as the research stars I later profited from at the University of Chicago.

By the way, Tufts undergrad economics has produced more Nobel Prize winners than Northwestern undegrad Economics…

https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economic-sciences/laureates/2013/fama-bio.html

[ilosic]

@Mastadon that is not a very great measure of quality… northwestern’s economics program is world renowned. its economists are highly influential and it has a top 10 economics program in the world. tufts is good, but not on the level of northwestern.

@Naspy58 Northwestern is generally regarded as better than all those schools… when thinking of northwestern’s peers it’s brown, dartmouth, duke, cornell and johns hopkins that come to mind

[TomSrOfBoston]

@Mastadon Interesting quote from that article:

There were 60 children in each class, but all learned to read, write, and do arithmetic, and many eventually went to college, all of which confirms recent research evidence that there is little relation between academic performance and class size or expenditures per student.

[Mastadon]

@ilosic - Just curious, but:

What is your definition of “quality”?

Have you ever looked at the methodology and data sources behind the ranking you are quoting?

Have you ever thought about how relevant that is to the to the undergrad learning experience?

If you were to come up with your own methodology for undergrad educational quality what would it be and what would you use for data sources?

What specific population group are you referring to when you say “generally regarded”?

What is this population’s definition of “peer”?

What is this population’s methodology and data sources used to determine peer status?

Have you ever thought about how relevant that is to the undergrad learning experience?

If you were to come up with your own methodology for determining undergraduate peer status, what would it be and what would you use for data sources?

During my last year at Tufts, I worked for Harry Ernst, an economics professor who also ran a stock market forecasting service. Part of my job was to invent schemes to forecast the market. The schemes always worked on the data used to design them. But Harry was a good statistician, and he insisted on out-of-sample tests. My schemes invariably failed those tests. I didn’t fully appreciate the lesson in this at the time, but it came to me later, in the evolution of work on market efficiency.

Fama did undergrad research in the area that he won the Nobel Prize.

Is it better to go to a school where the professors spend their time working with Phd students and post docs trying to make themselves “world renowned”, or is it better to go to a school where the professors spend their time working with undergrads trying to teach them how to be “world renowned”?

[IWannaHelp]

Mastodon,

One person from one year doesn’t represent thousands of students/alums. Citing an improbable to generalize is never a good idea.

They are not peers in the sense that one is a major research university and one is like a supersized LAC. They are peers in the sense that Northwestern is just slightly more selective.

FYI, Northwestern has consistently sent teams to the final round of College Fed Challenge and they have a prof as the coach. They have Econ profs that pioneered the highly regarded MMSS program (one of the founding faculty was a Nobel winner in economics), a unique and one of the most rigiorous programs for anyone that wants quantitative training in social sciences in a systematic manner). They also have Kellogg profs that teach Certificate Programs for Undergrads at a deeper (more quantitative) level than they do for the classes with the same titles for MBAs (the pre-reqs for the undergrads are highly quantitative). Don’t generalize that profs at research U don’t care about undergrads.

[xDFFmp3]

@Naspy58 Northwestern is above Tufts, and I would say that Northwestern and Cornell are peers, but Northwestern probably is behind the rest of the ivies. The differences are quite small, though. I think fit at this point is more important.

[367367]

Thanks everyone! I was considering Northwestern as well but I am not into Greek Life and from what I have heard it is very prominent at Northwestern. Still, it sounds like an amazing school. Everything sounds great about Tufts from what people are saying. I don’t really care that much about prestige as long as it is a good school with strong academics.