<p>I know at first sight alot of you would automatically say Tufts because it has higher average SAT scores etc. But I really like both schools and am going to apply ED to one of them. What are your guys’ opinions on the two schools as far as they go on acamdemics, social, athletics (both quality and fan support), and other factors outside of academic reputation. Thanks again.</p>
<p>i turned down an ivy league school to attend bucknell and know many others who did the same. as you acknowledge, picking a school is about much more than a usnews ranking or average sat score. </p>
<p>i doubt there are many people in this world who have taken a significant number of classes at both tufts and bucknell and as such making an academic comparison is very difficult. however, i was very pleased with my bucknell education and i am sure most tufts students feel the same way about theirs. perhaps you could give tufts the nod because of the relative strength of its student body, but as i said often a few months ago, its a 'cant go wrong' situation: both are very good schools with intelligent, outgoing student bodies. </p>
<p>socially, i will let tufts students speak for their themselves. however, i can speak for bucknell students by saying that there is always a lot to do on campus at any given hour of any given day of the week. a rural location is often seen as a negative in this context, but i honestly feel it is just the opposite. it means that students stay on campus on the weekends and the university goes the extra mile to make sure there are fantastic things them to do. it also tends to mean frats and drinking, and while that scene is certainly present (and strong) in lewisburg, its neither the beginning nor the end of available social opportunities.</p>
<p>...and an easy one. bucknell wins the 'athletics' competition hands down. while tufts has a strong division 3 program, it simply cannot compare to the division 1 sports program bucknell offers, especially basketball. the bison mens basketball team finished the 2005-2006 season with a loss in the second round of the ncaa tournament and ranked 25th nationally (ahead of powerhouses like kentucky and syracuse, which bucknell beat) in the final espn poll. while academics certainly come first at both schools, there is something to be said for the camaraderie and school spirit that is often manifested through an entire university coming together to cheer for a team, especially one of true student-athletes. to be blunt, 350 fans showed up for tufts-brandeis last december. 4500 filled bucknells sojka pavillion for a game against national championship contender villanova three days later.</p>
<p>my suggestion would be to apply to neither school early decision. it appears you dont have a clear favorite, and thats fine. not applying early will not only save you the task of having to commit to one school over the other early, but will also give you significantly more time to visit both schools while they are in session, something i strongly suggest you do as many times as possible. the one that feels 'right' in april... be it tufts, bucknell or any one of 200 other fine schools in this country, is where you should go.</p>
<p>if you have any more speicific questions, feel free to ask here or in the dedicated thread.</p>
<p>good luck... and ray bucknell!</p>
<p>I'm leaning towards Bucknell. Well I'm going to do overnights at both campuses come fall. Also what is your view on Public Safety at Bucknell and their policy? I have read that they are pretty strict in in regards to underage drinking. Is it something that is really a concern on a saturday night?</p>
<p>it was something that was never much of a concern to me, though it was something i kept in the back of our minds when walking around campus heavily intoxicated. most resident assistants will agree that the rules as written regarding alcohol are absurd (and the dean of students has been backpedaling since fall 2003) and go by a simple rule: dont MAKE them cite you for underage drinking. in other words, ras get in trouble if they get caught not citing you, so dont have a 30 person party in your dorm room or walk around your freshman hallway with a beer in each hand. or in the case of my freshman ras policy, dont do it twice. beyond that, it basically comes down to not walking alone to your uphill dorm room if youre physically unable to stay on the sidewalk, especially if youre a girl. and its better to go with a friend or stay wherever you are in that case, anyway.</p>
<p>so yeah, i wouldnt worry about it at all so long as you dont plan on getting dangerously drunk (by college standards, mind you) or attempt to run away (and fall, because youre drunk) from public safety on a regular basis.</p>
<p>Ha ok thanks. Also, just out of curiousity (I don't know if someone has asked you this before), what colleges did you choose Bucknell over and why?</p>
<p>my final list (as you probably know, it changes daily) was bucknell, carnegie mellon, colgate, cornell, haverford, penn state (schreyer honors) and rochester. i applied to a lot of relatively similar schools (admissions-wise) only because i had no idea how my rather weak high school grades would be viewed. as it turned out, i got in everywhere i applied.</p>
<p>throughout the process i always assumed i would go to cornell if admitted, but i never really got that intangible feeling while on campus that it was the place for me. it was a bit further away from home than i would have liked and too large, as well.</p>
<p>penn state was just too large... and the honors college perks werent big enough in my mind to make up for that. it didnt help that the school was quite close to my home, either.</p>
<p>carnegie mellon had too much of a 'techie' feel and i really didnt like the idea of going to school in a city. </p>
<p>haverford just seemed too small the more i thought about it, though i loved the school otherwise.</p>
<p>in the end it really came down to colgate and bucknell. i liked that bucknell had an engineering program because it meant that the school had to maintain a relatively large math department, which was important to me even though i actually applied as an econ major. proximity to home was also important, and bucknell seemed a perfect distance (a little over an hour). the schools also gave me the best financial aid packages of anywhere i applied (including penn state and my merit award at rochester). most importantly, when i visited for admitted students day in april i simply got the feeling that its where i was going to spend the next few years of my life. despite the rain, it just felt... right.</p>