Tufts vs BC vs Cornell vs USC vs UMich

<p>you say you are pre-med. I would also think about the place that will best prepare you for admission to medical school. I agree with those above who say Michigan might be the best choice based on what you state above - other than Michigan tends to be a “weed out” school for pre-med students. I would also look at statistics that show what percentage of students who are pre-med get accepted at their first choice schools. etc</p>

<p>Average grades at Cornell are posted someplace or other. You might check to Coprnell sub-forum.
You should expect it to be quite challenging. I’ve no reason to expect Tufts to be any easier, but YMMV.</p>

<p>I am agreeing with you MoneyDad. You are right, it’s way below the average. Seriously, 6/13,000 undergraduates is about .046%. I got the information about the “vamping up of efforts” from an article I had read about year ago:</p>

<p>[Does</a> 6 deaths in 6 months make Cornell ‘suicide school’? - USATODAY.com](<a href=“http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2010-03-16-IHE-cornell-suicides-16_ST_N.htm]Does”>http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2010-03-16-IHE-cornell-suicides-16_ST_N.htm)</p>

<p>No school is immune to these things. And that crime thing is silly. Harvard is like 2nd. Plus, they are counting the medical center in downtown Boston which has much more crime. It’s pretty silly as anyone can tell you the surrounding area is safe at both Harvard and Tufts.</p>

<p>I don’t think being an ivy matters. I mean, think about comparing Stanford or Duke, or even Berkeley. People use public ivies, or ivy plus but really, the point that is generally being signified are that these schools are excellent institutions. You will have people accepted to an ivy but rejected from these other schools and vice versa.</p>

<p>Indeed, the students that go to these schools are brilliant. And they are all very competitive. I mean, Tufts accepted less kids this year than U Penn! Less people applied to Tufts, thus, their acceptance rate is lower, but the point is that these top schools are competitive.</p>

<p>I can’t speak for Cornell, but I will say that Tufts is known to have very friendly people. The usual saying being that “Tufts kids are competitive with themselves, not each other.” And as I said earlier, Tufts is known for having happy kids.</p>

<p>If the $100k differential is pocket change and you don’t care about sports, and you hate the state, then drop Michigan. </p>

<p>And concur with monydad. Tufts has some pretty smart kids too, so don’t assume it will be any less academically competitive than Cornell; if that is your main criteria, pick BC. Does Tufts have enough political diversity for you?</p>

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</p>

<p>Okay … so is Tuft’s own newspaper flawed with its reporting on the crime problem at Tufts as well?</p>

<p>[Interactive</a> Map – Violent Crimes at Tufts](<a href=“http://www.tuftsdaily.com/interactive-map-violent-crimes-near-tufts-1.613233]Interactive”>http://www.tuftsdaily.com/interactive-map-violent-crimes-near-tufts-1.613233)</p>

<ol>
<li>That map is 3-4 years old.</li>
<li>It clearly states that the blue points were places of crime reported in the past, and the red points are places of recent crimes. There’s only one red point, and it’s not even on campus! In fact, most of those blue points aren’t even on campus.</li>
</ol>

<p>Those crimes span at least 1 1/2 years, probably more (their wording isn’t very clear). That’s minimal compared to other schools, especially to other schools in/outside a major metropolitan area.</p>

<p>^ Here’s a more recent article about the Crime problem at, and by, Tufts. It’s by the Somerville News, from 2010:</p>

<p>[West</a> Somerville residents concerned about crime, school site future and Tufts crime](<a href=“http://www.thesomervillenews.com/archives/10230]West”>West Somerville residents concerned about crime, school site future and Tufts crime)</p>

<p>Cornell is the most prestigious, followed by USC, and the other three (Tufts-UMich-BC) clustered together.</p>

<ol>
<li>Cornell</li>
<li>USC
28 Tufts</li>
<li>UMich</li>
<li>BC</li>
</ol>

<p>UMichigan is not prestigious, not even top 25, where are you folks from to say UMich is as prestigious as Cornell?? Nonsense. I am not affiliated with either school, but Cornell is a level higher than UMich.</p>

<p>That’s really great that you have some vendetta against Tufts and its apparent crime level, but it is SAFE!
I can attest to that.</p>

<p>Anyway, to answer the OP’s question, I think any of these choices would be great. You’re really lucky that finances aren’t much of an issue. Since that’s the case, I think a lot of the decision should come down to the feel of the student bodies/campus. Cornell is absolutely gorgeous, but Ithaca doesn’t compare to Boston in terms of cities. Plus, Boston has ~60 colleges, meaning the city population is young and revolves a lot around students. </p>

<p>Cornell is obviously larger (both the campus and the amount of students), and has sort of a conglomeration of different cultures/feels. Tufts has a very laid-back atmosphere, and most students are very friendly, motivated, and quirky. It’s not right in the city, so it has its own campus (very pretty), but still offers access to Boston. And there’s always Davis or Harvard square if you don’t feel like going the whole way into the city. There’s definitely an intellectual atmosphere; everybody gets really into their classes and is passionate about what they’re studying. The professors are awesome here too. They actually want to get to know their students and talk to them outside of class. That being said, classes are challenging, especially the pre-med weed-out classes (bio, chem, orgo). But they’re definitely manageable and worthwhile.</p>

<p>Also, toughyear, just a fair warning: you will be berated for using USNWR rankings as a measure of prestige on CC.</p>

<p>That article doesn’t say anything other than that a rape at a fraternity, which unfortunately happens at a lot of college campuses (Notre Dame is a prime example). And that’s just an instance where it wasn’t reported to the Somerville police. Tufts has its own police department and it was reported to them (the two police department usually work together). If anything, at least it’s reported unlike the majority of rapes that occur on ALL college campuses.</p>

<p>This is pretty silly. I mean look at Harvard’s crime map:</p>

<p>[Cambridge</a> Crime Map - Showing Crime in Harvard University, MA - Crime Statistics - Crime Alerts - Crime Stops Here](<a href=“http://ucrime.com/ma/harvard+university]Cambridge”>http://ucrime.com/ma/harvard+university)</p>

<p>But you hear no one talk about it. Why? Because it’s a non-issue. Crimes occur all the time. That’s why schools have campus police.</p>

<p>Plus, they catch a lot of them. The one you gave about Tufts reported one instance. And the silly thing is that this article was written in December for an incident that occurred in October.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>The New England Center for Investigative Reporting doesn’t seem to think the pernicious crime problem is a “non-issue” in its recent report from 2010:</p>

<p>[Web</a> Story on Tufts Assaults](<a href=“http://necir-bu.org/wp/investigations/campus-sexual-assault/sexual-assault-webstory/]Web”>http://necir-bu.org/wp/investigations/campus-sexual-assault/sexual-assault-webstory/)</p>

<p>From the story:
“Some New England schools that have received several grants from the Justice Department have not suspended or expelled any student for sexual assault during this time period, the data show. Tufts University, one of those schools, which reported 48 sexual assaults to the Justice Department, has also never issued reprimands, sent the accused in those cases for counseling, or required them to do community service, the data show.”</p>

<p>The new england whatever is a paper done by BU students.</p>

<p>And you ignored that the heavy focus was on U Mass. Yes, crimes happen. But the University has changed its policies. You act like this is just unique to Tufts. Hello, Notre Dame?</p>

<p>Or perhaps you missed the part where it talked about MIT.</p>

<p>The non-issue here is acting like crimes (which, by the way, you went from all crimes to now just rape) are exclusive to Tufts.</p>

<p>FYI, the daily beast thing you cite, says Tufts reported 36 forcible rapes. While Harvard, which ranks 2nd in these flawed methodologies, reported 128:</p>

<p>[Most</a> Dangerous College Campuses Ranked - The Daily Beast](<a href=“http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-09-14/most-dangerous-college-campuses-ranked/]Most”>The Daily Beast: The Latest in Politics, Media & Entertainment News)</p>

<p>^ Here is a recent article on Tufts unfortunate crime problem from the Tufts Observer:</p>

<p>[Tackling</a> Tufts Crime Problem](<a href=“http://tuftsobserver.org/2010/03/tackling-tufts-crime-problem/]Tackling”>http://tuftsobserver.org/2010/03/tackling-tufts-crime-problem/)</p>

<p>There is an admission of the serious crime problem stated in this story (9th paragraph):
“Though the entire Tufts community shares responsibility for Tufts’ high crime rate, certain responsibilities belong solely to the administration.”</p>

<p>OP, you are more than qualified to do premed at Cornell, just don’t slack off or be overly confident. One of my kids (was 10th place out of 230 or so, sat was 2370) did 4.0 for two semesters but the very first semester wasn’t handled quite right resulting in deficiency in GPA. But the overall GPA will become medschool worthy. Premed is a strong competition no matter where you go, be it Duke, Harvard, or Cornell. Just tighten your belt from the first class in college and work hard, you can even come out with 3.95-4.0 (be extra careful in the first semester). The first semester is a problem for many kids, and that is why MIT and Caltech have most of the first year classes at P/F, not graded. It is unfortunate Cornell grades freshman classes, but you are more than qualified to do premed at Cornell.</p>

<p>Cornell is the most prestigious, followed by USC, and the other three (Tufts-UMich-BC) clustered together.</p>

<ol>
<li>Cornell</li>
<li>USC
28 Tufts</li>
<li>UMich</li>
<li>BC</li>
</ol>

<p>UMichigan is not prestigious, not even top 25, where are you folks from to say UMich is as prestigious as Cornell?? Nonsense. Cornell is a level higher than UMich.</p>

<p>Yes, that’s referring to the crime that also occurs in Boston since that’s where the other Tufts’ campuses are. The article is also an opinion article. Again, I am sure some responsibility is on the administration, but I don’t think that’s just Tufts like you are trying to portray it is.</p>

<p>And trust me, Boston in itself has a lot of crime–The Town and The Departed certainly show that. Haaa.</p>

<p>But seriously, the article says that there are places where the University could do more, but the community must step in as well. In all honesty, I think every University could do more in regards to crime, and that’s just the point of this article.</p>

<p>Acting like Tufts is some haven for crime is ridiculous. The article also mentions how the Daily Beast refers to the other campuses.</p>

<p>Lastly, this is taken from the 2009 Daily Beast rankings where Emerson Ranked 1st, Tufts ranked 4th, Harvard 20th, and MIT like 7th. Yet in 2010 those changed a lot.</p>

<p>Crime definitely occurs, but it’s not like people are living in fear or feel unsafe. Indeed, the problem with the reporting is that Tufts police report crime in surrounding areas which are unrelated to campus. This also applies to the downtown campus.</p>

<p>To MethodicSquirrel: good luck to you in finalizing your choice, and may you make the best of your undergrad years – and succeed – wherever you choose to attend.</p>

<p>Ok guys, I’m not really concerned about the occurrence of crime and suicide. Those aren’t my primary considerations which is why they weren’t included in the original question. Some things came up that I want to address:
-tufts has a higher acceptance rate to medical school (75%) to cornell’s 67% BUT, If you have a 3.4+ at Cornell, 85% get into their FIRST CHOICE.
-I’m in Ithaca right now and it is beautiful. I really like the university and the people seem friendly.
-does prestige of undergrad matter for med school. I have heard that it does and I have heard that it doesn’t.
-I talked to a bio student applying to med schools at Cornell and he said that a 3.2 at Cornell is seen as 3.5 somewhere else to med schools. Any truth to this?
-I am concerned about the “boringness” of Ithaca and the social life at cornell. It seems to be Greek partying or study all day. Does a middle ground exist?</p>

<p>"I’m not sure that I would agree with the social life at Michigan. at least tufts am Cornell have an academic vibe. "</p>

<p>Somebody needs to tell the folks in Ann Arbor that they don’t have an academic vibe.</p>