<p>So, </p>
<p>Which would you choose and why? Could you be specific i.e. type of student body, athletics, atmosphere, food, dorms, etc.</p>
<p>I have visited both—attended a class at Tufts as well as did a tour and info session, and did a tour with a friend at BC—and I would no doubt pick Tufts. I didn’t like BC that much because I felt like there was no diversity. Every kid was rich, white, and preppy whereas at Tufts, I saw that there was not one student alike, something I absoultely loved. The atmosphere at Tufts also seemed better. The students were friendlier, and I also liked the fact that the school in general is more liberal. BC is a catholic schools, so many students seemed to be on the conservative side, and I don’t think I would enjoy going to a religious school in the first place.</p>
<p>Basically, I visited both and the feeling that I got at Tufts was better than what I got at BC. I just felt right in at Tufts and I felt like I could relate to the school just a lot better.</p>
<p>sak…there are many Catholic Universities that are not as conservative as BC but yes, BC is one of the most conservative. </p>
<p>I wouldn’t think that a student that liked Tufts would apply to BC. They seem completely different to me (visited both too). I too liked Tufts better as well (and I am Catholic!).</p>
<p>I think the above two answers are pretty much dead on.
But to be clear: both schools offer top quality educations. BC is definitely very Catholic, very college-athletics-oriented, more homogeneous and more conservative. The quality of the students who go there now is very impressive, more so than a generation ago (of course, it is also much harder to get into Tufts now than it was a generation ago).
The only way to choose between these two is really to visit both, sit in on a class or two and talk to some students. I cannot imagine that anyone would find the two schools to be an equally good fit for him/herself; they are just too different. In terms of the quality of the education, though, you can’t go wrong either way.</p>
<p>I visited both in the same trip, and my favorite was Tufts by far. Everything was better in my opinion! The campus and the people at BC were both so homogeneous. BC is SOOO far away from Boston! I was almost late to my information session! Tufts has a great campus, and even though everyone else seems to hate the hill, I think it’s a great way to keep off the freshmen 15 AND go sledding in the winter. </p>
<p>Something else I didn’t like about BC was the religious aspect; it was much more dominant than I thought it would be. I saw a nun working there! Two of the five students who were talking to my group had converted! I wasn’t about to deal with that. </p>
<p>I’ve also heard from multiple sources that the academics at Tufts are better than BC, which was definitely an important thing for me to hear. </p>
<p>That being said, I applied to Tufts as my first choice. I didn’t apply to BC.</p>
<p>I’ve been trying to decide which of these I would choose as well. I’ve been learning towards Tufts because I am generally liberal and the student population just seemed cooler (my definition) in my opinion.</p>
<p>I go to Tufts but grew up a few miles from BC. I didn’t even visit BC due to the extreme proximity to home and the religious affiliation, but from what I’ve heard there is a lot less diversity at BC and it tends to have a pretty big party atmosphere (although, admittedly, there is more partying at Tufts than I expected).
I apologize in advance for the geography lesson, but as far as proximity to Boston, Chestnut Hill (where BC is) straddles Newton (where I’m from), Brookline, and Brighton, which is part of Boston. So while it is on the outskirts, BC is still very close to the Boston. Tufts, on the other hand, is in Medford and Somerville. To get to Boston you need to go through Somerville and Cambridge (which is often considered part of Boston by people not familiar with the area, but then again so is Brookline). While all parts of Boston are still easily accessible via the T from both schools, BC is technically closer to Boston.</p>
<p>Is there a heavy Jewish influence at Tufts, similar to the Catholic influence at BC? Just wondering, since the religion aspects have seemd to come up here. Thanks.</p>
<p>I applied to both and Tufts is my number 1 out of the 11 I applied, but I loved BC also. From what I’ve read on the BC boards and from different students I’ve heard it’s not very Catholic orientated especially since it’s a Jesuit school. And the Jesuit part falls more into community involvement.</p>
<p>GabbaGabbaHey-
Tufts has a substantial, though minority, Jewish population; probably around 30%. I don’t know any statistics, but I suspect the Catholic population at BC is much higher.</p>
<p>My D chose Tufts over Boston College, but there were 2 things that surprised us when we toured BC. One was that on the panel of 5 students who spoke at the info session, one was an atheist who was raised Catholic. I thought it spoke volumes that they had him on the panel. The other was that our tour guide was a bio major and she said they taught stem cell research. So even though the impression of BC is that it is very conservative, I believe that since it is a Jesuit school, it is less so. As the other posters have stated, the 2 schools are VERY different. Tufts happened to be a much better fit for my D.</p>
<p>Its all a matter of opinion. Personally, I think BC has the most beautiful campus in the world, but then again Tufts is also in a nice setting.</p>
<p>I think, in terms of the quality of your education, they are about on par. But to be blunt, a degree from Tufts has more prestige (god i hate that word). This is information I have gleaned from talking with my uncle (who went to BC) and my dad, who taught summer courses at tufts.</p>
<p>BC will seem ridiculously conservative compared to Tufts, but compared to other Catholic schools its pretty liberal. Notre Dame, for example, downright scared me, and Im a former catholic. Its fairly liberal, and jesuits are tight.</p>
<p>BC is definitey FAR from Boston. Yes, I’m from Newton too but look at the MBTA map. Green line sucks. To go to Copley( or Park st (DownTown) it takes at least an hour. During rush hour, the green line-trolly- is full and extremely slow because it runs on the street!!! There are more than 15 stops to Boston from BC than from Tufts. Tufts is on redline which is way faster and only a few stops away from Park st. Furthermore, redline is a subway- runs inside- so its faster even during rush hours.</p>
<p>I too, applied to both BC and Tufts. BC has huge undergrad population of 9000. Of course uncomparable to BU, which has 16000. I honestly don’t like BU at all. Anyways, I chose Tufts because of its transportation ease. </p>
<p>BC has catholic/gothic style buildings which is cool. Tufts doesn’t. BC also has hogwart style library and a catholic church kind of building that is extremely beautiful in the inside. BC has great sports (division1 football) vs. Tufts sports being ****ty(but who cares? They are still way~ more athletic than normal people!!). However, know that school with great sports recruit great sports people who aren’t necessarily good in academics. Thats why there are so many smart AND DUMB people in BC (and in Harvard. Harvard is also division 1 football so they recruit great football players who aren’t always the harvard super smart type). Also, despite being a catholic school, any non-catholic students can go there if they want to. Also, hook up and partying DOES go on A LOT in BC.(duh, a lot of sports players??). And I hear BC people look cuter?? When I visited I def saw some cute faces girls and boys. One year at Tufts, I’ve seen like less than total of 5 cute girl/boy??? But again, if you wanna focus on studying and try to find the “inner beauty” of people, looks don’t matter.</p>
<p>Near BC, in Allston area there are cool cafes and cool places to hang out (more than in Medford) but when you’re in school you don’t have time to hang out that much if you are really trying to get the most out of college. Besides, you can always go to DT with friends even if youre in Tufts. Also, a lot of Korean hairdressors and markets, asian sellors at Allston are mean. Their main rip-off customers are korean of course -_- (sneaking off their own people!! urg!! )</p>
<p>@GabaGabaHey : Yes there is HEAVY number of Jews at Tufts. But there are also christian, catholic, muslim, hindi, Palestinian(yes they are here despite the great Tufts Hillel Jewish Center opposing Palestinian rights to Israeli). But yes, a LOT of Jews</p>
<p>BC and G’town lie in the same place: they are both Jesuit schools, and Jesuits are the most liberal of all Catholics. While the campus is less diverse and less liberal than normal, there are still an abundance of liberal tendencies evident everywhere. Just because it’s a Catholic school doesn’t mean you experience Catholic faith. You must take certain religion courses in whatever you like, the most popular of which is Islamic Studies. Tufts IS more diverse, but I’m a URM who isn’t rich, and got $50k from BC. (I absolutely love Tufts).</p>
<p>Yes, it’s Catholic, but Jesuit makes a huge difference. Want conservative? Check out Notre Dame. Any school near a city will be somewhat more liberal than usual.</p>
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<p>The original post was almost a year ago, I expect they’ve already decided where to go.</p>
<p>Still this idea of BC as this very conservative place makes me chuckle. So many Catholics consider it liberal. The Jesuits are in fact generally considered very liberal relative to most Catholics. Yet, I think most respect them and consider a Jesuit education extremely desirable. Tufts & BC are both excellent choices!</p>
<p>A friend’s son, a student at Tufts, transferred from BC. His profile was that of a scholar-athlete. His reasons for transferring: he said that the student body was fairly provincial (not very forward “progressive,” politically or socially). He said that he had found plenty of peers at Tufts who were intellectual which he didn’t find at BC (said it was “quite the opposite” at BC), and he says that Tufts is harder, academically, which he says he prefers, that he “likes the challenge.” He feels like most everyone he is meets at Tufts is “very bright to amazingly bright” and has done such “interesting things.” He said that the two schools’ student bodies could not be more different.</p>
<p>He also said that he had zero transition to Tufts, which he felt was a measure of how welcoming the Tufts student body was. “A week after school started, I felt like Tufts was home. Literally.”</p>
<p>“(yes they are here despite the great Tufts Hillel Jewish Center opposing Palestinian rights to Israeli”</p>
<p>^^^unnecessarily inflammatory and irrelevant to the focus of the post.</p>
<p>“The original post was almost a year ago, I expect they’ve already decided where to go.”</p>
<p>^^^ true enough, but the responses posted may still be of help to other posters, who have similar questions about the culture of Tufts vs …</p>
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