Tufts vs Duke

Parents Forum
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<p>"Later, reading Tom Wolfe's didn't help us cahnge our mind!!!"</p>

<p>^ Wow. I hope that was a joke. Reading a fictional novel that was written after the author visited a bunch of colleges was the basis for a decision? Wow. :confused:</p>

<p>It is fine to have an opinion about a school. That's great. Tufts is probably a wonderful school. I really don't know anything about it. However, as has been stated many times, it is not fair to prospective students for posters to interject ridiculous biased statements about schools they really don't know much about! (Like the above comment.)</p>

<p>It is also not fair to judge a school on a single acquaintance or two that you may know that attend a particular institution. I'm sure the poster doesn't know the other 6,000 individuals (or whatever the student population is) that make up the entire Tuft's campus community! Nor can a single (can't wait to get out of here experience) visit to a campus such as Duke adequately portray the campus. </p>

<p>The OP really needs to visit both, not be swayed by some anonymous (often biased) comments that have no real meaning.</p>

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<p>I also get the feeling that the OP is leaning toward Tufts. At this point, if he/she likes Tufts, I would suggest that he/she goes to Tufts. The proximity to Boston is definitely a plus. ;)</p>

<p>Make the decision, and never look back. Whatever you decide, it is the right choice for you!</p>

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<p>lolabelle, how often do people take cars/cabs? I realize it's 10-15 by car, a bit more in bad traffic, but do freshmen often have cars?</p>

<p>Of course Tufts is in a more vibrant area than Duke, but it isn't "in" Boston, as many have said.</p>

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<p>Unregistered....I went to Tufts, as did my husband. I have a child who strongly considered attending Tufts. </p>

<p>ONE attraction of Tufts is that it IS VERY close to Boston. You can hop on the T and be in Harvard Square in about ten minutes. From Harvard Square, if you want to go downtown, it is like another ten minutes on the T. </p>

<p>Boston is RIGHT there. Medford/Somerville is the next town over from Cambridge. Tufts is about ten minutes from Harvard. While NOT downtown, it is certainly right by Boston. It is not like Brandeis which is further out or not as accessible by the T. Those who attend Tufts frequently can do things for the day or evening in Boston, do internships and jobs in Boston, etc. I have a child who goes to school in Manhattan. The time it takes her by subway to get to a lesson or a job is about the same amount of time by T for a Tufts student to go into downtown Boston. It surely is NOT 30-40 minutes. This school is very much considered for its CLOSE proximity to Boston. I interview candidates for Tufts all the time and the fact that it is right by Boston is one of its many attractions. I am not pushing Tufts but clarifying that it is indeed extremely accessible to Cambridge and Boston.</p>

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<p>unregistered, your arguments are unfounded. H and I just spent a week in Davis Square (the T stop for Tufts) staying in a B and B and visiting D while she had a role in the school musical. Davis is a 7 minute walk to campus (we timed it since we walked it about a dozen times). The "joey" is the campus shuttle that takes students to and from Davis Square and runs all day and at least until midnight. The T station at Davis Square was almost exclusively filled with Tufts students going in and out of the Cambridge and Boston. We went in and out mulitple times, without hesitation and it took 10 minutes to Harvard (2 T stops) and about 20 minutes into the main downtown area. Tufts is part of the Boston scene. Students at Tufts shop, eat, go to theaters, Fenway whenever they have time. The distance is a non-issue.<br>
So for the OP, Tufts is in Boston, if that matters.</p>

<p>By the way Xen, we frequently experience the "Tufts? Where is that?" Everyone has heard of Duke because of SPORTS and other news related events. Duke has a fine academic reputation, but out here on the left coast, Duke's reputation is about sports. Tufts does not have that reputation, so is less well know. Those who know about Tufts, know about it because of it's academic reputation.</p>

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<p>and Unregistered..........Freshman are not allowed to have cars. They are required to live on campus both Freshman and Sophomore years. Cars are unneccesary for a Tufts student.</p>

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<p>Unregistered,</p>

<p>I second all that Soozievt just said. Plus, people take cars/cabs all the time and like I said in my previous post, it takes about 10-15 min by subway as well.</p>

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<p>Are you kidding me?
I've seen comments made by the OP throughout this thread which makes me, as a rising Duke senior, question whether the OP <em>really</em> knows what Duke is like.</p>

<p>I'm from NYC. I come from a very liberal family. I fit in juuuuuust fine at Duke, and more of my friends fit the northeast liberal mold than anything else. THOUGH! What I will say that I loved (since I was a naive high school senior the summer before the Presidential Elections who cared about a "liberal" campus) most about Duke is way way WAY more exposure to people of different political beliefs than ever before. </p>

<p>I don't plan on living in the south when I graduate, and neither do a LOT of Duke students. There's thriving alumni clubs all over the country, and Duke graduates do quite well for themselves wherever they choose to end up.</p>

<p>So you're not 100% sure you want to be an engineer. Just like at Tufts, at Duke you can take advantage of courses and programs in Trinity despite being enrolled in Pratt. I have more friends in Pratt who have a second major in Trinity than not.</p>

<p>Tufts was one of the schools I was accepted to and toyed around with, and just to steal a phrase from a lot of the parents on this thread, when I toured after being accepted, I couldn't get off the campus soon enough. It's a gorgeous campus, nice people (though in my experience on the multiple times I visited Tufts, not nearly as open and warm as Duke students, but to each their own), and doors will open wide for you with a Tufts degree. Just to this day, I can't see myself there at all. </p>

<p>Durham is not a terrible area. But it's also not a conservative, southern little town. Durham itself is filled with independently owned restaurants, stores, great bar scene, good local music, and its ridiculously close (and very, very accessible as a student) to Chapel Hill which is even nicer. As someone mentioned, the area has a large "transplant" population from the North, and as a result, is very progressive and not very "Southern." I'll admit - Durham is not my favorite place, but I have fun there, even if it's never what I expected for a college experience. But, at the same time, while I'll be the first to admit that Boston is probably the best city for college, how nice is MEDFORD, which, as a Tufts student, where you'll be spending most of your time? </p>

<p>IN any case, I have friends who ADORE Tufts. My father fell so in love with Tufts when I was looking at schools that he wishes he could go back, do college again, and go to Tufts. (I think this has changed after hearing my Duke stories which people who just judge Duke by a basketball team, or a lacrosse scandal, or a football team who can't manage to win a game, or weak town-gown relations, or pure stereotypes from a Tom Wolfe novel, never would imagine...) I went into Duke and was a cynical New Yorker, skeptical of my college experience, and it's been so much more than I ever expected, imagined, or hoped it would be. </p>

<p>PM me with specific questions.</p>

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<p>bluestar7: Kids at Tufts don't hang around Medford. Davis Square for great Indian food or coffee, maybe, but not Medford or Somerville.</p>

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<p>Tufts students' off-campus social life centers around Boston and Davis Square (which is 5 minutes from the campus, walking, in Somerville). Tufts really is the kind of suburban school where the nearby city plays a big role in students' lives (unlike at places like Brandeis, Wellesley, etc.).</p>

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<p>Again, I am not pushing Tufts to the OP but simply responding to a post about Tufts. </p>

<p>Tufts really is in Somerville as far as neighborhood goes. In walking distance is Davis Square. Tufts is not an isolated campus. In fact, one of the attractions about Tufts to me as a student way back when, and to my own D who was accepted and had it as one of her top choices in terms of favorites (not prestige), was how she had ready access to the city, but wasn't downtown and still got a New England style campus...plus could walk to things OFF campus. That is an appeal to some people. You get the nice campus. You can walk to restaurants, shops, nightlife off campus. And then there is the whole city of Boston and also Harvard Square a hop, skip and jump away by subway in minutes. </p>

<p>When I went to Tufts, I did a lot in Cambridge and Boston. Tufts is the kind of school where you can opt to do things on campus, a few blocks away off campus, or have an entire thriving city geered to lots of college aged kids all at your fingertips.</p>

<p>None of this is a comparison to Duke or regarding the OP but simply clarifying notions about Tufts. All the prospective students I interview for Tufts all comment about this very attribute that is appealing about Tufts (among other things).</p>

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<p>Of course Boston plays a huge part of Tufts students' lives! But being 15 or 20 or 25 minutes by walk/metro outside of Boston is not "in" Boston - though, admittedly, I am not a Tufts student and do not know how often they go into Boston - while it is convenient I'm sure, it isn't in the heart of the city, it is a suburb. Of course there is no need for a car.</p>

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<p>I totally agee with soozviet. Unregistered: NYU is probalby further (in time and distance) from downtown Manhattan and Central Park etc. than Tufts is to downtown Boston. In fact, I would guess that it takes less time to go from Tufts to ANYWHERE along the T, than it does to get across NYC from NYU in the Village. You make it sound like Tufts is in the boonies. If it only takes 10 minutes to be in Cambridge and 10 more to downtown Boston, it FEELS LIKE IT IS IN THE CITY, but it has the advantage of a quainter village feel around Davis Square. So, in reality, it has the benefit of both. You make it sound like suburb is practically rural. I live in southern california where everything is a suburb, but this is city living, believe me.</p>

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<p>Unregistered, I don't believe anyone has said that Tufts is in downtown Boston. Think of it like going to college in Queens or Brooklyn.....a subway ride into downtown Manhattan. As well, there is lots in walking distance to campus and also Harvard Square is ten minutes away, and that area is a city as well. Tufts is a school that while not having a city campus like BU, has access to the city very readily. That was the point. I would say Tufts is the same situation as Boston College. In terms of a suburb, it is one accessible by the T subway system....not a far suburb only accessible by car. What is nice about Tufts is that you can have the city without having a totally urban campus. That is appealing to SOME people.</p>

<p>Blucroo...the only thing I disagree with in your post a bit has to do with NYU. I also have a kid at NYU. While I had said in an earlier post, that my kid who goes to NYU might conceivably spend 20 minutes on the subway going to a job or a lesson, which is about the time it takes a Tufts student to access downtown Boston......going to NYU is otherwise very different than going to Tufts. NYU IS an urban campus. NYU has the city RIGHT there....no need to go uptown. The area of the city is very city-like as it is. There is more in walking distance at NYU than at Tufts. But to go to certain parts of the city, one does take the subway. The city is massive. Boston, once you are downtown, is practically all walkable! Anyway, NYU is way way more IN the city than Tufts. But Tufts is way more accessible to a major city than many other schools, even suburban ones that require a car or a 45 min. drive to the city. Tufts is right BY the city, just not downtown. It is like one town over and has the T. The other thing about Tufts is that the campus itself is not self contained and there are houses to live in and commercial things all along the periphery of the campus, a little like Brown where one of my kids attends. This is different than say, Brandeis which is NEAR Boston but not as accessible as Tufts is to Harvard Square and downtown Boston.</p>

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<p>soozie</p>

<p>I was hoping you'd weigh in here. I don't have the personal knowledge about Tufts, or Duke though I've lived in Durham and worked at Duke--it was long ago. And I only know both schools have great reputations. As I said previously, Duke and UNC-CH are not the "Deep South". They are rather cosmopolitan, as is Grinnell in Iowa.</p>

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<p>It takes me longer to get from one part of Overland Park, KS (KC suburb) to another part of OP than it took us to get from the financial district in Boston (where we were staying) to Tufts via the T and the Joey when DD and I were there for accepted students weekend. In fact, when you go on the T, you don't realize you're technically not in Boston anymore. </p>

<p>You know, Grinnell has an awesome rep and it is in the middle of NOWHERE Iowa, and I don't think it gets this many complaints re: its geographical location, and has no trouble getting applicants, either.</p>

<p>For all intents and purposes, Tufts is in Boston. Maybe not literally, but for the sake of things to do, ease of getting there w/o a car, etc. it is. :)</p>

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<p>Dukes fin aid offer came today, and it would cost just about the same as it would for Tufts. I am going to everything I can to visit the campus, but besides that I have no idea what to do.</p>

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<p>X:</p>

<p>There is not necessarily a bad choice. Relax with that knowledge.</p>

<p>If there were a better choice, it would have become obvious by now.</p>

<p>By the way, has your GC opined? And your parents? Of course it's your decision, but they know you better than we do, so they may have some insights.</p>

<p>Visit Duke. Have an opinion. And don't look back!!</p>

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<p>You will know betteronce you visit Duke. Relax until then, and enjoy your other activities. Both are good choices.</p>

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<p>This student is not planning to visit Duke. If I were advising my son, I'd say go with what you know.</p>