<p>Look at the thread in CC called, Tufts or Haverford?</p>
<p>I think Haverford might feel too small coming from a big high school? Tufts will probably feel just right 
OK, I’m prejudiced.
Any other tie-breakers to consider, such as the location? Close to Boston versus close to Philly?
Good luck with your decision.</p>
<p>Good luck with your decision, however you may feel over the next year or so that 1200 kids is way too small if you decide on Haverford. My S1, a freshman at Tufts, loves it, however he feels that even Tufts may be too small and his h.s. had 1200 kids total! He’s not transferring, however, despite the small size, because he is near Boston and sees kids at other colleges quite often and loves the school.</p>
<p>As I said, Haverford is more like 3000 because the kids are at Bryn Mawr taking classes as well. It’s still really small for someone coming from a big school though.</p>
<p>
<a href=“http://provost.tufts.edu/institutionalresearch/files/2011-2012-Fact-Book-for-Web.pdf[/url]”>http://provost.tufts.edu/institutionalresearch/files/2011-2012-Fact-Book-for-Web.pdf</a>
Student to Faculty Ratio
Northwestern: 7/1
Tufts: 9/1</p>
<p>Nope, Tufts’s undergraduate focus relative to other schools is a total myth.</p>
<p>
All of those schools have much stronger faculty and better departments in almost every field in comparison to Tufts.</p>
<p>Tufts has several hybrid majors that integrate sciences with engineering, including the ability to design your own engineering major. This opens up more high paying job options as well as internships - either as a fall back or alternative to pre-med/traditional sciences. (You can also design your own liberal arts major) Here is a list of Biotech companies above and beyond all the local hospitals and research labs</p>
<p>[Biotech</a> and Pharmaceutical Companies in the State of Massachusetts](<a href=“http://www.thelabrat.com/jobs/companies/BiotechMassachusetts.shtml]Biotech”>Biotech, Pharmaceutical, Medical Device, and Chemical Company Jobs in the State of Massachusetts)</p>
<p>Tufts has some very interesting leading edge research projects going on in the various Bio-xxxxx fields, along with a summer scholars program that pays $4500 for doing research over the summer these are accessible to undergrads.</p>
<p>[Bioengineering</a> and Biotechnology Center - Tufts University](<a href=“http://ase.tufts.edu/bbc/about.asp]Bioengineering”>Page Not Found - ASE - TUFTS UNIVERSITY)</p>
<p>Because Tufts has its own med school, it has an early accept program to take some of the pressure off of applying to med school</p>
<p>Tufts has an amazing interdisciplinary program called EPIIC that next year happens to have a theme of Global Health. See Ibfootballers posts under EPIIC and tufts vs. NYU . This agreat way to build an interdisciplinary, world-wide perspective on the health related sciences. This program is very challenging but well worth the effort.</p>
<p>[Selected</a> Programs | Institute for Global Leadership](<a href=“http://www.tuftsgloballeadership.org/]Selected”>http://www.tuftsgloballeadership.org/)</p>
<p>Tufts will have significantly more science/applied science courses (due to its size) and has some really interesting unconventional course offerings via the experimental college
Check out the list under the courses pull down.</p>
<p>[Tufts</a> University: The Experimental College](<a href=“http://www.excollege.tufts.edu/Default.asp]Tufts”>http://www.excollege.tufts.edu/Default.asp)</p>
<p>It also has several interesting interdisciplinary majors
[Home</a> - Center of Interdisciplinary Studies - Tufts University](<a href=“Center for Interdisciplinary Studies | School of Arts and Sciences”>Center for Interdisciplinary Studies | School of Arts and Sciences)</p>
<p>OP has stated it is down to Tufts versus Haverford. And its down to the wire…</p>
<p>The student faculty ratio has very little to do with undergraduate experience. Large private research universities may count all their professors and may not count the grad students. Research only faculty, or professors who only teach one course may also be counted. Professors who race off after class to do research count the same as professors that hang around and make themselves available. It is generally considered to be a meaningless number when comparing schools from different research classes.</p>
<p>It is fascinating that nobody seems to know about Tufts highest ranked Phd program Nutrition. .</p>
<p>It is tied for the best in the country and has a worldwide reputation. It includes one of 6 USDA national labs. When Tufts was assigned the USDA lab instead of our neighbors over in Cambridge it caused quite a stir in the local academic community.</p>
<p>[About</a> - Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging](<a href=“http://hnrca.tufts.edu/about/]About”>About the HNRCA | Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging)</p>
<p>[Human</a> Nutrition Research Center on Aging : Home](<a href=“http://www.ars.usda.gov/main/site_main.htm?modecode=19-50-00-00]Human”>Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center On Aging : USDA ARS)</p>
<p>[Ranking</a> of Nutrition Graduate Schools — PhDs.org Graduate School Guide](<a href=“http://graduate-school.phds.org/rankings/nutrition/rank/larger]Ranking”>http://graduate-school.phds.org/rankings/nutrition/rank/larger)</p>
<p>There is talk of a Nutrition undergrad minor or major, viewed through the usual Tufts global perspective. </p>
<p>I’m guessing that the OP already made a decision (and congratulations, whatever it turned out to be!), but the issue of going from a HS of 4000 to a college of 1200 (or 3000 if you include Bryn Mawr) is an interesting one. A HS of 4000 isn’t really the same thing as a college of 4000, since your high school peer group at the typical large HS wasn’t everyone. You are going to find that a far larger subset of your college peers are your peers, relative to your high school experience. There’s also a difference between going to a small rural LAC, where the LAC is all there is, versus a small suburban LAC where it’s easy to go into the city.</p>
<p>Haverford isn’t rural - it’s suburban. Ardmore is about a 15 minute walk, and Philly is a 20 minute drive away. Student to faculty ratio is 8:1.</p>
<p>I’m interested to see which the OP chooses - I’m thinking Tufts. Anyone want to take bets?</p>
<p>megan, yes, I meant to imply that going to Haverford instead of, say, Grinnell is a different kettle of fish.</p>
<p>Oh, sorry - didn’t catch that.</p>
<p>I would be very, very careful thinking about BM as being a 2000 person campus extension to Haverford - especially from a social standpoint. It is about 1.7 miles away. It is all women and has stricter rules. I think the Claremont Colleges (where the campuses are literally connected and everything is walk able) is the only consortium that might meet this ideal. I think BM is better thought of as a place nearby where you can take a few courses and go to some preplanned events. Megan- what is your opinion? </p>
<p>Then from a social standpoint, there is the issue of the phantom 500 at Haverford. Megan- in your experience, does this phenomenon really exist?</p>
<p>Ah! The a bunch of freshman at my D’s overnight at Haverford told her about the phantom 500! They said there are probably 500 kids (half the school population) that are not involved in anything. You see the same involved kids at everything, but the other half is no where to be found. I asked an admissions person about it and they looked surprised and asked how did you hear about that?? Needless to say, my D chose Tufts for its passionate student involvement and energy.</p>
<p>so if anyone was interested, I sent my deposit to Northwestern (I know, I thought I had ruled it out). It ended up being an extremely hard decision between Haverford and Northwestern…Tufts just didn’t cut it in my mind compared to these two. Northwestern was a little too close to home, and Haverford was a little too small (though the community there is awesome!). In the end I felt I had more opportunities at Northwestern, academically and socially. HC is a unique place for a unique education, and without my 4000 person high school experience, Id be headed there. Didn’t see as much in Tufts, though it has a pretty good reputation. I thought the kids were a little too quirky for me, and I thought its better location (east coast) couldn’t outweigh the superior academics/reputation at Northwestern. </p>
<p>Thanks for all the help though</p>
<p>congrats on your decision – have a great time at NU – it’s awesome! :)</p>
<p>Congrats on your decision. NU is a great school!</p>
<p>Mastadon - from what I understand BM and Haverford are pretty tight. You can major or minor at either college. Boys can even live at BM if there is an equal trade of students. And there are male graduate students as well, although not many probably. There are some majors you can only take at BM, like Theater, Film, and Creative Writing, although your advisor would be from Haverford.</p>
<p>Yes, it is about a mile away - it’s about a 10 minute bus ride. My bus ride from North Campus at Michigan to Main Campus was longer than that! I’m sure that most kids spend most of their time at their own college, but if you get bored, there’s always some place else to go with other events going on. </p>
<p>As for the Phantom 500 - I don’t know if that’s true or a myth. It’s a shame if it is true - college is about getting out and exploring. I don’t think it would have much impact on the others though - they’ll still go out and do their thing. It probably happens a lot of colleges, but there are so many students, you don’t notice. Of course you see the same people at all the events - there’s only 1177 kids!!! :)</p>
<p>Congratulations on your decision! NW is a great school and if you were uncomfortable with the “quirkyness” of Tufts when you visited, then it sounds like NW is a better fit for you!</p>
<p>@ Megan</p>
<p>I did not take your bet on the outcome because the OPs original concern with Tufts was its reputation. Many of the seemingly authoritative posts on reputation reinforced that concern. Subsequent comments convinced him that Haverford was too small, so it makes sense that he would switch back to NW. I chose not to enter the academic ranking discussion other than to offer a caution, because I feel fit is the more important criteria. Instead, I chose to provide data that would help the OP determine if Tufts was a good fit. I will discuss ranking in a later post.</p>
<p>I am familiar (from my college days) with Haverford and its superb reputation in academia. In the comments section of the article in my 1960s college admissions data post, it articulates Haverfords reputation/culture during the 60s and 70s. It also articulates the SAT scores for the student body relative to other schools (there was more of a difference back then). </p>
<p>When it came time for my D to evaluate colleges, Haverford was one of them. D liked the fact that it was the only LAC that had an easy escape path to a major city, that it was further from home, and that the people were reported (we never visited) to be unpretentious and friendly (like Tufts). </p>
<p>She had concerns about the small size and the reputation for intense academic focus (to the exclusion of all else). The Phantom 500 appears in several places on the net (just google Haverford and Phantom 500) and is consistent with Haverfords culture in the 60s and 70s. For those reasons, I tend to believe it. Because I have not visited, I have not witnessed it first hand, which is why I asked. </p>
<p>I actually have no issue with the Phantom 500. They would in essence be the group that is maintaining Haverfords reputation in academia close to what it was in the 60s and 70s. Since my D plans to have a career in industry rather than academia and she likes to socialize and experience new things as well as study, losing half of an already small social scene to the library did not seem like a good cultural fit for her. For others it will be.</p>