<p>similar size, 5000+/- students
suburban of a big city, beautiful campus.
both have a large Science & Art college and a small engineering school. Both have Med, engineering... graduate schools.</p>
<p>Tufts Med is stronger, and Rochester Music is stronger. </p>
<p>anything else? Thanks.</p>
<p>What’s your major? If you are kinda into liberal arts then the Rochester Curriculum is a great thing to experience. Also Rochester has Take-Five program (a 5th year tuition-free.) Overall I would say that the two schools are on par.</p>
<p>Rochester gives merit aid, Tufts does not.</p>
<p>U. of Rochester</p>
<p>Boston vs Rochester</p>
<p>My oldest went to college in Rochester. My middle child seriously considered UR, mostly due to Take Five and REMS. My youngest is heading to Tufts in a week. </p>
<p>Both have strong programs. Tufts has a significant language requirement. I don’t believe UR does. </p>
<p>Both schools offered generous financial aid, which included merit at UR. At both schools, we found the FA and admissions depts very helpful and knowledgeable.</p>
<p>Consider applying to both?</p>
<p>jerzgrlmom is correct; Rochester does not have a language requirement. In fact, the Rochester Curriculum has few requirements per se. You must major in one of three areas: Humanities, Social Sciences or Math & Natural Sciences. You must then take a cluster of three related courses in the other two areas (another major or a minor will satisfy the cluster requirement). A Humanities cluster can be a foreign language, but it does not need to be.</p>
<p>is u of rochester good for international studies/relations, foreign affairs, linguistics, etc.?</p>
<p>dont mean to hijack the thread, but I am very curious about that since I like the looks of u of rochester and don’t know whether to apply to it. I am already applying to tufts</p>
<p>It seems you understand the differences between the two. Which is good.</p>
<p>Rochester has a great music program. For Tufts, it has its ties to the New England Conservatory.</p>
<p>Rochester and Boston are two different cities, but both are great places. They both also have similar weather.</p>
<p>Rochester provides merit aid, whereas Tufts only provides need based aid (it’s need blind).</p>
<p>Tufts is harder to get into. And Rochester has an honors college but Tufts doesn’t (After all, everyone is “qualified” to be in the honors college).</p>
<p>I think you might share more on what you are looking for before we can help you compare these two institutions.</p>
<p>Wow. As someone who lived for many years in each of Boston and Rochester, and Rochester is no Boston! Both are nice cities but Boston is a far better college town with much more going on. And Rochester winter weather is far far far colder with much more snow. Both great schools for the right kid, but no comparison between the cities in my view</p>
<p>Okay, that is true. Rochester gets way colder than Boston and way more snow. My comparison was simplified by implying that they both get cold. Haaaa.</p>
<p>small nit, but Tufts is not need blind (unless they just changed their policy).</p>
<p>As far as ‘anything else?’, I would suspect a very different campus vibe. Rochester is strong in the sciences and very attractive to premeds. Tufts is really strong in IR and the resulting student body is socially aware and active.</p>
<p>You are correct. But they are de facto need blind (95%, which is a pretty big chunk). They were need blind but got off of it. Since their big huge 1.3 billion dollar fundraiser just finished, I suspect that they will fill that 5% gap in the next couple of years.</p>
<p>I’ll be going to UR next year and I chose it over Tufts, mostly for financial reasons though. I’ll be honest, if money was equal theres a good chance I’d have chosen Tufts. UR has top-notch polisci/IR/econ departments, but there are only a handful of better places to study that sort of thing than Tufts. This is coming from a prospective Econ major at UR; while department prestige is important, money should definitely be a deciding factor.</p>
<p>I’d say youre really splitting hairs if youre pre-med though–UR has an amazing med-school and one of the best hospitals in the NE in its backyard. </p>
<p>And while UR is known for its pre-meds, dont underestimate its other departments. Econ and Polisci are both T20 grad programs and youre learning from the same professors and getting as much attention from them as the grad students (something you wouldnt get at a large state school).</p>
<p>Obviously Rochester is no Boston but it is still a fun place to live and explore.</p>
<p>And UR does not have an Honors Program.</p>
<p>just another mode for comparison : UR has the simon school (a top 30 B-School), a new undergrad business major, and alot of exposure to the world of finance and business. Tufts has no business school</p>
<p>S2 applied and was accepted to both Tufts and URochester. Is a social sciences guy with strong math and science. He was awarded a nice merit scholarship at URoch (they give merit awards to full IB diploma students, BTW), but the rest of the FA package, even assuming merit would offset need, was the worst of any school to which he applied. I worked with another student who had the same experience with FA there.</p>
<p>We were very pleased with Tufts FA for the two years S will get it (older S will graduate from college next spring and we expect we’ll be sufficiently close to full pay that Staffords and student contribution will cover need).</p>
<p>Weather was not an issue for S2 – he applied to cold and snowy places. He was a bit concerned about being a social sciences guy in a sea of pre-meds, though did like their polisci department a lot. Ultimately his decision was between UChicago and Tufts, and he is now a soph at Tufts.</p>
<p>Be sure to show Rochester the love. When we visited, the adcom was abundantly clear that this was important to them.</p>
<p>And Rochester has Eastman.</p>
<p>I know of folks who are at Tufts and also attending the New England Conservatory.</p>
<p>That’s because Tufts (and Harvard) have a dual degree program with the New England Conservatory.</p>
<p>Tufts is odd because it’s known both in the sciences and for IR (Which is more social science-esq). I always found the institution having good graduate programs, but not so strong to take focus away from undergraduates. In general, I find the undergraduate focus/attention to be excellent. As for a B-school, Tufts doesn’t have one, however, top financial firms recruit there and 3 Fortune 100 CEO’s are Tufts alum.</p>
<p>Just curious - any thoughts about the difference between both in terms of the social scene, dorms, partying, and off-campus housing? Thanks.</p>