Hi y’all,
So, I’m really, really interested in both Tufts and Wesleyan. I plan on double-majoring in Psychology and Political Science (or CSS at Wesleyan) and I would greatly appreciate if anyone could shed some light on any differences in approach/quality/anything between the schools in relation to those majors or absolutely anything else (student life, atmosphere, professors, awesome level…).
Thank you so much!
Most of us on this board can tell you something about Tufts but not a lot about Wesleyan or the differences in academic approach. Tufts is bigger, a university with grad schools and grad programs, more urban, and students spend more time in Sommerville/Boston than Wesleyan students do in the much smaller city of Middletown. Both are excellent schools which would give you a good grounding in psych and poly sci. Tufts intro classes are probably larger, but the overall selection is probably larger (just by the nature of more students). Go visit both if at all possible, and certainly apply to both since admissions are highly selective.
sorry…bump?
bump?
Wesleyan is more of a hipster school with greater political and social justice activism than you will find at Tufts. There is greater emphasis on pre professional career focus at Tufts while there is more of an artsy attitude at Wesleyan. Both schools are excellent academically although you will have smaller classes at wesleyan than at Tufts I bet although at Tufts you are more likely to find classmates in Psych because they are premed. Political science is strong at both schools although tufts has Fletcher which means they can bring higher profile foreign diplomats to campus. CSS at Wesleyan is grueling. You will be writing 30 page papers every week for 4 years. Both schools have their merits and it’s a question of fit. Go do an overnight at each and that will help
The two schools are pretty similar.
Both schools have a large arts community. Tufts has more General Art and Architectural Studies majors (probably due to the partnership with the Museum School at the Museum of Fine Arts), and Wesleyan has more Film Studies majors. Wesleyan is probably has a more “hipster” feel on campus, but once you get off campus, Somerville is one of the most “hipster” cities in the country. Cambridge is almost as “hipster” as Somerville.
Both schools are very politically active. Both schools organized large protests after the Ferguson trials. Tufts’ protest was more visible because Somerville/Cambridge/Boston is a bigger stage than Middleton. Wesleyan probably had a higher percentage of student participation, but Tufts was able to draw from other local colleges. Both schools lean strongly to the left politically, but Tufts also has an active Republican Club. Tufts has a small engineering school. Engineers tend to be more politically conservative and less politically active, although Tufts tends to attract engineers that are more liberal than the stereotypical engineer.
Both schools are very socially active, but Tufts is probably more so, with a dedicated college of citizenship (Tisch College) a Peace and Justice Studies Major, an active Engineers Without Borders organization (that Liberal Arts students participate in) an active K-12 Engineering Education Outreach organization and higher Peace Corp participation. The largest club on Tufts’ campus is the Leonard Carmichael Society - which is focused on Community Service.
Poly Sci is one of Tufts’ larger programs, but International Relations (an interdisciplinary major that includes Poly Sci) is significantly larger. The combination of the IR major, the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and the strong language/culture distribution requirement tends to lend a more international flavor to Tufts’ Poly Sci program. Tufts also has a number of special programs (EPIC, ALLIES, US Diplomat in Residence, Tufts in Washington, The Ex-College) which involve working with instructors who are actually employed in government positions. This tends to give Tufts a little less “academic” and little more “real world” feel than Wesleyan.
Psychology is one of Tufts larger programs with lots of interdisciplinary and specialty majors such as: Bio Psych, Child Development, Clinical Psych, Engineering Psych and Cognitive and Brain Sciences as well as “regular” Psychology. Bio Psych tends to have a high concentration of Pre-Meds. Psychology is one of the larger programs at Wesleyan (it has both Bio Psych and “regular” Psych) but Wesleyan does not offer the clinical/engineering/education related variants. Some Psych majors minor in either Media Studies or Entrepreneurial Leadership (both of which can include internships) to ease the path into Advertising or Marketing. This also gives Tufts a little less “academic” and a little more “real world” feel than Wesleyan.
Here is an interesting diagram for Psychology.:
http://admissions.tufts.edu/life-at-tufts/jumbo/spring-2015/
Somerville/Cambridge/Boston has significantly more to do than Middletown.
Good Luck!
Wesleyan is probably the stronger school athletically.
In terms of athletic “feel”:
Wesleyan has about 3000 undergrads and Tufts has about 5000 undergrads and both schools have roughly the same number of varsity athletes, so varsity athletes make up a larger percentage of the population at Wesleyan. This may create a greater “presence” of athletes within the student body at Wesleyan, while creating the potential for larger crowds for games at Tufts.
In terms of athletic “performance”:
The Directors Cup is a ranking of college sports programs. In Division 3, they compile results across 18 sports (9 women’s and 9 men’s) for 323 colleges.
Here are the most recent rankings:
…Tufts…Wesleyan
2015…9…188
2014…7…148
2013…8…276
Tufts has won 14 national championships in the last 5 years.
Tufts Poli Sci major here. I’m afraid I cannot speak for Wesleyan, but I can comment a bit on the political science department.
Although IR is “bigger” at Tufts, it is still an interdisciplinary major, without a home department. The defacto home becomes the political science department. This leads to a very strong poli sci major for those who could do without the extra requirements of IR (namely, some economics and history classes).
Tufts has a strong political background for those interested in IR and the like (along with Fletcher’s support, and close connections with Harvard Kennedy’s Belfer Center and MIT’s Security Studies program).
However, there is still a strong political theory strand within political science.
Furthermore, the social justice side of political science is handled well by progressive American Studies and Peace and Justice Studies programs, where one can study postcolonialism to one’s delight.
I did not mean to imply that Poly Sci is “small” at Tufts.
Wesleyan graduates about 40 Poly Sci majors per year while Tufts graduates about 70 Poly Sci majors per year.
Tufts also graduates about 180 IR majors per year and Poly Sci is one of the primary components of the interdisciplinary IR major. This tends to extend the range of courses and other opportunities available.
Fletcher started as a joint Tufts/Harvard initiative
I might point out that, at the moment, Wesleyan is the only NESCAC college with an alumnus in the Senate (Bennet-D- Colorado) and two sitting governors (Hickinlooper-D- Colorado, and Shumlin - D - Vermont).j